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THE DYNAMICS OF MASS COMMUNCATION Joseph R. Dominick University of Georgia--Athens. Impact of the Media. Chapter 18. Social Effects of Mass Communication. Investigating Mass Communication Effects Effects on Knowledge and Attitudes Media Effects on Behavior: A Short History - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights reserved.
THE
DYNAMICS
OF MASS
COMMUNCATION
Joseph R. DominickUniversity of Georgia--Athens
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights reserved.
Impact of the Media
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights reserved.
Chapter 18
Social Effects of Mass Communication
Investigating Mass Communication EffectsEffects on Knowledge and Attitudes Media Effects on Behavior: A Short HistoryThe Impact of Televised ViolenceEncouraging Prosocial BehaviorOther Behavior EffectsResearch about the Social Effects of the Inter
netCommunication in the Future: Society ImpactC
hapt
er O
utlin
e
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights reserved.
• Scientific approaches to studying media effects • Surveys
– Large groups of people answer questions– Do not prove cause and effect relationships– Do suggest associations– Panel studies
• More reliable, more expensive• Study groups over long time periods
• Experiments– In a laboratory or in the field– Manipulate factors to determine impact on other factors
Investigating Mass Communication Effects
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights reserved.
• Media and Socialization• The Media as a Primary Source of
Information• Shaping Attitudes, Perceptions, and Beliefs• Cultivation Analysis• Media and Socialization• Children and Television Advertising• Agenda Setting
Effects on Knowledge and Attitudes
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights reserved.
Effects on Knowledge and Attitudes
Media and Socialization
Figure 18-1 Agencies of Socialization
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights reserved.
• Learning important in socialization• The mass media serve as important
sources of information– Often the prime source– Wide range of topics: politics, crime, health, the
environment• 90% of Americans learned about 9/11
from TV
Effects on Knowledge and Attitudes The Media as Primary Source of Information
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights reserved.
TV is an important socialization agent when…
Effects on Knowledge and Attitudes
Shaping Attitudes, Perceptions, and Beliefs
young people are heavy viewers
there is no alternative information
Stereotypes can be at odds with Real Life (RL) ~30% of TV programs are about crime and law enforcement and 90% of TV crimes are solved On TV, 60% of crimes are violent (vs. 10% in RL) Portrayal of Arab men on TV
Heavy viewers of violent TV programs are likely to favor use of violence in RL Children who are heavy viewers of police shows believe police are more successful than in RL Link between heavy viewing and attitudes that favor traditional sex roles
Research in this area is inconsistent Under some circumstances, TV affects young people’s attitudes if there is no relevant
alternative input Example: dating behavior
TV presents stereotypes
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights reserved.
• George Gerbner and colleagues at University of Pennsylvania
• Thesis: Heavy TV viewing “cultivates” perceptions of reality consistent with the view of the world presented in TV programs.
Effects on Knowledge and Attitudes
Cultivation Analysis
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights reserved.
• Methodology– Step 1: Identify predominant themes and
messages in television content– Step 2: Examine what viewers absorb from
heavy exposure to TV. Viewers respond to questionnaires with “real world” or “TV world” answers
Effects on Knowledge and Attitudes
Cultivation Analysis
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights reserved.
• Most research finds a cultivation effect– Three complications
• Questions of cause and effect (ex: going out at night)
• Controlling for other factors weakens the result• Technical issues such as method of counting
viewing hours and wording of questions can affect findings significantly
– Mainstreaming; Resonance
Effects on Knowledge and Attitudes
Cultivation Analysis
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• Typical child sees 20,000 TV commercials annually: toys, cereals, candy, fast-food
• Action for Children’s Television– Children are vulnerable and subject to
exploitation.– Younger children may be deceived by TV ads– Long-term exposure to TV ads could hurt a
child’s socialization as a future consumer
Effects on Knowledge and Attitudes Children and Television Advertising
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• Choosing and emphasizing topics can cause the public to perceive these issues as important
• Research suggests– Cause and effect relationships are still unclear– Results hinge on medium being studied– Topic covered can influence agenda setting– Experience with topic influences results
• Political campaigns
Effects on Knowledge and Attitudes Agenda Setting
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• Agenda research has two general fields of study:– Framing – how topics are treated by the
media and how that leads us to think about them
– Agenda building – examines how media build their agenda of newsworthy items
Effects on Knowledge and Attitudes
Agenda Setting
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• 1940s: Surveys examine political influence when President Roosevelt airs fireside chats
• 1950-60s: Surveys concerned with excessive media violence and influence on children
• 1970: Exposure to TV violence linked with antisocial behavior
• 1990s: Congress mandates new TV rating system and use of “V” chip; several bills to regulate TV and movie violence
Media Effects on Behavior: A Short History
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights reserved.
• A recent summary of research concludes– A significant correlation exists between viewing
violent TV shows and day-to-day aggressive behavior
– A relationship is not necessarily cause and effect. – International panel study of children (1986)
• Weak relationship between viewing TV violence and aggression
• Pattern of circularity in causation: viewing violent TV more aggression; being aggressive watch more violent TV
The Impact of Televised Violence
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights reserved.
• Rival Theories• Catharsis Theory (Aristotle)
– Watching violence purges the urge to be violent• Stimulation Theory
– Watching violence stimulates you to be more violent
• Albert Bandura’s Experiment (1960)– Reactions of children seeing a model interact
violently with a Bobo doll
The Impact of Televised Violence
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights reserved.
• Factors that complicate research– Age, sex– Length and type of violent media content– People with whom the subject watches the media– Social class, family history, economic background
• Study of Canadian TV in 3 towns (1974+)• What Can We Conclude?
– Watching television violence does increase aggressive tendencies. The effects are small but not trivial
The Impact of Televised Violence
McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights reserved.
• Prosocial behavior – cooperation, sharing, self-control, helping
• Experiments: – Films, TV shows improve child’s self-control– Kids imitate cooperative, generous, and helping behavior
portrayed in films or TV• Surveys:
– Children perceive prosocial messages– Little relationship between viewing prosocial programs and
prosocial behavior
• Prosocial behavior is more subtle than antisocial behavior and harder to perceive
Encouraging Prosocial Behavior
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• Political Behavior– Voter turnout studies– Negative political advertising– The difficulty of candidate conversion– Reinforcement– Crystallization– Presidential debates
Other Behavior Effects
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• Political Planning and TV– Nominating conventions planned to
impact voter– TV has increased the cost of campaigning– Most campaigns organized around TV– Campaign staff include TV image
consultants
Other Behavior Effects
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• Does Internet use have an effect on other media?– Takes time away from television– A significant source of news
• Is there a link between heavy Internet use and a user’s social involvement?– Recent surveys find heavier use means more social
involvement and a greater number of social contacts– “Rich get richer”
Research about the Social Effectsof the Internet
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What might the future bring?Less privacy
Email Databases Buying habits Identity theft
Fragmentation and IsolationSelectivity Cocooning
EscapeVideo games HDTVWilliam Gibson’s Neuromancer
Communication in the Future: Social Impact