I Media Theories What are the Effects of the Media Affects if it is possible Effects The results The belief that media has little to no effects on society is a belief that is no longer supported Here are some old arguments and their counter arguments it is not real and people know that it is not real The news is not make believe TV shows are produced to give the appearance that it is real Reality TV shows are expressively real Kids can not decipher between what s real and what s not because of the early window We willing suspend disbelief about what is real and what is not it is only play entertainment The news is not suppose to be seen as play Even though it is only play play has an important role on how we developed What we see is what we imitate it is just a reflection of society not a change agent in it Media reflects a distorted image of the world over representing certain aspects and under representing others it only reinforces existing beliefs values and other social influences such as religion family and school has more influence Those old regimes don t have as much power as they used to influence us The enforcement of these ideas can only be contributing to the negative aspects of society if it impacts anything it is just trivial things like fads and fashion The media has actually contributed to making these things crucial to us and that fads and fashions are not central to self definition and happiness Therefore the question is not a question about opinion but it s a question for science In what ways does media have an influence on us and how much this is a complex question Under what condition s does media affect us What are the consequences of the effects of media Why does media have an impact on us All these questions are questions for science REMEMBER THESE THINGS ABOUT MEDIA Remember that the way we receive media changes the way media has an effects on us Media also serves as a cultural storyteller and as a social forum which works to create culture Also changes in media are occurring because of the following Concentration of media ownership Conglomeration Convergence Audience fragmentation Hyper commercial Globalization Scientific Study of Media Effect There are three ways we can be influenced by media 1 Behavior Social interaction 2 Thinking Cognitive effects 3 The way we feel Psychological Media communication theory explanations and predictions of the social phenomena that attempts to relate mass communication to various aspects of our personal and cultural lives or social systems There is no one single theory that can explain the full of effects of media There are only a lot of middle range theories that seek to explain certain parts Theories are often borrowed from other fields and because theories are man made they can contain human bias However theories are dynamic and are constantly changing as new research is conducted There is a difference between hard science and soft science Hard Science Biology Physics Chemistry Soft Science Psychology Sociology Economy Anthropology Philosophy These sciences are considered soft sciences because we are all individuals who have been raised in different environments we come with certain traits and differences that can t bring about a series of quantified results In hard science experiments and compounds are much more concrete But they are the same because they use the same logical path the science method to conduct research and come to agreements There are arguments between soft and hard sciences but it s hard to give one more authority over the other since they both follow logic History of the Media research In the 1920 s to mid 1940 s it was assumed that media had overwhelming powerful effects We started to see the raised of the field of sociology As people started to listen to the radio more and more and the birth of motion pictures came about science started to wonder about what affects this could have on society They assumed the media had a very direct uniformed and powerful affect on society They had a theory that media was going to affect people in negative ways that could not be stopped It was described as being the magic bullet and also the hypodermic needle Three powerful aspects 1 Direct It s in our face and we can t avoid it 2 Powerful We don t have any control over the effects we are hopeless and defenseless 3 Uniform effects It does not discriminate over race and or social class Early Sociologist needed to find evidence for their theories so they conducted some early studies to investigate what were the affects of media Early evidence included The Payne fund studies WWI propaganda and War of the Worlds Radio broadcast The Payne fund studies studied violence and its effects which concluded that the depiction of violence in shows did have an affect on us War of the Worlds Radio broadcast 1938 on Halloween night a radio station broadcast the War of the Worlds on radio however they produced the story to seem like an actual event causing over 2 million people freaked out These studies had sociologists convinced that media had a very strong impact on society which we could not avoid WWII had a huge impact on society because it helped advancements in sociology as scientist tried to figure what changes had lead to the Nazi German Mass Media Theories After the 1940 s Limited effects assumed mid 1940 s to mid 1960 s They reversed their ideas and begun to see media as having limited effects They started to see the individual as being more responsible about the effects that media have one them rather then being hopeless to the power of media This was support by the War of Worlds broadcast as well It showed that even though 2 millions people has been affected by media there were still over who had not believed in the radio broadcasting The limited effect theory believes that media influences also depend on individual differences social categories and personal relationships not just media alone The two step flow model was developed from voting studies How did speeches and campaign literature changes the opinions of people People we know determine the biggest influence on our voting status It s not direct but it s indirect with certain people severing as opinion leaders and other as opinion followers Selective processes Selective exposures we only read and engage in things that hold true to our current beliefs Selective retention We only remember what hold true to our beliefs Selective perception We tend to interpret the
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