13921906
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Flashcards by Em Maskrey, updated more than 1 year ago
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Created by Em Maskrey
over 6 years ago
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| Question | Answer |
| According to the hypodermic syringe model, what is there a direct correlation between? | The violence and antisocial behaviour portrayed in films, on television, in computer games, in lyrics, etc., and real-life violence and antisocial behaviour. |
| Who is the most vulnerable to these media images of violence and antisocial behaviour, and why? | Children and adolescents, because they are still in the early stages of socialisation and therefore are still very impressionable. |
| Some sociologists take a hypodermic syringe approach to how the mass media may shape non-violent forms of behaviour. What does feminist Naomi Wolf accuse the mass media of causing? | A generation of females who suffer from eating disorders. |
| Similarly, which feminist sociologist argued that the mass media's portrayal of women, particularly in pornography, has contributed to the negative attitudes towards women? | Gail Dines. |
| Early marxist sociologists have also used the hypodermic syringe approach when examining the relationship between the media and its audiences' behaviour. What did Herbert Marcuse believe the media transmits? | A 'mass culture' that supports ruling-class ideology. |
| Likewise, which sociologist argues that media coverage of political issues can influence voting behaviour? | Pippa Norris. |
| Which perspective has a more positive attitude about the hypodermic syringe approach? | Functionalists. |
| According to functionalists, what can the hypodermic syringe approach be credited with? | Boundary maintenance. |
| Where did early hypodermic syringe model studies of the relationships between the media and violence occur? | In laboratories. |
| Albert Bandura et al conducted perhaps the most famous laboratory experiment to identify a cause-and-effect relationship between media content and violence. What did he find? | Violent media content can lead to 'copycat' violence. |
| Kimberly McCabe and Gregory Martin put forward a similar argument. What sort of effect do they say screen violence has? | A 'disinhibition effect' - it convinces audiences that, in some situations, 'normal' rules that govern conflict and difference can be suspended and violence can be used. |
| Which sociologist argues that violent images in films are too easily available and that exposure to screen violence encourages young viewers to identify with the perpetrators, rather than the victims? | Elizabeth Newson. |
| Newson noted that children and adolescents are subjected to thousands of violent images on television and in films as they grow up. For example, how many television murders has the average American 18-year-old viewed, if estimates are correct? | 16,000. |
| How does Newson describe the effect of prolonged exposure to media violence? | As a 'drip-drip' effect, occurring over the course of their childhood and slowly but surely desensitising them to violence. |
| Newson's conclusions have significantly impacted society and politicians. What did her report directly lead to? | Increased censorship of the film industry - movies are now 'rated' either '18', '15', '12', 'PG' or 'U'. |
| Similarly, what have television companies agreed to adopt to help censor 'adult' content? | The 9 o'clock watershed - no programmes containing bad language or scenes of a sexual or violent nature are aired before 9 p.m. |
| While most of the above approaches regard media violence as having a negative impact on its audiences' behaviour, some media sociologists argue that it can actually prevent real-life violence. What two reasons do they give for this? | 1. It acts as a catharsis. 2. It sensitises audiences to the effects of violence. |
| Which two sociologists argued that screen violence can actually act as a catharsis - that is, it can provide a safe outlet for people's aggressive tendencies? | Seymour Fesbach and Robert Singer. |
| Which sociologist argued that seeing the effects of violence can make the viewers more sensitive of its consequences and thus less inclined to commit violent acts? | Raul Ramos et al. |
| Another criticism of the hypodermic syringe model is that studies that use it often have a handful of methodological issues. Why is David Gauntlett critical of Bandura's experiment? | He disapproves of studies that have been conducted in the artificial context of the laboratory because he feels as if subjects will not behave as they would in their 'natural habitat'. |
| If participant bias does indeed occur, what happens to the data gathered? | It becomes invalid and therefore useless. |
| Why was Bandura's study especially susceptible to participant bias? | Because not only did it occur in an artificial setting, but the subjects were children and therefore more likely to want to 'please' the researcher by behaving how the researcher wants them to behave. |
| Additionally, studies using the hypodermic syringe model aren't clear about what? | The definition of violence, of which there are numerous types: cartoon, authentic, sporting, fictional, and so on. |
| Similarly, the model can be criticised because it often fails to put violence into context. Who illustrated that the context in which screen violence occurs affects its impact on the audience? | David Morrison. |
| Another critique of the hypodermic syringe model is that studies tackle the issue of violence from the wrong 'end'. What is meant by this? | They show violent content to violent people and, because of their positive reactions, conclude that violent content caused their violence. However, it could be that violent people simply enjoy watching violent content and that violent content doesn't actually cause violent behaviour. |
| Critics of the model dispute the claim that people, and especially children, are vulnerable. Research shows that children can distinguish between fictional violence and real violence from a very young age and generally know that it shouldn't be imitated. Which sociologist found no evidence of children being confused between the two? | Millwood Hargrave. |
| However, research provided by Ofcom indicates that children may lack online understanding. How many children don't question the content they see online? | Nearly 10%. |
| What did the Institute for Public Policy Researcg find out about teenager's attitudes to pornography? | - Almost half believed that there was nothing wrong with accessing pornography. - Teenagers ranked pornography websites higher than parents as a source of information about sex and relationships. - Both girls and boys said that pornography was putting pressure on them to look and act in certain sexual ways. |
| A final criticism of the hypodermic syringe model is that it arguably scapegoats the media. What is meant by this? | The media are seen as the sole cause of violent behaviour when, in reality, a whole range of factors are typically involved in a person's decision to offend. |
| Which filmmaker argued that blaming the media for the Columbine massacre made as much sense as blaming bowling - a hobby of both of the offenders? | Michael Moore. |
| Which sociologist noted that youth violence in America has actually fallen by 83% in the past two decades, despite an explosion in the number of violent computer games? | Christopher Ferguson. |
| Ferguson gives two reasons why violent computer games might've actually helped to reduce youth crime rates. What are they? | 1. Violent video games may given individuals prone to aggression an opportunity to release that aggression (this is similar to the catharsis theory put forward by Fesbach and Sanger). 2. These potentially aggressive individuals are no longer in public places, where they may be tempted to offend. Rather, they are at home playing the video games. |
| When examining all evidence supporting and contradicting the hypodermic syringe model, which sociologist concludes that there is still no conclusive evidence to prove or disprove the model? | Guy Cumberbatch. |
| Contrary to the hypodermic syringe model, which type of approach argues that media content doesn't lead to imitation by or desensitisation of audience members? | Active audience approaches. |
| Why is the active audience approach critical of the hypodermic syringe approach? | The hypodermic syringe approach implies that audiences are homogeneous, but the active audience approach believes that audience members have different social features which have an impact on the way they interpret and respond to media content. |
| There are six respective branches of the active audience approach. Name as many as possible (three minimum): | 1. The two-step flow model. 2. The selective filter model. 3. The uses and gratifications model. 4. The reception analysis model. 5. The cultural effects model. 6. The postmodernist model. |
| Which two sociologists developed the two-step flow model? | Elihu Katz and Paul Lazarsfeld. |
| According to Katz and Lazarsfeld, who dominates personal relationships and social networks? | 'Opinion leaders' - people with influence because of the respect they receive from others within their social networks. |
| These opinion leaders typically have strong ideas and opinions about a range of matters. How have they formed these? | By exposing themselves to different types of media and content. |
| Katz and Lazarsfeld suggest that media content goes through two steps before it has an effect. What are these two steps? | 1. The opinion leader is exposed to the media content. 2. The opinion leader disseminates their interpretation of that content, and those who respect the opinion leader are influenced. |
| In this way, media audiences aren't directly influenced by the media - the audience, in the form of the opinion leader, are active in their interpretations. However, what are the two problems critics have pointed out with this model? | 1. There's no guarantee that the opinion leader hasn't been subjected to an imitative or desensitising effect. 2. People at greater risk of being influenced by the media may be socially isolated and therefore not members of any social network. As such, they wouldn't have access to an opinion leader. |
| Which sociologist developed the selective filter model? | Joseph Klapper. |
| According to Klapper, for a media message to any effect, it must pass through which three filters? | 1. Selective exposure. 2. Selective perception. 3. Selective retention. |
| What is 'selective exposure'? | The audience must choose to access the content of a specific media, because media content can only have an effect if they are being received. An audience member will choose which media content they want to access depending on their interests, age, gender, class, etc. |
| What is 'selective perception'? | An audience may access media content and choose to reject it because it fails to fit their perception of the social world. However, Leon Festinger argues that most audience members seek out media that confirms their existing perception of the world. |
| What is 'selective retention'? | Media content must be memorable for it to have an effect on audience members. However, research indicates that most people only remember the content they strongly agree with. |
| In line with selective retention, what did Neil Postman argue we now live in? | A 'three-minute culture' - the attention span of the average member of society is a maximum of three minutes. |
| How can the three filters involved in the selective filter model be used to argue that audiences are active, rather than passive and homogeneous? | The filters imply that audiences have a degree of choice when it comes to the media content they access and accept. Additionally, what they choose to accept will depend on their independent characteristics, which would subsequently mean that the audience is one homogeneous group. |
| Which two sociologists strongly advocate for the uses and gratifications model? | Jay Blumler and Denis McQuail. |
| What does the uses and gratifications model suggest? | People use the media in order to satisfy their particular needs. |
| Blumler and McQuail argue that these needs may be biological, psychological or social and, furthermore, they are relative - they depend on gender, age, class, etc. However, they do identify four basic needs that all people use the media to satisfy. What are they? | 1. Diversion. 2. Personal relationships. 3. Personal identity. 4. Surveillance. |
| What is meant by 'diversion'? | James Watson argues that people use the media to escape from routines, problems, worries and tensions. Audiences may immerse themselves in media to make up for the dissatisfaction they feel at work and/or home. |
| What is meant by 'personal relationships'? | Watson nots that people often know more about characters from television shows than we do our own neighbours. It can therefore be argued that the media provides the means to compensate for the decline of community in our lives. |
| What is meant by 'personal identity'? | People may use the media to 'make over' their identity through social media websites such as Facebook and Instagram. It can also be argued that the experiences of characters from television shows may also help audience members to define their personal identity by, for example, awakening them to their sexuality. |
| What is meant by 'surveillance'? | People use the media to gather information and news about the social world. This enables them to form opinions on particular issues. Recently, this is increasingly developing an interactive quality, thanks to the growing popularity of sites such as Twitter, which allow people to contribute their own knowledge. |
| The uses and gratifications model has been criticised for several reasons. Firstly, methodological problems have been identified. Discuss: | It has been argued that not enough research on how audiences interpret and gratify themselves through the use of media content has been done - the approach is too reliant on the interpretations of the researchers. |
| Marxists criticise the model for exaggerating the audience's freedom to interpret media content as they so choose. What do the Glasgow University Media Group argue? | The agenda has already been set by the media and it is therefore difficult for audiences to interpret content outside of ideological constraints. |
| Finally, how do postmodernists respond to the uses and gratifications model? | They argue that each individual has specific needs and the function of a media-saturated postmodern society is to provide a range of media choices in order to meet individual tastes. |
| What does the reception analysis model of media effects suggest? | People interpret the same media content in a variety of different ways because of their different social backgrounds. |
| Which sociologist argued that people actively choose to make one of three readings or interpretations of media content? | David Morley. |
| What are the three readings of media content, according to Morley? | 1. The preferred reading. 2. The oppositional reading. 3. The negotiated reading. |
| What is the 'preferred reading'? | This is the dominant interpretation of media content. It reflects the consensus and, as such, it is accepted because it is widely accepted as legitimate. |
| What is the 'oppositional reading'? | This is a minority interpretation of media content. It opposes the views expressed in media content. |
| What is the 'negotiated reading'? | This is when the audience reinterpret media content to fit in with their own opinions and values. |
| Morley suggests that all three interpretations of media content can occur within the same social group. Why might the average person have a complicated interpretation of media content? | Because the average person belongs to several subcultural groups and this can confuse their reading of media content by making it inconsistent. |
| The reception analysis model does not believe that audiences are one passive group. Rather, it looks at audience members as individuals who act in a variety of subcultural ways. As such, how does the model portray media content? | As 'polysemic' - that is, it attracts more than one type of reading. |
| However, it has been argued - and conceded by Morley himself - that the research may have been compromised. Why? | His sample didn't see the news programme used in the research in their natural environment. As such, their responses may have been influenced by the research context - there may be a risk of demand characteristics. |
| Which perspective formulated the cultural effects model? | Marxism. |
| How does the marxist cultural effects model see the media? | It regards it as having a very powerful ideological influence that is preoccupied with transmitting capitalist values and norms. |
| There is disagreement among marxists about why this process occurs, with three main explanations being presented. What are they? | 1. It is the influence of media owners. 2. It is due to the capitalist market conditions in which the ultimate goal is to make profit. 3. It is an accidental by-product of the social and educational backgrounds of most journalists, who accept the consensus view of the world. |
| In its focus on audiences, what does the model recognise? | The media audience is made up of a variety of people who come from a variety of social backgrounds and have very different experiences as a result. This means their interpretations may be vastly different from one another. |
| The cultural effects model is therefore similar to the reception analysis model in its understanding of the media audience. However, how does the cultural effects model differ from the reception analysis model? | It argues that media content contains strong ideological messages that reflect the values of those who own, control and produce the media. In this way, media owners expect audiences to interpret content in a particular way (i.e. to make the preferred reading discussed by the reception analysis model). |
| What is media coverage of particular issues resulting in, according to the cultural effects model? | It's resulting in most people coming to believe that media perspectives on particular issues are correct. These perspectives reflect a consensus perspective that fails to challenge ruling-class ideology and, in some cases, even reinforces it. |
| Like Newson, marxists believe that audiences have been exposed to a 'drip-drip' effect through which media content has become saturated with ideological values. What do marxists think of television content in particular? | They believe it is deliberately dumbed down. |
| What impact does the 'dumbed down' television content have on audiences? | They no longer think critically about the state of the world. |
| What is the long-term effect of this preferred reading of media content? | The values of the rich and powerful come to be consciously shared by most people, allowing the ruling class to remain in power and social inequality to prevail. |
| Which two sociologists' findings support the cultural effects model? | Stephen Reese and Seth Lewis. |
| What did Reese and Lewis find regarding news reports following 9/11? | They shared and uncritically transmitted the political administration's response to the attack as a 'war on terror', which justified the US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. |
| What does the cultural effects model state about the way that audiences interpret media messages? | Audiences can interpret media content differently (therefore being active), but they will interpret it within certain confined limits. |
| Which sociologist shows how audiences are limited in the interpretations they can make about media content? How does he do this? | James Curran. He argues that the frequent reading of particular newspapers means the reader will be subjected to a particular way of seeing and interpreting the world. They may then come to see these opinions as formed on their own, when really they have been subjected to ideology. |
| What criticism can be made of the cultural effects discussed in the cultural effects model? | They are very difficult operationalise and measure. |
| Pluralists question the marxist view that these cultural effects benefit the capitalist elite. Why? | Because they believe that the professionalism and objectivity of modern journalists ensure that media output is constructed for the benefit of the audience. If one view is projected more than other views, it is because the audience believe in and ask for it. |
| Why are certain views projected more than other views, according to pluralists? | Because the audience believe in and ask for them specifically. |
| Pluralists are also critical of the marxist view that the media is creating a homogeneous worldview underpinned by capitalist ideology. What counterargument do they make? | The sheer diversity of media means that this marxist view is simply untrue. |
| How do postmodernists view the media? | They see it as central to the creation of the postmodern world because it allows members of society to create their own set of values and beliefs from the wide variety of global information they now have access to. |
| In particular, what do postmodernists believe individuals now search for? | Their 'true', authentic self. |
| What does the search for one's authentic self often result in? | An element of 'playfulness' in which personal identity is experimental. This identity is invented and expressed through the use of the media. |
| Postmodern perspectives on the effects of media content are essentially are an extension of which model? | The reception analysis model. |
| How do the reception analysis model and the postmodernist model differ? | The reception analysis model focuses on explaining the influence of subcultural differences in the ways audiences might report to media messages, while the postmodern model focuses on how individual members of audiences create their own meanings from media content. |
| Which sociologist stated that postmodernists see media content as producing multiple definitions of reality, each of which has the same degree of importance as the others? | Greg Philo. |
| Furthermore, how do postmodernists see definitions of reality? | As just that - mere definitions which are constantly changing. There is no 'fixed' way of describing anything and a definition depends on what is seen and who is seeing and describing it. |
| How do postmodernists apply this belief to the media and its potential influence over audiences? | They argue that the media cannot distort reality because there is no fixed truth to distort. |
| As such, rather than seeing the audience as a homogeneous group or as divided into cultural or other groupings, what do postmodernists argue about media effects and audiences? | They argue that it is impossible to make generalisations because audiences may react to the same media message in very different ways. |
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