1. Chapter 11 Media Theory and Effects

2. Media Effects Text goes over this relatively quickly and focuses on various cases. Media Effects is part of Media Theory- it is basically trying to find out what effect media has on an audience. Let’s define things…

3. Media When we say media, we usually mean one of two things: –Content –Technology

4. The Medium is the Message You can look at things from a purely hardware perspective. Cell phones changed how people communicate--including how people listen to music, get news, tweet to each other, use social networks etc… thereby changing society regardless of the message.

5. The Medium is The Message The term “The medium is the message” (also the “the medium is the massage” ) comes from Marshal McLuhan. McLuhan was a Canadian media theorist who first became popular in the 1960’s and then became relevant after his death in the 1990’s with the birth of the Internet.

6. Marshal McLuhan McLuhan believed (amongst other things) that any particular medium had an intrinsic effect independent of content. The invention of the printing press didn’t only make printing faster, it changed how the human mind understands things (linear thinking).

7. Media Environments For McLuhan (and later Media Ecologists) media acts like “environments.” Think of it as people adapting to the media as a person would adapt to the environment. Related to this is the “Global Village.” Media links people like never before-- “swine flu,” “avian flu,” SARS had an impact well beyond their respective ground zeros (in the case of swine flu, my high school. Go Terriers!)

8. Television Most media effects theorists focus(ed) the effects of television –Violence –Obesity –Corrupting politics Paddy Chayefsky (Network) “Television is the menace everyone loves to hate but can’t seem to live without.” Now newer forms of communication are being studied as well, but TV remains the primary area of study.

9. What is “Effects” Although “effect” implies a “cause and effect” relationship, casual relationships are very hard to prove. For example, it would be hard to prove that cartoons that have ads for Drakes Cakes cause obesity in children, even if the children that watch that cartoon are particularly obese.

10. Causal vs. Correlational The fact that obese kids watch a cartoon (let’s just say Chilly Willy) and that Chilly Willy has ads for snacks and kids that watch Bugs Bunny are less obese and Bugs Bunny doesn’t have snack ads only proves a correlation not a cause.

11. Causal vs. Correlational There could be other variables involved or the relationship may be coincidental. Before Mark Boutros was born there were two world wars. After there has been none. It wouldn’t follow that my birth caused world peace (or would it?) Or maybe Chilly Willy features more episodes about eating food than Bugs Bunny (giant stack of pancakes), but since you were studying the commercials you would ignore the content of the cartoon itself.

12. Correlation vs. Cause When sales of ice cream cones increase more people drown. This is a true statement. It is also true that summer also occurs, so to think there is any causal relationship between eating ice cream and drowning is probably erroneous. Finding correlations does have its purpose, however.

13. Research Methods Sample Surveys Content Analysis Laboratory Experiments (controlling confounding variables) Field Studies Ethnographic studies

14. Determining Causation Three Criteria Must be Satisfied –Highly Correlated (statistical methods are used to score a correlation) –Timing (a cause has to happen before observed changes, not at the same time). –All extraneous factors are controlled (including confounding variables) So the survey method could test the first two, but not the third.

15. Evolution of Media Effects Theory 1920s-1930s –Media has strong effect –“Injection” model 1940s-1950s –Mass media reinforces existing predispositions (“All In The Family” effect) –Research showed that ads of the time had little effect on voting patterns –Opinion Leaders are important –Selective Exposure 1950s-1960s –Media Effects do indeed have influences –Audience starts to become more important

16. Evolution of Media Effects 1970s-1980s –Agenda Setting studies. 1980s- –Individual perceptions are important –Post Modernist theory

17. Schedule BRING A #2 PENCIL TO ALL FUTURE QUIZZES 4/21 cancelled 4/23 cancelled 4/28 Chapter 11 Effects 4/30- Quiz Chapters 8 &10. Chapter 12 5/5 - -Quiz Chapters 11&12. Network. 5/7 -Network. 5/12- We will finish network if we haven’t. If we have, we ﾕ ll have a very short lecture on the film plus time to review. 5/14 -Final 5/21 -Papers due in my mailbox by 12:00pm. If the paper is late, it is an F.