The persistent case of media effects research [lecture 2011]
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1. The document traces the historical trajectory of media effects research through four phases: from viewing media as all-powerful, to its effects being challenged, to powerful media being revisited, to negotiating how audiences make meaning from media. 2. Across these phases, research approaches and theories have shifted from behaviorism and conditioning, to cultivation analysis and social learning theory, to examining how audiences actively interpret media rather than being passive receivers. 3. A key challenge is that it is difficult to isolate the specific influence of media from other variables on behaviors, and research approaches each have their limitations such as lack of external validity or real-world application.
The persistent case of media effects research [lecture 2011]
- 1. 1 The persistence case of ‘media effects’ research
- 2. 2 Commercial broadcasters Politicians Audience 5% Policy planners 14% share 13% Regulators 0-16 Health care professionals 19% 17-24 18% Academics 25-34 35-44 Technology companies 45-54 Content producers 31% 55+ The general public The importance of audience research data
- 3. 3 Books Art Film Television Internet Video games Music Comics The media terrain is wide…
- 4. 4 Different stakeholders = different interests
- 5. 5 Time consuming, costly and complex
- 6. 6 Myths
- 7. 7
- 8. 8 ‘The history of audience research is littered with the corpses of studies that have tried and failed to demonstrate, once and for all, a cause and effect relationship between media message and receiver behaviour’ (Ross & Nightingale, 2003: p9) Myths
- 9. 9 Sensitive to ideological objections
- 11. 11 A few useful background texts
- 12. 12 The direction of effects research
- 13. 13 ‘despite decades of work in which researchers have tried to demonstrate the cause-effect relationship, it has never actually been possible to isolate out the specific influence of media from the other factors, including individual pathology, on human behaviour’ (Ross and Nightengale, 2003: 72) The direction of effects research
- 14. 14 Effects Uses and Encoding / Now? Gratifications Decoding Passive Active Socially Autonomous situated ? Interactive? The basic historical trajectory
- 15. 15 Phase 1 – media as all-powerful Phase 2 - media as all-powerful challenged Phase 3 – powerful media revisited Phase 4 – negotiating media meaning 4 phases (see McQuail, 1993, 2010)
- 16. 16 1900-1930s Media as a top-down model of communication From the power elites to ‘the masses’ Phase 1 – media as all-powerful
- 17. 17 Ivan Pavlov Physiologist 1901 ‘Conditional reflex’ Classical conditioning Phase 1 – media as all-powerful
- 18. 18 Phase 1 – media as all-powerful
- 19. 19 The tail wagging the dog?
- 20. 20 1930s-1950s Studies into voting patterns Studies into juvenile delinquency Acknowledgment of multiple variables Impact of positivism Influence of behaviourism Phase 2 - media as all-powerful challenged
- 21. 21 B.F. Skinner Behaviourist Schedules of reinforcement Operant Conditioning Chamber (aka the Skinner Box) Cause and effect Phase 2 - media as all-powerful challenged
- 22. 22 Phase 2 - media as all-powerful challenged
- 23. 23 Phase 2 - media as all-powerful challenged
- 24. 24 1960s longer-term effects more subtle shifts in comprehension diversity in motivations of media use George Gerbner’s cultivation analysis theory Phase 3 – powerful media revisited
- 25. 25 Albert Bandura 1961-63 Social learning theory The Bobo Doll Experiments Exposure to aggressive modelling Phase 3 – powerful media revisited
- 26. 26 Phase 3 – powerful media revisited
- 27. 27 Criticisms? Ferguson (2010) suggest the Bobo Doll studies are not studies of aggression at all • Children were motivated to imitate the adult in the belief the videos were instructions. • Children were motivated by the desire to please adults rather than genuine aggression. • The external validity of the study noting that Bobo Dolls are designed to be hit. Phase 3 – powerful media revisited
- 28. 28 1970s onwards Focus on media message construction and how audiences deconstruct these An examination of what audiences did with media, rather than what the media did to audiences Qualitative research Ethnography Phase 4 – negotiating media meaning
- 29. 29 A new dimension? More cause and effect? Brain science? Neuroscience + psychology? What happens next?
- 30. 30 Models have changed Cyclical arguments, claims and counter-claims Identification? Addition? Desensitisation? Morals? Summary
- 31. 31 • The research approach: – Content analysis? – Physical stimuli? – Trend analysis? – Closed question surveys? – Participant observation? – Focus groups? – Ethnography? The biggest problem?
- 32. 32 Read this
- 33. 33 The tartanpodcast, 2009, Social Media Outposts M. Mackenzie, 2008, Top Secret Codeword Data $PHPhoto, 2008, Time is Money FrozenCapybara, 2007, Wait, where am I again? Ramkarthikblogger, 2009, Direction Nina Leen (LIFE), 1964, B F Skinner training a rat Holah.co.uk (date unknown), bobo2 Mal Cubed, 2005, MB1NR-3 A. Diez Herrero, 2007, creative commons -Franz Patzig- Images