L2 Media Effects Theories PDF

L2: Media effects theories Tuesday, November 12, 2024 11:35 AM Chapter 2: media effects theories: an overview Mass communication, in early mass communication theories, the mass did not only refer to the massness of the audience that they could reach, but also to homogenous media use and homogenous...

L2: Media effects theories Tuesday, November 12, 2024 11:35 AM Chapter 2: media effects theories: an overview Mass communication, in early mass communication theories, the mass did not only refer to the massness of the audience that they could reach, but also to homogenous media use and homogenous media effects. Media use has become progressively individualized and more personalized. What is a media effects theory? Media effects theory is difficult to provide a formal definition of. Media effects theory: a theory that attempts to explain the uses and effects of media on individuals, groups or societies as a whole. A theory needs to conceptualize media use (or exposure to specific mediated messages or stories) and the potential changes that this media use can bring about in individuals, groups or societies (the media effect). At least needs to conceptualize media use and the individual or colelctive changes that this media use brings about. Media use: intented or incidental use of media channels, (phone, e-mail), devices (phone, game), content/messages (games, narratives, advertising, news) or all types of platforms or apps (Fb, insta, uber) Media effects: the deliberate and non-deliberate short- and long-term individual or collective changes in cognitions, emotions, attitudes and behavior that result form media use. Media effects models: theories that fit within dit definition, oftentimes accompanied bij a pitcorial model to explain the processes or relationships between media use, media outcomes and other relevant concepts, individual differences or social context variables. Labels theory and model are used interchangeably All media effects theories fit witin this definition Prominent media effects theory Mass communication theories are broader than media effects theories. Mass communication also focusses on the production, not only effects and postpositivist and critical or cultural approachers where media effects are primarely postpositivist. Postpositivists: derive quantitative research methods from those developed in physical sciences, human behavior is not as constant and hoogeneous as in the physical world. Evergreen media effects theories Cultivation theory Agenda setting theory Diffusion of innovations theory Uses and gratifications theory Social learning/ social cognitive theory Media system dependency theory Over-time changes in the prominence of theories Lasswell's model of communication lost appeal in recent studies as well as the mathemetical model of communication McLuhans medium theory (the medium is the message, influence is the modalities, text, aural of audiovisual not the content) Media effects are often a result of a combination of features, content plays a prominent role. Cognitive turn: reaction to behaviorism, learning theory, all human behaviors are involuntary responses to rewarding and punishing stiumuli in the environment. Black box Mental states of media user plays a crucial role in explaining media effects, acknowledge effects are indirect, cognitive mental states of the viewer is a mediating variable between media use and media outcome. Cultivation theory (bibliometric) is greatly adapted to better sustain the behavioral cognitive theory, the original set of propositions may have gotten glossed over. Minimal overlap between the macro level proposed and the more recent micro level. Upcoming media effects theories Has this recent period witnessed an upsurge in novel or adjusted media effect theories? New theories mey be needed with which to understand the communication dynamics that these technologies involve. Trends: Emergence of theories that attempt to explain the uses and effects of media entertainment. Better understand this type of media use by focusing on cognitive and emotional processing. Concept of enjoyment in response to media entertainment or the eudaimonic gratifications (media-related experiences associated with contemplation and meaningfulness) that people experience in response to though-provoking and poignant entertainment Gap media effects and CMC (computer-mediated- communication) narrowed. First two separate disciplines of communication, gap had been bridged. Also the new types of media fall within the realm of CMC theories and research. Users perceptions of an individuals online profile are affected by the posts of friends wo may have posted on the profile. --> media effect.Namely, people (i.e., the receivers) look at online profiles (i.e., media use), and the messages or posts that they see (i.e., the messages) affect their perceptions (i.e., the media effect). Core features of contemporary media effects theories Recent theories recognize the interaction between media factors (media use, media processing) and non-media factors ( dispositional, situational and social context factors) and better acknowledge that media effects are indirect rather than direct. The selectivity paradigm, Oldest paradigms in communication Lazarsfels: individuals predominantly select media messages that serve their needs, goals and beliefs. Uses- and Gratifications --> obtained gratifications Selective exposure theory --> media effects Both based on on 3 propositions 1. Individuals only attend to a limited number of messages out of the miscellany of messages that can potentially attracht their attention 2. Media use is a result of dispositional (needs, personality), situational (mood) or social-conext factors (norms that prevail in the social environment) 3. Only those messages they select have the potential to influence them Early research focussed on the first part of the media effects process, media use as outcome, effects of this use were ignored. Do not fit with current definition Selectivity paradigm had become an integrated part of media effects theories, reinforcing spiral model, SESAM model, differntial susceptibility to media effects model. Contemporary selective exposure theories conceptualize that media users, rather than the media, are the center points in a process that may bring about media effects. This insight has important implications for media effects research. It means, for example, that individuals, by shaping their own selective media use, also (deliberately or not) partly shape their own media effects Specific goal that prompt and individuals media consumption "shape attention to variations in the content and features of the topical information one consumes, affecting its interpretation and recall. However selectivity is clearly an important featur of CMC, unknown whether CMC users are more or less able to contribute to their own media effects than users of more traditional media are. CMC users have more agency in their media selection than they had with traditional media. They can openly comment on incoming messages, thereby publicly discounting this information. Also more easily avoid incongruent or conflicting messages and dus to technological algorithms that use their increased agency and selectivity. Due to this CMC users may have more opportunity than traditional media users to shape their own media effects. The blending of mass (television program) and interpersonal messages (viewer comments on twitter about the television program) in CMC environments could also stimulate a type of gratifications or effects that have been named process gratification. Process gratifications: not so much driven by preexisting needs, goals, bielfd of the media user, but they develop while using media. For example, individuals may start surfing the web with specific a priori needs, beliefs, or goals, but while interacting with technologies or other people they may develop different and unforeseen needs, goals, and beliefs, which in turn may lead to different and unforeseen media gratifications (or effects). Therefore, in contemporary media effects theories, media effects can best be understood as the result of an interaction between need-driven media use and situational, process-based media use The transactionality paradigm Lineair media effects theories: Cultivation theory Communication model Medium theory Transactional theories conceptualize media use and media outcomes as reciprocally related. User oriented approach Uses and grafications Selective exposure theory 1. Certain dispositions of media users (needs, goals, beliefs) can cause their selective mide use 2. Which can, in turn, cause certain outcomes (media effect) 3. Selective media use For example, adolescents’ aggressiveness may stimulate their use of violent media, which, in turn, may increase their aggressiveness, which may then further stimulate their violent media use. Transactional media effects theories are relatively recent, they are difficult to investigate and the experise and methods to empircally test were not yet available. Message producers and consumers can now exert reciprocal influences on one another and can easily switch their roles from consumers to producers and vice versa. These transactional processes necessitate alterations to existing media effects theories. The conditionality paradigm The uses and gratifications and selective exposure theories. Media effects do not equally hold for all media users, media effects can be contingent on dispositional, situational and social context factors. The same movie may influence different children in distinctly opposite directions. Even today there is a tendency to ignore individual differences in susceptibility to media effects. Perhaps our paradigm would be strengthened if we recognized that media effects are neither characteristically strong nor are they characteristically minimal: they are variable. Conditional media effects are not only due to selective exposure, also to selective processing. Dispositional, situational and social context factors may have a double role in the media effects proces: they not only predict selective exposure but can influence the way in which media content is cognitively and emotionally processed. Individuals seek out content that does not deviate too much from their needs, goals and beliefs. The same factors that predict selective exposure can influence the way media content is processed. Selective reception processes, main focus on individual differences in cognitive processing of media content and less on emotional processing. An emotional turn in these theories has unfolded, increasingly recognize that emotional processes, such as identification with characters or emotional involvement in the narrative are important routes to media effects. Discussion 5 bibliometic studies suggest: Use of theory in communication papers has increased significantly across time. 26% --> 35% Quality development, walter says remarkable slowdown in theory development, increase in use decrease in development, but did not use full literature. Evergreen theories have become part of the shared identity of media effects researchers who by referring to of adjusting these theories are able to communicate this identity. High tolerance of evergreen theories for multiple interpretation of their claims. Hides the progess made or distorts orignial theory v/s newer theories that better explain contemporary media use and effects. Progress is important, but old theories need to be falsified. New theories due to the rapid cahnges in the new media landscape. Several important theoretical trents over the past decade: ○ Deelopment of theories that attempt to understand the effects of (narrative) media enternainment and the role of emotional processing in these effects. ○ Theories were coined or extended to recognize the selectivity, contionality and transactionality of media effects ○ Increased tendency to merge media effects, interpersonal and CMC theories in paper that investigate the uses and effects of messages communication via the internet and social media. Challenges and oppurtunities for future media effects research Conceptualizing media use 2.0: What constitutes media use? Hours- a day / endless array of platforms. Watching tv, chatting with other viewers, posting reactions and searching for information on the actors Evolving technologies facilitate media use well beyond time boundries of any single instance of media consumption. (see previous example, more time spent on a tv show) New methods to assess cognitive and emotional media processing Media effects theories may benefit from the evolving use of newer means of assessing indivduals emotional and cognitive processing of messages and resultatn changes in beliefs, attitudes, affective states and behaviors. Neural patterns associated with meida use, persuasion, stereotyping, health and social interaction. Face readers and eye trackers to asses changes in emotional responses to media messages and devices. These help develop theories about chagnes in emotions that occur during  media use. Big data and networks of information and online communities help develop new or adjust communication theories. Effects of mass self-communication Shift from mass communication to masspersonal / mass self-communication. Mass media is unidirectional, mass self-communication theories extend these theories, effects on recipients and generator. People often adopt the characteristics of the avatars they use to present temselves online. Self-effects: effects of messages on the cognitions, emotions, attitudes and behaviors of the message generators themselves. On social media, expressing an attitude/ opinion or selecting an avatar may not only infuence the cognitions, beliefs and attitudes of message recipients but also those of the generators. Further, as discussed, given individuals’ tendencies select media content that is congruent with their cognitions, beliefs, and attitudes, it is likely that messages which are self-generated and originate from its generator’s own beliefs may have an even stronger effect on the message generators themselves than on their message recipients. Conclusions Fundamental assumptions of evergreen theories are likely applicable across wide acreage of media landscapes. Newer theories represent nuance of human experience