The first phase covered the early 20th century through the 1930s.

◦ The stimulus-response model drawn from psychology & grounded in mass society theory drawn from sociology Powerful stimuli, such as effective media messages, could induce

people to respond mechanically, immediately, & relatively uniformly, consistent with the intentions of the creators of the messages.

The second phase of media effects research◦ The era of limited effects

Regard media as having only minimal influence on the audience.

Reasons: 1) selective exposure (control over what they watched, listened to, or read in the media); 2) Selective attention (control over which elements of media messages people would pay attention to); 3) Selective perception (control over how messages were interpreted); 4)Selective recall (control over how and what was learned from the media).

Social & personal characteristics of people influenced their selective approach to mass communication so much that media’s main and most common impact was believed to be reinforcement.

Lasted until the 1960s….

The return to the concept of powerful mass media◦ The introduction & widespread adoption of TV◦ Television-saturated media environment◦ TV---the possibility to overcome some selectivity

processes.

◦ Other Strong Media Effects Agenda setting—marked the ability of the mass media to tell people

“what to think about” Cultivation---the heaviest viewers of TV were the most likely to be

“cultivated” by its patterns of images and accept the television world view as their vision of reality.

◦ This era of media effects focused on media’s power to bring about subtle, yet direct media effects.

◦ Focuses on media content as the most important explanation for media influence.

◦ Effects as immediate , relatively uniform, & consistent with the goals of the media producer. Effects-observable

◦ The emphasis of this model is on effects that represent change, not reinforcement.

◦ Effects are either behavioral, cognitive, or affective effects that lead directly to noticeable actions.

◦ Ignores the role of the audience in the media effects process

Structural and Content Features.◦ Commercial breaks, cuts and edits, and camera and lens

movement---orienting response◦ The orienting response is involuntary & automatic attention

that is unrelated to the meaning of the media stimulus Arousal.

◦ Arousal is an automatic, non-specific physiological response that is conceptualized as an activator or energizer. It is stimulated by the environment. Violence and erotica

Realism.◦ More realistic media content is more likely to activate

mental images Most direct effects are relatively short term

Drawn from the limited effects model Emphasis on the audience & based on notions of

selectivity and social influence Recognizes that media effects can occur and offers

explanations for those effects (unlike the limited effects model)

The conditional model---media effects are conditional on the audience member.

All media exposure is not bound to result in media effects◦ The audience has the power to avoid exposure and reject

influence◦ Different people may be affected quite differently by the

same media content◦ Cognitive, affective, or behavioral

Three classes of audience variables that can intervene in the process of media effects: social categories, social relationships, and individual differences.

These classes either as barrier to media effects or as a lens to enhance the likelihood of media effects

Aspects of people that are fairly easy to observe◦ Demographic characteristics of people such as gender,

age, SES, ethnicity, educational level…◦ Common self-designations such as religion, political party

membership, and occupation.◦ Ways to separate people into broad groups◦ Provide explanations for media effects b/c the categories

represent the common frames of reference of different groups of people.

Represent the social connections and interpersonal interactions among people that mediate media effects.

The social facilitation hypothesis suggests that people should enjoy media content more in groups setting than when alone. ◦ Group viewing is a powerful mediator of TV’s effects on

children.

Those aspects that differentiate one person from another. Unique to an individual

Personality, prior attitudes, preexisting attitudes, physical and mental states, attitudes toward the media, and gratifications sought from the media.

Drawn from the “return of powerful effects” era of the received view of media effects history.

The ubiquitous nature of certain media content that overrides any potential of the audience to limit exposure to certain messages.

Media content is so pervasive that selective exposure is impossible.

This model explains that media effects are a result of cumulative exposure, not due to a single event.◦ Agenda setting ---the power of the news media to direct our

concerns toward certain issues. Over time, people accept those issues on the media agenda as important issues.

◦ Cultivation research

Drawn from cognitive psychology. It applies the notion of schematic processing to

the media context. The Schema

◦ A mental structure that represent knowledge about a concept.

◦ Contain the attributes of the concept and the connections among those attributes Pat sajack ---- wheel of fourtune

◦ Functions of schemas Direct selective exposure, perception, attention, & recall Control how new information is integrated with prior

knowledge Allow people to make inferences about new situations and

help reduce uncertainty about what to think or how to act.

Two ways that schemas operate: through controlled or through automatic processing. ◦ Controlled processing is individual-controlled mental

activity. It involves goal-directed thoughtful mental action. It involves a good deal of selectivity.

◦ Automatic processing is an effortless, low-involved mental processing of environmental stimuli. Environmental stimuli (media content) may prime or activate schemas. Priming effects Once primed, schemas are more readily accessible, so primed

schema can also influence the interpretation of and reaction to subsequent stimuli.

Media content◦ Salience of visual cues◦ Aspects of content that attract involuntary

attention are more likely to prime◦ Sexual and violence content –potent primes.

Realistic depictions. Character identification. Audience variables