Glossary

agenda setting	theory that argues that media may not tell us what to think but that media tell us what to think about



attitude change theory	theory that explains how peopleís attitudes are formed, shaped, and changed and how those attitudes influence behavior



critical cultural theory	idea that media operate primarily to justify and support the status quo at the expense of ordinary people



cultivation analysis	idea that television ìcultivatesî or constructs a reality of the world that, although possibly inaccurate, becomes the accepted reality simply because we as a culture believe it to be the reality



cultural theory	the idea that meaning and therefore effects are negotiated by media and audiences as they interact in the culture



dependency theory	idea that mediaís power is a function of audience membersí dependency on the media and their content



disinhibitory effects	in social learning theory, seeing a model rewarded for prohibited or threatening behavior increases the likelihood that the observer will perform that behavior



dissonance theory	argues that people, when confronted by new information, experience a kind of mental discomfort, a dissonance; as a result, they consciously and subconsciously work to limit or reduce that discomfort through the selective processes



grand theory	a theory designed to describe and explain all aspects of a given phenomenon



hypodermic needle theory	idea that media are a dangerous drug that can directly enter a personís system



identification	in social learning theory, a special form of imitation where observers do not exactly copy what they have seen but make a more generalized but related response



imitation	in social learning theory, the direct replication of an observed behavior



inhibitory effects	in social learning theory, seeing a model punished for a behavior reduces the likelihood that the observer will perform that behavior



limited effects theory	medias' influence is limited by peopleís individual differences, social categories, and personal relationships



magic bullet theory	the mass society theory idea that media are a powerful killing force that directly penetrates a persons' system



mainstreaming	in cultivation analysis, televisionís ability to move people toward a common understanding of how things are



mass communication theories	explanations and predictions of social phenomena relating mass communication to various aspects of our personal and cultural lives or social systems



mass society theory	the idea that media are corrupting influences; they undermine the social order, and average people are defenseless against their influence



middle-range theories	ideas that explain or predict only limited aspects of the mass communication process



modeling	in social learning theory, learning through imitation and identification



neo-Marxist theory	the theory that people are oppressed by those who control the culture, the superstructure, as opposed to the base Frankfurt School media theory, centered in neo-Marxism, that valued serious art, viewing its consumption as a means to elevate all people toward a better life; typical media fare was seen as pacifying ordinary people while repressing them



news production research	the study of how economic and other influences on the way news is produced distort and bias news coverage toward those in power



observational learning	in social learning theory, observers can acquire (learn) new behaviors simply by seeing those behaviors performed



opinion followers	people who receive opinion leadersí interpretations of media content; from two-step flow theory



opinion leaders	people who initially consume media content, interpret it in light of their own values and beliefs, and then pass it on to opinion followers; from two-step flow theory



paradigm	a theory that summarizes and is consistent with all known facts



paradigm shift	fundamental, even radical rethinking of what people believe to be true for a given body of knowledge



product positioning	the practice in advertising of assigning meaning to a product based on who buys the product rather than on the product itself



reinforcement theory	Joseph Klapper's idea that if media have any impact at all it is in the direction of reinforcement



selective attention	see selective exposure



selective exposure	the idea that people expose themselves or attend to those messages that are consistent with their preexisting attitudes and beliefs



selective perception	idea that people interpret messages in a manner consistent with their preexisting attitudes and beliefs



selective processes	people expose themselves to, remember best and longest, and reinterpret messages that are consistent with their preexisting attitudes and beliefs



selective retention	assumes that people remember best and longest those messages that are consistent with their existing attitudes and beliefs



signs	in social construction of reality, things that have subjective meaning in social construction of reality, things that have subjective meaning



social cognitive theory	the idea that people learn by observation



social construction of reality	theory for explaining how cultures construct and maintain their realities using signs and symbols; argues that people learn to behave in their social world through interaction with it



symbolic interaction	the idea that people give meaning to symbols and then those symbols control peoples' behavior in their presence



symbols	in social construction of reality, things that have objective meaning



two-step flow theory	the idea that mediaís influence on peopleís behavior is limited by opinion leaders, people who initially consume media content, interpret it in light of their own values and beliefs, and then pass it on to opinion followers†who have less frequent contact with media



typification schemes	in social construction of reality, collections of meanings people have assigned to some phenomenon or situation



uses and gratifications approach	the idea that media don't do things to people; people do things with media

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