Media Effects Research A Basic Overview (with InfoTrac)

by Sparks, Glenn G.

• ISBN13: 9780534629175
• ISBN10: 0534629172
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-03-31
• Publisher: Cengage Learning

Summary

Theories and Theoretical Concepts Discussed in the Text. Preface. Acknowledgments. 1. A Scientific Approach to the Study of Media Effects. 2. Scientific Methods in Media Effects Research. 3. A Brief History of Media Effects Research. 4. Time Spent With Mass Media: Reasons and Consequences. 5. Effects of Media Violence. 6. Sexual Content in the Media. 7. Media that Stir Emotions. 8. Persuasive Effects of the Media. 9. The Effects of News and Political Content. 10. The Effects of Media Stereotypes. 11. The Impact of New Media Technologies. 12. Meet Marshall McLuhan: A Less Scientific Approach to Media Impact. Names Index. Subject Index.

Table of Contents

Preface	xvii
A Scientific Approach to the Study of Media Effects	1	(19)
Ways of Knowing	2	(2)
Experience	2	(1)
Authority	3	(1)
Science	4	(1)
Goals of Science	4	(4)
Prediction	4	(1)
Explanation	5	(1)
Understanding	6	(1)
Control	6	(2)
How Are the Goals of Science Achieved?	8	(3)
Theory	8	(2)
Falsifiability	10	(1)
The Nature of Science	11	(6)
Science Is General	12	(1)
Science Acknowledges the Existence of Objective Truth	13	(2)
Science Assumes a Skeptical Attitude	15	(1)
Science Can't Answer Certain Kinds of Questions	16	(1)
Summary	17	(1)
Key Terms and Concepts	18	(1)
Notes	18	(2)
Scientific Methods in Media Effects Research	20	(23)
Analyzing Media Content	20	(5)
What Is Content Analysis?	21	(1)
An Example: The Content of Top-Grossing Movies	22	(3)
The Sample Survey	25	(4)
An Example: The Effects of Talk Show Viewing on Adolescents	26	(3)
The Search for Causal Relationships	29	(6)
Criteria for Causal Relationships	30	(5)
The Experimental Method	35	(5)
Manipulation of a Key Variable	35	(1)
Random Assignment to Experimental Conditions	35	(1)
Identical Treatment Except for the Manipulation	36	(1)
Control Groups	37	(1)
Different Experimental Designs	37	(1)
An Example: The Effects of Mood on Music Listening Choice	38	(2)
Controversy About Research Methods	40	(1)
Another Methodological Approach	40	(1)
Summary	41	(1)
Key Terms and Concepts	42	(1)
Notes	42	(1)
A Brief History of Media Effects Research	43	(20)
Setting the Stage	44	(2)
1898---Congress Declares War on Spain	45	(1)
1917---Propaganda in World War I	45	(1)
The 1920s---Movies Explode as Mainstream Entertainment	45	(1)
1929---1932---The Payne Fund Studies	46	(3)
What Was the Content of Movies?	46	(1)
The Emotional Impact of Movies	46	(1)
Does Watching Movies Affect Behavior?	47	(2)
The Aftermath of the Payne Fund Studies	49	(1)
The Invasion from Mars	49	(2)
The Research at Princeton	50	(1)
Early Theory of Media Effects: The Magic Bullet Model	51	(1)
The People's Choice Study: The Limited-Effects Model	52	(5)
Why Use Control Groups?	52	(1)
Media Impact in the 1940 Campaign	53	(1)
Experiments on World War II Movies	53	(2)
The Limited-Effects Perspective	55	(2)
The Evils of Comic Books	57	(1)
The Dawn of Television	58	(1)
Many Types of Media Effects	58	(2)
Summary	60	(1)
Key Terms and Concepts	60	(1)
Notes	61	(2)
Time Spent with Mass Media: Reasons and Consequences	63	(18)
The Uses and Gratifications Perspective	64	(5)
Why Do Children Watch TV?	64	(4)
Uses and Gratifications Among Older Viewers	68	(1)
The Problem with Self-Reports	69	(1)
Time Spent with Media	70	(7)
The Displacement Hypothesis	72	(3)
Television Viewing and Obesity	75	(2)
Summary	77	(1)
Key Terms and Concepts	78	(1)
Notes	78	(3)
Effects of Media Violence	81	(25)
The Presence of Violent Content	83	(3)
The Causal Link Between Viewing Violence and Behaving Aggressively	86	(7)
The Research of Albert Bandura	86	(2)
The Long-Term Studies of Leonard Eron and Rowell Huesmann	88	(2)
The Research of Brandon Centerwall	90	(1)
The Catharsis Hypothesis	91	(1)
A Priming Analysis of the Effect of Media Violence	92	(1)
Desensitization to Violence	93	(2)
What About Video Games? Are They Training Kids to Kill?	95	(6)
An Opinion on Video Games from an Expert on ``Killology''	96	(1)
What Does the Research Say?	97	(4)
Why Do People Like Media Violence?	101	(1)
Concluding Comments	102	(1)
Summary	103	(1)
Key Terms and Concepts	103	(1)
Notes	104	(2)
Sexual Content in the Media	106	(21)
Human Sexuality Brings Out Passionate Opinion	106	(2)
Sorting Out Definitions and Terms	108	(1)
The Commission on Obscenity and Pornography	109	(4)
Major Finding	109	(1)
A Reexamination of the Commission's Findings	110	(3)
Research Following the Commission Report	113	(3)
Content Available	113	(1)
Perceptual Consequences of Viewing	113	(1)
Behavioral Consequences of Viewing	114	(2)
The Meese Commission Report on Pornography	116	(2)
Major Conclusion	116	(2)
Sex on Prime-Time TV	118	(5)
The Dynamics of Excitation Transfer	118	(2)
Content Analyses	120	(1)
Sexual Behavior and Viewing	121	(2)
Control over Media Content	123	(1)
Sex and the Internet	123	(1)
Legal Control	123	(1)
Social or Economic Control	124	(1)
Control Through Education	124	(1)
Summary	124	(1)
Key Terms and Concepts	125	(1)
Notes	125	(2)
Media That Stir Emotions	127	(21)
Fright Reactions to Media Are Prevalent	128	(1)
Developmental Theory: What Scares One Child May Not Scare Another	129	(1)
Experimenting with the Incredible Hulk	130	(4)
Why Is the Paranormal So Scary?	134	(3)
Poltergeist	134	(1)
The Nightmare on Elm Street Series	135	(1)
The Exorcist	136	(1)
Theory About Emotional Coping: What's a Parent to Do?	137	(2)
Is It Fun to Be Scared?	139	(2)
Frightening Films and Roller-Coaster Rides	139	(1)
The Sexual Dynamic in Viewing Frightening Films	140	(1)
Beyond Fear: Other Emotional Reactions to Media	141	(4)
Empathy: I Feel What You Feel	141	(2)
Using Media to Manage Your Mood	143	(1)
Does Mediated Emotion Disrupt and Confuse Our Emotional Well-Being?	143	(2)
Summary	145	(1)
Key Terms and Concepts	146	(1)
Notes	146	(2)
Persuasive Effects of the Media	148	(26)
What Is Persuasion?	148	(1)
How Media Messages Persuade Without Even Trying	149	(6)
The Theory of Media Cultivation: Cultivating Attitudes Is Attitude Change	151	(2)
Do Media Messages About the Paranormal Influence Paranormal Beliefs?	153	(2)
Intentional Persuasion in the Media	155	(3)
Using Entertainment to Improve Public Health	155	(1)
The Great American Values Test	156	(1)
How Does an Advertiser Determine Success?	157	(1)
Some Evidence for the Effectiveness of Advertising	157	(1)
Some Key Principles of Media Persuasion	158	(7)
The Power of the Source	159	(1)
Message Features: Simplicity and Repetition	160	(1)
More Message Features: Fear, Guilt, and Humor	161	(2)
The Health Campaign	163	(2)
Subliminal Persuasion: The Magic Key?	165	(5)
Early History	166	(1)
The Presumed Mechanism	167	(1)
Two Important Questions	167	(2)
The Third-Person Effect	169	(1)
Summary	170	(1)
Key Terms and Concepts	170	(1)
Notes	171	(3)
The Effects of News and Political Content	174	(18)
Thinking About the News	174	(8)
Need for Cognition	175	(1)
Political Sophistication	175	(1)
Agenda-Setting Theory: A Theory About Thinking	176	(2)
The Spiral of Silence	178	(1)
How Much of the News Do We Remember?	179	(3)
The Role of Emotion	182	(4)
Another View of News: Do Certain News Reports Cause More People to Die?	186	(3)
Imitative Suicides and the News	187	(2)
Summary	189	(1)
Key Terms and Concepts	189	(1)
Notes	190	(2)
The Effects of Media Stereotypes	192	(19)
Stereotypical Representations in the Media	192	(11)
Sex Role Stereotypes	193	(2)
Effects of Sex Role Stereotypes	195	(1)
Media Images of Thin Bodies and Effects on Body Image	196	(4)
Racial Stereotypes	200	(1)
Overrepresentation of African Americans as Lawbreakers	200	(3)
The Imbalance in Media Research on Stereotypes	203	(2)
An Intriguing and Under-Studied Media Depiction: Faces	205	(3)
Summary	208	(1)
Key Terms and Concepts	209	(1)
Notes	209	(2)
The Impact of New Media Technologies	211	(14)
The Revolution in New Media Technology	211	(2)
Computers and the Internet: Connection or Alienation?	213	(10)
The Carnegie Mellon Study	214	(2)
Applying the Lessons of History	216	(3)
Thinking About New Technology	219	(2)
Speculation About New Technology Effects	221	(2)
Summary	223	(1)
Key Terms and Concepts	223	(1)
Notes	224	(1)
Meet Marshall Mcluhan: A Less Scientific Approach to Media Impact	225	(18)
Is There Any Value to Considering Marshall McLuhan?	225	(1)
Meet Marshall McLuhan	226	(1)
The Eras of Communication History	227	(4)
The Tribal Age	227	(1)
Moving from the Tribal Age to the Print Age	228	(1)
Moving On to the Current Electronic Age	229	(2)
The Medium Is the Message	231	(1)
The Effects of Electronic Media on Human Beings	232	(7)
Education in the Electronic Age	233	(2)
War in the Electronic Age: Not So ``Hot''	235	(1)
Politics in the Electronic Age: Was Bill Clinton ``Cooler'' Than George Bush?	236	(1)
Did McLuhan's Perspective Predict a Winner Between John Kerry and George W. Bush?	237	(1)
Drugs in the Electronic Age	238	(1)
McLuhan's Influence	239	(1)
Some Final Reflections	240	(1)
Summary	240	(1)
Key Terms and Concepts	241	(1)
Notes	241	(1)
Important Sources on Marshall McLuhan	242	(1)
Appendix: Theories and Theoretical Concepts Discussed in the Text (By Chapter)	243	(2)
Name Index	245	(2)
Subject Index	247