Media Effects and Cultural Approaches to

Research

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTFO-xZ7pyc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTFO-xZ7pyc

Media Effects Research“attempts to understand, explain, and predict the

effects of mass media on individuals and society,”

“focuses on how people make meaning, apprehend reality, articulate values, and order experience through their use of cultural symbols.

Cultural Studies

Propaganda AnalysisMedia Researchers studied how governments

use propaganda to advance the war effortsPropaganda Divisions“partisan appeal based on half-truths and devious

manipulation of communication channels,”*Walter Lippmann* “distrusted the public’s ability to

function as knowledgeable citizens as well as journalism’s ability to help the public separate truth from lies,”

Public opinionIncreasingly dependant on polls Which leads to pseudo-polls

Call inOnlinePerson-in-the-street polls

Research on Media EffectsHypodermic-Needle Model

The evil media shoots their potent effects directly into unsuspecting victims (Orsen Wells “War of the Worlds”) (Natural Born Killers)

Minimal-Effects ModelThe media alone can’t cause people to change

their attitudes and behaviors

Selective exposure and retention*We view things in the media that closely represent or reinforce the beliefs we already have.

Genius Quote of the Day!!!

“For some children, under some conditions, some television is harmful. For other children under the same conditions, or for the same children under other conditions, it may be beneficial. For most children under most conditions, most television is probably neither particularly harmful nor particularly beneficial,”

Uses and Gratifications Model

Why do we use the media?Satisfying various emotions or intellectual needs

*Experiments in media research*Experimental groupControl group

*Isolate some aspect of content**Understand impact on attitude, emotion, or

behavior*

Content AnalysisIssues with correlation vs. causation

Correlation-shows a link between to variablesCausation-explains the relationship *CORRELATION DOES NOT IMPLY CAUSATION*

Social Learning TheoryAttentionRetentionMotor ReproductionMotivation*Cultivation Theory*“suggests that heavy viewing of television leads

individuals to perceive the world in ways that are consistent with television portrayals,”

Social IsolationSpiral of Silence

Views which are considered the minority won’t get brought up for fear of isolation

Audience StudiesOr Reader-Response research- focuses on how

people use and interpret cultural contentGerman Philosopher Jürgen Habermas focused

on the Public Sphere which is the relationship between communication and democracy.

James Carey (media historian)Communication/Culture*More of a cultural ritual*“A symbolic process whereby reality is produced,

maintained, repaired, and transformed,”

Intellectual DichotomyIssues with academic research on media effectsAcademics speaking too fast and using too big

of words.Fails to address everyday problems Begins to alienate “nonacademics”

Alan Sokal’s famous hoax1996 “Transgressing the boundaries: Toward a

Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity”(Designed to point out how dense academic jargon

can be)

Quote of the day“Anything is possible…. When you

don’t know what you’re talking about….,”