comm 102 -4
From the reading and lecture on uses and effects of mobile communication: - According to our lecture and Campbell (2013), in what ways is mobile communication distinct from other types of media?
"By mobile communication technology, I mean devices and services that supported mediated social connectivity while the user is in physical motion. This interaction may take place through voice, text, picture, video, or otherwise." ● Cell phones fastest growing communication medium of all time ● Smart phones combine many different forms of electronic media into a single small device ● Cultural norm to interact with those with shared interests, not with those in physical proximity ● Mobile communication is recognized as the fastest diffusing medium on the planet ever ● Portable media are carried from place to place, whereas mobile communication is possible during transition, freeing the user to connect with others while moving about within and across space- you can communicate in the moment ● The mobility allows for flows of information and communication to be more seamlessly weaved into the rhythms of everyday life, which has important social ramifications ● affordance of mobility has distinctive implications for how users relate to space- challenges traditional norms of how people act in public spaces- disturbances, disruptions, and distractions ● Mobile communication is distinct because of its cost- towers are relatively cheap to build, and prepay is easy to administer. Thus, mobile infrastructure, devices, and services are simply more affordable than other wireless and fixed media, providing opportunities for connectivity in developing societies that were previously beyond their reach
● Reasons for fright appeal
(I can not get ready) ○ Catharsis: purge your own tendencies ○ Identification or "vicarious experience" ○ Noxious experience: gratified relief once finished ○ Religious experience: encourages belief in superior spiritual being ○ Gender socialization in effects: roles/reactions
● Characteristics of Social networking Sit (Ex: Facebook and Twitter):
(can sophie chage view) ○ Construct public profile within a bounded system ○ Connect with other users, such as "friends" and "followers" ○ View and traverse connections (and connections of connections) Also... (updated since book chapter)- "streaming
● Diffusion and Adoption Process
(know peri did indeed cry) ○ Knowledge: an individual is exposed to an innovation and gains some understanding of how it functions ○ Persuasion: an individual forms a favorable or unfavorable attitude toward the innovation ○ Decision: an individual engages in activities that lead to a choice to adopt or reject the innovation ○ Implementation: an individual puts an innovation to use ○ Confirmation: an individual seeks reinforcement of an innovation-decision already made or reverses a previous decision to adopt or reject the innovation if exposed to conflicting messages about the innovation
● Factors affected adoption rates:
(some random obnoxious couples create tiktoks) ○ Status incentives : the degree to which one desires to be the first to have and use an innovation (ex: latest hairstyle, newest fashion trend) ○ Relative advantage : the degree to which an innovation is perceived as better than the thing it is replacing (if it is not better than the status quo, the innovation will not spread) ○ Compatibility: the degree to which an innovation is perceived as being consistent with the existing values, past experiences, and needs of potential adopters (if people feel they have become very different from the people who adopt the innovation, they will be more resistant) ○ Complexity: the degree to which an innovation is perceived as difficult to understand or use (more difficult=slower diffusion process) ○ Trialability: the degree to which an innovation can be experimented with a limited basis and if necessary discarded without undue costs (can people try it out, or must they commit all at once?) ○ Observability : the degree to which an innovation's results are visible and measurable
Some of Scott's Research and Theory
- "From Frontier to Field" ... a new field emerges - Sociality (before and after smartphones) - Spatiality (before and after smartphones) - Embedding into Society - Embedding into the Self - Addiction versus Habit - Mobile Communication and Solitude - Mobile Youth - Social Emancipation of Youth?
Effects on Relational Communication
- "Perpetual contact" - heightened sense of connection strengthens social bonds - Text messages symbolic of friendship/intimacy - Heavy cell phone use can have "cocooning" effect- Individuals insulated from others within close-knit social group
- 5 uses of tradition sites (Blogger, WordPress) blogs
- 1. Document life events - 2. Commentary and opinions - 3. Express deeply felt emotions - 4. Articulate ideas through writing - 5. Form and maintain community forums
- Twitter- 3 main user motivations:
- 1. Information source- large group of followers - 2. Information seeker- users log on but do not post - 3. Friends- connections with people actually known
Dataset
- 3-wave panel of adults in US - Postal mail, stratified quota sampling - W1 (Oct. '08): N = 1,012, 47% RR - W2 (Dec. '08): N = 717, 71% RR - W3 (March '08): N = 497, 69% RR - Sources of funding
- Mental health stereotypes
- Barely addresses, even in the textbook - "The last taboo" topic to be addressed - Negative stigma still very much present today - People with disabilities are often portrayed as incompetent, dangerous, lazy, undeserving, etc - Consequences - People less likely to seek help - Excluded from employment, social or educational opportunities - Self-stigma: negative response from public leads to lower self-esteem
Media Effects of Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Stereotyping black
- Blacks are among the heaviest viewers of television- more vulnerable to negative effects from mass media - Blacks enjoy watching black characters on TV
Health Communication Campaign Efforts
- Campaigns used worldwide with mixed results - Some health campaigns produce long-term behavior change; some do not - Fear appeals can increase anxiety - Some campaigns criticized for blaming victims who have been bombarded with ads featuring unhealthy behavior
recent finding for uses adn gratifications
- Consistent findings in replicated studies contributes toward generalization of results - Efforts toward consistent typologies produces more systematic categories - Concepts studied and more explicitly described; still a valid criticism - Discrepancy between researchers' definitions of key concepts persists - Validating scales and experimental methods now used; some caution still warranted
Internet addiction vs. Problematic internet use
- Currently no approved medical diagnosis for internet addiction - Internet dependency considered a form of deficient impulse control by some researchers; an addiction by others - Heavy users unaware of their behavior (HABIT!) - Users with lower social skills prefer computer-mediated communication and therefore use internet more often - Bored individuals more likely to overuse internet to problematic levels
Frightening Media
- Fear: generally conceived as an emotional response of negative hedonic tone related to avoidance or escape, due to the perception of real or imagined threat - Methods of study - Self report: participants select words that describe how they feel about a form of media - Physiological response: heart rate and skin conductivity, facial expressions - Reasons for fear effects - Classical conditioning: - Certain stimuli cause certain responses - Similar stimuli evoke similar, albeit less intense, responses - Fear producing stimuli: - Dangers and injuries - Distortion of natural forms - Endangerment and fear by others (you are scarred for the characters well being) - Emotional response factors - Realism of depiction: - Stimulus generalization: similarly between real life and scary stimuli - Stimulus discrimination: ability to distinguish what is real from what is unreal - Motivations of the viewer - Factors affecting viewers' emotional responses; excitation transfer - Age and gender differences - Age: due to developmental differences - Gender: "need" to conform to gender roles
Gender Stereotyping
- Gender schema theory - a cognitive structure that represents knowledge about a concept or type of stimulus, including its attributes and the relations among those attributes (Fiske & Taylor, 1991) - Schemata about gender can affect the way people (especially children) process information in the real world and from the world of mass media
Results
- H1: Information exchange: supported significant (+) - RQ1: Sociability & civic/political engagement: not significant - H2: Personal recreation: significant (+)... distinct from Internet research
Stereotyping in the Media (Discussion Notes) - Three types of analysis
- Head count: compare to society - Compare the percentage of minorities in the media to the percentage of minorities in society - One of the first methods deployed - Identifies overrepresentation and underrepresentation - Role comparison: - Assess the significance of each character - Type of role: leading role vs. supporting roles - Job types (blue collar vs, white color), prestige - Violence and aggressiveness (perpetrators, victims) - Interracial interactions: - Examines behaviors between characters - Mixed-race cast vs. single-race cast - Also considers race/gender - Interracial relationships (couples, families, etc.) - More conflicts within minority families - Stereotypical roles
Embedding of Mobile Communication into Society (i.e. Social Structure) -
- How mobile communication became a "taken for granted" in society: - Critical mass - Legitimation - Changes to the social ecology - E.g., microcoordination - Reciprocal expectations of accessibility - Are we addicted to mobile communication? - Mobile habits... an alternative perspective - Frequency PLUS automaticity
Diffusion of Innovations -- Everett Rogers (1962, 1995)
- Innovation: - An idea, practice, or object (e.g., product) perceived as new. - Diffusion: - The process by which an innovation is communicated and spreads through certain channels over time among the members of a social system. - Adoption: - The process by which an individual begins to attempt and use an innovation
Internet in the Workplace
- Intranet- company links computers within workplace - Blogs allow communication between CEOs and employees - Telecommuting enables working from home - Employees can balance job/home life demands (Skype) - Some telecommuters can feel lonely, isolated and stressed - Can be effective cost-saving measure - Leisurely web surfing for pleasure may provide needed break and ultimately increase working productivity
Media Effects of Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Stereotyping - Priming studies
- Majority audiences blame minority crime on personal disposition, majority crime on unfortunate situation - Long-term exposure to stereotypical portrayals of Blacks has been shown to result in subtle discriminatory thoughts among Whites
Effects on Youth Culture
- Media-use culture changes so rapidly that siblings are divided by different media-use experiences - Among teens, heavy cell-phone users more likely to be also involved in stealing, fighting, alcohol and drug abuse, sexual behavior - Heavy use linked to higher class failure rates, lower test scores, lower GPAs overall
Computer-Mediated Communication
- Messages asynchronous- sent and received at convenience of users - Verbal and nonverbal cues greatly reduces (media richness theory) - Acknowledged to be less fulfilling than face-to-face contact - Use of emoticons clarifies emotional intent of messages
vExample of Uses and Gratifications Research From Your Professor
- Mobile communication and civic life: a uses and gratifications perspective
Media Effects of Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Stereotyping - Hispanic Americans
- Most Hispanics prefer spanish-language networks - Ads in spanish are more persuasive among Hispanics
Private Use in Public Space
- Most people do not like having to hear a person's phone conversations - Listening to "halfalogue" more distracting that hearing both sides of a conversation - Absent presence - cell phone users physically present, but minds are engaged elsewhere - Users of mobile technology for information more likely to engage in conversation with strangers - Users of mobile technology for relational purposes less likely to talk to strangers - Mobile gaming greatly increases cell phone use - Apps allow access to social media accounts
Uses and Gratifications
- Motivations/gratifications sought - Lead to... - Usage patterns - Lead to... - Outcomes of use
Media Effects of Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Stereotyping - Minority reactions to stereotyped portrayals
- Native Americans reacted with negative effects on their self-esteem - People identify with characters of their own race
- Media "richness" a product of:
- Nonverbal cues - Immediate feedback - Natural language - Personal focus
Implications of Mobile Media for Solitude - Need for new conceptualization & measurement
- Oxford English Dictionary: "state of being or living alone" - Burger's (1995) Preference for Solitude Scale - I enjoy being around people - I like to vacation in places where there are few people around... - If I were to take a several-hour plane trip, I would like to sit next to someone who was pleasant to talk with
Implications of Mobile for Solitude - Need for new conceptualization & measurement
- Oxford English Dictionary: "state of being or living alone" - Burger's (1995) Preference for Solitude Scale - I enjoy being around people - I like to vacation in places where there are few people around... - If I were to take a several-hour plane trip, I would like to sit next to someone who was pleasant to talk with
Measures
- Predictors - Informational use - Relational use - Recreational use - Moderator - Mobile competence - Criterion variables - Civic engagement - Political participation - Controls: age, gender, education, income, political interest
Disney and Pixar -- Animating Gender
- Research focused on stereotypes in Disney's classic animated films - Disney animation not an innocent art form; nothing accidental or serendipitous occurs in animation as each second of action is rendered in 24 different still paintings - Disney: - Male characters outnumber females 199:83 - Females performed more in-home labor - Males performed much wider range of out-of-home jobs - Males held more positions of power than women - Characters aligned with femininity (passive, dependent, emotional) and masculinity (aggressive, independent, unromantic, unemotional)
Music Lyrics, Videos, and Health
- Rock music lyrics and videos emphasized physical sex, violence, and violent sexual encounters - Can lead to teenage pregnancy, suicide, substance abuse, and sexual assault - Drinking was mentioned in 10% of country music songs - Rap and hip hop music videos portrayed people drinking and doing drugs
Negative Effects of SNS Use
- SNS users more dissatisfied with their own bodies after viewing profiles of attractive users, social comparison - Fears of privacy invasion - Older users are afraid burglars will monitor posts to determine whether they are home - Passive use linked to lower well-being
Health and the Internet
- Searches for health-related info among most common uses of the Internet - People who seek Internet information on illness more likely to use information to formulate questions for their physicians during visits - Validity and quality of information is not checked by users and is sometimes substandard
What do we do when we log on?
- Social networking- 22.5% - Online games- 9.8% - E-mail- 7.6% - Portals- 4.5% - Videos/movies- 4.4% - Info searches- 4% - IM- 3.3% - Review of software manufacturers- 3.2% - Classified ads- 2.9% - Current events, global news- 2.6% - Other (porn, sports, music, shopping)- 35%
From Frontier to Field -- Old and New Theoretical Directions in Mobile Communication Studies
- Sociality - Pre-smartphone "cocooning" - Increased bonding at expense of bridging - Zero-sum game - Smartphone era - Bridging and bonding - Added layer of communication, information, and content - Spatiality - Pre-smartphone - Problem of mobile phone use in public - Separate & competing social stages - Smartphone era - Integration of digital and physical - Hybrid space
- How can stereotypes be effectively used as a persuasive strategy in public health campaigns?
- Stereotype priming model uses salient preexisting social stereotypes about people who do or do not behave as advocated - Cigarette smokers presented showing negative stereotypical traits like stained teeth - Nonsmokers shown with positive stereotypical traits, i.e. enjoying good health - A stereotypically pretty/skinny woman on television for a public health campaign about eating better and exercising - A young, attractive, wealthy single man at a bar enjoying his bachelor life as a public health campaign for using protection
Stereotyping in Dumbo
- Tent - Crows - Elephant matriarch
Effects of Texting
- Text messaging average rate per month: - Teen boys - over 2,500 - Teen girls - over 4,000' - Shorthand symbol use develops significance within social network - Texting functional and convenient, easier and faster - Messages sent and viewed when convenient for users - Smart phones equipped with full QWERTY keyboard
- Sexual minority stereotypes
- The number of portrayals of sexual minorities: increased since the 90s - Portrayals are often stereotypical, one-dimensional, comedic, and asexual (with the exception of certain genres like reality, ex: The Real World) - Sexual minorities also tend to have different roles than their heterosexual counterparts, ex: supporting rather than lead - Many LGBTQ characters are also played by straight actors and actresses - Media portrayals have been shown to be important in terms of knowledge gain for those who do not encounter the community in real life
Recent Research
- Third-person effects - consumers perceive content to affect others more than themselves - Parasocial interaction - media consumers believe celebrities are more like friends than strangers - Escapism: television entertainment allows people to escape from their real life problems - Anxiety reduction and play: allow audience members to put aside real life and experience enjoyment while being entertained with fantasy - Internet - Information seekers - interact via website - Social interaction seekers - prefer face-to-face - Facebook and IM - Facebook - shared with friends - Instant messaging - develop and maintain relationships - Women - maintain relationships - Men - develop new relationships - Reality television - Viewers live vicariously through featured participants - Multitasking possible while viewing - Topic of conversation with other viewers Competition reality programs gratify on an individual level
Time Spent vs. Patterns of Use
- Time Spent" with media (watching TV, going online, etc. is a popular variable .... But what are people doing with it?) - Usage Patterns provide more nuance. For example, in past research: - Informational use of internet helps social capital - Social recreation hinders social capital
Criticisms of Uses and Gratifications - Early criticism
- Too individualistic - Lack of synthesis of research findings - Lack of clarity among key concepts - Can have different names - Differences in meaning of key concepts - Different aspects of the concepts - The active audience/use of self-reporting method perceived to lack accuracy and consistency
Models to Explain Uses and Effects:
- Transactional Model - Combines message characteristics and audience psychological orientation - Combines direct effects model and individual differences model - Gratification-Seeking and Audience Activity Model - Focuses more on specific gratifications sought and attitude of viewer determine viewer's attention - Effect on viewer depends on degree of involvement and intentions - Expectancy-Value Model - Expectancy - probability that an attitude has a particular attribute or that a behavior outcome has consequence - Evaluation - degree of affect toward particular outcome - Uses and Dependency Model - certain elements in a media system cause people to use and depend on it - Viewer motives - Availability of viewing alternatives
Media Effects of Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Stereotyping - Cultivation studies
- Whites who are heavy TV viewers more prone to stereotype Blacks as lower socioeconomically due to lack of initiative, not lack of opportunity - White heavy TV viewers cultivated stereotypical attitudes toward Hispanics; real-world contact lessened effects
Media Effects of Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Stereotyping - Gender stereotyping
- Women are portrayed as wives and mothers rather than workers, and are usually younger than men - Women are underrepresented in films - Males are more likely to be in a position of authority - When characters are shown in counter-stereotypic ways, gender affects are diminished
○ Media use for gratification
- proactive or passive ■ Proactive: actively seeks something from the media based on wants, needs.... ■ Passive: mindless consumption
- Where do we see noticeable change in these trends over time (from 1970s/80s until the textbook was published)?
TELEVISION FILM ADVERTSIMENTS
Laggards
adopt only when certain technology will not fail, or when forced to change, take the most amount of time to try something, decision process is lengthy, tied to the past and don't see a need for change, suspicious of innovations, limited resources, when adopted, the innovation has become outdated
Neuralink (this was seen in lecture, has to do with Elon Musk)-
brain-computer interface center, merge man with machine, without this technology, humans cannot keep up with artificial intelligence. IThe technology is called neural lace, which is put in the brain. It should enable people to upload or download things directly from the computer into their brain. Concerns about ethical and real world implications- how would this affect personal privacy. Could hackers get into our minds?
- Microblogging focuses
on interactivity, engagement, and conversations, similar to SNS
Patterns of Mobile Use Predicting Civic and Political Involvement
v- H1: Informational use positive predictor - RQ1: Relational use? - H2: Recreational use negative predictor
○ Other mass media functions
■ 4. Entertainment ■ 5. Parasocial interaction (ex: thinking you are friends with celebrities you see) ■ 6. Escapism ■ 7. Anxiety reduction ■ 8. Play
● Motion pictures:
○ 1940s-1960s - Blacks appeared in only 3% of national magazine ads, all were well-known entertainers, famous athletes, or unknowns in servant roles ○ 1970s-1980s - presence deteriorated ○ 1990s - portrayal of characters of color in TV ads greatly increases to overrepresent population percentages by more than double- overcompensating for when they were not in the media ○ Native Americans and disabled continue to be avoided
Television
○ 1970s assessments of race proportions in media characters revealed portrayals far below real levels: Percentage of White characters increased beyond actual population percentage, percentage of Black characters increased slightly but remained below actual population percentage, percentage of other minorities was practically nonexistent ○ 1980s-1990s, women portray less than half of all prime-time TV characters, portrayed as younger than males, characters are wives and mothers, not workers or professionals of importance, women usually portrayed in films as young, hypersexual, scantily clad sex objects
● Character role comparisons:
○ 1975-1980 - Black men in TV minor roles and bit parts, fewer leading and supporting roles ○ 1970s - only 13% of Black-White interactions on TV shown as friendly/respectful ○ 1979 - Blacks and Native Americans portrayed as killers rather than victims ○ 1970s-1980s - characters of color usually in blue-collar/service jobs but percentage depicted in professional/white-collar jobs exceeded numbers in society ○ Disabled characters - 75% portrayed with abnormal or deviant personality traits; half were victimized during film
● Prescription drugs What effects do the media have on the consumption of tobacco, alcohol, prescription drugs, and food?
○ 1997- FDA approved mass media advertising of Rx drugs directly to the public, including magazines and TV ○ Advertisements influenced many people's behaviors ■ 6% discuss advertised drug with doctor ■ 30% of those were prescribed the drug ■ 11.5% were prescribed the drug although doctor did not believe it would help them ■ Advertising DIRECT to the consumer
why people text and drive and how mobile communication has consequences for solitude. ● Why people text and drive:
○ 75% of teens feel the need to immediately respond to texts, social networking messages and other notifications ○ 50% of teens feel they are addicted to their mobile devices ● Solitude means being alone, but now with mobile communication, we are always connected and technically are never alone. This is a problem because in solitude, we find ourselves. Now, there is a greater need for deliberate solitude for those interested in being alone. ○ Two flavors of solitude: unintentional and deliberate ○ However, unintentional solitude does not exists anymore because we are ALWAYS connected ○ Embedding of mobile communication → increased importance of deliberate solitude
films currently
○ 80% White lead characters ○ 19% Black lead characters ○ 1% Hispanic lead characters ○ Hispanics, Asian-Americans, and Latinos rarely seen in US motion pictures
What effects do the media have on the consumption of tobacco, alcohol, prescription drugs, and food? ● Tobacco
○ 83% of studies found causal link between media exposure and smoking initiation ○ 20% of TV episodes depict characters who smoke ○ Studies show portrayals of characters who smoke and drink present even in G-rated movies and 75% of animated Disney classic ○ The higher the ad recognition, the more likely one is to smoke ○ Tobacco companies spend more advertising dollars at point of purchase than all other advertising outlets combined, they also advertise at convenient stores near high schools ○ Marlboro and advertising tactics- commercial showed that manliness is associated with smoking ■ Although cigarette advertisements have been banned from broadcast media since 1971, tobacco companies have found other ways- like sponsorship of sporting events- to keep their products in the public view ■ Way to get on TV without actually being allowed to be on TV ○ Ex: A teen decides to start smoking after seeing the film Bridget Jones' Diary
○ Innovators:
○ : technological enthusiasts, adopt most quickly, require the shortest adoption period, risk takers, tend to form cliques or reference groups that exist outside a local community
● Alcohol What effects do the media have on the consumption of tobacco, alcohol, prescription drugs, and food?
○ Alcohol use and abuse in young people higher than any other drug including cigarettes and marijuana ○ Alcohol use by movie characters associated with early-onset drinking among 10-14 year olds ○ Dumbo is drunk and tripping out! ○ Studies focus on causal relationship between media and 1. start of adolescent drinking and 2. Increased consumption/drunk driving ○ Likelihood of adolescent drinking of beer or liquor directly related to TV alcohol ad exposure ○ Alcohol in the media ■ Some alcohol brands associate their products with animals and other appealing features with which young people identify
● Influence on media effects research
○ Early research explored motives for using various media rather than effects of media ■ Motives led to different research patterns ○ 1970s researchers categorized motives ○ Uses and effects should be linked - need fulfillment search leads to particular effects
● Food What effects do the media have on the consumption of tobacco, alcohol, prescription drugs, and food?
○ Food commercials may have positive or negative effects depending on nutritional value of food advertised ○ Food ads strongly related to childhood obesity, yet parental eating habits much more influential ○ Ads for nutritional items with health benefits increases audience awareness- ex: 1980s for Kellogg's All-Bran stressed anticancer benefits of high fiber and low fat ■ Negative example: children beg their mothers for sweetened breakfast cereal advertised during a cartoon show ○ American "thin standard" for women on TV linked to global viewer eating disorders
● Adopter categories:
○ Innovators: ○ Early adopters: ○ Early majority: ○ Late majority: ○ Laggards:
● Societal-Level Functions of Mass Media
○ Lasswell (3 major functions) (sorry calry talks) ■ 1. Surveys the environment- keeps users informed ■ 2. Correlation of environmental parts- helps form more accurate, holistic view ■ 3. Transmits societal norms and customs to new generations of viewers
● Advertising currently:
○ Men portrayed as professionals, promote non domestic items ○ 1990s Black breakthroughs- black women achieved status of supermodels ■ Tyra Banks on 1996 Swimsuit Edition (with white model), 1997 appeared solo ■ 2007 - Beyoncé on Swimsuit Edition cover ○ Hispanic and Asian models rarely appear in magazines ■ Hispanics, 1% - more likely appear provocative and sexualized ■ Asian Americans, 2% - appear passive in nature or tech-savvy ○ Women represent 45-49% of people seen in commercials but more likely to be sexualized
● Motivations: for social networkign system
○ Personality factors and uses and gratifications ■ Multitaskers are more likely to use SNSs and stay on longer ■ Studies suggest SNS users do not seek out new people but focus on established relationships ■ Collect info, reduce stress, record daily events, social networking ○ Effects on well-being: ■ Most of this research is done on college students because they are convenient to researchers and are more likely than the average citizen to use SNS ■ Heavy use connected to lower self-esteem and academic performance ■ Honest self-presentation results in greater happiness from SNS use
What is Mobile Communication? ● Possibility of social connection while in transition
○ Possibility: potential just as important as usage itself ○ Social connection: communication, information, and content ○ In transition: between and beyond places of destination...mobile communication is the ONLY means of connecting while in transition
● Television currently:
○ Prime-time television characters 14-17% Black in a society with 12-13% Black population, typical Blacks are middle-class professional males in thirties, least aggressive characters, dress more provocatively, news depicts Black juvenile offenders 39% Black, 24% White; actual offender percentages 18% Black, 22% White ○ Hispanics are 27% of population, but only 2-6% of TV characters, they are portrayed as less intelligent and lazier, more on news a crime perpetrators ○ Asian Americans are about 5% of the population but 1-3% of TV characters usually portrayed in important jobs ○ Native American characters are <.5%, population is 1% ○ More recent studies show women represent about 40% of characters on prime time TV
● Individual level motivations:
○ Proactive: watching a particular television program in order to learn more about a specific subject of interest, watching a certain movie for the express purpose of being entertained, or using the Internet to find info for a school project ○ Passive: turn on the television because it is there, just to see "what's on"
● 4 types of messages shown to increase self-protective behavior
○ Severity- show severe consequences of behavior ○ Vulnerability- show ease of contracting disease ○ Response efficacy- show how protective behaviors reduce or cure disease ○ Self-efficacy- show effectiveness of protective behavior
● An innovation spreads throughout society in a predictable pattern
○ When a new innovation is adopted quickly, it is said to explode into being ○ Critical mass describes the point when adoption of an innovation takes off (when 5-15% of people have adopted), when the greatest number of people begin to adopt it, and the dramatic upward line on the S curve begins its ascent ○ Saturation level- virtually everyone who is going to adopt the innovation has done so
Early majority
○ pragmatists, resourceful, solve problems, prefer to deliberate before making a decision, careful consumers who avoid risk, rely on recommendations from others with the product, they legitimize the innovation
Late majority
○ skeptic, cautious, wait until the rest of the community has adopted it first, may adopt the innovation unwillingly (peer pressure or economic necessity)
○ Early adopters:
○ visionaries who are respected for their willingness to try new innovations, opinion leaders, well connected in the local community, motivated to preserve respect, seek greater knowledge of innovations, greater exposure to mass media channels
Main assumptions of uses and gratifications
● (arly please study calmly) ○ Audience activity varies - selections based on personal motivations, goals, and needs ○ Media use for gratification - proactive or passive ■ Proactive: actively seeks something from the media based on wants, needs.... ■ Passive: mindless consumption ○ Social and psychological factors mediate communication behavior ○ Competition and mediation - viewer initiative mediates selection of media
- What are strategies that people use to cope with their fear in these situations?
● Coping with fear ○ Non cognitive strategies: do not require the viewer to process information ■ Visual desensitization ■ Physical activity ○ Cognitive strategies: require the activation of cognitive processes ■ Acknowledgement that program is not real ■ Offering information about the minimal danger of the depicted threat
- How/why has mobile communication consequences does it have for social capital?
● Effects on social coordination: ○ "Microcoordination" ○ Logistics - last-minute changes in plan easily communicated ○ Scheduling - scheduled time is more flexible ○ Ongoing refinement - instant communication allows coordination of plans moment-to-moment as needed ○ Mobile communications allow more planning for spontaneous face-to-face encounters ○ Mobile workers - lower boundaries between work and home may cause stress
- Be familiar with the major technical development in the history of the internet.
● Evolution of the Internet: ○ 1960s- developed to share computer time for military and academic researchers ○ ARPA- developed by Advanced Research Projects Agency of Defense Department- ARPAnet ○ 1971- E-mail developed for users to communicate (created by Ray Tomlinson) ○ Technological advances made computers smaller, more affordable, as well as the Internet being faster and more accessible ○ Late 1980s- World Wide Web developed by Tim Berners-Lee for engineers to collaborate on the Web via HTML- HyperText Markup Language ○ First Web browsers- Mosaic, Netscape ○ The Net (radio shows and newspapers can post exclusive content on websites, second-screening which is watching the game and texting about it at the same time ○ "Google" and "Facebook" have become verbs ○ Smart phones access Internet
- Aside from those negative effects, what are some of the positive effects of the media for health?
● Intense media scrutiny on a particular health problem or controversial treatment can cause governing officials to act ○ Greatest impact comes from when health experts are in agreements on how to solve a health problem ● Use of condoms increases during the AIDS awareness campaign ● Studies have shown that news coverage of the dangers of smoking can have a significant effect on the number of people who smoke ● A woman makes a check-up appointment after hearing of Farrah Fawcett's battle with cancer
- What role does the news play in health policy and behavior?
● Most people pay most attention to public health issues ● Public also pays attention to health policy stories/ specific disease stories ● News coverage of smoking dangers significantly impacts numbers of people who quit ● Framing of health stories can impact policy makers and affect public health policy ● Intense scrutiny can cause officials to act ● Greatest impact on public policy at local level when experts in agreement and media supports efforts of interest groups
- What is the "Internet Paradox"?
● One study found that although Internet is used mainly for communication, heavier users found to be more lonely and isolated ○ The paradox started with negative results because they were taking data from people that never used the Internet before ● Subsequent studies show extroverted users benefit from online socialization ● Easily used to maintain contact with family and friends
- Be familiar with the types of messages that help motivate people to do things to change their behaviors to protect their health.
● Risk-learning models relate new info about health risks and the behaviors that minimize those risks ● 4 types of messages shown to increase self-protective behavior ○ Severity- show severe consequences of behavior ○ Vulnerability- show ease of contracting disease ○ Response efficacy- show how protective behaviors reduce or cure disease ○ Self-efficacy- show effectiveness of protective behavior ● Stereotyping priming model uses salient preexisting social stereotypes about people who do or do not behave as advocated ○ Ex: Cigarette smokers presented showing negative stereotypical traits like stained teeth while nonsmokers shown with positive stereotypical traits,like enjoying good health
- How is Facebook use related to social capital?
● Social capital: resources accrued from individuals in a network ● Some ways people can accrue social capital: ○ Bridging- many weak friendship ties (common in US) ○ Bonding- close relationships providing emotional support ○ Maintained- users stay connected with old social networks despite lack of physical connection ● Facebook provides greatest social gains for users with low self-esteem, therefore online connections are easier to manage than in person one for shy individuals ● Facebook is related to social capital because Facebook provides users with the functions to accrue social capital through bridging, bonding, and maintained connections
- How/why has mobile communication change the way people coordinate and maintain personal relationships? What consequences does it have for social capital?
● This would enhance social capital by creating stronger ties for emotional support, and maintaining old ties that are distant from you because of more planning for spontaneous face-to-face encounters (I came up with this and I'm not sure if it's correct) ● Most people do not like having to hear a person's phone conversations ● Listening to "halfalogie" more distracting that hearing both sides of a conversation ● Absent presence: cell phone users physically present, but minds are engaged elsewhere
Uses and gratifications
● individual differences cause each audience member to seek out different messages, use them differently, and respond to them uniquely ● Viewer's social/psychological makeup is responsible for media usage as messages, it examines motivations and behaviors, and states the audience does not passively watch the media