Media Effects and Cultural Approaches

to Research

Chapter 15

“Since the emergence of popular music, movies, television, and video games as influential mass media, the relationship between make-believe stories and real-life imitation has drawn a great deal of attention.”

Cause and Effect?

Media effects Attempting to understand, explain, and

predict the effects of mass media on individuals and society

Has a long history of research Does television make you do things? Does it make you not do things?

Natural Born Killers Columbine, Colo. Virginia Tech

History of Effects Research De Tocqueville and Lippmann

Lippmann created “the founding book in American media studies.”

Propaganda studies Harold Lasswell: defined propaganda as “the control

of opinion by significant symbols, . . . by stories, rumors, reports, pictures and other forms of social communication.”

Public opinion research Is the media too “poll-happy”?

Social psychology Payne Fund

Marketing research Advertisers and product companies used it to track

consumer preference.

Public Opinion Research

Public opinion research is especially influential during political elections. It can also adversely affect active political

involvement.

Journalism is increasingly dependent on political polls. Unreliability of pseudo-polls

Research on Media Effects

Hypodermic-needle model Media shoots effects directly into unsuspecting victims.

Minimal-effects model Rise of empirical research techniques Selective exposure leads to reinforcement of existing

beliefs.

Uses and gratifications model Contests notion of audience passivity Why do people use media?

Scientific Method

Hypothesis Must be worded so that it is testable

Experimental design Tests whether hypothesis is true

Survey research Collecting and measuring data

Content analysis Studies the messages of print and visual

media

Explaining Media Effects Social learning theory

Attention Retention Motor reproduction Motivation

Agenda-setting Media set the agenda for major topics of discussion.

Cultivation effect Heavy viewing of television leads individuals to

perceive reality in ways consistent with portrayals on television.

Spiral of silence Those whose views are in the minority will keep their

views to themselves for fear of social isolation.

Qualitative Approaches Cultural Studies

Challenged mainstream media effects theory Attempted to make everyday culture the centerpiece of media

studies

Textual Analysis Highlights the close reading and interpretation of cultural

messages

Audience Studies Differs from textual analysis because the subject being

researched is the audience for the text

Political Economy Examine’s interconnections among economic

interests,political power, and how that power is used

Cultural Approaches

James Carey: Understand, not explain, human behavior Diagnose meanings, not predict

Offers ability to interpret broadly Doesn’t just study the serious, but the entertaining

Horace Newcomb

Both empirical and cultural studies have weaknesses.

Media Research and Democracy

Academics in media studies charged with increased specialization, use of jargon Alienates public

Public intellectuals based on campuses must work to help carry on the conversations of society and culture, serving as models for how to participate in public life.