Blog 1: Building Blocks

With every beginning we all have to learn those wonderful little building blocks. That's what this first blog posting is about; the basic tools of media theories and what the heck it all means.

Theories of Uniform Influences: Members of mass society have essentially similar human nature. This mass society is presented messages by the media, which they percieve uniformly. These messages are the stimuli that influence the individual's emotions strongly. The stimuli lead individual's to respond in uniform manner, creating changes in thought and action that are like those changes in other people.

Theories of Selective Influences:  The media gives messages to the mass public, but it is perceived differently. The basis of selectivity lies in variation of habits of perception. Variations in habits of selection occur because each individual has a unique personal beliefs, attitudes, values, needs and models of experiencing gratification acquired through learning. Because perception is selective, responses to media are selective. So, effects of media are not uniform, powerful, or direct. Limited by psychology. Chief supporters of this are Joseph Klapper.

Disinhibition Theory: We have acquired a set of moral and personal ethics. Some of them prohibit us from engaging. They're called inhibitions. Over time, if we come into a number of mass media messages condoning this behavior, and we may lose our inhibitions. Once they're gone, we're likely to engage in these behaviors.

Desensitization Theory: Overtime, heavy media use can cause people to become less sensitive to issues.

Sensitization Theory: Overtime time, people become more sensitive to issues caused by the media.

Modeling Theory: An individual sees certain behavior portrayed in media content. The individual thinks it's attractive and useful for coping with situation. The individual reproduces behavior in a personally relevant situation. The behavior proves useful, thus rewarding to the individual.

Cultivation Theory: In the 1900's, George Gerbner looked at the impact of violence on audiences. He found violence in television was more common than in real life. From all this, Gerbner derived that:

• TV is essentially different than all other media that came before it.
• TV is the center cultural "arm."
• TV reality is basic assumption in life.
• TV's function is in socialization and enculturation.
• Observable and dependant materials of TV's culture is relatively small.

Socialization Theory: As a social group develops through the interaction and socialization of its members, a series of events are repeated and transmitted from generation to generation. Those events, that can be divided into norms, rules, ranking and sanctions, are the driving motives for the actions of each individual within the social group. Therefore, before the individual takes the initiative towards an action, he or she will be comparing his or her actions to the ones of the fellow members of the group. This equilibrium through the mere imitation of actions is, in very broad terms, the basis of any given social group.

Uses and Gratifications Theory:  Suggests that media users play an active role in choosing and using the media.  Users take an active part in the communication process and are goal oriented in their media use.  The theorists say that a media user seeks out a media source that best fulfills the needs of the user.  Uses and gratifications assume that the user has alternate choices to satisfy their need.

looked at why people watch certain media. Based on assumptions.

• the audience is active
• media used to met needs
• other factors may be involved
• media compete for our attention

Agenda-Setting Theory: The news media helps set the public agenda by showing certain stories by implying that the topic's more important than the others. The audience then encodes it as the most important. Ex: Karan Burning, Hurricane Katrina. 

Reinforcement Theory: All people posses mental collections (schema)  of possible  behaviors that can be used in various situations. If you come into contact with content similar to schema, then it is reinforced. Eventually, the consumer will become increasingly entrenched. The consumer will be further entrenched if: 

• Violence is awarded
• It occurs with reinforcing context
• the violent character is glamorous and/or a role model
• the content is similar to the viewer
• the content is entertaining to the viewer

Schema Theory: It helps us differentiate between reality and "the pictures in our heads." They reflect and idea from overtime in our head. We are not born with these ideas, they're built up overtime by contact and experiences.