Audience Matters Exam 1
Selective processes
Agent how and why do audience selectively expose themselves to some messages but not others
Uses and gratifications
Agent How do audiences use particular messages to advance individuals goals and desires
reader response
Agent why do different members of the same audience walk away with different interpretations of the messages to which they were exposed
Mcquail's Typology of Media Effects
Analyzes audiences from four perspectives.
What theory did Walter One SJ
Audience is fiction
Control
Audiences typically don't want to cooperate if they view the purpose as either having little chance of working or if it results in them losing a level of control
Region
Clear cultural differences between Ohioans texans Kansans etc
Understand the world
Communication acts are designed for audiences; they reflect the world as the sender believes the receivers see it.
Competing persuaders
Competition.
Class
Different socio-economic groups have different needs, perspectives, and priorities
Religion
Does your work target particular religious groups, does it convey values shared by all religious groups? etc
Whats the most pressing issue problem or desire
Everyone has things that are most important to them. Knowing why this audience be interested in my ideas
Mass audience
Examines the audeicen as a large group that can be targeted.
Universal audience
Exists in the mind of a rhetor An indefinitely large and potentially infinite audience. as the limit case of rhetoric (which ordinarily requires that an orator or writer have some knowledge of a particular audience ahead of or during the speech performance). Basically the perfect audience Useful to create a logical audience no bias.
Identification
Goal is to have the audience perceive themself just like the speaker. Focus on the commonalities they share instead of differences
Cost
If the cost is to high persuasion is unlikely
Conflicting belief
If the speakers beliefs are in direct conflict with the audiences beliefs then the speaker will appear to be incorrect and dishonest
Who do they trust
If you can defend your positions using ideas words and support of people your target audiences trust you will build more credibility for yourself.
How to protect yourself
If you understand their methods, you will be in position to make much better decisions.
Cultural Symbols
Items which have an elevated symbolic importance within our culture ex. flag
Emotion appeal
Logos-logic pathos-emotion ethos-credibility
Media events
Mass audience like major live events which can draw hundred of millions or even a few billion viewers
Making available
Now a days, most of the time "senders" create content and make it available to receivers who actively seek it. All that is being distributed is the link to the creation.
Distributing
Originally we crafted messages and then distributed them to receivers whether through newspapers, magazines, television, or radio. Process of receiving more passive than today.
propaganda research
Outcome questions about the effectiveness of traditional and modern uses of propaganda by governments and militaries
attitude change
Outcome questions about why people change their minds about particular people or concepts after exposure
effects research
Outcome questions of increasing aggression, fear, xenophobia etc after prolonged exposure to media messages
Rapid development of tech increased public fears because
People could receive messages so easily now. Many experts and others thought people would be easily manipulated with this new tech
Performance
Perfection is not necessary people trust a person with a few mistakes more because they seem sincere.
Conflicting values
Persuasion is incredibly difficult if the values being espoused by the sender are in direct conflict with the values of the audience
Public opinion is fictional
Public doesn't know what its talking about. People lacked the time and interest and resources to really know the issues making their opinions less relevant
Probability sampling
Random sample Representative sample smallest possible sample size
Reputation
Reputation is on the line 24/7 with everything you do
Walter Ong, SJ Why audience is fiction
Some believe audience is a fiction because many creators or writers don't know who will read/watch their works. They have no idea who their audience is the writer/creator can only create things with a certain group or desired audience in mind and hope to capture their attention.
Real audience
The actual group that reads the author's work. Will never be like a universal audience because of bias. People have different reactions to everything
The group- or public- as audience
The audience is identified by its location
the channel or content audience
The idea that audiences choose particular channels because those channels interest them.
Change agents
The person who has the capacity to provide what you seek. If you don't reach the change agent your message will fail people who act as change catalysts and assume the responsibility for managing the change process
Audience as Spectators
The primary goals are for the audience to watch and appreciate. We tend to measure success by receipts, either in tickets sold or advertising dollars generated.
Why study audiences
The right message, to the right people, in the right way, at the right time; effective audience analysis means effective communication.
Target audience
The target audience is the group for whom the sender has designed the message too.
appeals to tradition or history
These appeals tend to work best for people who long for the gold old days or when trying demonstrate that a particular concept has withstood the test of time
Self
This asks the question what ambitions or interests does my target audience have
Where do they get their information
This is how you should choose the media you will use to send your message
Exposed audience
This is the largest concept of audience. It is everyone who actually encounters the message.
Who are they
This is where the demographic data becomes useful. Age, sex, gender etc. Helps identify target audiences and their motivations
Cultural history
Topic which is too familiar to your audience will bore the audience
Archetypal symbols
Universal symbols or meanings- fire water blood
demonstration
We need to all agree on facts and values to be able to demonstrate best course of action or message without resulting to argument. Needs to agree on certain set statistics/measurements so you can demonstrate
Inertia
When an audience keeps doing things because they always have done them. Hard to persuade
Role of bias
When sending a message bias is important because if an audience is biased in views it will very difficult and argue to change their mind. Bias is also what separates a real audience from a universal one. - The deviation of the results from the truth and can explain an observed association between exposure and outcome variables
Demers six questions
Who are they Whats their most pressing issue Where do they get their info What benefit of your product solves their problem What sets off their bs detector Who do they trust
What benefit of your product solves their problem
Your message must solve the issues your target audience. Should resolve it better than alternatives
Conflicting needs
a need is something that is essential to the audience. Speaker needs to find ways to truthfully and ethically redefine the needs of the audience in a way that makes the message acceptable
Rhetorical question
a question asked that does not expect a voiced answer. Gains its power because the audience is completing the argument for the speaker
What sets off their bs detector
a question you need to ask because credibility is so important. Know issues well enough that you are aware of the standard false claims
age group
are you targeting kids, teens, young people, middle age people, old people
Agent
assumption behind most of the agent research is that the audiences are intentionally using the media to which they are exposed to
The medium audience
audiences are identified by the medium they choose to receive
gender
composed of male or female no longer very good when analyzing audiences
Argumentation
disagree about basic facts. Trying to build common ground to move to demonstration. Unable to demonstrate because there is no agreement
Lookalike targeting
finding people with similar interests to target you
appearance
first impressions. Look credible
Descriptive
goal is to provide a fairly vivid scene the sender adds adjectives and adverbs to help us see the scene
Attention (barrier)
if the audience is not interested in a topic there is no chance to Persuade them.
A fortiori
if then claim. It based on the premise that if a stronger version of an argument is true then a weaker version of it must also be at least equally true. Can also work with rejecting ideas.
Audience profile
important because identifying a target audience is crucial to effective communication but trying to appeal to everyone doesn't work because people are just too different
Why are demographic contexts important
important because they allow the sender to better understand their audience
Urban V Rural
just as regions matter so do the differences between these settings
antithesis
juxtaposition of two contrasting ideas to help the audience see a new picture through their clash.
Pallid
least descriptive features concrete non abstract language and provides dry account fo an event
Audience ratings
mass audience
mass behavior
mass audience the study of how public opinion shifts why people vote or purchase what they do
interactive model
models primary contribution is the recognition of feedback. Communication flows in both directions. Speaker sends messages to audiences, those receivers generate responses. Feedback may take awhile. ex. Internet communications.
Demographic features
obvious individual characteristics that allow the observer to place audience members in categories by those features
linear model
one way channel → a sender sends a message through a channel to a receiver in an atmosphere of noise
Political allegiance
politcal groups
Argument (strategy)
provides a claim support for the claim and reason why that support proves the claim
Enumeration
providing great details or a number of claims without development of any
personification
providing human qualities to non human things
visualization
puts you in the event.
Ethnicity
race and ethnicity play roles
Misperception (barrier)
reflects a lack of understand that generally comes from the speaker and audience. Sometimes the sender and receive so far apart, they have a hard time seeing each others position
Enactment
speaker offers her own experience as proof of her claim
sampling polls
such as probability sampling is crucial because it has a very small margin of error and give better results compared to straw polls.
The gratification set as audience
the audience is grouped by some particular interest. ex. game of thrones fan
Audience as participants
the audience is perceived as part of the message creation. The goal is to share to build commonality. And while we may use that participation to move toward better outcomes, or better relations, we may also participate for catharsis, or to simply enjoy each other's company.
Audience as target
the audience is targeted so the sender can persuade influence and perhaps control the audience
depiction
the goal is to provide a more vivid scene. The sender wants to create a picture that you can Cleary visualize
Public sphere
the interplay of the three general approaches of audience models
Outcome
the outcome research is mainly concerned with the effects exposure of media has on audiences.
Education
there are huge difference in interests and knowledge between different education groups. ex. highschool dropout college grad
Complexity
topic to hard to understand or so simple its boring
objectification
treating human beings as objects
litotes
use of an understatement to emphasize a point
Custom targeting
using email addresses phone numbers user ids and usernames to target you.
Behavioral/ Connection targeting
using your purchasing behavior to target you
interest targeting
using your self-report data to target you. Data that you give. Such as facebook, give your interests etc.
Family
what is the target audiences role in the family. Parents children grandparents?
Nation
what nation does your audience call home