Comms 101 Exam Study Guide: Living in the Media World

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering societal stages, the communication model, communication types, noise, media literacy, mass communication theorists and theories, and the histories of books, newspapers, magazines, and film.

Agricultural Society

An early societal era where farming was life, little-to-no education existed, newspaper print media was predominant, and the telegraph was invented with lines strung along train tracks.

Industrial Society

A societal period characterized by the mass communication era (radio, TV, newspapers, magazines) where the primary commodity in the home was energy.

Information Society

A society characterized by the widespread dissemination and exchange of information, computers and electronics, a large information workforce, global interconnectedness, and a current movement toward AI.

Pervasiveness

A quality of the media referring to it being present, active, and noticeable in every part of everything to inform, involve citizenry, express ideas, and persuade.

Communications

The process by which messages are formulated, exchanged, and interpreted in an attempt to gain shared meaning.

Shared Meaning

A unified agreement, support, mutual understanding, or belief shared by a group that builds a common understanding of symbols, messages, and cultural values.

Source / Sender

The person or company creating and sending a message in the communications model, deciding how to phrase it and how they want it received.

Encoding

The phase in the communications model where a message is converted into ideas or words.

Message

The actual information sent from the source to the receiver.

Channel

The form or pathway through which communication takes place and distributes, such as television or radio.

Decoded

The process performed by the receiver to interpret and figure out the intent of a message.

Receiver

The audience intended to receive the communication and decode the message.

Feedback

The response mechanism in the communications model where the receiver communicates back to the source.

Semantic Noise

A communication barrier occurring when the receiver does not understand what is being said, such as difficulties caused by accents.

Mechanical Noise

Distractions caused by technical transmission problems in the communication channel, such as faulty microphones or cell service issues.

Environmental Noise

External physical distractions in the environment, such as background sounds or lawn mowing outside.

Internal Noise

Distractions located entirely inside the receiver's head, commonly described as going 'in one ear out the other.'

Intrapersonal Communication

Communication that takes place completely within one's own head, such as talking to oneself.

Interpersonal Communication

Communication between two or more individuals that is close in nature.

Small Group Communication

Communication occurring among 5 to 12 people.

Large Group Communication

Communication directed toward or involving 100 or more people.

Organizational Communication

A system of internal and external messaging a company utilizes to align its brand identity, strategy, and public campaigns.

Mass Communication

The process where mass-produced messages are transmitted to large, anonymous, and heterogeneous receivers worldwide via mass media channels.

Gatekeeping

The process of limiting, expanding, reorganizing, and interpreting the information that the public receives.

Media Literacy

The ability to apply critical thinking skills to symbols and emotions to determine bias or truth, understanding how media operate, what messages they deliver, and their societal role.

George Gerbner

The communications theorist credited with creating Cultivation Theory.

Paul Lazarsfeld

The communications theorist credited with creating the Two-Step Flow Theory.

Elihu Katz

The communications theorist credited with creating Uses and Gratifications Theory.

Matthew McCombs & Donald Shaw

The communications theorists credited with creating Agenda Setting Theory.

Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann

The communications theorist credited with creating the Spiral of Silence theory.

Albert Bandura

The theorist credited with creating Social Learning Theory, famous for conducting the Bobo doll experiment.

Dolf Zillmann

The communications theorist credited with creating Desensitization Theory.

Leon Festinger

The theorist credited with creating Cognitive Dissonance theory.

Spiral of Silence

A mass communication theory proposing that individuals are less likely to express opinions they perceive to be in the minority due to the fear of social isolation.

Cognitive Dissonance

The mental discomfort a person feels when holding two contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values, or when behavior fails to match beliefs, creating stress that drives them to resolve the mismatch.

Agenda Setting Theory

A theory asserting that the media does not tell people what to think, but rather tells them what to think about, largely directed by gatekeepers.

Cultivation Theory

A theory stating that long-term exposure to television or movies shapes an audience's perceptions of reality and how they view the world, such as overestimating real-world crime rates.

Social Learning Theory

A theory demonstrating that individuals learn behaviors through observation and imitation, exemplified by children mimicking adult aggression toward Bobo dolls.

Desensitization Theory

A theory stating that repeated media exposure to violence or tragedy leads people to become less emotionally affected, show reduced empathy, normalize aggression, and have weaker psychological reactions.

Two-Step Flow Theory

A theory stating that media influence flows first to opinion leaders who interpret and pass messages along to others, rather than media directly changing public opinion.

Uses and Gratifications Theory

A theory focusing on what people do with media, stating that active viewers choose media to satisfy four major needs: information, personal identity, integration & social interaction, and entertainment.

Johann Gutenberg

The inventor who introduced the movable type press with stamped ink, printed 200 copies of the Mazarin Bible, and initiated mass production and mass communication.

Mazarin Bible

The first movable-type printed Bible identified in Cardinal Jules Mazarin's library; only 49 copies exist today, one of which sold in 1987 for $5.4 million.

Cambridge Press at Harvard

The first printing press established in America.

Pocket Books

Small paperback books designed for quick reading that sold for 25 cents at drugstores and newsstands, helping commercialize book publishing.

Trade Books

The most common category of books, accounting for 65% of the industry, published for general consumer enjoyment rather than educational or professional use.

El-hi Books

Textbooks and educational volumes published specifically for elementary and high school students.

Higher Ed Books

Educational books published specifically for colleges and universities.

Mass Market Paperbacks

A subcategory of trade books published exclusively in paperback format and designed to appeal to a wide readership, including romance, diet, and detective novels.

Professional Books

Non-trade reference and educational volumes designed specifically for specialists such as doctors, lawyers, scientists, and engineers.

Audio Books

A book format that has experienced a decade of double-digit growth, with Audible as its largest service and 40% of Americans subscribing to at least one platform.

The Gazette

The first regularly published English newspaper, published originally in Oxford and then in London.

The Daily Courant

The first daily newspaper established in England.

Benjamin Harris

The publisher of Public Occurrences Both Foreign and Domestick, which was shut down by Puritan officials after one issue for reporting an affair by the King of France.

Boston Newsletter

The first regularly published newspaper in America, published by John Campbell, which featured the first printed advertisements.

The Colonial Press

An early American press era characterized by institutionalized gossip, uneducated printers, communal reading, and attempts to gain freedom from government control.

The Political Press

The pre-Revolutionary newspaper period marked by strong bias aligned with political groups prior to the establishment of the United States.

Partisan Press

The post-independence press era supported by politicians, highlighted by the Federalist Papers, which sought to keep the government out of the press business and led to the First Amendment.

The Penny Press

A newspaper era initiated by Benjamin Day that made daily news affordable at 1 penny by relying on advertisers, paper boys, and sensationalized local human-interest stories.

Yellow Journalism

A circulation war driven by Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst that relied on sensationalism, exaggerated claims, and eye-catching headlines instead of well-researched facts.

Muckrakers

Early 20th-century investigative journalists—a term coined by Theodore Roosevelt—who exposed corruption and social problems to inspire legal reforms.

Ida Tarbell

The first recognized muckraker, famous for investigating and exposing the unfair business practices of Standard Oil.

Matthew Brady

The first photojournalist, renowned for capturing photographs during the Civil War that exposed the visual horrors of war to the public.

Benjamin Day

The 22-year-old publisher who created the Penny Press by launching The New York Sun to provide affordable 1-cent news to all citizens.

The New York Sun

The first successful penny daily newspaper, launched by Benjamin Day, which emphasized local news, crime, sex, and human interest rather than political debates.

James Gordon Bennett

The founder of the New York Herald who established the newspaper as a public watchdog over government and business, creating the first newsroom, reporters, and sports/financial pages.

Joseph Pulitzer

The publisher of the New York World who boosted circulation to 250,000, stressed accuracy and simple writing with illustrations, and reintroduced sensationalized news.

William Randolph Hearst

The publisher of the San Francisco Examiner and New York Journal who competed against Pulitzer by appealing to reader emotions through sensationalized stories.

The 'Yellow Kid'

A comic strip character created by R.F. Outcault that became the centerpiece of a fierce circulation battle between Pulitzer and Hearst.

The Tatler and Spectator

The first magazines published in England.

Andrew Bradford

The publisher of American Magazine, the first magazine published in America.

General Magazine

An early American magazine published by Benjamin Franklin covering politics and economics that failed due to lack of advertising and limited circulation.

1956 Magazine Crisis

The period marking the start of serious economic trouble for magazines due to revenue and audience loss caused by the rise of television.

Modern Magazine Focus

The strategy adopted by contemporary magazines following the rise of television, shifting from broad national readership to narrow, special-interest audiences.

Lumière Brothers

Pioneers of realism in motion pictures who were the first to present moving photos through cinematography.

George Melies

A magician who discovered trick photography and created the 14-minute movie A Trip to the Moon, inventing the science fiction film genre.

Edwin Porter

The filmmaker who directed The Great Train Robbery, becoming the first to tell a story with film by pioneering editing and camera placement.

The Jazz Singer

The 1927 Warner Brothers movie starring Al Jolson that became the first motion picture released with synchronized sound.

Nickelodeons

Early movie theatres constructed starting in 1905 in Pittsburgh, New York, and New Jersey that charged 5 cents admission and seated 50 to 90 people.

Vertical Integration

A film industry business model characterized by the complete control of movie production, distribution, and exhibition.

Block Booking

A studio distribution practice used to control independent theatres by forcing them to buy films in bundles, typically pairing one bad movie with one good movie.

Flowers and Trees

The production by Walt Disney that marked the first use of color in film.

Becky Sharp

The first feature-length motion picture filmed entirely in color.

Citizen Kane

An Orson Welles film, widely regarded as the best movie of all time, that loosely follows the life of William Randolph Hearst.

Singing in the Rain

A musical film that dramatizes the historical transition from silent films to talkies and the creation of sound in movies.