MI 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Whale Meat, Understanding Media, Influence Of Mass Media
Document Summary
Divergent perspectives: micro- vs. macro-level effects: effects on individuals vs. social / cultural effects, micro influences individuals, macro influences of society, administrative vs. critical research: immediate, observable influence vs. larger questions about society, administrative: media observable effects. Does a cereal commercial actually sell more cereal: critical: larger questions about society, transmissional vs. ritual perspectives: media for purpose of control vs. representation of shared beliefs, transmission: behavioral effects of media. Media messages to control behavior: ritual: maintenance of society through representation of shared beliefs. Mass communication theory: recall: scientific theory, goals of science: explain, predict, control phenomena, paradigm shift. Keys to understanding media effects: there is not just one mass comm theory. There are many theories to explain / predict various aspects of media & media effects: mass communication theories are often borrowed from other fields. Example: attitude change theory from psychology: mass communication theories are human constructions.
