Chapter 2 Mass media effects pro 01 22 2014 History of Media Effects Research media consumers often assume the media have large negative effects on them Rise of Mass Society The rise of the industrial revolution in the nineteenth century we see massive migration from rural areas into the cities With this people went from a small close knit community knowing everyone to a mass society where they learned mass media sources Propaganda and the Direct Effects Model Critics feared that mass media would become a powerful source in society This viewed audience members as passive targets who would be hit or injected with the message media effects on individuals vs whole society Direct effects approach viewed media messages as a stimulus that would lead to a predictable attitudinal or behavioral response with nothing intervening between sender and audience Magic bullet hypodermic needle basically the same as direct effects direct effect on someone Indirect effects approach still looks at the effects messages have on individuals but it accounts for the fact that the audience members perceive and interpret messages selectively Propaganda direct message to public very forceful Voter Studies and Limited Effects Model The People s Choice 1940 s US presidential election between Roosevelt and Wilkie Opinion leaders Influential community members friends family members and co workers who spend a significant amount of time with the media Information flows from the media to opinion leaders Ordinary people who are very interested and involved in a topic People s choice study found that few people changed their minds about who they were going to vote for because voters who start off with a strong opinion are unlikey to change them the most easily persuaded voters are not likely to pay attention to political communication because they aren t strongly influenced Importance of Meaning and the Critical Cultural model how people use media to construct their view of the world rather than looking at how media changes people s behaviors examination of the social structure considers how meaning is created within society looks at how people use and construct messages Message Effects Cognitive effects the most common and observable message effects is on the short term learning of information People who want to talk more intelligently from media pay more attention to media Attitudinal effects people can develop feelings about a product individual or an idea on the basis of media content Behavioral effects include actions such as clipping a coupon from a newspaper buying a product making a phone call or voting for a candidate Psychological effects media content can inspire fear joy revulsion happiness or amusement among other feelings o Major affect arousal Theories of Media Effects Provide guidance for predicting how and when the media will have effects Agenda setting function of the news McComb Shaw 1972 Agenda what we think are important The media don t tell us what to think but what to think about Persuasive effect can influence election Possible agenda items o Politics economics foreign policy education etc Media Effects News Gan s Journalistic Values there are 8 1 Ethnocentrism 2 Altruistic democracy Choosing the public 3 Individualism Standing out it is important to be unique Negative media effects 1 Advertisement for example frosted flakes or cereal obesity 2 Violence Social learning theory albert bandura 1961 Bobo doll experiment Cultivation and Mean World Syndrome George Gerbner Cultivation example watching one episode of breaking bad wont change you that much but watching multiple seasons and playing halo and reading about violence will Mean world syndrome we think that the world is a really mean and scary place because we consume so much media the actual media effect Crime and violent based dramas are very popular Do the media have positive effects on us there are some positive media effects What does Prosocial mean Socially desirable and which in some way benefits the infividual or society as a whole Prosocial effects and children Actions are likely to be imitated if the character is o Realistic similar to the child receives positive reinforcement carries out an action that is imitable by the child Prosocial effects and Adolescents Media Enjoyment Elevation appreciation Witnessing Moral Beauty o Studies of media and elevation by Mary Beth Oliver 01 22 2014 01 22 2014