1. Media Effects and Cultural Approaches to Research
Chapter 14
Media Effects and Cultural Approaches to Research

2. Online Image Library Go to www.bedfordstmartins.com/mediaculture
to access the Media & Culture, 8th Edition Update
Online Image Library.
The library contains all your favorite images from Media & Culture, 8th edition update!

3. Should Life Imitate Culture?
Since the emergence of popular music, movies, television, and video games as influential mass media, the relationship between make-believe stories and real-life imitation has drawn a great deal of attention.

4. Media Effects Research
Attempts to understand, explain, and predict the effects of mass media on individuals and society
Cultural studies focuses on how people make meaning, comprehend reality, articulate values, and arrange experiences through cultural symbols.

5. Early Media Research Methods
Propaganda analysis
Public opinion research
Social psychology
Marketing research

6. Research on Media Effects
Hypodermic-needle model
Media shoots effects directly into unsuspecting victims.
Minimal-effects model
Rise of empirical research techniques
Selective exposure leads to reinforcement of existing beliefs.
Uses and gratifications model
Contests notion of audience passivity
Why do people use media?

7. Conducting Media Effects Research
Hypotheses
Must be worded so that they are testable
Experimental design
Tests whether hypothesis is true
Survey research
Collecting and measuring data
Longitudinal Studies and Correlations
Content analysis
Studies the messages of print and visual media

8. Contemporary Media Effects Theories
Social learning theory
Attention
Retention
Motor reproduction
Motivation
Agenda-setting
Media set the agenda for major topics of discussion, neglecting other important topics.

9. Contemporary Media Effects Theories (cont.)
Cultivation effect
Heavy viewing of television leads individuals to perceive reality in ways consistent with portrayals on television.
Spiral of silence
Those whose views are in the minority will keep their views to themselves for fear of social isolation.

10. Cultural Approaches to Media Research
Cultural Studies
Challenged mainstream media effects theory
Attempted to make everyday culture the centerpiece of media studies
Textual analysis
Close reading and interpretation of cultural messages
Audience studies
Subject being researched is the audience for the text.
Political economy studies
Examines interconnections among economic interests, political power, and how that power is used

11. Cultural Studies’ Theoretical Perspectives
The public sphere
A space for critical public debate
Advanced by German philosopher Jürgen Habermas
Society in England and France in late seventeenth century and eighteenth century created spaces (coffeehouses, pubs) for public discourse.

12. Media Research and Democracy
Academics in media studies charged with increased specialization, use of jargon
Public intellectuals based on campuses must work to help carry on the conversations of society and culture, serving as models for how to participate in public life.