com 275 exam 1

What is information theory?

- - Communication is the intentional transfer of information - - content should be judged by its efficiency in reducing uncertainty - Informative text, pictures, and narratives can be quantified to judge effectiveness

What are the conflicting influences on organizations and individuals?

- -Constraint versus autonomy - - Routine production versus creativity - - commerce versus art - -Profit versus social purpose

What are the six major concepts of reach

- 1. The 'available' (or potential) audience: - 2. The 'paying' audience: - 3. The 'attentive' audience: - 4. The 'internal' audience: (attention to particular content) - 5. The 'Cumulative' audience: % reach over time - 6. The ' target' audience

Douglas Waples

- Added "under what conditions"

What are the four main types of audiences?

- Audience as a group or public - Gratification set as audience - The medium audience - Audience as defined by content

What are Biocca's different definitions of "activity"?

- Biocca (1988) proposes five different versions of activity - 1. Selectivity- audience member makes a choice what they want to watch - 2. Utilitarianism - 3. Intentionality - 4. Resistance to influence - 5. Involvement

What media audience model is associated with Clausse?

- Clausse's (1968) 5 layer model - Demonstrates how most communication receives only a small fraction of its potential attention and impact

Mass Society

- Corresponds to the "dominance" model of media power - Media controlled by dominant elite

What are the different critical perspectives of media content? What are their characteristic differences?

- Critical analysis of media - - Ability to fulfill intended functions - -Domination of media establishment - Marxist approaches - Media contain images favorable to ruling class - Audiences uncritically consume these images and adopt this favorable view Critical perspectives on content - Advertising and commercialism - Media violence - Gender representation - Cultural quality @@@@@@@

Kurt Lewin

- Dynamics of group communication - "Sweetbreads" study

Paul Lazarsfeld

- Effects of radio - "Opinion leader" - Two step flow model of media effect - When finished the study there was no large results in his experiment - Mass media goes to opinion leaders and then the opinion leaders tell individuals in social contact with an opinion leader

What is structuralism? What are its characteristic features?

- Explores the nature of signs systems that regulate latent meaning of texts - Suggests that signs evoke meaning by their use and associations within a culture - Goals is to identify the ' cultural meaning' of media content - Signs composed of signifier plus signified - - Signifier = physical part ( the word, image, sound) - Signification= process of giving meaning - - using a sign to give meaning to a referent ( some aspect of reality)

Harold Lasswell

- Five question model - Three functions mass communications should serve in society - 1. Surbeillance of the environment ( to inform) - 2. Correlate society's response to events in the enviroment (to guide) - Trasmission of cultural heritate

O What are some of the characteristics of the modern mass media audience?

- Larger - More dispersed - Individualized and privatized

What are the types of theories of media-society relations?

- Macro theory- dealing with the media as part of the larger social setting - Media institution theories- focusing on the workings of the media as organizations - Audience theories- concerned with audience uses of media - Mainly concerned with power, social, integration and social change - Values will influence the perception of these categories

Critical Political-Economic

- Media economics and technology concentrate ownership - Results in commodification content and audiences- diversity of available information decreases, oppositional positions become marginalized

Joseph Klapper

- Media effects generalization - 1. Ordinarily media are nota necessary or sufficient cause of change - 2. Typically, mediating factors result in media being an agent of reinforcement rather than change - 3. When media do cause change two things are likely: mediating factors are inoperative, allowing a direct mass media effect or mediating factors impel change - 4. Media effects do occur in certain residual situations

Wilbur Schramm

- Mediating Factors: focus on different reaction to the same media - Selective processes: selective exposure, selective perception, selective retention, and - Social categories perspective: Similar populations have similar reactions - Moderate to powerful media effects are possible

Marxist

- Middle/ ruling class controls media - Media and other social institutions operate in owner's interest - Media create a false consciousness among working- class - Middle/ ruling class monopolize media to halt political opposition and preserve status quo

Information Society

- New communication technology promotes social change characterized by- an economy bases on the production of information as commodity, the prominence of information related occupations, a greater volume of information flow, integration and convergence of activities

What are the five categories central to the media-society debate?

- Ownership: should be plurality - Order: should assist in maintenance - Expectations: should be fair, accurate and complete - Values: should support dominate values of society - Rights: should respect the rights of individuals

What characterizes the Payne Fund Studies? What can be said about them today?

- Payne Fund Studies- 1st major research - Series of studies commissioned to examine content, audience, and effects - Focused on children's film exposure Payne Fund Studies - Studies do not really show uniform effects - Still many saw overall effects as very strong - Interpreted as evidence of magic bullet

What is Magic Bullet Theory?

- Perspective of much early research - Have uniform instincts - Not influenced by social ties - Magic bullet- human nature and isolation = similar reception and interpretation Symbolic bullets: - Media strikes every eye and ear - Direct, immediate, powerful, and uniform effects

Communication Technology Determinism

- Social change is direct result of communication technological innovation - This form, content or use of each new technology- toward the manipulation of time or space - This bias influences social structure- bias towards oral skills, visual skills, or different mental processes - Communication revolution leads to social change- those who harness these forms control production and distribution of knowledge

What characterized 1920's mass society?

- Social differentiation increase - Informal social controls weaken - Communication becomes more difficult - Media become important information sources - Anomie: "Normless-ness"

Albert Bandura

- Social learning theory - Social cognitive theory

Functionalism

- Society is composed of interdependent institutions (including media)- all respond and contribute to needs of society - Media contribute by: - Promotion order, control and stability - Maintaining and transmitting culture, norms, and values - Reducing tension by providing entertainment

How do structural features and organizational routines/practices affect media content?

- Structural features (e.g. size, function, ownership) influence organization conduct, performance, and product - Organization practice and goals can influence media content- often more strongly than personal or ideological factors

Bernard Berelson

- There is evidence that: - Some communication - On some issues - On some people - Under some conditions - Have some effects

What is traditional content analysis?

- Two main assumptions - - Link between the external object and reference will be clear - - Frequency of occurrence will express 'meaning' - Limits to traditional analysis - - Risk of imposing an incorrect meaning-system

What are the major perspectives of mass communication research?

- Two major perspective: Social scientific and culturalist - Chapter centers on culturalist perspective: - Focused on construction of meaning from texts - Texts include all cultural artifacts

What is characteristic of normative theory?

- Value judgments concerning how media ought to operate - Early scholars focused mostly on informational media

What is the fourth estate?

- based on a theory of the free press - right to publish free of censorship is essential for a democracy

What are content analysis, experiments, surveys, and longitudinal research? What are the pros and cons of each of these three?

-Content Analysis • Asses what is presented in media • Purely descriptive o No evidence of media effects • How to do it o Select a sample o Coders assign messages to categories • Research Outcomes o Tells us how much of something we have • Frequency or magnitude o Tells us how content differs • By medium, source, daytime, rating, etc. • Pros o Describes what's on o Helps identify areas of interest and/or concern • Cons o Incomplete picture (limited to categories) o No evidence of media's effect -Surveys • Asses the measurable characteristics of a naturally occurring population • Research Outcomes o 1. Describe characteristics of population • e.g,. How concerned are you about the amount of violence depicted in movies, TV shows, and popular music? Are you Very concerned Fairly concerned Not very concerned Not at all concerned 2. Establish associations or relationships between variables • Positive- as X increases Y increases • Negative- as X increases Y decreases • Pros o Generalizability o Good for description • Cons o Does not show causality o Poor data quality (self-report) -Longitudinal Research • Research observing outcomes at more than one point in time • Two types: panel study and cohort study • Panel Study o Exact same sample o Multiple time points Example of Panel Study o Huessman (1986) o Compared TV watching to Aggressive Behavior • Cohort Study o Different samples o Observe at multiple time points o E.g. Sesame St. study on readiness of kindergartners • Pros o Can see change over time o Rule out some alternate explanations • Cons o Validity threats • Historical events • Selection bias • Subjects mortality • Outliers o Time and cost -Experiments • Research outcomes: o Designed to asses causal relationships o Three criteria for causality • Correlation • Time order • No third-variable cause • Classic Experiment o Major characteristics • Random assignment to experimental conditions • Manipulation of key variable

Modernization & Development

-Media can promote modernization and development- particularly in developing world - Media can disseminate- skills and technical known-how, progressive work ethics, democracy

What 4 areas of concerns do cultural theorists deal with?

Deal with important concerns like: - The notion of a mass culture - Questions of gender and subculture - The role of new technology - Political- economic issues : commodification, commercialization, hegemony

There are four typologies of culture-society relations. What are they?

Materialism, idealism, interdependence, autonomy

What is Meta-Analysis and Triangulation

Meta-Analysis • A means of systematically integrating the findings from many empirical studies • Used to provide a "big picture" Triangulation • Multiple methodologies are used o Combined results are more compelling than any single methodology o Programmatic research increases credibility

Understand perspectives of 19th Century Beginnings o Powerful Media Effects o Limited Media Effects o Effects of Varying Levels

Powerful media effects- -early scientists assumed powerful effects early books advocate powerful effects Limited media effects- - focus shifts to individuals post depression voluntary in groups limited impact of media Effects of varying levels -Individual differences and environments are important moderators of media effects - strong or week effect may occur under different context - individual differences and environments are important moderators of media effects

How is quality evaluated in research using a "media performance discourse" approach?

Quality of information is measurable - Usually based on some notion of public interest such as: - - Freedom and independence - Content diversity - News objectivity - Reality reflection of distortion

What are the five media-organizational relations that organizations have with outside forces? How do those relations impact content?

Relations with society - Is influenced by: - -Goals of media organizations (e.g. financial, political, public service) - The Journalist's role (engagement or neutrality) - -Interpretation - -Information - -Opposition- a clear but distinctive third option - Sense of professionalism Relations with pressure and interest groups - Evidence shows that outside agencies can influence content when - - Commercial interests are threatened or - - bad publicity is feared ( for non- commercial reasons) Relations with owners and clients - Proprietor influence - Media owners tend to set broad lines of policy - The influence of advertisers - -Rarely slant news; more often try to suppress - -Sensitive about the environment for messages - -Media produces veer towards self- censorship - -End of local press competition - -Sponsorship for programs can shape content Relations with audience - Audience not a salient concern to some content creators - - hostility to the audience - - an alternative view of need - -Insulation and uncertainty - - Dated images of audience Relations shaped by internal structure and dynamics - Division exists within the organization - Several sources - - Diversity of function (e.g. news vs entertainment) - -Personnel from different social backgrounds - -Duality of purpose (both material and ideal) - -Conflict between creativity and the need to sell

What are commodification, commercialization and hegemony? How are they related? How are they distinct?

all economic issues -Commodification is the transformation of goods and services, as well as ideas or other entities that normally may not be considered goods, into a commodity (in the Marxist sense of the word). The Marxist understanding of commodity is distinct from the meaning of commodity in mainstream business theory. -Commercialization or Commercialisation is the process or cycle of introducing a new product or production method into the market. Many technologies begin in the laboratory and are not practical for commercial use in their infancy. - Hegemony- leadership or dominance, especially by one country or social group over others.

Carol Hovland

experimental research about media effects on attitude change - First experiments in mass communication

What were the trends leading to modern society

industrialization and urban - Historical evidence for changes - Due to new technologies - Due to persuasive messages - On public opinion - On fright reaction

What is meant by the term mediation?

media's role in providing knowledge - Mediation creates relationships with objects not directly known- provide versions of events not directly experienced, creates "contact" with actors, politicians, and others not otherwise accessible, cultivates particular perceptions of people, places, and events

What are the strengths and weaknesses of traditional content analysis vs. the alternative (i.e. interpretive) methods of research?

traditional content analysis: - Two main assumptions - - Link between the external object and reference will be clear - - Frequency of occurrence will express 'meaning' - Limits to traditional analysis - - Risk of imposing an incorrect meaning-system #@@@

What is Lasswell's five-factor model of communication?

• Attempt to answer the question: o "Who... o ...Says what... o ...In which channel... o ...To whom... o ...With what effect?"

What is a model, and what are the differences between linear, interactive and transactional models?

• Linear Models: Based on the principles of stimulus-response psychology o Ex: Shannon-Weaver Model • Interactive Models: models stressing feedback and exchange o Ex Schramm Interactive Model • Transactional Models: models that emphasize the interdependency of how messages are formed, exchanged and interpreted o Ex: OTA Transactional Model