MMC4602 Exam 1

Attachment theory

Early childhood experiences with caregivers influence attachment to caregivers and other individuals.

Secure, anxious, avoidant, disorganized.

Secure

A caregiver is attentive and sensitive to child’s needs; the child is upset when the caregiver leaves

Anxious

A caregiver is unpredictable and inconsistent; the child is highly distressed when the parent leaves but is ambivalent upon return 

Avoidant

A caregiver is predictably unresponsive; the child avoids the caregiver when they leave and return

Fearful/Disorganized

A caregiver sometimes responds favorably, but other times in a way that is unpredictable. The child is disorganized in behavior or fear and is uncomfortable upon the parent’s arrival.

Attributional confidence

Our perception that we know what makes a character “tick”

Audience Participation

Audiences enjoy reality TV because it encourages audience participation. (Voting in Dancing With the Stars).

Basking effect

Censorship

Censorship: the suppression of speech, public communication and information or public institutions 

• Removing books from a public library – censorship (funded by government/public institutions) 

• Removing books from a private bookstore – NOT censorship (sometimes called self-censorship) 

Challenges of media effects research

Lack of longitudinal evidence (lifespan evidence)

Cycling of trends (studies published after novelty)

Societal privilege of having access (who are we leaving out?)

Largely negative

Massive population

“All or nothing” perspective

Characteristics of Reality TV

Audience participation

Emotional stimulation and drawn to strong emotions

Cheap to produce

Authenticity and parasocial relationships

Boosts our ego/Social Comparison Theory

Benign violation theory

Shapes society (gender roles and more)

Characteristics of Dramas

Expensive to produce

Uses the “personal life” as the core problematic/source of conflict

Melodramatic excess

Lack of narrative resolution for emotional appeal

Attributional confidence

We like them for emotional stimulation, pacing, and the variety of emotional buy-in/investment

Content in news media

Content based approaches: What is the structure, what are the words? What is being said?

• Explores how news is put together by journalists and broadcasters to achieve certain effects

  • This creates the structure of “newsworthiness”; aka the hierarchy of what takes priority in the news 

Impact in news media

• Two main ways scholars think about impact (aka News Reception)

  • Short-term cognitive approach - What did you learn? What do you remember? What stood out to you?

  • Cultivation approach - typically measures general media use and then explores a person’s general understanding and conceptualization of media/news at large

Cross race effect

We are bad at differentiating people of a different race than us

Cultivation theory

People who watch more television are more likely to assign media themes to their perception of the real world

Television’s functions and how it reinforces public opinions

Mean world syndrome is an offshoot of cultivation theory: more media exposure = more fear for a person’s life

Cycling of trends

When research in a field is fixated on a particular subject/area; topics have trends

Documentary

Nonfiction film

Downward social comparison

Evaluating others who are perceived as worse off or socially “lower” than us

Upward social comparison

Evaluating others who are perceived as better or socially “higher” than us

Emotional buy-in

In dramas, some shows require more emotional “buy-in” or investment than others

Emotional stimulation

Connected with Uses and Gratifications Theory; emotional stimulation can be stressful, but it’s better than boredom

Evolutionary theory

Our genetic makeup has influenced the mental, social, and physical responses to our environment

All about biology and natural selection; everything is about finding a mate

Example of biological: people in colder climates have more body fat

Social: opposites attract because we need variance in genes; we create friendships with an expectation of reciprocity to help us survive

False belief experiment

False belief is the age at which children learn to lie. A child has the conceptualization that people have different lived experiences. A child has theory of mind, or they don’t; there’s no in-between.

First-person effect

When the media is seemingly frivolous or non-essential, we aren’t very influenced. But if it’s heartwarming/positive, we’re more influenced and moved by it.

Third-person effect

We assume that everyone else is more influenced by the media than us (how they believe, how they act, etc).

Framing theory

Framing theory tells you how to think. The media can (and does) influence how we think about issues

Agenda-setting theory

Agenda setting theory says that the media doesn’t tell us what to think, but what to think about

Fundamental attribution error

We are more likely to assume external attributions to ourselves (weather, traffic, etc) and internal attributions to others (attitude, personality, etc)

Identifying with a fanbase

• Basking effect – We identify stronger with our teams when they’re doing well 

• Social Identity Theory – The colloquial “we” (community!)

• Serves as a ritual to perform with a community 

Basking effect

We identify stronger with our teams when they’re doing well

Lack of longitudinal evidence

Lifespan studies

Letting “loose”

• Helps us avoid the fear of dying 

• Even when we lose – it strokes my ego and gives me pride to stand by them 

• Catharsis effect – watching violence through sports may provide relief to pent up negative/aggressive emotions (for both men and women) 

Mean world syndrome

more media exposure = more fear for your life

Melodramatic excess

Dramas use melodramatic excess in their shows

Mixed methods research

qualitative + quantitative research

Mood management theory

Similar to Uses and Gratifications Theory; how we interact with media after we’ve chosen it

News broadcasts

Content & impact are the two main approaches to examiming news; news typically carries out the most important or impactful things first and then continues with less important information 

Narrative structure

• the organization of a story 

Newsworthiness

• News typically carries out the most important or impactful things first and then continues with less important information 

The hierarchy of what takes priority in the news; used in content-based approaches

Parasocial interaction/relationships

Seeing the values/morals of others helps us understand ourselves. We feel comforted by the disclosure of “true” emotions in reality TV

One-sided connection between a person and a public figure where the person feels a sense of connection and understanding

Peripheral route message

Part of the Elaboration Likelihood Model:

How “shiny” the message is: attractiveness of the speaker, colors, human storyline, emotion, etc

Qualitative vs quantitative research

Descriptive research; numbers

Qualitative methods

research questions, interviews/focus groups, excerpts and themes, explanations and descriptions, words.

Understands

Quantitative research

hypothesis, surveys/experiments, statistics, topic modeling/model creation, numbers

Explains

Short-term cognition

What did you learn? What do you remember? What stood out to you?

Social comparison theory

Comparing yourself to another individual

Social identity theory

• The colloquial “we” (community!)

Sports broadcasts

Why are we drawn to watch sports?

1. Identifying with a fanbase

2. The thrill of the victory

3. To let lo9ose

Components of a theory

questions + variables + test + predict future events + retest over and over again

theories are constantly changing

conceptualization of a phenomenon that contains hypotheses, proposes linkages between variables, explains events, and offers predictions

Theory of mind

A child has “theory of mind” (the ability to lie) or they don’t

Thrill of the victory

• General wellbeing, job satisfaction, and political optimism increase when our teams are doing well 

• The same excitement and emotional/physiological stimulation but better because it’s “unscripted” 

Uses and Gratifications Theory

the audience is an active participant in using media

people use media to satisfy different goals

Uses and Gratifications Theory in sports

1. Identifying with a fanbase

2. The thrill of the victory

3. To let loose

Variables

a factor, trait, or condition in an experiment/study