Study Guide Exam 1 Chapter 1 it Media does not move our emotions entertain us etc without us mutually participating in Mass media is one of the central cultural forces in society Below is how Lasswell expressed the basic elements of the communication process Lasswell s question SMRC a source sends a message through a medium to a receiver producing some effect Schramm created a chart for the communication process based on Osgood s ideas Below is a depiction of interpersonal communication no clear identified source or receiver o Message encoder interpreter decoder message Decoder interpreter encoder At any time people in communication process people are both encoders and decoders and interpreters at the same time Using nonverbal and verbal o Encoder message is depicted in words and symbols Includes speaking writing printing etc o Decoder message is decoded from symbols and signs into a message Listening reading or watching television o Biases are also considered noise message decoded interpreted encoder decoded interpreted encoded a source sends a messagethrough a mediumto a receiver producing some effect messagedecoded interpreted encodedmessagedecoded interpreted encoder message o Notion of noise often thing of sound which is only part of the definition Considered anything that interferes with the communication process Bored hungry tired upset etc are all considered noise because they are interfering with communication process Encoded messages are carried by a medium o Medium the means of sending information o Examples sound waves are a medium because they carry voice to friends across the room Mass medium when the medium of a message is carried using technology to a large number of people Inferential feedback indirect rather than direct feedback from communication o Example television executives must wait a minimum of a day to discover ratings for new programs Called inferential feedback because executives can only infer what they must do to improve the television show Mass communication definition creating shared meaning between mass media and audiences Mass media versus personal communication media communication continuum intra and inter personal communication all the way to national and global television o Intra is within yourself inter is with someone else o Three main things to look at to find where something falls on continuum Messages audience channel Moving from more personal to global what changes 1 Messages become less personal 2 Messages become more generalized 3 Audience becomes more remote meaning in a geographic stance a Telecommunication communication across distance 4 Audience is also less involved usually in mass communication 5 Audiences tend to be more heterogeneous a Heterogeneous more diversity and different b Homogeneous group of people who are very similar more interpersonal side of continuum 6 Channels become more technology driven 7 Channels become more costly television commercials shows programs advertisements computer costs etc messagedecoded interpreted encodedmessagedecoded interpreted encoder Definition of culture culture cannot exist without people it is the learned behavior of the members of a shared group exhibit Represents the lens in which we see the world o How does media create culture We look at media as serving as a cultural forum Establishes important topics and shape the way we discuss them Gives us a place to debate them and see others debate them Serves as a cultural storyteller More about how we interpret certain topics and ideas o Example Hurricane Katrina a lot of news reporting about events certain channels were showing white people carrying things through water etc then show black people carrying things and showing them automatically in a negative light with something to do with stealing and looting made it look as if all the white people were doing good and black people were doing bad created a lot of criticism Keep in mind the lens the media portrays for us and question the validity of their particular views o Oral cultures changed to written cultures Decreased importance of memory Stories and songs were very important in older times but they change slightly every single time o Literate cultures don t rely on memory as heavily because it is all written down Just because it is written down it is not the absolute truth Writing things down is only one version of the truth about what happened inaccuracies Stories become fixed accepted versions and then myth and rumor or Can communicate over distance versus oral you can only yell so far Language goes from local understandings to global understandings Connotative languages interpretations of meanings of certain words based on personal or cultural meanings and context Denotative language dictionary meaning official understanding of a term o The more oral or local a culture the more connotative meaning is important changes with who you are talking to Differences between individual elements of interpersonal and mass communication change the nature of the communication process o The immediacy of feedback in interpersonal communications allow communicators to experiment with different approaches to the communication process o The distance between mass communication and participants means that feedback comes too late which creates communication conservatism Personalization and specificity is difficult Tends to be more constrained and less free Carey s cultural definition of communication a symbolic process whereby reality is produced maintained repaired and transformed o Culture the learned behavior of members of a given social group o All definitions of culture recognize that culture is learned o Culture serves to help us categorize and classify our experiences o Dominant culture aka mainstream culture is the culture that seems to hold sway o Bounded cultures aka co cultures smaller cultures within national cultures like with the majority of people the south and the suburbs When these subcategories are mentioned we have predisposed ideas of what will be within each one o Culture is constructed and maintained but communication or miscommunication can turn differentiation into division Stories help define our realities shape the way we think act and feel Example after Katrina newspapers used the word looting when referring to a black male carrying food in chest high water and then used the word finding when referring to white people doing the same exact thing o Mass communication has
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