Media Community Citizenship Study Guide 10 08 2013 Dill Ch 1 Cognitive dissonance the idea that mental inconsistencies cause discomfort that we re motivated to change often through rationalization we make ourselves feel better by rationalism Mirror Neurons neural structures that help us empathize and imitate Social Comparison Theory we naturally compare ourselves to others Dill Ch 2 Attention Problems media are shaping children s cognitive development and one way may be the fast paced nature of TV takes a toll on their attention spans Potter Ch 1 Potter Ch 2 Automaticity we put our minds on auto pilot where our minds automatically filter out almost all message options Personal Locus about control over effects o we slide between media control and personal control o goals determine what gets filtered in out o stronger drives mean we put in more effort if we don t know our goal and drives are low we let media control the process Knowledge Structures o sets of organized info help us organize new ideas and experiences o connect very different ideas objects ppl situations o meanings get more complex with more experience direct or vicarious 10 08 2013 10 08 2013