MEDIATED COMMUNICATION

Question 1

Characteristics of mediated communication

Answer 1

impersonal, limited opportunity for feedback, asynchronous, passive audience, anonymous, limited accountability

Question 2

issues in a mediated society

Answer 2

Counterfactual representations (“what if” scenarios), availability of synthetic experiences, dramatization of factual experience, Simplification of complex issues, Substitution of communication for transportation

Question 3

powerful (direct)

Answer 3

media has a strong, direct effect on viewers’ attitudes and behaviors

Question 4

limited (indirect)

Answer 4

media influence is weaker and works through factors like personal interpretation

Question 5

Uses and Gratifications Theory’s assumptions about viewers and media effects

Answer 5

viewers: active/strong
media exposure: limited & indirect
effects: behavior

Question 6

UGT five reasons for media use

Answer 6

diversion, emotional release, companionship, identity reinforcement, surveillance

Question 7

UGT three factors that influence how viewers use or interpret the media

Answer 7

selective exposure, selective perception, selective retention (remembrance)

Question 8

UGT outcomes of media viewing

Answer 8

• media has become one of the options for individuals seeking to meet their needs
• nothing happens to users of media that the users don’t enable
• implications are short-term and of little social consequence

Question 9

Cultivation Theory’s assumptions about viewers and media effects

Answer 9

viewers: passive
media exposure: powerful & limited
effects: behavior, attitude, and cognitive

Question 10

basic assumptions of cultivation theory

Answer 10

• all TV depicts society as more violent, scary, mean, and dangerous than it really is
• TV viewers implicitly accept some things on TV as representative of their society

Question 11

CT outcomes of media exposure

Answer 11

• the more a person watches TV the more his/her beliefs match the TV world
• mainstreaming
• resonance

Question 12

mainstreaming

Answer 12

when media makes people think alike even if they come from different backgrounds

Question 13

resonance

Answer 13

when media marches a person’s real-life experiences and feels more meaningful to them

Question 14

assumptions of agenda setting theory

Answer 14

• viewers are active and weak, media exposure is powerful & limited, effects attitudes and cognitions
• the degree and prominence of media coverage of an event of issue determines its social importance
• media sets out agenda as a society by deciding what we’re following

Question 15

agenda setting

Answer 15

how the media agenda shapes the public agenda over time

Question 16

media agenda

Answer 16

the list of issues emphasized by the news media at a given time

Question 17

Levels of media influence in agenda setting theory

Answer 17

Level 1: the media influences which things are salient in the public agenda
Level 2: the media make certain attributes of a media object salient
Level 3: the media indicate which issues are connected to each other

Question 18

Media forces on agenda-setting

Answer 18

intermedia agenda setting,
interest aggregations,
gatekeepers

Question 19

intermedia agenda setting

Answer 19

when different media outlets influence each other by covering the same stories

Question 20

interest aggregations

Answer 20

these are groups of people or organizations with similar interests that come together to push for certain issues or causes

Question 21

gatekeepers

Answer 21

people or organizations who decide what information to share with the public and what not to

Question 22

outcomes of media exposure (agenda-setting theory)

Answer 22

• media shapes people’s attitudes and opinions
• media shapes people’s behavior

Question 23

priming effect

Answer 23

influences what we think about by making certain ideas or concepts more accessible

Question 24

framing effect

Answer 24

influences how we think about an issue by shaping context or the angle in which it is presented