OVERVIEW OF THE BOOK

OVERVIEW OF THE BOOK

This chapter has introduced mass communication from a psychological perspective. The next chapter explores, in some depth, the various theoretical bases of research on mass communication, drawing on models from communication, psychology, and other fields. We also examine several psychological constructs important in understanding our interaction with media. The overarching book theme is how we construct meaning from media and how that constructed meaning becomes our perceived reality.

Chapters 3 to 11 are topically organized to explore several specific content areas. Because of the enormous amount of time we spend watching television, as well as the relatively greater amount of research on that medium, this book focuses, though not exclusively, on the TV as a transmitter of mass communication.

Chapter 3 explores the issue of group portrayals in the media. The emphasis here is on how media portray various groups of people and what the effects of such presentations are. We see that media’ portrayal of groups may become a stereotyped reality in the minds of the public, especially in

15 A Cognitive Psychology of Mass Communication

cases where the viewer has limited life experience with members of a particular group. Are men and women portrayed in stereotyped fashion? What are the effects of such portrayals on the socialization process of children? Also examined are African Americans, whose portrayals have been more carefully studied than any other group in the history of TV. The portrayals of Latinos, Native Americans, Asian Americans, Arabs, the elderly, gays and lesbians, people with physical and psychological disabilities, and various professions are also examined. What are the effects of unrealistic or even nonexistent portrayals on the public’s perception of these groups?

Chapter 4 examines the world as created by advertising. Advertising is a type of information to be processed—one very important way we learn about the world as well as its products. Techniques of persuasion are examined, focusing on various types of psychological appeals, especially as they involve persuasion through the creation of a new reality that then becomes real for the consumer (e.g., a reality full of danger where one needs to buy locks and weapons, a reality where most people are very thin and suntanned,

a reality of status-conscious people that one has to continually impress with one’s dress and possessions). We examine the cognitive view of advertising, with particular focus on the psychology of deceptive advertising. Next, the issue of subliminal advertising is discussed to see if it is possible to persuade viewers at subconscious level through subtle messages or embedded sexual figures in art work. Finally, we look at the emergence of advertising in new places, such as classrooms, websites, and entertainment programming, and for new products such as prescription drugs.

Although we are concerned with children through most of the book. Chapter 5 focuses particularly on children and adolescents, beginning with developmental issues that affect how children interact with and interpret media, which often is quite different from how adults do so. Children’s intentionally prosocial television, such as Sesame Street, is examined in terms of its appeals and effects. How children learn positive things from entertainment media is also addressed. The issue of advertising to children is treated in some depth, identifying some surprising and disturbing trends and connections. Finally, the issue of media literacy—how we can help children interact more productively with media—is examined both in terms of Curricular development and what can be done in the home.

Chapter 6 looks at two areas of media where emotion is particularly central, namely sports and music. We examine how television not only transmits results and play-by-plays of athletic contests but also influences and changes the ways these sports are played. Rules and practices of sports have been changed by the demands of television coverage, and the nature of media coverage affects the public’s interest and tastes in sports. Media coverage can encourage competition, cooperation, gender-role development,

Mass Communication in Society 16

hero worship, and the enjoyment of sports violence. The second area— music—is a very important type of media, especially for teens and young adults. The uses and gratifications of music consumption are examined, as well as specific issues like the nature of content in lyrics and how popular music has (and has not) changed over the years.

Chapter 7 examines how the media’s coverage of news affects our understanding and attitudes about events in the world. News is perhaps the area where people are most likely to believe that media merely reflect and report the reality that is out there. Drawing especially on agenda-setting theory, we make the argument that such is not the case, that in fact news reporting is by no means such a reality transmission, but is necessarily a somewhat constructed interpretation of reality, based more on what is newsworthy than on what is really important. Simply by choosing what to cover and what not to cover, media are setting an agenda. This necessarily involves only a partial presentation of reality, but this partial reality becomes the basis of our knowledge about the world, even affecting foreign policy.

Chapter 8 continues to examine news by looking at how politicians manipulate media coverage to convey their own intended reality. As practically all of our information about political candidates and officeholders comes through the media, the importance of mass communication in this area can hardly be overstated. Such issues as image building and the construction of an electronic personality are discussed. The impact of televised candidate debates is examined, followed by an in-depth look at the coverage of the extremely close 2000 U.S. Presidential election results and the subsequent vote-counting controversy. A final topic in politics and media concerns the appeals and effects of political advertising, including the controversial negative or attack advertising. Types of appeals in political advertising and their effects on attitudes and voting behavior are examined.

In chapter 9 we look at media violence, the most heavily researched issue of this book. Different effects of televised and filmed violence are examined, including induced fear, modeling, catharsis, reinforcement, desensitization, and the cultivation of fear. In addition, we explore what types of people are drawn to enjoy violent media and what different factors may interact with media violence to enhance or lessen its impact. Long-term effects of watching television violence and recent research on the effects of playing violent video games are also examined. The question of the effects on children of viewing violence turns out to be more complex than is frequently admitted by partisans on either side of this controversial issue, although the weight of the total body of research comes down strongly on the side of demonstrating negative effects. These effects are substantial but usually in interaction with other factors.

Chapter 10 examines the character and effects of sexual content in media, looking at both mainstream media and pornography. The creation and

17 A Cognitive Psychology of Mass Communication

transmission of sexual values through media, as well as the socialization in regard to sexuality and the behavioral effects of media sex, are addressed. Research on the effects of sexual violence, both in pornography and mainstream movies, is considered in some detail, pointing toward the conclusion that viewing sexual violence may be more damaging than viewing either sex or violence by itself.

Turning in a more positive direction, chapter 11 examines the media’s teaching of values and prosocial behaviors like positive health behaviors, Although some standards are clearly becoming less strict (e.g., profanity and sexual innuendo and explicitness), others are actually becoming more restrictive (e.g., expressions of racism, sexism, or violence toward women). One area of emphasis is a set of issues loosely subsumed under “family values”; for example, what are the messages from media about family composition and parent-child relationships? Many traditional values, such as family solidarity, patriotism, and abstinence from illicit drugs, continue to be stressed as much as ever. We also examine the topic of religion in media, which in some ways continues to be the most sensitive and taboo topic.

The second part of the chapter deals with explicit attempts to use media to teach skills or persuade people to change their attitudes or behaviors in a more health- or safety-oriented direction. One section discusses principles of social, as opposed to product, marketing. The media’s role in public health marketing campaigns to increase prosocial behaviors like stopping smoking, exercising more, or wearing seat belts is also considered. Public service announcements (PSAs) and other social marketing uses of media face greater obstacles in many ways than does commercial advertising. A second part of this section looks at the use of mainstream entertainment media for explicitly prosocial ends (entertainment education), a format very common in developing countries and increasingly so, albeit it in more subtle ways, in Western countries.

Finally, chapter 12 ties together themes from the entire book and explores how we, as consumers in the new millennium, can use the knowledge gained from this book to have a greater impact on the media, including its structure and programming. The contribution of technologically new forms of media, especially computer-mediated communication forms like the Internet and the World Wide Web, are examined. Finally, some ways that we may influence the media, and the way that media report social science research are presented.

CHAPTER 2