Theories Of Mass Media Flashcards
Cultivation Theory (George Gerbner)
Television create (or cultivates) reality
Number of TV viewing hours directly correlates to view of reality
TV cultivates “Mean World Syndrome”
Mainstreaming
For heavy users, watching daytime TV and reading self-help books seems to have a substantial influence on views of relationships
Relationships between magazines and body image.
It’s effects happen over time, are indirect, are small and gradual, are cumulative, have long term effects, and are significant.
Mass Media “Effects” tradition
Older & Newer
Hypothesized direct effects
- Media determines thought: “Magic bullet theories” or “injection model” or “hypodermic needle model”
- Older, less sophisticated theories
- Newer theories
- acknowledge media effects do exist
- Hypothesize greater complexity in what and how
Example: ““third person effect”
Agenda Setting Theory
- Media doesn’t tell us what to think
- BUT it tells us what to think about.
Media are Gatekeepers
- Control over what stories and ideas get presented
- Shapes perceptions of events and people
What are we not thinking about?
What gets covered and what doesn’t
Agenda setting Objectivity
The myth of photographic objectivity
Photographs are NOT objective representations of reality.
Photographers manipulate the subject matter through framing, perspective, lighting, cropping, ect.
Uses and gratification theory
People use media for gratification
- Enjoyment, meeting needs, ect.
- We select media we think will reward us
People are active agent who make deliberate choices about media.: and therefore have substantial control.
This creates substantial pressure on the media to give viewers what they want- otherwise, they’d say vote with their feelings
Critical Media Theories
Media reinforce power and privilege
Mass media represents a particular standpoint as the norm - what does this privilege?
Those with the means (money) control the media and therefore retain their power and privilege.
Semiotics of media
Message texturing
The “picture superiority effect”
- A growing body of research suggest that visual images often have
- Better recognition than words
- Better retention than words
- Greater impact than words
- More persuasion than words.
Semiotics - Syntactic Indeterminacy
- Images lack syntax and logical operators.
- Images do not communicate precise relationships between things
- These loose associations
Semiotics - Syntactic Indeterminacy
- Images lack syntax and logical operators.
- Images do not communicate precise relationships between things
- These loose associations
