Saturday, April 26, 2008
Media Effects: Think the media doesn't affect you?
I did it! A-!
1. After an episode of Happy Days aired where the Fonz gets a library card, library memberships grew tremendously across the country in the following weeks.
2. Following the 1975 release of Steven Spielberg's summer blockbuster Jaws, oceanfront tourism plummeted because thousands upon thousands of people were terrified of being attacked by a Great White.
3. Then there's the classic story of when Orson Wells did a radio version of War of the Worlds, causing a mass panic and nationwide hysteria for people who caught the beginning of the program late and actually believed Martians had landed and were attacking the United States.
4. When The Burning Bed, starring Farrah Fawcett as a battered wife who seeing no other option to save her life drenched her sleeping husband's bed with gasoline and set him on fire, aired on NBC in 1984, weeks following not only saw a rise in women seeking help from shelters, but also a steady stream of acts over the country mimicking the exact killing mode used in the true-to-life story.
5. Popularity of 80s prime-time's Law & Order saw an sharp increase in enrollment in law schools in the following years.
6. Similarly and more recently, shows like CSI have brought a spike in enrollment in forensics programs nationwide as well.
7. The Day After, a 1983 TV movie which aired on ABC, raised awareness and concern for the prospect of nuclear war in public opinion polls.
8. And 2004's The Day After Tomorrow, the 45th highest selling movie worldwide, caused viewers to become 50 percent more likely to develop concerned attitudes and more activism toward the cause of global climate change and its implications for the future.
9. According to Dolf Zillman's well-documented Excitation Transfer Theory, movies that contain sex, violence, or frightening elements causing physiological responses in the body, can lead to a transfer of arousal that can last long after media receivers can detect it; meaning, media can intensify your emotions long after you feel it's effects. The emotions don't have to be connected; if you watch a film high in sexual content, and have a fight afterwards, your anger will be intensified. The same theory applies to other activities such as running, or riding roller coasters.
10. Research shows when suicides are covered largely in the news, we see a spike in the numbers of suicides during that time as well.
11. According to Cultivation Theory, television viewing habits, and other media engagements, can shape your worldview. In a study done on high school students who watched Jerry Springer daily after school, the teens were more likely to overestimate the actual occurrences of teen sex, pregnancy, violence and other issues. Similarly is the fact that local news junkies and people who view a lot of violent TV develop what is known as Mean World Syndrome, the idea that the world outside of their home is a scary, unsafe, crime-ridden place, and that many people, including neighbors, are dangerous and untrustworthy.
12. Studies have shown that media images for entertainment, advertising and otherwise directly contributes to the dissatisfaction women develop in their early teens over their own bodies, and this continues into adult life. Similarly, the effect on men is to be more likely to endorse thinness and dieting for females, and to hold them to unrealistic standards of attractiveness.
13. Facism, often used in political and other campaigns, is a ratio used in photographs commonly where one person's head-to-chin is juxtaposed with someone else's full body. Studies have shown that in response to pics regarding the 65 percent head to chin ratio used in these photograph's, has led viewers to believe the person in the photo is more attractive, intelligent and ambitious.
14. Brown & Cantor of Carnegie Mellon in studies since 1998 have tried to shown what they call the "Internet Paradox", an apt term used to describe the effects the advent of the Internet has on our social lives and how it correlates to depression. The paradox shows that the more "connected" we are, the more socially alienated and depressed many are as well. Displacement theory also applies in this study, because time spent on the Internet replaces time spent doing other activities. The studies also pointed to the fact that regular emails do not stimulate phone calls or in-person visits to friends and family. In contrast, visits stimulate more phone calls, and phone calls can lead to more visits.
15. Several studies on the relationship between pornography and its effects on male-female attitudes and perceptions of the opposite sex include: men develop callous attitudes toward women who permit pornography, tending to think that tolerance of sexually explicit materials also makes them more tolerant of violence and pain. Men who view high contents of pornography, and in higher levels of explicitness, are also more likely to believe rape is less severe a crime than non-viewers; that women are more sexually promiscuous than they actually are; that women should be more permissive; that certain sex acts are much more common than they actually are; that their own sexual relationships are not nearly as satisfying; and they are less likely to trust their partners.
16. In a study also by Zillman on gender roles and stereotypes, when viewing frightening content, women are more likely to find men attractive when they put on a masculine reaction to the stimulus, and men are more likely to find women who behave soft, fearful, and submissive during the film more attractive, in cases where peers found the persons in the study to be on an ordinary scale of attractiveness. Otherwise, those who were found to be exceptionally hot were still considered hot no matter how they reacted to the frightening content.
17. Also in a study on social interconnectedness and new media, those ostracized online, i.e., in a gaming context and otherwise, were shown to feel the same emotions they would in a real-world setting: loneliness, rejection and alienation.
18. In a study on the effects of media and mood, children who saw a film where a mean character got a new bike made them upset, and kept the feelings present even after viewing the film, whereas seeing a nice person get a new bike conversely put them in a good mood.
I did it! A-!
1. After an episode of Happy Days aired where the Fonz gets a library card, library memberships grew tremendously across the country in the following weeks.
2. Following the 1975 release of Steven Spielberg's summer blockbuster Jaws, oceanfront tourism plummeted because thousands upon thousands of people were terrified of being attacked by a Great White.
3. Then there's the classic story of when Orson Wells did a radio version of War of the Worlds, causing a mass panic and nationwide hysteria for people who caught the beginning of the program late and actually believed Martians had landed and were attacking the United States.
4. When The Burning Bed, starring Farrah Fawcett as a battered wife who seeing no other option to save her life drenched her sleeping husband's bed with gasoline and set him on fire, aired on NBC in 1984, weeks following not only saw a rise in women seeking help from shelters, but also a steady stream of acts over the country mimicking the exact killing mode used in the true-to-life story.
5. Popularity of 80s prime-time's Law & Order saw an sharp increase in enrollment in law schools in the following years.
6. Similarly and more recently, shows like CSI have brought a spike in enrollment in forensics programs nationwide as well.
7. The Day After, a 1983 TV movie which aired on ABC, raised awareness and concern for the prospect of nuclear war in public opinion polls.
8. And 2004's The Day After Tomorrow, the 45th highest selling movie worldwide, caused viewers to become 50 percent more likely to develop concerned attitudes and more activism toward the cause of global climate change and its implications for the future.
9. According to Dolf Zillman's well-documented Excitation Transfer Theory, movies that contain sex, violence, or frightening elements causing physiological responses in the body, can lead to a transfer of arousal that can last long after media receivers can detect it; meaning, media can intensify your emotions long after you feel it's effects. The emotions don't have to be connected; if you watch a film high in sexual content, and have a fight afterwards, your anger will be intensified. The same theory applies to other activities such as running, or riding roller coasters.
10. Research shows when suicides are covered largely in the news, we see a spike in the numbers of suicides during that time as well.
11. According to Cultivation Theory, television viewing habits, and other media engagements, can shape your worldview. In a study done on high school students who watched Jerry Springer daily after school, the teens were more likely to overestimate the actual occurrences of teen sex, pregnancy, violence and other issues. Similarly is the fact that local news junkies and people who view a lot of violent TV develop what is known as Mean World Syndrome, the idea that the world outside of their home is a scary, unsafe, crime-ridden place, and that many people, including neighbors, are dangerous and untrustworthy.
12. Studies have shown that media images for entertainment, advertising and otherwise directly contributes to the dissatisfaction women develop in their early teens over their own bodies, and this continues into adult life. Similarly, the effect on men is to be more likely to endorse thinness and dieting for females, and to hold them to unrealistic standards of attractiveness.
13. Facism, often used in political and other campaigns, is a ratio used in photographs commonly where one person's head-to-chin is juxtaposed with someone else's full body. Studies have shown that in response to pics regarding the 65 percent head to chin ratio used in these photograph's, has led viewers to believe the person in the photo is more attractive, intelligent and ambitious.
14. Brown & Cantor of Carnegie Mellon in studies since 1998 have tried to shown what they call the "Internet Paradox", an apt term used to describe the effects the advent of the Internet has on our social lives and how it correlates to depression. The paradox shows that the more "connected" we are, the more socially alienated and depressed many are as well. Displacement theory also applies in this study, because time spent on the Internet replaces time spent doing other activities. The studies also pointed to the fact that regular emails do not stimulate phone calls or in-person visits to friends and family. In contrast, visits stimulate more phone calls, and phone calls can lead to more visits.
15. Several studies on the relationship between pornography and its effects on male-female attitudes and perceptions of the opposite sex include: men develop callous attitudes toward women who permit pornography, tending to think that tolerance of sexually explicit materials also makes them more tolerant of violence and pain. Men who view high contents of pornography, and in higher levels of explicitness, are also more likely to believe rape is less severe a crime than non-viewers; that women are more sexually promiscuous than they actually are; that women should be more permissive; that certain sex acts are much more common than they actually are; that their own sexual relationships are not nearly as satisfying; and they are less likely to trust their partners.
16. In a study also by Zillman on gender roles and stereotypes, when viewing frightening content, women are more likely to find men attractive when they put on a masculine reaction to the stimulus, and men are more likely to find women who behave soft, fearful, and submissive during the film more attractive, in cases where peers found the persons in the study to be on an ordinary scale of attractiveness. Otherwise, those who were found to be exceptionally hot were still considered hot no matter how they reacted to the frightening content.
17. Also in a study on social interconnectedness and new media, those ostracized online, i.e., in a gaming context and otherwise, were shown to feel the same emotions they would in a real-world setting: loneliness, rejection and alienation.
18. In a study on the effects of media and mood, children who saw a film where a mean character got a new bike made them upset, and kept the feelings present even after viewing the film, whereas seeing a nice person get a new bike conversely put them in a good mood.
Labels: College, Orson Welles, The Media
