Effects of the Media on Audiences

What is the hypodermic syringe model?

The view that the media injects messages directly into a passive audience, causing people to accept and respond to media messages in similar ways.

When was the hypodermic syringe model developed?

It was developed during the 1920s when radio and newspapers had significant influence.

What does the hypodermic syringe model assume about audiences?

It assumes audiences are passive, powerless and easily influenced by media messages.

What did Bandura's Bobo doll experiment suggest about media effects?

Children exposed to violent behaviour towards a Bobo doll later imitated the violence, suggesting that media violence can influence behaviour.

What are the main criticisms of the hypodermic syringe model?

It is too simplistic because audiences are not always passive, people respond differently to media messages, and it ignores other influences such as family and peer groups.

What is the two-step flow model?

The view that media messages influence audiences indirectly through opinion leaders, who interpret and pass on messages to others.

What did Katz and Lazarsfeld argue about media influence?

The media sends messages to audiences, but these messages are interpreted through social interaction and opinion leaders can influence how others understand them.

What is an opinion leader?

A person whose interpretation or opinions about media content influence the views of other people.

What did Hobson find about the two-step flow model?

Influence can involve multiple steps, with key individuals in groups such as workplaces influencing what others watch and think about.

How can the two-step flow model explain media influence in workplaces?

A few influential individuals may shape what colleagues watch or discuss, while new employees may conform to the group's existing opinions to fit in.

What is an evaluation of the two-step flow model?

It may overstate people's vulnerability to influence because individuals have free will and can choose what to accept or ignore.

What is another criticism of the two-step flow model?

It divides audiences into active opinion leaders and passive followers, when people can actually be both depending on the situation.

How does new media challenge the two-step flow model?

Social media allows almost anyone to create and share content, meaning individuals can become opinion leaders themselves.

What is the cultural effects model?

The view that people interpret media messages differently depending on their social context, but long-term exposure to media can gradually influence people's ideas and beliefs.

Why is the cultural effects model also called the drip-drip effects model?

Because it argues that repeated exposure to media messages gradually influences people's common-sense or taken-for-granted beliefs.

How does the cultural effects model link to Marxism?

It argues that the media spreads dominant ideology, helping powerful groups maintain cultural hegemony.

What did Stuart Hall argue about media messages?

Media messages contain dominant ideological meanings that audiences from different social backgrounds may interpret in different ways.

What is a dominant/preferred reading?

When an audience member accepts and interprets a media message in the way intended by its producers.

What is an oppositional reading?

When an audience member rejects the intended meaning of a media message and interprets it in opposition to the dominant message.

What is a negotiated reading?

When an audience member partly accepts and partly modifies the intended meaning of a media message to fit their own views or experiences.

What is selective filtering?

The process where individuals filter media messages according to their personal experiences, beliefs and existing views.

What is selective exposure?

Choosing to consume media that supports or fits with your existing beliefs and opinions.

What is selective perception?

Ignoring or rejecting media messages that conflict with your existing beliefs.

What is selective retention?

Forgetting or failing to remember media messages that do not fit with your existing beliefs.

What is an evaluation of the cultural effects model?

It may assume too many media workers support the dominant ideology, when journalists and media producers can have independent or opposing views.

What is another criticism of the cultural effects model?

It may overestimate the ability of audiences to actively filter media messages because some audiences can still be passive and easily influenced.

What is the uses and gratifications model?

The view that audiences are active and creative and choose media to satisfy their own needs and gain particular forms of gratification.

What are the main uses and gratifications of the media?

Escapism, building relationships and communities, affirming identity, surveillance/information, and entertainment or background noise.

How can the media provide escapism?

It can provide entertainment and a diversion from everyday life.

How can the media help people build relationships and communities?

It allows people to communicate with others, join groups and feel part of a wider community.

How can the media affirm identity?

People can consume media that reflects, reinforces or expresses who they believe they are.

How can the media provide surveillance?

It allows people to keep informed about events and what is happening in the wider world.

What does 'chewing gum for the eyes or ears' mean?

Using media as background entertainment while doing other activities.

What did Park find about Facebook users?

People used Facebook groups for entertainment, relationships and information about events.

What does Park's research suggest about media audiences?

People make conscious choices about the media they consume to satisfy their own needs.

How does the uses and gratifications model support pluralism?

It suggests audiences have significant power because media companies must provide content that satisfies consumers.

What is an evaluation of the uses and gratifications model?

It may overestimate the power of individuals because media companies can still influence audiences and may not respond directly to every individual's preferences.

What is another criticism of the uses and gratifications model?

It focuses heavily on individuals and can ignore group influences, shared values and social pressures on audiences.

How can media violence affect audiences according to the hypodermic approach?

It may lead to imitation, arousal, desensitisation, learning criminal techniques or glamorising offending.

What is imitation as a possible media effect?

When audiences copy violent or criminal behaviour they have seen in the media.

What is arousal as a possible media effect?

When exposure to media content increases emotional or physical excitement, potentially influencing behaviour.

What is desensitisation as a possible media effect?

When repeated exposure to violence makes it seem normal or acceptable and reduces emotional sensitivity towards it.

How can media transmit knowledge of criminal techniques?

Media can provide information about how crimes are carried out, potentially making audiences aware of methods they did not previously know.

How can the media glamorise crime?

It can present offending as exciting, desirable, powerful or rewarding.

What did the Glasgow Media Group find about media coverage of the 1980s miners' strike?

Just over half of their audience sample believed picket lines were mostly violent, despite police and trade unions reporting that the actual level of violence was much lower.

What does the Glasgow Media Group's research suggest about media effects?

Media coverage can distort audiences' perceptions of events by exaggerating particular aspects of them.

How does Cohen's concept of moral panic link to media effects?

Media reporting can exaggerate perceived threats and create widespread fear about particular groups or behaviours.

How were Mods and Rockers represented by the media?

They were portrayed as violent and aggressive young people, contributing to a moral panic.

What does the Mods and Rockers example suggest about media effects?

Media exaggeration can make a relatively small amount of violence appear much more serious and widespread than it actually is.

What did Cumberbatch conclude after reviewing 3,500 studies into violent media?

There was very little evidence of a significant link between violent media and violent behaviour.

What did Young argue about the effects of violent media?

Media exposure may sensitise people to violence rather than desensitise them, potentially making them less likely to behave violently.

What did Feshbach and Singer argue about violent media?

Violent media can provide a safe outlet for anger and frustration, potentially reducing the need to act violently in real life.

What is the overall evaluation of the hypodermic syringe model using research into media violence?

Research such as Cumberbatch's review suggests that media effects are more complex than the hypodermic model assumes and that there is limited evidence for a direct causal link between violent media and violent behaviour.