Chapter2_psych of media.pptx

CHAPTER 2 Theoretical Issues in Media Research • EARLY APPROACHES TO MEDIA • USES AND GRATIFICATIONS RESEARCH • Dependency Theory AND Expectancy Theory • THE “ACTIVE AUDIENCE”: • RESEARCH METHODS IN MEDIA PSYCHOLOGY • THEORY OF MEDIA LITERACY: PAST- EARLY APPROACHES TO MEDIA • The history of...

CHAPTER 2 Theoretical Issues in Media Research • EARLY APPROACHES TO MEDIA • USES AND GRATIFICATIONS RESEARCH • Dependency Theory AND Expectancy Theory • THE “ACTIVE AUDIENCE”: • RESEARCH METHODS IN MEDIA PSYCHOLOGY • THEORY OF MEDIA LITERACY: PAST- EARLY APPROACHES TO MEDIA • The history of media research begins in the period leading up to World War II, when radio was beginning to make an impact on the cultural landscape. • ONE important early work: • Cantril and Allport’s The Psychology of Radio (1935), a look at the possible psychological effects of mass communication. • The psychological effects of media was the “hypodermic needle”-mass media’s direct impact on the audience, like an “injection” of ideological (Philosophical, religious, political) bias (unfairness) that polluted (poisoned) radio listeners- (brain washing). • Academic literature about media in the early days of radio and television had a strongly negative effect. • There were sounded alarms about the threat of mass media to the arts and “narcotising dysfunction”. • Narcotisng dysfunction: The state that the audience are so occupied during the exposure to media, which hinders ( STOPS) people in making logical reactions, (Chatterjee, 2020). • In other words, a media-induced state of apathy (laziness) in which people were satisfied to know rather than to do. • Some approach regarded the media as “mass deception.” • Theorists claimed that media promotes conformity and anti-intellectualism and hinders ( STOPS) the development of “autonomous, independent individuals. • Conformity MEANS Change in behavior or attitudes caused by social influence PRESENT –FUTURE MEDIA Future media - The big brother • British writers began to voice similar concerns about the influence of television as it was introduced into homes after World War II. • The popular image of a media future in this period was Orwell’s 1984, which presented a vision of television as an instrument of social oppression. • “The people will believe what the media tells them they believe.” • The novel stated presence of Big Brother, in 1984 television screens watch you, and everyone spies on everyone else. • Entertainment was increasingly filling the gaps in everyday life, so that people were watching television rather than doing nothing • Subjected to the “abuse” of advertising, but also that they were sucked in by the “flow” of television, unable to break the spell of viewing. • Postmodernism : Internet technology; and media have created possibilities for social change. The effects tradition • The most frequently voiced assumption is the causal link between violent media and violent behaviour. • Media effects research really began to take off, with numerous laboratorybased studies measuring short-term responses to media stimuli. • It is unfortunate in a way that this body of literature has become known as the “effects” tradition, because the word effects covers a wide range of behavioral processes. • Most of the experimental work in the 1960s focused on the negative effects of media. • Typically, a group of undergraduate students was “exposed” in the media laboratory to media material (usually recorded on video) that contained a certain quantity of the undesirable content under investigation — mainly violence. • The students then performed some other activity—completing a questionnaire or scale, such as a mood inventory, or participating in an experimental manipulation, or working together on a task while under observation. • These designs are often referred to as “dose-response” studies, because the hypothesis is usually that the degree of exposure (dose) is related to the amount of aggression displayed or negative mood reported (response). • Such designs can be traced back to the behaviorist tradition in psychology, Albert Bandura during the 1960s. In a series of studies, children were exposed to some violent behavior, learning through imitation. • Effects research subsequently developed along two separate paths. • One approach was to regard the black box as a physical organ subject to electrical and chemical impulses, so measuring the physiological effects of media became the key issue. • For example, when watching an exciting film, measures such as heart rate or skin response can be interpreted in terms of the effect the film has on the viewer’s mood, emotional arousal, or degree of attention to the material. • The second approach was related to the “cognitive revolution” that took place in psychology during the 1960s • The cognitive approach to media research, then, studied the effects of media on the thought processes of the individual, with specific attention paid to matters such as memory and comprehension. USES AND GRATIFICATIONS THOERIES OF SOCIAL MEDIA • Uses & Gratifications Theory :- People use the media to fulfil certain gratifications (needs). • Uses and gratifications (U&G) research draws on traditional psychological theory, from the Maslow’s Hierarchy Theory of Needs • A typical U&G subject is the isolated older adult who uses TV for companionship, and increasingly, information about the outside world. • U&G research, studies how and why people use media in general. • Cognitive needs: Acquiring information, knowledge and understanding. Example: from television (news), videos, movies (documentaries or based on history) • Affective needs: Emotion, pleasure, feelings, eg: Movies, television. • Personal integrative needs: credibility, stability, status • Social integrative needs: Family and friends eg: internet (e-mail, instream, social media etc..) • Tension release need: escape and diversion eg: television , movies, videos and internet U & G theory By Blumer & Katz (1974) • Blumer & Katz described that people use media to satisfy or gratify their needs in terms of 4 reasons • Surveillance • Diversion • Personal Identity • Personal Relationship • Papachrissi and Rubin (2000) identified five motives that predict people’s use of internet. • 1.Interpersonal utility (online social interaction), • 2.A way of passing time, • 3.Information seeking, • 4.Convenience, • 5.Entertainment. • Internet is a functional medium to avoid face-to-face commutation • Katz, Blumler ,and Gurevitch(1974) identified five assumptions of U&G research: • Media use is goal directed and purposive (after all, someone has to turn the TV on). • Media is used to gratify wants and needs. • Effects need to be studied through a filter of personality (individual differences) and environmental factors. • There is competition between media use and other forms of communication (e.g., we choose to stay in and watch a video rather than go to the mall). • Most of the time, the user is in control. 1.Dependency Theory 2.Expectancy Theory • People have come to depend heavily on media outlets for information about all manner of topics. • Three key ways in which individuals develop “dependency relations” with media. Dependenc y Theory • Media enables to understand the world- “self-understanding” provides us with information about ourselves. • Orientation – Actions and interaction (how to deal with social world) • Play - (either for solitary relaxation, or social activity like visiting the cinema). • According to the expectancy-value model, people watch TV (Netflix , Turkish drama) shows that they expect Expectanc y-Value Theory: will fulfill their need and highly recommended. Then people weigh up how well those needs have been gratified (did they laugh? were they offended?) in order to make a decision to repeat the behavior in the future. • Habitual media use when expectation are met (perhaps becoming “addicted” to a show). THE “ACTIVE AUDIENCE” THEORY • In media studies the preferred term is audiences • Psychoanalytic theory was used to investigate the way audiences identify with and respond to different representations and imagery in films. • Audience theory sees media users as social groups that are strongly influenced by media, it focuses on cultural meanings that users derive from media. • Main Idea : Active audience theory states that media audience do not just receive information passively but are actively involved, often unconsciously, in making sense of the message within their personal and social context. The information is encoded (e.g., using television production codes)and then decoded (convert or translated) by the audience. • There are three ways in which audiences could “decode”media messages: • The dominant code : By which viewers select the “preferred reading” intended by the producers • The negotiated code: By which audiences modify the message, on the basis of personal experience (Beliefs, values, culture etc..) • The oppositional code: By which the message is treated with deep doubt and mistrust. the preferred term is audiences. RESEARCH METHODS IN MEDIA PSYCHOLOGY: Research methods Explanation The Experimental method • • • • • Media research relied exclusively on experimental methods, the characteristic of is that it is nomothetic (it seeks to explain human behavior through the application of scientific law) Pretest/posttest experimental design with one control group and one (or more) treatment group(s) is commonly used . Example: For example: the treatment group watches a film clip containing violent action whereas the control group watches a neutral clip. The researchers are interested in changes produced by the film, participants are tested on the same measure (perhaps a mood inventory, or physiological measure, or attitude scale) both before and after the screening. Statistical analysis (ANOVA) analysis of variance Experiments • • Secondary reaction-time measures (e.g., how long it takes a television viewer to respond to an audio tone or visual cue) monitoring viewers attention to media Field experiments: Laboratory-based studies, media researchers have also used experimental designs to carry out fieldwork in “natural” settings example, media violence. Examine physiological effects of media For example, heart or pulse rate, brain activity such as EEG (electrical firing of neurons), and electro dermal measures such as skin conductance. Research methods Explanation Survey Methods: • • • • Research is done as part of a large project using a variety of methods, known as a survey. Interviewing participants with predesigned questionnaire. Surveys are carried out in the real world, the choice of respondents is a highly important matter. Survey materials: questionnaire, people meter (track television viewing activity), telephones. Correlation: • • Correlational designs, in which researchers study associations, or relationships, among a number of measured (dependent) variables instead of studying the effects of one variable on another. Example: “ The amount of media use and the level of stress or obesity” Interviewing And Qualitative Analysis: • • • • Qualitative research in psychology is concerned with understanding human behavior Interviews are frequently used in order to collect qualitative data in psychology. Focus group discussions to investigate how people talk about media and their role in everyday life. Electronic focus groups : these are groups of Internet users who take part in an online discussion forum. Content Analysis • • • • To investigate the nature of media representation. It uses a set of procedures to make valid inferences (interpretations) from texts, (Weber 1990). To find out about the purposes, messages, and effects of communication content. Example: Books, newspapers and magazines, speeches and interviews, web content and social media posts, photographs and films Content analysis can be both quantitative (focused on counting and measuring) and qualitative (focused on interpreting and understanding) • References and further reading • Giles, David. (2003). Media Psychology. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Chapters 1-5 and 7-11 • Baran, S. J. (2012). Mass Communication Theory, Foundations, Ferment & Future. Wadsworth, Cengage Learner. • Additional references: • Rosenberg .S & Kosslyn. S (2011). Abnromal Psychology. Worth Publishers • Chatterjee, M. (2020). Communication theories. Retrieved online from https://slideplayer.com/slide/9582189/ on 7 June 2020. • Seaton, J. (2018). Why Orwell’s 1984 could be about now. https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20180507-why-orwells-1984-could-be-about-now • Different types of audience (2013). Retrieved from https://www.slideshare.net/Chloerose85/different-types-of-audience-27308299/4?smtNoRedir=1 • Media research (2015) retrieved from https://www.slideshare.net/TipsDwarka/media-research-survey • Luo, Amy. (2020). What is content analysis and how can you use it in your research?. Retrieved online from https://www.scribbr.com/methodology/content-analysis/ • Uses and gratification theory (2013) retrieved online from https://pt.slideshare.net/lauren_bainbridge/uses-and-gratifications-research/3 • Motivation (2015). Retrieved online from https://www.slideshare.net/amitsahu152/02-motivation • Note: Refer the chapter handouts Image references • https://www.google.com/search?q=theoretical+issues+i n+media+research&rlz=1C1NHXL_enOM866OM866&so urce=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwia56P9rvHp AhVAxMQBHUSHCw8Q_AUoAXoECA4QAw&cshid=15915 90257062266&biw=1440&bih=789#imgrc=GZp-rsSPeE Xa_M&imgdii=0oPv0vodSk6MAM • https://www.google.com/search?q=people+listening+to +radio+1920&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwiJwoGhsfHpAh WO5RoKHTerDcoQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=people+listening +to+radi&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQARgCMgIIADICCAAyAggAM gIIADICCAAyBggAEAUQHjIGCAAQBRAeMgYIABAFEB4yBg gAEAgQHjoECAAQQzoFCAAQsQNQiNsDWJWABGDojARoA XAAeACAAZoCiAG9KZIBBzAuMTAuMTWYAQCgAQGqAQt nd3Mtd2l6LWltZw&sclient=img&ei=B7_dXsmiH47La7fW ttAM&bih=789&biw=1423&rlz=1C1NHXL_enOM866OM8 • https://www.google.com/search?q=uses+and+gratification+ needs&rlz=1C1NHXL_enOM866OM866&tbm=isch&source=i u&ictx=1&fir=H67gLjyZ8NMyyM%253A%252CSbOhbR2mu8 9PtM%252C_&vet=1&usg=AI4_-kT0UzWD9LrNFQLu0FbSdzJg j4MA8w&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiQooiNwPHpAhVPLewKHQJsD4 4Q_h0wHXoECAoQCQ&biw=1440&bih=789#imgrc=H67gLjy Z8NMyyM: • https://www.google.com/search?q=active+audience&tbm=is ch&ved=2ahUKEwj46-GYxvHpAhVF04UKHdJRAZ4Q2-cCegQI ABAA&oq=active+aud&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQARgAMgIIADICCA AyAggAMgIIADICCAAyAggAMgIIADICCAAyAggAMgIIADoFCAA QsQNQ2tQMWNDhDGDF6gxoAHAAeACAAdUBiAHeD5IBBTAu NC42mAEAoAEBqgELZ3dzLXdpei1pbWc&sclient=img&ei=-9 TdXriCFsWmlwTSo4XwCQ&bih=789&biw=1440&rlz=1C1NH XL_enOM866OM866#imgrc=C3vHd2CmX-nyQM • https://www.google.com/search?q=text+in+media&tbm=isc h&ved=2ahUKEwi4k_O90_HpAhVFihoKHcL5AK4Q2-cCegQIAB AA&oq=text+in+media&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzIECAAQGDIEC AAQGDIECAAQGDIECAAQGDIECAAQGDoECAAQQzoHCAAQsQ MQQzoCCAA6BQgAELEDOgYIABAIEB5Q6_cBWPKGAmCOiAJo