Media Effects Research A Basic Overview (with InfoTrac)

by Sparks, Glenn G.

• ISBN13: 9780534545864
• ISBN10: 0534545866
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-10-15
• Publisher: Cengage Learning

Summary

This exciting new text provides an excellent introduction for students of mass media effects. Through an engaging, narrative style, the author presents the fascinating research findings of media impacts and the connected mass media theories in the context of those research findings. Students are provided with a clear perspective of the relationship between science, methods, and the practical questions of the effects of mass media.

Table of Contents

Preface	xv
Acknowledgments	xvi
A Scientific Approach to the Study of Media Effects	1	(18)
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	(2)
Falsifiability	9	(1)
The Nature of Science	10	(6)
Science Is General	11	(2)
Science Acknowledges the Existence of Objective Truth	13	(1)
Science Assumes a Skeptical Attitude	14	(1)
Science Can't Answer Certain Kinds of Questions	15	(1)
Summary	16	(1)
Key Terms and Concepts	16	(1)
Key Names	17	(1)
Web Links	17	(1)
Notes	17	(2)
Scientific Methods in Media Effects Research	19	(20)
Analyzing Media Content	19	(4)
What Is Content Analysis?	20	(1)
An Example: The Content of TV Commercials	21	(2)
The Sample Survey	23	(4)
An Example: The Effects of Talk Show Viewing on Adolescents	24	(3)
The Search for Causal Relationships	27	(5)
Criteria for Causal Relationships	27	(5)
The Experimental Method	32	(4)
Manipulation of a Key Variable	33	(1)
Random Assignment to Experimental Conditions	33	(1)
Identical Treatment Except for the Manipulation	33	(1)
Control Groups	34	(1)
An Example: The Effects of Realistic Versus Reenacted Violence	35	(1)
Controversy About Research Methods	36	(1)
Summary	36	(1)
Key Terms and Concepts	37	(1)
Key Names	37	(1)
Web Links	37	(1)
Notes	38	(1)
A Brief History of Media Effects Research	39	(18)
Setting the Stage	40	(2)
1898---Congress Declares War on Spain	40	(1)
1917---Propaganda in World War I	41	(1)
The 1920s---Movies Explode as Mainstream Entertainment	41	(1)
1929--1932---The Payne Fund Studies	42	(3)
What Was the Content of Movies?	42	(1)
The Emotional Impact of Movies	42	(1)
Does Watching Movies Affect Behavior?	43	(2)
The Aftermath of the Payne Fund Studies	45	(1)
The Invasion From Mars	45	(2)
The Research at Princeton	46	(1)
Early Theory of Media Effects: The Magic Bullet Model	47	(1)
The People's Choice Study: The ``Limited Effects'' Model	48	(3)
Why Use Control Groups?	48	(1)
Media Impact in the 1940 Campaign	48	(1)
The Limited-Effects Perspective	49	(2)
The Evils of Comic Books	51	(1)
The Dawn of Television	52	(1)
Many Types of Media Effects	52	(2)
Summary	54	(1)
Key Terms and Concepts	55	(1)
Key Names	55	(1)
Web Links	55	(1)
Notes	56	(1)
Time Spent With Mass Media: Reasons and Consequences	57	(15)
The Uses and Gratifications Perspective	58	(4)
Why Do Children Watch TV?	58	(4)
The Problem With Self-Reports	62	(1)
Time Spent With Media	63	(6)
The Displacement Hypothesis	64	(3)
Television Viewing and Obesity	67	(2)
Summary	69	(1)
Key Terms and Concepts	69	(1)
Key Names	69	(1)
Web Links	70	(1)
Notes	70	(2)
Effects of Media Violence	72	(18)
The Presence of Violent Content	74	(2)
The Causal Link Between Viewing Violence and Behaving Aggressively	76	(8)
The Research of Albert Bandura	76	(3)
The Long-Term Studies of Leonard Eron and Rowell Huesmann	79	(2)
The Research of Brandon Centerwall	81	(1)
The Catharsis Hypothesis	81	(2)
A Priming Analysis of the Effect of Media Violence	83	(1)
Desensitization to Violence	84	(1)
Why Do People Like Media Violence?	85	(1)
Concluding Comments	86	(1)
Summary	87	(1)
Key Terms and Concepts	87	(1)
Key Names	87	(1)
Web Links	87	(1)
Notes	88	(2)
Sexual Content in the Media	90	(19)
Human Sexuality Brings Out Passionate Opinion	90	(2)
Sorting Out Definitions and Terms	92	(1)
The Commission on Obscenity and Pornography	93	(2)
Major Finding	93	(1)
A Reexamination of the Commission's Findings	94	(1)
Research Following the Commission Report	95	(4)
Content Available	96	(1)
Perceptual Consequences of Viewing	96	(1)
Behavioral Consequences of Viewing	97	(2)
The Meese Commission Report on Pornography	99	(1)
Major Conclusion	99	(1)
Sex on Prime-Time TV	100	(4)
The Dynamics of Excitation Transfer	101	(1)
Content Analyses	102	(2)
Sexual Behavior and Viewing	104	(1)
Control over Media Content	104	(2)
Sex and the Internet	104	(1)
Legal Control	105	(1)
Social or Economic Control	105	(1)
Control Through Education	106	(1)
Summary	106	(1)
Key Terms and Concepts	107	(1)
Key Names	107	(1)
Web Links	107	(1)
Notes	107	(2)
Frightening Media	109	(18)
Fright Reactions to Media Are Prevalent	111	(1)
What Scares One Child May Not Scare Another	112	(1)
Experimenting with the Incredible Hulk	113	(3)
Why Is the Paranormal So Scary?	116	(4)
Poltergeist	117	(1)
The Nightmare on Elm Street Series	118	(1)
The Exorcist	119	(1)
What's a Parent to Do?	120	(2)
Is it Fun to Be Scared?	122	(2)
Frightening Films and Roller-Coaster Rides	122	(1)
The Sexual Dynamic in Viewing Frightening Films	123	(1)
Summary	124	(1)
Key Terms and Concepts	125	(1)
Key Names	125	(1)
Web Links	125	(1)
Notes	125	(2)
Persuasive Effects of the Media	127	(24)
What Is Persuasion?	127	(1)
Subliminal Persuasion: The Magic Key?	128	(3)
Early History	128	(1)
The Presumed Mechanism	129	(1)
Two Important Questions	129	(2)
How Media Messages Persuade Without Even Trying	131	(6)
The Theory of Media Cultivation	133	(2)
Do Media Messages About the Paranormal Influence Paranormal Beliefs?	135	(2)
Intentional Persuasion in the Media	137	(3)
The Great American Values Test	137	(2)
How Does an Advertiser Determine Success?	139	(1)
Some Evidence for the Effectiveness of Advertising	139	(1)
The Third-Person Effect	140	(1)
Some Key Principles of Media Persuasion	140	(7)
The Power of the Source	142	(1)
Message Features: Simplicity and Repetition	143	(1)
More Message Features: Fear, Guilt, and Humor	143	(2)
The Health Campaign	145	(2)
Summary	147	(1)
Key Terms and Concepts	147	(1)
Key Names	147	(1)
Web Links	148	(1)
Notes	148	(3)
The Effects of News and Political Content	151	(16)
Do Certain News Reports Cause More People to Die?	151	(2)
Imitative Suicides and the News	152	(1)
Thinking About the News	153	(7)
Need for Cognition	154	(1)
Political Sophistication	154	(1)
Agenda-Setting Theory: A Theory About Thinking	155	(2)
The Spiral of Silence	157	(1)
How Much of the News Do We Remember?	158	(2)
The Role of Emotion	160	(4)
Summary	164	(1)
Key Terms and Concepts	164	(1)
Key Names	164	(1)
Web Links	165	(1)
Notes	165	(2)
The Effects of Media Stereotypes	167	(18)
What's in a Face?	167	(4)
Stereotypical Representations in the Media	171	(9)
Sex Role Stereotypes	172	(1)
Effects of Sex Role Stereotypes	173	(2)
Media Images of Thin Bodies and Effects on Body Image	175	(2)
Racial Stereotypes	177	(1)
Overrepresentation of African Americans as Lawbreakers	177	(3)
The Imbalance in Media Research on Stereotypes	180	(2)
Summary	182	(1)
Key Terms and Concepts	182	(1)
Key Names	182	(1)
Web Links	183	(1)
Notes	183	(2)
The Impact of New Media Technologies	185	(15)
The Revolution in New Media Technology	185	(2)
Computers and the Internet: Connection or Alienation?	187	(5)
The Carnegie Mellon Study	187	(3)
Applying the Lessons of History	190	(2)
Are Video Games Really Training Kids to Kill?	192	(6)
An Opinion on Video Games from an Expert on ``Killology''	193	(1)
What Does the Research Say?	194	(4)
Summary	198	(1)
Key Terms and Concepts	198	(1)
Key Names	198	(1)
Web Links	198	(1)
Notes	199	(1)
Meet Marshall McLuhan: A Less Scientific Approach to Media Impact	200	(17)
Is There Any Value to Considering Marshall McLuhan?	200	(1)
Meet Marshall McLuhan	201	(1)
The Eras of Communication History	202	(4)
The Tribal Age	202	(1)
Moving from the Tribal Age to the Print Age	203	(1)
Moving on to the Current Electronic Age	204	(2)
The Medium Is the Message	206	(1)
The Effects of Electronic Media on Human Beings	207	(5)
Education in the Electronic Age	208	(1)
War in the Electronic Age: Not So ``Hot''	209	(2)
Politics in the Electronic Age: Was Bill Clinton ``Cooler'' Than George Bush?	211	(1)
Drugs in the Electronic Age	212	(1)
McLuhan's Influence	212	(1)
Some Final Reflections	213	(1)
Summary	214	(1)
Key Terms and Concepts	215	(1)
Key Names	215	(1)
Web Links	215	(1)
Important Sources on Marshall McLuhan	216	(1)
Notes	216	(1)
Names Index	217	(2)
Subject Index	219