COM346 Lecture: Media Effects

Populations

can be broad or focused; usually demographics

No Effect Model

Media technologies and content purely reflect cultures and the individuals within them 

Determinism

Media technologies have massively consequential and inevitable impacts on culture (to the point that culture becomes purely a byproduct of the technology) 

Motivations for media effects research

Academic curiosity, political organizations and campaigns, advertisers/marketing, propaganda/public service

Media effects research Pre-WWI

Largely moral/political

Minimal/Limited Effects Model

Media may be harmful for some people under certain conditions, beneficial for other people under different conditions, and is neither beneficial nor harmful for most people under most circumstances 

Saturated media messaging

happens when the volume of content, news, and advertising outpaces an audience's capacity to absorb it

WWII “Buy War Bonds” campaign

had a profound social impact that stretched far beyond its primary goal of military financing. By turning financial investment into patriotic duty, the campaigns fundamentally reshaped civic identity, consumer psychology, and social cohesion on the home front.

Correlation

study finds a possible link between two or more things, avoids saying which thing is causing the other, if any; A 🔀 B 

Causation

much more definitive, says that one thing causes another; A ⏩ B , B ⏩ A 

Uses and Gratifications Theory

media users are active participants who deliberately choose and consume specific media content to fulfill personal, social, and psychological needs, rather than passively absorbing whatever messages are broadcast to them