Download Media Effects

Media Effects and Cultural
Approaches to Research
Chapter 15
Cause and Effect?
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Media effects
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Attempting to understand, explain, and
predict the effects of mass media on
individuals and society
Has a long history of research
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Does television make you do things?
Does it make you not do things?
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Natural Born Killers
– Columbine, CO
– Red Lake, MN
History of Effects Research
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De Tocqueville and Lippmann
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Propaganda studies
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Is the media too “poll-happy”?
Social psychology
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Harold Lasswell
Public opinion research
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Lippmann relies on experts.
Payne Fund
Marketing research
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Advertisers and product companies
Public Opinion Research
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Public opinion research is especially
influential during political elections.
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In 2006 midterm elections, level of enthusiasm for
voting was higher among Democrats than
Republicans.
It can also adversely affect active political
involvement.
“My idea of a good time is using
jargon and citing authorities.”
—Matt Groening
Research on Media Effects
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Hypodermic-needle model
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Minimal-effects model
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Media shoots effects directly into unsuspecting victims
Rise of empirical research techniques
Selective exposure leads to reinforcement of existing
beliefs.
Uses and gratifications model
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Contests notion of audience passivity
Why do people use media?
Uses and Gratifications
“It is the children who are most active in this
relationship. It is they who use television,
rather than television that uses them.”
—Schramm, Lyle, and Parker
Scientific Method
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Hypothesis
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Experimental design
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Tests whether hypothesis is true
Survey research
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Must be worded so that it is testable
Collecting and measuring data
Content analysis
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Studies the messages of print and visual
media
Explaining Media Effects
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Social learning theory
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Agenda-setting
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Media set the agenda for major topics of discussion.
Cultivation effect
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Attention
Retention
Motor reproduction
Motivation
Heavy viewing of television leads individuals to perceive reality in
ways consistent with portrayals on television.
Spiral of silence
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Those whose views are in the minority will keep their views to
themselves.
Ethics and Media Effects
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A consequence of the agenda-setting theory
is that stories without mass media attention
receive no public/political attention.
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What are some of the most underreported
stories of this year?
Qualitative Approaches
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Cultural Studies
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Textual Analysis
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Audience Studies
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Political Economy
Cultural Approaches
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James Carey:
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Offers ability to interpret broadly
Doesn’t just study the serious, but the entertaining
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Understand, not explain, human behavior
Diagnose meanings, not predict
Horace Newcomb
Both empirical and cultural studies have
weaknesses.
Media Research and Democracy
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Like public journalists, public intellectuals
based on campuses help to carry on the
conversations of society and culture, serving
as models for how to participate in public life.