JMC 1100 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Attitude Change, Fredric Wertham, Payne Fund Studies

• School: University of Iowa
• Department: Journalism & Mass Communication
• Course: JMC 1100
• Professor: Rachel Young

Document Summary

Chapter 3: brief history of media effects research: histo(cid:396)(cid:455) of (cid:373)ass (cid:272)o(cid:373)(cid:373)u(cid:374)i(cid:272)atio(cid:374) is i(cid:373)po(cid:396)ta(cid:374)t (cid:271)e(cid:272)ause (cid:272)u(cid:396)(cid:396)e(cid:374)t (cid:396)esea(cid:396)(cid:272)h fi(cid:374)di(cid:374)gs ofte(cid:374) e(cid:272)ho previous research findings, ex: war coverage making little impact on public opinion. Events that impacted mass media: 1898 congress declares war on spain, prominent player in the decision to go to war: newspaper publisher, william randolph. Hearst: (cid:862)you fu(cid:396)(cid:374)ish the pi(cid:272)tu(cid:396)es, a(cid:374)d i"ll fu(cid:396)(cid:374)ish the (cid:449)a(cid:396)(cid:863, many believer hearst stirred up public opinion in favor of the war. Early theory of media effects: the magic bullet model: magi(cid:272) (cid:271)ullet (cid:373)odel (cid:894)o(cid:396) h(cid:455)pode(cid:396)(cid:373)i(cid:272) (cid:374)eedle (cid:373)odel(cid:895): o(cid:374)(cid:272)e the (cid:373)essage (cid:396)ea(cid:272)hes the audience, it will exert powerful, relatively uniform effects on everyone who processes it, too extreme and simplistic. Voter volatility- scholars expect that media may have more of an impact now than in. 1940s because of so many independents and ticket splitters. Selective exposure to communication: people are motivated to expose themselves voluntarily to messages in which they already agree.