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Chapter 2 Mass Communication Effects: How Society & Media Interact Rise of Mass Society • Pre 1800s: People in the United States lived in rural communities with people of similar ethnic, racial, and religious backgrounds. • 1800s: Industrial revolution – People move into cities, work for wages, interact with people of diverse backgrounds. • Fears: Media would replace church, family, and community in shaping public opinion. Direct Effects Model • People feared strong, direct effects of World War I and World War II propaganda. • Direct effects—presume media messages are a stimulus that leads to consistent, predictable attitudinal or behavioral effects. • Indirect effects—recognize that people have different backgrounds, needs, values and so respond differently. People’s Choice Study and the Limited Effects Model • Lazarsfeld study of voter decision making in 1940 presidential election. • Found importance of opinion leaders (friends and neighbors) over mass media and campaigns. • Media content and campaigns had indirect effects; interpersonal influence was stronger. People’s Choice Findings • Voters with strong opinions are unlikely to change them. • Voters who pay most attention to campaigns are those who start with strongest views. • The most persuadable voters are least likely to pay attention to campaigns. Critical Cultural Model • Focus is on how people use media to construct view of the world; not effect of media on people’s behavior. • Examines creation of meaning and how communication takes place; not survey or experimental results. • Who controls the creation and flow of information? Types of Media Effects • • • • Message Effects Medium Effects Ownership Effects Active Audience Effects Message Effects How are people affected by the content of messages? • Cognitive Effects Short-term learning of information. • Attitudinal Effects Changing people’s attitudes about a person, product, institution, or idea. Message Effects • Behavioral Effects Inducing people to adopt new behaviors or change existing ones. Much harder than changing attitudes. • Psychological Effects Inspiring strong feelings or arousal in audience members. People often seek feelings such as fear, joy, revulsion, happiness, or amusement. Medium Effects • How does the medium used change the nature of the message and the receiver’s response to the message? • What are the social effects of each medium? • “The medium is the message”—Marshall McLuhan Ownership Effects • How does ownership affect the media? • Do we get different messages from different owners? • How important are the six largest media companies? Active Audience Effects • Audience members seek out and respond to media for a variety of reasons. • People can be segmented by geographics, demographics, or psychographics. • Looks at audience members as selective consumers rather than naïve victims of the media. Theories of Media and Society • • • • Functional Analysis Agenda Setting Uses and Gratifications Social Learning • Spiral of Silence • Media Logic • Cultivation Analysis Functional Analysis • Surveillance of the environment • Correlation of different elements of society • Transmission of culture from one generation to the next • Entertainment Agenda Setting • The media don’t tell the public what to think, but rather what to think about. • Media sets the terms of public discourse. • But can media determine what people will care about? Uses and Gratifications • What do audience members attempt to get out of their media use? • And do they receive it? Uses and Gratifications Possible gratifications • To be amused • To experience the beautiful • To have shared experiences with others • To find models to imitate • To believe in romantic love Social Learning Albert Bandura—We are able to learn by observing others and the consequences they face. Social Learning Steps of Social Learning • We extract key information from situations we observe. • We integrate these observations to create rules about how the world operates. • We put these rules into practice to regulate our own behavior and predict the behavior of others. Symbolic Interactionism • The process by which individuals produce meaning through interaction based on socially agreed-upon symbols. • “If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences.”—W.I. Thomas Spiral of Silence • People want to see themselves as part of a majority. • They will remain silent if they perceive themselves as being in a minority. • This tends to make minority opinions appear less prevalent than they are. • But some people like having contrary opinions; others speak out because they care. Media Logic • The forms the media use to present the world become the forms we use to perceive the world. • People use media formats to describe the world. • People use media formats to prepare for events so that they will be portrayed better through the media. Cultivation Analysis • Watching significant amounts of television alters the way an individual views the nature of the surrounding world. • Can cultivate a response known as the “Mean World Syndrome.” Mean World Syndrome Heavy television viewers are more likely to: • Overestimate chance of experiencing violence • Believe their neighborhood is unsafe • Say fear of crime is a serious personal problem • Assume the crime rate is rising. How Do Campaigns Affect Voters? • Resonance Model A candidate’s success depends on how well his or her basic message resonates with and reinforces voters’ preexisting political feelings. • Competitive Model Views the political campaign as a competition for the hearts and minds of voters. A candidate’s response to an attack is as important as the attack itself. Media and Political Bias • News with an explicit point of view is popular on cable television. • Audience members tend to view news as biased if it does not actively match their own point of view. Liberal vs. Conservative Bias • Conservatives point out reporters tend to be more liberal than public at large. “The duty of the press is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” • Liberals point out that media are owned by large corporations that tend to be more conservative than the public at large. “Freedom of the press belongs to those who own a press.” FOX http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/oreilly/index.html#/v/1437426225001/chryslerssuper-bowl-commerical-a-nod-to-obama/?playlist_id=86923 http://video.foxnews.com/v/1412429186001/no-spin-state-of-theunion/?playlist_id=86934 MSNBC http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45755822/ns/msnbc_tv-the_ed_show/#46288379 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/#41124279 CSPAN http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/ThreatstoUS Herbert Gans: Basic Journalistic Values • Ethnocentrism The belief that your own country and culture are better than all others. • Altruistic democracy The idea that politicians should serve the public good, not their own interests. Herbert Gans: Basic Journalistic Values • Responsible capitalism The idea that open competition among businesses will create a better, more prosperous world. But must be responsible. • Small-town pastoralism Nostalgia for the old-fashioned rural community. Herbert Gans: Basic Journalistic Values • Individualism The quest to identify the one person who makes a difference. • Moderatism The value of moderation in all things. Extremists on left and right are viewed with suspicion. Herbert Gans: Basic Journalistic Values • Social order When journalists cover disorder they tend to focus on the restoration of order. • Leadership Media look at the actions of leaders, whereas the actions of lower-level bureaucrats are ignored.