Deck 15: Media Effects and Cultural Approaches to Research

Question 1

The agenda-setting theory refers to the media's ability to change public opinion on controversial issues.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Textual analysis is able to demonstrate the effects of the media on audiences.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

The cultivation effect theory suggests that heavy viewing of television leads individuals to perceive the world in ways that are more consistent with television's portrayals of the world.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Survey research is better than experimental research at establishing cause-effect linkages, but experimental research gets closer to real-world conditions.

Question 5

The idea of the public sphere, defined as a space for critical public debate, was first advanced by American media critic Walter Lippmann.

Question 6

The 1938 radio broadcast of War of the Worlds made millions of listeners believe that Martians were invading Earth; however, most listeners didn't believe that the story was real. This outcome ultimately helped to support which research model?

A) The hypodermic-needle model
B) The minimal-effects model
C) The uses and gratifications model
D) The survey model
E) The textual analysis model

Question 7

Researchers' negative definition of the kind of propaganda used by various governments during World War I was .

A) "the opinions of various political groups and candidates for political office"
B) ''the control of military communication through the use of secret codes''
C) ''the use of reliable and truthful information in an honest discussion of national policy''
D) ''partisan appeal based on half-truths and devious manipulation of communication channels''
E) ''the public's ability to set the agenda of those holding office or other form of power through communication''

Question 8

Call-in, online, or person-in-the-street polls that the news media use to address a "question of the day" are known as .

A) propaganda analysis
B) the uses and gratifications model
C) the scientific method
D) pseudo-polls
E) random assignment

Question 9

Researchers associated with the minimal-effects model argue that people engage in selective exposure and selective retention with regard to the media.

Question 10

Jürgen Habermas's theory of the public sphere was about the need for global cooperation with public projects.

Question 11

Walter Lippmann's Public Opinion is considered by many academics to be ''the founding book in American media studies.''

Question 12

The minimal-effects model of mass media research holds that the media reinforce existing behaviors and attitudes rather than change them.

Question 13

Content analysis is the primary method researchers use to measure the amount of violence on network television.

Question 14

One key difference between content analysis and textual analysis is the greater emphasis on counting, measurement, and reliability in content analysis.

Question 15

Social psychology studies measure public attitudes.

Question 16

The scientific study of mass media got started because of interest in _.

A) French philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville
B) how media messages were used to inspire public support for World War I
C) knowing which forms of advertising were most effective
D) finding out how the public feels about political and social issues
E) how violent video images might inspire violent behavior

Question 17

One of the main problems in studying the effects of media is that whatever real effects the media cause, they also often serve as a scapegoat for larger social problems.

Question 18

Media effects research first emerged because of concerns about television violence.

Question 19

Philosophers such as Jürgen Habermas believed that critical public debate beyond the control of aristocrats, royalty, and religious elites led to support for causes like free speech.

Question 20

Between 1930 and 1970, ''Who says what to whom with what effect?'' became the key question in American communications research.

Question 21

Which kind of research method reveals correlations between two variables?

A) Content analysis
B) Experiment
C) Political economy
D) Focus group interviews
E) Survey

Question 22

A mass media effects researcher might choose an experiment approach if he or she has .

A) a desire to get results that reflect some truth about a large population
B) a desire to find out if two variables are related in some undetermined way
C) a desire to try to show a cause-effect relationship between two variables
D) a desire to study a large population
E) the ability to study a large population and see how it changes over time

Question 23

People often choose to expose themselves only to media outlets that express their views. What is this called?

A) The uses and gratifications model
B) Selective exposure and retention
C) The hypodermic-needle model
D) The marketing research model
E) The propaganda analysis model

Question 24

Which of the following is not a legitimate technique for gathering quality research data?

A) Surveys
B) Content analysis
C) Textual analysis
D) Online or call-in polls
E) Laboratory experiments

Question 25

The hypodermic-needle research model might be considered the opposite of which research model?

A) The agenda-setting model
B) The minimal-effects model
C) The uses and gratifications model
D) The survey model
E) The textual analysis model

Question 26

Which kind of research method employs a control group for comparison?

A) Focus group interviews
B) Content analysis
C) Political economy
D) Experiment
E) Survey

Question 27

If someone has never been the victim of a violent crime and lives in an area that has very low rates of violent crime, yet still feels he or she is at a high level or risk for such crimes after watching a lot of Law & Order, this might be an example of _.

A) the cultivation effect
B) agenda-setting
C) political economy
D) textual analysis
E) audience studies

Question 28

If data showed that heavy consumers of violent videos engage in more violent behavior than do light consumers, a social scientist would likely conclude that .

A) watching violent videos causes violent behavior
B) violent personality traits cause people to choose violent videos
C) watching videos has strong effects on the audience
D) viewing violent videos and violent behavior are correlated
E) All of the options are correct.

Question 29

What type of study looks at changes in a population over time?

A) Content analysis study
B) Longitudinal study
C) Agenda-setting study
D) Experiment study
E) Textual analysis study

Question 30

In experiments, subjects are picked for each group through , which simply means that each subject has an equal chance of being placed in either group.

A) random assignment
B) hypotheses
C) control groups
D) scientific method
E) surveys

Question 31

What method is a researcher using if he or she watches a season of a television program and counts each time an act of violence is shown?

A) Content analysis
B) Experiment
C) Textual analysis
D) Survey
E) Focus group

Question 32

Which line of research helps to explain why Midwesterners started to rank shark attacks as a problem after the 1975 release of the movie Jaws and its subsequent press coverage?

A) Cultivation effect
B) Agenda-setting
C) Spiral of silence
D) Textual analysis
E) Social learning theory

Question 33

Which of the following is not one of the steps in the scientific method listed in your textbook?

A) Identifying the research problem
B) Determining an appropriate research method or design
C) Collecting information or relevant data
D) Reviewing existing research or theories related to your problem
E) Presenting the proposed research problem to companies for funding

Question 34

The question ''Why do we use the media?'' is often asked under the model.

A) uses and gratifications
B) selective exposure and retention
C) hypodermic-needle
D) marketing research
E) propaganda analysis

Question 35

Which line of research has generally demonstrated that the mass media don't tell people what to think as much as they tell people what to think about?

A) Cultivation effect
B) Agenda-setting
C) Social learning theory
D) Spiral of silence
E) Audience studies

Question 36

Which of the following is not one of the four steps identified as part of the social learning theory process?

A) Retention
B) Motivation
C) Attention
D) Motor reproduction
E) Cultivation

Question 37

A mass media effects researcher might choose a survey approach if he or she has a desire to .

A) try to control variables using a control group and an experiment group
B) demonstrate a clear cause-effect relationship
C) observe people in a laboratory, or tightly controlled, situation
D) observe people using mass media in their own homes
E) collect information that applies to a large population

Question 38

Which kind of research involves systematically coding and measuring media content?

A) Experiments
B) Focus group interviews
C) Surveys
D) Content analysis
E) Political economy

Question 39

The major research in the area of cultivation effect grew from the attempts of to make generalizations about the impact of televised violence.

A) social learning theorists
B) George Gerbner and his colleagues
C) Walter Lippman
D) Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann
E) None of the above options is correct.

Question 40

Which of the following is not a common characteristic of private or proprietary mass media research?

A) It is more theoretical than applied.
B) It is generally conducted for a business, a corporation, or even a political campaign.
C) It relies on the scientific method to reach conclusions.
D) It tends to try to find answers to meet a real-life problem or need.
E) It could help create more effective advertising.

Question 41

is the theory that people believe others are more affected by media messages than they are themselves.

A) Cultivation effect
B) Agenda-setting
C) Third-person effect
D) Textual analysis
E) Spiral of silence

Question 42

The close reading and interpretation of the meaning of cultural forms is called .

A) content analysis
B) agenda-setting
C) textual analysis
D) the cultivation effect
E) uses and gratifications

Question 43

The cultivation effect (also known as ''mean world'' syndrome) argues that _.

A) the more television people watch, the meaner they become
B) people who watch more television believe they are more likely to become victims of crime or violence than they actually are
C) people who consider television watching an ''uncultured'' activity are more likely to believe most people are violent
D) people who watch violent television will become more violent
E) None of the options is correct.

Question 44

If you are trying to understand human behavior rather than explaining and predicting it, which approach to mass communication research would you take?

A) A media effects approach to research
B) A cultural approach to research
C) An agenda-setting approach to research
D) A content analysis approach to research
E) None of the above options is correct.

Question 45

While social science research can be characterized as trying to establish a cause-and-effect relationship, cultural studies .

A) does exactly the same thing, but calls it something different
B) looks at how propaganda might affect a group of people
C) only examines how the media affect the world
D) only focuses on how society shapes mass media
E) forms more general perspectives about how the mass media interact with the world

Question 46

Selecting from the following list of terms, match the description with the associated research method. Some terms may be used more than once or not at all.
A. Agenda-setting
B. Cultivation effect
C. Content analysis
D. Experiment
E. Survey
This kind of research method reveals correlations between two variables.

Question 47

Selecting from the following list of terms, match the description with the associated research method. Some terms may be used more than once or not at all.
A. Agenda-setting
B. Cultivation effect
C. Content analysis
D. Experiment
E. Survey
This line of research might help to calculate how many times a person watching an hour of prime-time television might see a violent act.

Question 48

In what way did Habermas think mass media could be an enemy of democracy?

A) Media power could be used to increase consumerism.
B) The powerful could use the media to manipulate the public into supporting the status quo.
C) The media could be used to procure mass loyalty among the populace.
D) Citizens would not engage in critical examination of the power held by those who ruled.
E) All of the options are correct.

Question 49

Critics of mass media research point to which of the following as a reason why the growing body of academic knowledge about the media seems to have little impact on the vast majority of mass media users?

A) Members of the public just don't care how media affect their lives.
B) None of the research addresses the concerns of marginalized groups.
C) Specialized jargon makes it nearly impossible for nonacademics, and even other academics, to understand the results of research.
D) Some researchers publish hoaxes to see if anyone is paying attention.
E) Researchers just don't care about the concerns and interests of the general public.

Question 50

Selecting from the following list of terms, match the description with the associated research method. Some terms may be used more than once or not at all.
A. Agenda-setting
B. Cultivation effect
C. Content analysis
D. Experiment
E. Survey
This line of research has generally demonstrated that the mass media don't tell people what to think as much as they tell people what to think about. 235

Question 51

Habermas formed his ideas about the public sphere while examining which aspect of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century English and French societies?

A) Aristocrats', royalty's, and religious leaders' discussions of important issues
B) The way newspapers manipulated the lower and middle classes
C) How the middle class began to gather in places like coffeehouses to critically discuss public life
D) The idea that communication and culture could be viewed as the same thing
E) None of the above options is correct.

Question 52

Which of the following is a focus of cultural studies approaches to media studies?

A) Textual analysis
B) Audience studies
C) Political economy studies
D) Debate in the public sphere
E) All of the options are correct.

Question 53

Selecting from the following list of terms, match the description with the associated research method. Some terms may be used more than once or not at all.
A. Agenda-setting
B. Cultivation effect
C. Content analysis
D. Experiment
E. Survey
This line of research suggests that heavy viewers of television are more likely than light viewers to perceive reality in ways that are more consistent with ''TV reality.''

Question 54

Which of the following is characteristic of a cultural studies approach to mass media research?

A) The belief that audiences are primarily passive and easily persuaded
B) An attempt to understand how people use media to serve their own ends
C) The belief that media don't tell us what to think but what to think about
D) A focus on how people make meaning, understand reality, and order their experiences
E) An interest in measuring and coding the content of particular media texts

Question 55

Media historian James Carey defined communication as _.

A) ''an exchange of verbal or nonverbal symbols between individuals or groups''
B) ''a symbolic process whereby reality is produced, maintained, repaired, and transformed''
C) ''the gathering of a middle class to critically discuss the world around them''
D) ''a strict set of rules governing how different social classes interact''
E) All of the options are correct.

Question 56

Which of the following is a theory that contends that people who believe they hold minority opinions on controversial issues tend to keep silent for fear of social isolation?

A) Cultivation effect
B) Agenda-setting
C) Social learning
D) Textual analysis
E) Spiral of silence

Question 57

Selecting from the following list of terms, match the description with the associated research method. Some terms may be used more than once or not at all.
A. Agenda-setting
B. Cultivation effect
C. Content analysis
D. Experiment
E. Survey
The results of this kind of research method are usually generalizable to a larger population.

Question 58

An example of Carey's description of communication as culture might be seen in .

A) people gathering in meeting houses to talk about issues like free speech
B) the way a message goes simply from sender to receiver
C) the attempts to repair and transform society through adjusted narratives and symbols following the Civil Rights protests of the 1950s and 1960s
D) how culture disconnects from the communication of a period in time
E) All of the options are correct.

Question 59

When mass media researchers say they are studying political economy, that means they are most likely be looking at which of the following?

A) The ways political candidates make decisions about reaching an audience
B) The ways economists become political candidates
C) The way ownership of a television network influences the kinds of information in the network news
D) The way ordinary people engage in political activism or conversations about politics
E) None of the above options is correct.

Question 60

Selecting from the following list of terms, match the description with the associated research method. Some terms may be used more than once or not at all.
A. Agenda-setting
B. Cultivation effect
C. Content analysis
D. Experiment
E. Survey
In this method, researchers systematically code and measure media content.

Question 61

Selecting from the following list of terms, match the description with the associated research method. Some terms may be used more than once or not at all.
A. Agenda-setting
B. Cultivation effect
C. Content analysis
D. Experiment
E. Survey
This kind of research method employs a control group for comparison.