Social Effects of Mass Communication

Chapter 18
Social Effects of Mass Communication
15 of the following T/F and Multiple Choice questions will appear on the final exam.
True/False
The catharsis theory says that exposure to violent media content will actually reduce aggressive actions. See page 455

The stimulation theory says just the opposite, that exposure to violent media increases aggressive tendencies.
A survey usually consists of a large group of individuals answering questions on a questionnaire.
(page 444)
The mass media industry as a whole is one of many agents of socialization. (page 444)

See page 448

Cultivation analysis, which focuses on the long-term effects of media exposure, has shown that for some people heavy TV use leads to distorted perceptions of the real world.
Agenda setting means that the media have the ability to choose and emphasize certain topics, causing the public to perceive these issues as important. (page 450)
A 2007 panel study done by researchers at the Child Health Institute at the University of
Washington found that viewing violent TV at ages 3-5 was associated with increased risk of antisocial behavior in boys. (page 454)
10. The results of lab experiments are less likely to be contaminated by external factors than are the results of field experiments. (page 444)
Both TV and film have caused public concern about media effects, and have long been investigated by scholars; the effects of radio, on the other hand, were not considered important and were not researched.
(page 451)

Recent surveys indicate that candidates who use a lot of negative advertising tend to receive a lower proportion of the vote. (page 458)
Media exposure is much more likely to result in voter conversion than in crystallization.
(page 459-460)
Multiple Choice
Children are likely to be most influenced by TV when:
A. the content reflects stereotypes
B. they are heavy viewers
C. they have limited interaction with other socializing agents
D. they don’t have an alternative set of beliefs regarding what is being portrayed
E. all of these
(page 456)
18. Television's portrayal of law enforcement and crime consistently fails to represent reality because it over represents
A. the number of Americans with jobs who work in law enforcement
B. the number of crimes which are actually solved
C. the number of violent crimes such as murder
D. all of these
E. none of these
(page 446)
23. The ________ concept believes that the media not only tell us what to think about, but also how to think about it.
A. spiral of silence
B. agenda setting
C. framing
D. mainstreaming
E. agenda building
(page 451)
24. People have been concerned about media effects on behavior since the:
A. 1940s, when people feared the influence of radio on politics
B. 1950s & 1960s, with the explosive growth of TV
C. 1970s & 1980s, with the Surgeon General's report linking exposure to TV violence with antisocial behavior
D. the mid-1990s, with the introduction of the V-chip
E. the late 1990s, in the wake of the Columbine High School shootings
(page 451)
25. Taken as a whole, surveys designed to measure the effects of exposure to violent TV have shown what type of relationship between aggressive behavior and viewing violent TV?
A. causal relationship

B. significant correlation
C. inverse relationship
D. causal, but only when controlling for income
E. no relationship at all
(page 453)
26. Taken as a whole, panel studies designed to measure the effects of exposure to violent TV have shown what type of relationship between aggressive behavior and viewing violent TV?
A. causal relationship
B. inverse relationship
C. mutual causal connection, but it is small and influenced by individual and cultural factors
D. causal, but only when controlling for income
E. no relationship at all
(page 454)
29. In terms of media effects on prosocial behavior,
A. experiments have found media content can encourage prosocial behavior
B. prosocial messages do not change day-to-day behavior
C. surveys have not asked about prosocial behavior
D. surveys have proved that watching prosocial content increases tolerance
E. none of these
(page 456)
30. If the mass media strengthen people's previously held attitudes and opinions, _______ has occurred. A. agenda setting
B. crystallization
C. reinforcement
D. framing
E. stimulation
(page 460)
31. The _________ effect is more likely with undecided voters than with those who have already made up their minds.
A. agenda setting
B. crystallization
C. reinforcement
D. framing
E. stimulation
(page 460)

34. The ___________ may occur when people are excessively selective about the media content they consume, and possibly become ignorant about the rest of the world.
A. cocoon effect
B. knowledge gap
C. spiral of silence
D. cultivation effect
E. resonance effect
(page 462)

T H E C O M M U N IC A T IO N P R O C E S S
Transmitting the Message
The Source. The source, or sender, initiates the communication process by having a thought or an idea that he or she wishes to transmit to some other entity. Sources can be individuals, groups, or organizations.
Encoding the message. Encoding refers to all the activities that a source goes through to translate thoughts and ideas into a form that can be perceived by the senses. It can take place one or more times in any given communication event. In a face-to-face conversation, the speaker encodes thoughts into words; if a telephone is used, it subsequently encodes sound waves into electrical energy.
Message. The message is the actual physical product that the source encodes which may range from the short, simple and inexpensive to the long, complex and costly.
Humans usually have a large number and wide range of messages at their disposal that they can choose to send. Messages can be directed to an individual or to millions.
Channels. Channels refer to the ways in which the message travels to the receiver.
These include sound waves, light waves, air currents, and touch. Some messages may go through multiple channels.

Receiving the Message
Decoding the message. The decoding process is the opposite of the encoding process. It's the process by which a message is translated into a form the receiver can understand. Both people and machines can be message decoders. Some messages can involve many decoding stages.
Receiver. The receiver is the target of the message. The target can be an individual, a group, or an anonymous collection of people. Receivers can be targeted for a message
(a phone call) or they can self-select themselves (choosing which TV show to watch).
Receivers and senders can be in immediate contact or they can be separated by space and time.

Feedback. Feedback refers to responses from the receiver that shape and alter the subsequent messages from the source. Feedback represents the reversal of the communication flow (source becomes receiver; receiver becomes source). It answers the source’s unstated question, “How am I doing?”
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positive feedback encourages the current communication behavior

•

negative feedback tries to change the communication or even terminate it

•

feedback can be immediate or delayed

Noise. Noise is anything that interferes with the delivery of the message. Three types of noise are:

Refer to page 4 – you should be able to fill in the blanks in the diagram above.

Mass Communication
Mass Communication is the process by which a complex organization, with the aid of one or more machines, produces and transmits public messages directed at large, heterogeneous and scattered audiences. The differences between machine-assisted interpersonal and mass communication aren’t that clear, especially when considering the Internet and the Web.

Functions of Mass Communication for Society (Macroanalysis)
For society to exist, certain communication needs must be met. These needs existed long before the advent of mass media. As society became larger, these functions became too large to be handled by single individuals. We should consider the consequences of performing these communication functions via the mass media. Some of these consequences are harmful or negative and are called dysfunctions. Media functions are not mutually exclusive; any given example of media content may serve multiple functions.
You should be able to define how all of the various media we use (blogs, social websites, TV, movies, radio, newspapers, etc.) can function in each of the following manners: Surveillance. Refers to the role media play in relaying news and information. There are two main types.
•

Warning or beware surveillance: occurs when the mass media warn us about impending dangers such as storms, economic declines, military threats, etc.; also used to warn of long-term dangers such as diseases, pollution, population growth, etc.

•

Instrumental surveillance: the transmission of information that is useful and helpful in everyday life such as movie schedules, stock quotes, sports scores, fads, new products, how-to pieces, etc. Not all examples of surveillance occur in the news media; instrumental surveillance often comes from a wide variety of other media sources.

There are several consequences of relying on the mass media for surveillance:
•

news (accurate accounts as well as mistaken ones) travels faster than ever

•

news of events comes to us second-hand and is usually not personally verifiable; as such, we’ve come to place our trust in media, or grant the media credibility

•

as a dysfunction, media surveillance can create unnecessary anxiety

Interpretation. This refers to the role media play in giving meaning and significance to events. Gatekeepers provide interpretations, comments, analyses, and opinions on various events to give the audience a better understanding of the events’ relative importance to society.
There are several consequences of relying on the mass media for interpretation:

•

audiences are exposed to a wide range of often contrasting viewpoints

•

this allows us to weigh all sides of an issue before deciding on our position

•

it also gives us a greater depth of expertise upon which to draw conclusions

There are also several potential dysfunctions of relying on the mass media for interpretation:

•

there is no guarantee that media interpretations are accurate or valid

•

individuals could become overly dependent on media interpretation and lose the ability to analyze situations or think for themselves

Linkage. Media can bring together various elements of society that are not directly connected. The linkage can be based on common interests, or on matching wants with needs. Examples of linkages are Internet outlets such as eBay, WebMD, Craigslist.org, and Match.com. The media can build totally new groups by linking people with similar interests. Another potential dysfunction of relying on the mass media for interpretation:
•

Sometimes the linkage function can have harmful consequences, such as hate groups’ and terrorists’ use of the Internet.

Transmission of Values (socialization). This refers to ways in which an individual comes to adopt the behavior and values of a group. Individuals exposed to media portrayals of certain types of behavior and value systems are likely to grow up and accept them as their own, and thus pass along these values from one generation to another. Mass Media and socialization. There are several consequences of relying on the mass media for socialization:
•

it helps stabilize society by creating common bonds between members in terms of shared values and experiences

•

the values and cultural information presented in the media are usually selected by large groups that encourage the status quo

•

the media can also transmit values by enforcing social norms

TV and socialization. Television may play a special role in socialization. Of all mass media, television has the greatest potential for establishing common social values. By age 18, the average person has spent more time watching TV than doing anything else except sleep. Dysfunctions can occur if youngsters watching violent content are socialized into accepting violence as a means of problem solving. It is argued that many

TV images of minority groups reflect the stereotypes held by white Anglo-Saxon
Protestant males.
Entertainment. The importance of this media function has grown as Americans have more leisure time. Motion pictures and sound recordings are devoted primarily to entertainment There are several consequences of relying on the mass media for socialization:
•

most entertainment content is designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator of taste

•

it is quite easy to sit back and let others entertain you; critics believe that the mass media will turn Americans into a nation of watchers instead of a nation of doers Your Media Project
You should be able to provide a thoughtful critique of your media campaign for the
Dubai CDA, explaining how well you think the media you chose would work to promote awareness of the particular branch of the CDA you were asked to represent.