Media Models of Audience Effects

Question 1

what are the two exam focus points to do with the relationship between the media and audience?

Answer 1

1- Strong media, weak audience, we are passive, the media directly influences our behaviour/ideas
2-Weak media, strong audiences, people are not easily influenced but active interpreters of media content

Question 2

what is the first effect model showing strong media, weak audience?

Answer 2

the Hypodermic Syringe Model

Question 3

what is the Hypodermic Syringe Model?

Answer 3

a model that suggests that media messages are ‘injected’ into us, the audiences blindly accept this content (they are unthinking and unable to resist the messages sent) and so they imitate what they see on the media?

Question 4

by the age of 18, how many real/fictional murders and acts of violence does the average American child see on TV?

Answer 4

murders= 16,000
violence= 200,000

Question 5

what is Bandura’s Bobo Doll Experiment?

Answer 5

-groups of children (3-6) some shown adult being aggressive to doll, and so children were also aggressive towards the doll.
-other children not shown aggression and so played nicely with the doll
-later on, were shown aggression and violence on tv which also showed same results

Question 6

how was the James Bulger case compared to media violence?

Answer 6

the boys had watched a horror film and played violent video games before the act, they imitated some of the behaviour shown during the murder.

Question 7

what is a piece of evidence showing the saturation of violence in the media?

Answer 7

one movie, from the first to the second went from showing 32 corpses to 81 corpses.

Question 8

why has the saturation of violence in the media increased?

Answer 8

-entertainment
-global commodity market

Question 9

what is the first impact of the Hypodermic Syringe Model?

Answer 9

imitation/copycat violence
=people imitate the violent behaviour they are exposed to in the media

Question 10

what is disinhibition according to McCabe and Martin?

Answer 10

violence is shown as the answer in some cases, and so children are convinced that violence is ok sometimes, by the media.

Question 11

what is the second impact of the Hypodermic Syringe Model?

Answer 11

Desensitisation
=on-screen violence encourages young viewers to identify with perpetrators and not victims
=prolonged exposure desensitises views and socialise them into accepting violent behaviour as normal

Question 12

who came up with the impact of desensitisation?

Answer 12

Newson

Question 13

what does desensitisation (HSM) lead to?

Answer 13

leads to weaker moral codes, younger people are now more likely to behave in an anti-social ways than previous generations

Question 14

what did Morgan say about viewing extreme sexual conduct on screen?

Answer 14

watching this on screen leads to men practising and normalising extreme sexual conduct in real life

Question 15

what is the third impact of the Hypodermic Syringe Model?

Answer 15

Censorship
=age certificates on films, etc, watershed of 9pm for adult tv, tv channels issue warning before with regard to sexual/violent content

Question 16

what is the main evaluation point of the Hypodermic Syringe Model?

Answer 16

Catharsis (Fesbach and Sanger)
=screen violence can provide a safe outlet for people’s aggression.
=study of boys with media diet of controlled tv showed that those who watched aggression programmes were actually less aggressive (reducing impact)

Question 17

what was the evaluation for copycat violence?

Answer 17

-problems with Bandura
=Gauntlett, lab experiments are problematic as behaviour can be changed
=Buckingham, children are sophisticated media users, they can distinguish between real and fictional, they know it should be imitated

Question 18

what are the 3 evaluation points against desensitisation?

Answer 18

-sensitisation (Young) = sympathise with the victim not the criminal
-makes people aware of the consequences of crime
-not a passive and homogeneous audience, we react/interact with the media differently

Question 19

what was the piece of evidence of national tv violence that can be used for evaluation for desensitisation?

Answer 19

10,000 hours of tv, 61% contained violence but not everyone commits violence.

Question 20

what is the Uses and Gratification Model?

Answer 20

a model that suggests that
-the media has many diverse uses
-we use the media in different ways
-we fulfil and satisfy our needs

Question 21

what did Blumler and McQuail say about the audience in terms of the uses and gratification model?

Answer 21

the audience is not homozygous but heterogeneous

Question 22

what are the 4 different needs that the media satisfy according to the uses and gratification model?

Answer 22

-diversion
-personal relationships
-personal identities
-surveillance

Question 23

what is diversion in terms of the uses and gratification model?

Answer 23

-we use the media to escape from routines/problems/tensions/if we lack satisfaction
-it could be to compensate for the shortfalls in our own lives

Question 24

why might disabled people use virtual reality games?

Answer 24

their avatars can walk, run and dance

Question 25

what is personal relationships in terms of the uses and gratifications model?

Answer 25

-soap opera characters could make up for the absence of real connection, we are involved in a personal level
-cyber communities on the internet may also be seen by users as alternative families

Question 26

what is personal identities according to the uses and gratification model?

Answer 26

-people may use the experience of characters to influence the way they see themselves, a part of identity they are unsure of
-people use the internet to make over/modify their own image

Question 27

what was the news article title about Coronation Street and DA (personal identities)?

Answer 27

‘Coronation Street has done more for the victims of domestic abuse than the tories have’

Question 28

what is surveillance according to the uses and gratification model?

Answer 28

-people use the media to obtain information and news in order to help them make up their minds in particular issues
-the gratification is transforming into an interactive nature

Question 29

what are two evaluation points for the uses and gratification model?

Answer 29

-issues with methodology= there is not enough research on how media audiences gratify themselves by using media content, this is too dependent on the interpretation of the researchers
-fails to identify that different age groups, social classes and ethnic groups may use/interpret the same media content in different ways

Question 30

what is the Marxist argument against the uses and gratification model?

Answer 30

they would say that this model exaggerates the audiences freedom, the agenda is already set by the media, meaning audiences would struggle to interpret media outside ideological restraints

Question 31

what is the Cultural Effects Model?

Answer 31

-a marxist model that suggests that the media is a very powerful tool in transmitting capitalist ideas, norms and values
-suggests that the media contains strong ideological messages that reflect the values of those who own, control and produce the media

Question 32

who else uses the Cultural Effects Model and why?

Answer 32

Feminists, to argue that the patriarchal ideology is transmitted to us

Question 33

what do Marxists say about the drip drip effect as part of the cultural effects model?

Answer 33

-audiences have been exposed over period of time to a slow drip drip effect process
-we actively choose media to consume that fits with our interests and over time ideology is gradually dripped into us and we begin to accept/believe it
-so we become passive

Question 34

What does the cultural effects model suggest we begin and become within the media?

Answer 34

begin= active and engaged
become= passive

Question 35

what did George Orwell say in terms of the cultural effects model?

Answer 35

‘the more an ideology is ‘dripped’ into society by the media, the more people believe it and accept it as true.’

Question 36

what dominant ideologies are exposed through the media according to marxists?

Answer 36

-values of the rich and powerful
-happiness is about money
-benefits are scroungers
-those who protest/strike are lazy and greedy
-being a celeb is really important

Question 37

what are dominant ideologies that women are exposed to through the media?

Answer 37

-need to look a certain way
-beauty ideal
-‘him, home and looking good for him’
-slimness ewualy happiness

Question 38

what are the 3 evaluation points of the Cultural Effects Model?

Answer 38

-difficult in operationalise and measure the culture effects in this model
-Pluralists= media is constructed to benefit the audience not the elite
-massive amount of diversity within media content so is the media really capable to create a homogeneous worldwide view based on capitalist ideas

Question 39

what is neo-marxists views on the cultural effects model?

Answer 39

-disagree
-the power of the drip drip linked how much knowledge and personal experience the audience had

Question 40

what did Greg Philo’s study of the Miners strike show according to neo-marxists?

Answer 40

-no direct experience/union member/no family member of being a miner then you accepted/believer the messages that weee slowly injected through the media
-if you had direct experience or knowledge of being a miner then you had the ability to reject and resist the messages

Question 41

what is the reception analysis model according to Morley?

Answer 41

audiences decide the media in one of three ways-
1- prefferred/dominant reading
2- negotiated reading
3- oppositional readying

Question 42

what is preferred/dominant reading as part of the reception analysis model?

Answer 42

people decide how the media producers want them to

Question 43

what is negotiated reading?

Answer 43

people accept the message but adjust it to fit their beliefs

Question 44

what is oppositional reading?

Answer 44

people reject the dominant reading so are more likely to recognise moral panics