Comm 309 Exam 3 Reading Study Guide Textbook Sparks The effects of news and political content Sparks Ch 9 What is the need for cognition a psychological variable a need to structure relevant situations in meaningful integrated ways a need to understand and make reasonable the experimental world this concept is helpful in some studies on media effects certain people have a higher need for cognition compared to others who are said to have a low need some people are more motivated to think a lot a study found a statistically significant correlation between need for cognition and attention paid to news about the government another study found that people with a high need for cognition prefer public TV and news programming How does Framing impact agenda setting framing the central organizing idea for news content that supplies a context and suggests what the issue is through the use of selection emphasis exclusion and elaboration the media is ultimately telling us what to think by focusing attention on one particular angle of the story What is the Spiral of Silence this theory is based on the idea that most of us don t feel comfortable speaking out about our views if we perceive that we are in the minority we would rather keep quiet than risk being isolated or rejected How do vivid images influence our memory of news stories when researchers asked people to recall news topics and facts from the news stories 6 weeks after exposure they found that people were able to recall the facts and topics better if they had been presented without a vivid visual however when vivid visuals were included people remembered them too these results support a type of dual coding theory of news content when a vivid image is presented alongside verbal info it might actually tend to distract people from processing the verbal info efficiently the vivid images prove to be highly memorable and might even enhance memory for the info that comes right after it Understand the research of Phillips on news stories of suicides Phillips took note of the dates that suicide stories appeared in the news and found that a few days after these stories appeared the number of car fatalities in the area increased also found that the more publicity the suicide story received the greater the increase in fatalities Werther Effect news reports of suicides can trigger an increase in the suicide rate The impact of new media technologies Sparks Ch 11 What were the findings and the criticisms of the Carnegie Mellon Study 1st major studies on the impact of Internet use use of the Internet was associated with a general decline in communication with family who lived in the same household internet users tended to report greater levels of depression and loneliness users reported number of people in their social circle to decline over the years 2 main possibilities for these negative psychological effects 1 activity displacement effect people have a limited amount of time during any given day Internet might cause isolation from other activities 1 interactivity 2 structure 3 channel 4 textuality 5 content 2 the internet displaces strong social ties deprives people from real relationships researchers prefer this option What is the mix of attributes approach to the study of media effects and new technology this encourages scholars to integrate their thinking about traditional media with their thinking about media that are newer some researchers tend to react to a new technology with the attitude that it changes everything we should think of all media in terms of a common set of attributes differences between media can then be discussed in terms of differences in these attributes we might think of some of the common attributes as What is the Media Equation found that individuals interactions with computers TV and new media are fundamentally social and natural just like interactions in real life AAP Clinical Report The Impact of Social Media on Children What are some of the benefits of social media sites for children and adolescents 1 socialization and communication 2 opportunities for community engagement through raising money for charity and volunteering for local events 3 enhancement of individual and collective creativity 4 growth of ideas from the creation of blogs podcasts videos etc 5 expansion of one s online connections through shared interests to include others from more diverse backgrounds 6 fostering of one s individual identity and unique social skills 7 enhanced learning opportunities 8 accessing health info What are some of the risks of using social media 1 peer to peer pressure 2 inappropriate content 3 lack of understanding of online privacy issues 4 outside influences of third party advertising groups 5 cyberbullying 6 sexting 7 Facebook depression What is Facebook depression depression that develops when preteens and teens spend a great deal of time on social media sites and then begin to exhibit classic symptoms of depression Why are there age restrictions on sites like Facebook 13 years of age is the minimum age for most social media sites 2 major reasons 1 13 is the age set by Congress in the Children s Online Privacy Protection Act which prohibits websites from collecting info on children younger than 13 without parental permission 2 the official terms of service for many sites now mirror the COPPA regulations and state that 13 years of age is the minimum age to sign up and have a profile What is the advice given to parents to assist them with social media and their children 1 advise parents to talk to their children about their online use 2 advise parents to work on their own participation gap in their homes by becoming better educated about the technologies their children are using 3 discuss the need for a family online use plan 4 discuss the importance of supervising online activities via active participation and communication AAP Health Effects of Media on Children and Adolescents According to the AAP in what ways does the viewing of TV contribute to developmental outcomes and school and leaning performance heavy TV viewing 2 3 hour day in early childhood has been linked with ADD in early school years possibility of language delay among infants exposed to excessive TV impact on academic performance especially if there is a TV set in the child s bedroom impairment in cognitive processing What are the Prosocial effects of the media children and teens can learn anti violence empathy tolerance toward other races and