Media Types, Audience Models, and Effects in Communication

media

collective term, content produced for lots of ppl to consume

- see, read, listen

medium

ONE form of media

- sender -> medium -> reciever

mass communication

mediated messages transmitted to large, widespread audiences

mediated communication

anything that isn't face-to-face, use of media to transit message

interpersonal communication

between two or more people

- source: individual & involves interaction

print media

newspaper, magazines,

electronic media

radio, television, and the internet

old media

traditional, old, legacy media

- newspapers, radio, tv, film and magazines

new media

online, on-demand, interactive

- internet

four models of the audience

1. audience-as-outcome

2. audience-as-agent

3. audience-as-mass

4. audience-as-producers

audience-as-outcome

What does media DO to people?

- Audiences r passive, susceptible to (usually detrimental) effects

audience-as-agent

What do people DO WITH media?

- audiences r free to choose, unique interpretations & meanings, reflexive

audience-as-mass

- What media do people CONSUME? (technology, print)

- audiences r lrg, scattered, anonymous

audience-as-producers

audiences r not just receivers but also PRODUCERS of content

- not part of webster's original models

media effects

audience as outcome, social scientific approach

explains how media influences

- cognition/beliefs

- attitudes: like/dislike

- behavior

- physiology: physical effects

four phases of media effects

strong, weak, moderate, negotiated

strong effects

media is seen as all-pwrful

- during industrialization era w/ film, radio, tv, & propaganda

- based in behaviorism: (stimulus-response)

1. stimulus: media, society is fragmented & media is the only source of info

2. response: audience, individuals seen as weak, passive, easily manipulated

hypodermic needle theory

mass media messages r pwrful & can be "injected" to a passive audience

weak effects

media;s effects r indirect

- stimulus -> organism -> response

1. stimulus: media content

2. organism: individual's psychological factors, social factors

3. response: audience's response

ex: 2-step flow model: media -> influences opinion leaders -> influences others

moderate effects

strong effects rediscovered but not as strong as phase 1, greater focus on cognitive & long-term effects

- ex: agenda setting & cultivation theory

agenda setting

the power of the media to bring public attention to particular issues and problems, how media prioritizes issues

cultivation theory

long-term exposure to media shapes viewers' perception of reality

- mean-wrld syndrom

negotiated/transactional effects

users & media r pwrful, media competes w/ other sources of info & users r free to decide

content analysis

a research technique for the objective, systematic, and quantitative description of the manifest content of communication

- a scientific way to describe the content of media message

sample

what messages r included in the analysis, the message being analyzed

- subsample, random

- prt of content analysis

units of analysis

what units of content will be coded, the what or whom being studied

- prt of content analysis

categories

what message is is coded for, groups or classes of things

- prt of content analysis

content analysis benefits

- good for describing content

content analysis drawbacks

- no insight into effects

- resource-heavy & takes long time

- not as good for describing ppl

sample survey

A survey to collect data on a sample, good for describing ppl & relationships between variables

- Cross-sectional survey

- longitudinal survey

longitudinal survey

collect data multiple pts in time

- types

1. trend: follow diff ppl, same life stage at measurement

2. panel survey: follows same ppl over time

3. cohort survey: like panel but w/ diff ppl

Cross-sectional survey

collects data at one point in time

trend survey

follow diff ppl, same life stage at measurement

- ex: freshmen in 2024, freshmen in 2025, freshmen in 2026

panel survey

a survey that tracks the same respondents over time

- ex: freshmen in 2024, same students now sophomores, same students now juniors

cohort survey

like panel, but w/ diff ppl

- freshmen in 2024, sophomores 2025 students but not from same sample in 2024, juniors in 2026 but diff ppl from 2024 & 2025 grp

casual relationship

cause and effect relationship

casual relationship critieria

1. statistical relationship: correlation

- positive: V1 increases, V2 increases

-negative: V1 increases, V2 decreases

2. time-order: cause comes before effect

3. non-spuriousness: relationship isn't caused by a 3rd variable

survey benefits

- get insight into current trends & opinions

- can provide some evidence for causal relationship

survey drawbacks

- can't exclude 3rd variable explanation

- assumes ppl r able & willing to respond accurately & truthfully

experiment

gathers data under controlled conditions

- independent variable

- dependent variable

dependent variable

The outcome factor; the variable that may change in response to manipulations of the independent variable.

- hypothesized effect

independent variable

The experimental factor that is manipulated; the variable whose effect is being studied.

- hypothesized cause

experiment benefits

meets 3 criteria for casual relationships

experiment drawbacks

external validity: carefully controlled setting vs. real world

epidemiological approach (observation)

observing connections between variables in natural settings

- benefits: when experiments would be considered unethical

drawbacks: can't rule out 3rd variable, helps provide converging evidence for other types of studies

selective exposure

1. systematic bias in audience composition for a given medium or message 2. selected messages that diverges from composition of accessible messages

- when individuals search for information and show systematic preferences towards ideas that are consistent, rather than inconsistent, with their beliefs

surveillance motivation

outsmarting opponents, enjoy following statistical trends

arousal motivation

enjoy thrill of winning, less interest in stats

How has technology impacted selective exposure?

- antenna, cable -> more channels -> more options

- time-shifting ability to record tv shows & watch later -> skip & chose to when & how to watch things

- internet era: social media & user-generate content -> easier way to find what we're looking for , traditional media adapted to new media

Herta Herzog's research (U&G)

studied women's response to daytime radio series & found:

- few differences between listeners & nonlisteners

- identified gratification & listening

- one of the 1st to examine y programs appealed to ppl

How is the uses and gratifications approach different from media effects research

it reverses the traditional media-audience relationship

- stimulus (media) <- response (audience)

functional perspective on audience activity, seeks to understand Y ppl do what they do

5 assumptions of uses & gratifications

1. audiences r active

2. media use is goal-directed (satisfies need or desire)

3. mass media compete w/ other sources

4. audience mmbrs r aware of needs & motivation

5. scholars don't make value judegemnt

takeaways of Katz et al.

- came up w/ list of 5 needs

- diff media fulfilled diff needs

- social contacts & connections were more gratifying than the mass media

instrumental audiences

search for specific content, seek info in a purposive way

- greater care & selectivity

ritualized audiences

use tv habitually w/ particular prgram not important, (should have a goal such as used to consuming time, diverson, used for background noise)

criticisms of the uses and gratifications approach

- constructs (needs that are the building blocks of a theory) not clearly defined

- descriptive, not predictive

- assumes awareness of motives

- use of surveys

main criticisms of the uses and gratifications approach

early studies focused on identifying needs but had a lot of remaining ?s such as:

- where do needs come from

- were the needs gratified

- how do expectations shape future media use

expectancy-value theory

beliefs + evaluation informs behavior

- beliefs/ expectancy: what u think will happen

- evaluation: how u feel about it

GSGO model

applies Expectancy Value to media choice & has 3 components

1. beliefs: perceived contingency between media-related behavior & a particular outcome

2. gratification sought (GS): media use motivation

3. gratification obtained (GO): what u actually get

GSGO model predict

informs expectations

- if GS=GO -> more likely to return

- ex: if u go shopping for ur grocery list n find that specific item ur likely to return to that store

- if GS doesnt = GO -> likely to go elsewhere

- ex: if u don't find that specific item ur gonna go elsewhere

GSGO Contributions/findings

moderately strong correlation (.40-.50 between GS & GO)

- supports the idea of feedback loop

- added more specificity to U&G

GSGO Limitations

- reliance on self-report, assume awareness & cognition-focused

- focus on individual (no consideration of structure )

Types of beliefs

descriptive, informational, inferential

descriptive beliefs

direct experience w/ message

informational beliefs

info about message from outside sources

inferential beliefs

based on characteristics on message

mood management theory

driven by hedonistic motives (we want to feel good) media is selected to enhance moods & optimize arousal

- internal motives: not necessarily a conscious process, no particular goal

Aspects of media content that predict effect

1. excitatory potential

2. absorption potential

3. semantic affinity

4. hedonic valence

excitatory potential

effect on arousal lvl

- arousal dimesnion (intensity): when ppl want something exciting they watch action or calm & relaxing that watch something of that vibe

absorption potential

Ability to capture attention of media users and suppress rumination on origins of given mood

- high absorbing material -> more effective mood alterations

semantic affinity

the overlap between current media content and media user's affective state

- high SA = unlikley to alter mood

- ex: sad mood + sad music = still sad mood

- low SA - not similar to mood u were initially feeling

hedonic valence

positive vs negative tone media has

- negative = sad tone

+ postive = happy tone

advantages of MMT

explains selective exposure driven by nonconscious process

- more specific, testable prediction than U&G

limitations of MMT

- doesn't explain y we week - valenced media (sad movies, music, horror)

social cognition

The study of how people make sense of themselves & others

- not a single theory

accessibility

how easily a concept is activated from memory

- chronic repeatedly exposing urself to info & its made prominent

- or temporary

schema

Cognitive structure, represents knowledge about a concept or type of stimulus, including its attributes and the relations among those attributes.

- encodes new info

- inferences where info is missing

- interpretations of new situations

node

represent concept, each circle

associative pathways/networks

connects meaningfully similar concepts

Schema types

1. persona schemata

2. self-schemata

3. role/social schemata

4. event schemata/scripts

persona schemata

focused on specific individuals or ppl in general

self-schemata

cognitive representations of the self; one's sense of one's own characteristics

role/social schemata

general knowledge about how people behave in certain social situations

event schemata/scripts

appropriate well-known sequence of events, focused on patterns of behavior that should be followed for certain events

determinants of concept accessibility

1. frequency of construct activation

2. more effortful processing

3. recency of construct activation (priming)

4. spreading activation

spreading activation

Occurs when one item brought into working memory triggers an activation of related memory

priming

the activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory

implications for audiences & schema

- schema can affect processing & interpretations of content

- Programmers use stereotypes & role schemas in programming

mass media 4 characteristics

1. audience: lrg, heterogeneous, anonymous

2. process: message communicated thro medium

3. source: insititutional & organizational

4. economic function: hold attention for advertisers (large audience = more ad revenue)

social comparison theory

we compare ourselves to others

- this is incorporated into our self-schema

upwards comparison

Comparing ourselves to those who r in a positive situation

- we look up to them

downward comparison

compare ourselves to others who r in a negative situation

- we look down on them

Social identity theory & assumption

1. we engage in social categorization

2. social category can become salient (top of mind) depending on the situation

3. we engage in social comparison: compare in-grps to out-grps

4. want to achieve positive distinctiveness: in-grps perceived more favorably than out-grps

5. social identity: can be + or - but affects self-esteem

Social identity model predicitions

1. social categories influenced by media

2. exposure to media content makes an in-grp salient (important)

3. media can initiate social comparison processes

4. we can use media to achieve a + social identity & increase self-esteem

self-categorization theory

personal & social identity, people categorize themselves, along with each other into groups, favoring their own group.

self-categorization predictions

1. self-categorization

2. salience

3. depersonalization: self-perception dominated by social identity when social identity becomes salient

4. individuality/personalization: self-perception determines by personal identity

identification

an imaginative process that watcher adopts perspective of character (understands them & their motives), internalizes & shares goals w/ character

- empathy

- absorption (loss of self-awareness)

What makes identification more likely

1. narrative genres

2. similarity to media character

3. duration of familiarity

4. perceived realism

5. audience personality (empathy)

6. character attractiveness

Effects of Identification

- greater enjoyment

- greater impact

- Reduced stereotyping / more + attitudes towards outgroup bias

parasocial interactions

emotions, thoughts, & actions that occur during exposure to a media performer & that r geared toward performers

- happeds DURING media exposure

- temporary (ex: talking to a screen)