CommTheoryCH11.ppt

8/13/2019 CommTheoryCH11.ppt

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Theories of Mass

Communication

Chapter 11


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Technological Determinism

The theory Marshall McLuhan advanced

has been called technological determinism.

As with any deterministic theory, the basicclaim is that some single cause or

phenomenon determines other aspects of

life (237).


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Technological Determinism

The theory of technological determinism

states that technology specifically, media

decisively shapes how individuals think,feel, and act and how societies organize

themselves and operate (238).


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Media History

The Tribal Epoch

The Literate Epoch

The Print Epoch

The Electronic Epoch


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Media History

Some characteristics of the tribal epoch:

Speech developed by homo-sapiens 20,000-

40,000 years ago.

Orality, Aurality, and tactility

Narrative Storytelling

Immersion and Simultaneity Cohesive Communities


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Media History

Some characteristics of the print epoch:

The invention of the printing press in Germany,

1450 AD.

Everything that was mentioned for the literate

epoch, but on a larger scale.

Fragmented communities. The emergence of the middle-class.


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The Medium is the Message

Some examples of how messages are

crafted to conform to the medium.

Film and TV action/violence.

Windows interface and multitasking.

The hypertext book.

TOOL audio recording: Die Eier Von Satan


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Media: Hot and Cool

Hot Media are those that include relatively

complete sensory data. Thus, a person

doesnt need to fill in a lot of information tounderstand the message (242).

Cool Media, on the other hand, demand

involvement from individuals (242).


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Cultivation Theory

Cultivation theory claims that television

cultivates, or promotes, a view of social

reality that is inaccurate but that viewersnonetheless assume reflects real life (244).


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Cultivation Theory

Cultivation is the cumulative process by

which television fosters beliefs about social

reality. According to this theory, televisionportrays the world as more violent and

dangerous than it really is (245).

Cumulative impact as opposed to a magicbullet.


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Violence

The National Commission on the Causes

and Prevention of Violence (1967 and

1968). The Surgeon Generals Scientific Advisory

Committee on Television and Social

Behavior (1972).


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Cultivation of

Attitudes toward sex roles.

Development of racial/ethnic stereotypes.

Expectations concerning physical appearance andsexuality.

If we believe that all relationship problems can be

fixed, that sex can always be sublime, and that couples

live happily ever after, then were likely to bedissatisfied with real relationships that cant

consistently live up to these synthesized images (248).


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2 Mechanisms of Cultivation

Mainstreaming: televisions ability to

stabilize and homogenize views within a

society (248). Resonance: the extent to which something

is congruent with personal experience

(249).


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Assumptions of Cultivation

Theory The observable effects of television on

culture are relatively small.

New technologies extend televisionsinfluence.


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Criticisms of Cultivation

Causation Vs. Correlation

Television viewing causes fear.

Fear causes television viewing.

A third factor causes both television viewing

and fear.

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