1. © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 1 Joseph R. Dominick University of Georgia--Athens

2. © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 2 Part V Impact of the Media

3. © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 3 Chapter 18 Social Effects of Mass Communication  Investigating Mass Communication Effects Investigating Mass Communication Effects  Effects on Knowledge and Attitudes Effects on Knowledge and Attitudes  Media Effects on Behavior: A Short History Media Effects on Behavior: A Short History  The Impact of Televised Violence The Impact of Televised Violence  Encouraging Prosocial Behavior Encouraging Prosocial Behavior  Other Behavior Effects Other Behavior Effects  Research about the Social Effects of the Internet Research about the Social Effects of the Internet  Communication in the Future: Society Impact Communication in the Future: Society Impact Chapter Outline

4. © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 4  Scientific approaches to studying effects of media  Surveys  Large groups of people answer questions  Do not prove cause and effect relationships  Do suggest associations  Panel studies  More reliable, more expensive  Study groups over long time periods  Experiments  In a laboratory or in the field  Manipulate factors to determine impact on other factors Investigating Mass Communication Effects

5. © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 5  Media and Socialization  The Media as a Primary Source of Information  Shaping Attitudes, Perceptions, and Beliefs  Cultivation Analysis  Children and Television Advertising  Agenda Setting Effects on Knowledge and Attitudes Overview

6. © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 6 Effects on Knowledge and Attitudes Media and Socialization [Insert Figure 18-1 here] Figure 18-1 Agencies of Socialization

7. © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 7  Learning important in socialization  The mass media serve as important sources of information  Often the prime source  Wide range of topics: politics, crime, health, the environment  90% of Americans learned about 9/11 from TV Effects on Knowledge and Attitudes The Media as Primary Source of Information

8. © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 8 TV is an important socialization agent when…  TV presents stereotypes Effects on Knowledge and Attitudes Shaping Attitudes, Perceptions, and Beliefs  young people are heavy viewers  there is no alternative information  Stereotypes can be at odds with Real Life (RL)  ~30% of TV programs are about crime and law enforcement and 90% of TV crimes are solved  On TV, 60% of crimes are violent (vs. 10% in RL)  Portrayal of Arab men on TV  Heavy viewers of violent TV programs are likely to favor use of violence in RL  Children who are heavy viewers of police shows believe police are more successful than in RL  Link between heavy viewing and attitudes that favor traditional sex roles  Research in this area is inconsistent  Under some circumstances, TV affects young people’s attitudes if there is no relevant alternative input  Example: dating behavior

9. © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 9  George Gerbner and colleagues at University of Pennsylvania  Thesis: Heavy TV viewing “cultivates” perceptions of reality consistent with the view of the world presented in TV programs. Effects on Knowledge and Attitudes Cultivation Analysis

10. © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 10  Methodology  Step 1: Identify predominant themes and messages in television content  Step 2: Examine what viewers absorb from heavy exposure to TV. Viewers respond to questionnaires with “real world” or “TV world” answers Effects on Knowledge and Attitudes Cultivation Analysis

11. © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 11  Research Findings  Most results find a cultivation effect  Three complications  Questions of cause and effect (ex: going out at night)  Controlling for other factors weakens the result  Technical issues such as method of counting viewing hours and wording of questions can affect findings significantly  Mainstreaming  Resonance Effects on Knowledge and Attitudes Cultivation Analysis

12. © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 12  Typical child sees 20,000 TV commercials per year: toys, cereals, candy, and fast-food  Action for Children’s Television  Children are vulnerable and subject to exploitation.  Younger children may be deceived by TV ads  Long-term exposure to TV ads could hurt a child’s socialization as a future consumer Effects on Knowledge and Attitudes Children and Television Advertising

13. © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 13  Choosing and emphasizing topics can cause the public to perceive these issues as important  So far, the research suggests  Cause and effect relationships are still unclear  Results can hinge on medium being studied  Topic covered can influence agenda setting  Experience with topic influences results  Political campaigns Effects on Knowledge and Attitudes Agenda Setting

14. © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 14  Agenda research has two general fields of study:  Framing – how topics are treated by the media and how that leads us to think about them  Agenda building – examines how media build their agenda of newsworthy items Effects on Knowledge and Attitudes Agenda Setting

15. © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 15  1940s: Surveys examine political influence when President Roosevelt airs fireside chats  1950-60s: Surveys concerned with excessive media violence and influence on children  1970: Exposure to TV violence linked with antisocial behavior  1990s: Congress mandates new TV rating system and use of “V” chip; several bills to regulate TV and movie violence Media Effects on Behavior: A Short History

16. © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 16  A recent summary of research concludes  A significant correlation exists between viewing violent TV shows and day-to-day aggressive behavior  A relationship is not necessarily cause and effect.  International panel study of children (1986)  Weak relationship between viewing TV violence and aggression  Pattern of circularity in causation: viewing violent TV  more aggression; being aggressive  watch more violent TV The Impact of Televised Violence

17. © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 17  Rival Theories  Catharsis Theory (Aristotle)  Watching violence purges the urge to be violent  Stimulation Theory  Watching violence stimulates you to be more violent  Albert Bandura’s Experiment (1960)  Reactions of children seeing a model interact violently with a Bobo doll The Impact of Televised Violence

18. © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 18  Factors that complicate research  Age, sex  Length and type of violent media content  People with whom the subject watches the media  Social class, family history, economic background  Study of Canadian TV in three towns (1974+)  What Can We Conclude?  Watching television violence does increase aggressive tendencies. The effects are small but not trivial The Impact of Televised Violence

19. © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 19  Prosocial behavior – cooperation, sharing, self- control, helping  Lab experiments:  Films, TV shows can improve child’s self-control  Kids imitate cooperative, generous, and helping behavior portrayed in films or TV  Survey data:  Children do perceive prosocial messages in a show  Two studies found little relationship between viewing prosocial programs and prosocial behavior  Prosocial behavior is more subtle than antisocial behavior and harder to perceive Encouraging Prosocial Behavior

20. © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 20  Political Behavior  Voter turnout studies  Negative political advertising  The difficulty of candidate conversion  Reinforcement  Crystallization  Presidential debates Other Behavior Effects

21. © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 21  Political Planning and TV  Nominating conventions planned to make impact on voter  TV has increased the cost of campaigning  Most campaigns organized around TV  Campaign staff include TV image consultants Other Behavior Effects

22. © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 22  Obscenity and Pornography  Several studies (1980s) link exposure and feelings of callousness towards women  One study (1980) links exposure and less compassion for female rape victims  1995 review of 30 studies  Exposure to only nudity reduced aggressive behavior  Continued link between violent pornography and aggressive behavior Other Behavior Effects

23. © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 23  Does Internet use have an effect on other media?  Takes time away from television  A significant source of news  Is there a link between heavy Internet use and a user’s social involvement?  Recent surveys find heavier use means more social involvement and a greater number of social contacts  “Rich get richer” Research about the Social Effects of the Internet

24. © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Slide 24 What might the future bring?  Less privacy  Email  Databases  Buying habits  Fragmentation and Isolation  Selectivity  Cocooning  Escape  Video games  HDTV  William Gibson’s Neuromancer Communication in the Future: Society Impact