Comm 102 Test 1

Front 1

mass media

Back 1

a medium of communication that is designed to reach the mass of people

Front 2

models

Back 2

illustrate abstract notional regarding communication behavior and explain theories; a graphic means of explicating the understanding of an abstract process such as communications

Front 3

Shannon-Weaver Model

Back 3

described the process of telecommunication (1940s)

Front 4

Westley-MacLean Model

Back 4

differs from the S-W Model in that it includes mechanisms for feedback and gatekeeping (1950s)

Front 5

Schramm interactive model

Back 5

emphasizes the sharing of information between communicators, who give and receive information interactively (1950s)

Front 6

OTA transactional model

Back 6

separates communication into 3 distinct processes: message formulation, message interpretation, and message exchange -- and emphasizes the interdependence of the process

Front 7

comstock psychological model

Back 7

describes certain mental processes that occur while watching television (1978)

Front 8

thorson cognitive processing model

Back 8

concentrates on teh steps taken in the processing of tv commercials

Front 9

media system dependency model

Back 9

focuses on the relationships between the mass media entity (information system) and society itself (social system) (1976)

Front 10

correlation

Back 10

a linear/empirical relationship between variables A & B

Front 11

3 criteria for causation

Back 11

1) correlation
2) time order (A must cause B)
3) all 3rd variables that could account for relationship b/w A and B must be eliminated

Front 12

moderating variable

Back 12

variables that affects the strength of a relationship b/w A & B

Front 13

mediating variable

Back 13

they account for the relationship b/w A & B

Front 14

social cognitive theory

Back 14

describes the mental processes at work whenever a person learns

Front 15

social learning theory

Back 15

explains behavior by examining how cognitive, behavioral, & environmental factors interact

Front 16

triadic reciprocal causation

Back 16

thought & behavior are determined by 3 different factors that influence each other

1) behavior
2) personal characteristics (cognitive/biological qualities)
3) environmental factors/events

Front 17

abstract modeling

Back 17

new situations generate new behaviors based upon the rules of behavior learned previously

Front 18

inhibitory effects

Back 18

occur whenever new information or the observation of new behavior inhibits or restrains a person from acting in a previously learned way

Front 19

disinhibitory effects

Back 19

disinhibit/life previously learned internal restraints on certain behaviors

Front 20

moral justification

Back 20

occurs whenever a person believes his/her otherwise culpable actions are serving some moral, noble, or higher purpose and are therefor justified

Front 21

advantageous comparison

Back 21

involves comparing one's own deplorable actions to more serious or flagrant transgression of others

Front 22

euphemistic labeling

Back 22

offers not only a means of camouflaging reprehensible conduct, but may even make the conduct respectable or at least acceptable

Front 23

displacement of responsibility

Back 23

occurs when someone in authority directs a person to act in a certain reprehensible way, and the authority figure accepts responsibility for the actions

Front 24

diffusion of responsibility

Back 24

a transgressor acts within a group and therefor doesn't feel personally responsible for the subsequent act

Front 25

disregard or distortion of the consequences of action

Back 25

refers to situations in which a person performs an act without thinking about the harm that act may cause, or with the belief that the act will cause only minimal harm

Front 26

dehumanization

Back 26

occurs whenever a person ins divested of human qualities and considered no better than a beast

Front 27

attribution of blame

Back 27

blame other people for "provoking" one to hostile acts

Front 28

social construction of reality

Back 28

m.e. phenomenon in which heavy viewing of TV tends to shape or cultivate viewers' perceptions and beliefs so that they're more in line with the world portrayed on tv than that of the real world

Front 29

cultivation

Back 29

research tradition associated with effects related to the social construction of reality

Front 30

random selection

Back 30

random people chosen from population for study

Front 31

random assignment

Back 31

from those selected, randomly choose what variables assigned to them

Front 32

scientific method

Back 32

1) hypothesis
2)design experiment/study
3)confront hypothesis w/ data through a statistical test
4) communicate the results

Front 33

theory

Back 33

has been studied many times; data is consistent and reliable

Front 34

cross-sectional survey

Back 34

one-time

Front 35

longitudinal survey

Back 35

over extended period of time

Front 36

trend (longitudinal survey)

Back 36

people from population selected; survey over time but different people; same issue

Front 37

panel (longitudinal survey)

Back 37

interviewing exact same individuals over time

Front 38

cohort (longitudinal survey)

Back 38

track over times with people of the same group but not the same individuals (have something in common, usually having to do with time)

Front 39

priming

Back 39

a popular area of media efects research based upon psychological principles of information processing by means of cognitive components; occurs when exposure to mediated communication activates related thoughts that have been stored in the mind of an audience member

Front 40

intervening variables

Back 40

variables that strengthen the cause-effect relationship when present

Front 41

pseudo reality

Back 41

perception is more important that reality in understanding human thought, emotion, and behavior

Front 42

the reflection myth

Back 42

we think the media reflect the real world

Front 43

third person effect

Back 43

belief that media have a stronger effect on other people than on oneself

Front 44

ABCs of media effects

Back 44

affect, behavior, cognition

Front 45

affect

Back 45

emotions, moods, attitudes

Front 46

behavior

Back 46

action, responses

Front 47

cognition

Back 47

beliefs, intentions, values

Front 48

the black box

Back 48

stimulus ==> inside organism ==>response

Front 49

common sense/folk wisdom

Back 49

something that is true b/c it is self-evident or b/c it is widely known

Front 50

hindsight bias

Back 50

knew-it-all-along phenomenon; the tendency, after an event has occurred, to overestimate one's ability to have foreseen the outcome

Front 51

revelation/inspiration

Back 51

an act of revealing or communicating divine truth; something that is revealed by God to humans; a sudden good idea

Front 52

authority

Back 52

truth is established through a trusted source such as God, government, tradition, or public sanction

Front 53

logic and reason

Back 53

a way of "knowing"

Front 54

conjunction error

Back 54

tendency for people to see an event as more likely as it becomes more specific b/c it is joined w/ elements that seem similar to events that are likely; actual likelihood of an event being true declines when it becomes more specific b/c additional elements must also be true in order for overall event to be true

Front 55

hypothesis

Back 55

an educated guess

Front 56

goals of science

Back 56

explanation, prediction, control

Front 57

theoretical stimulus

Back 57

the conceptual variable that stimulates or causes an effect

Front 58

theoretical response

Back 58

the conceptual variable that is affected by the theoretical stimulus

Front 59

operational definition

Back 59

a definition of a theoretical concept that is stated in terms of observable operations, procedures, and measurements

Front 60

independent variable

Back 60

the variable the researcher controls

Front 61

dependent variable

Back 61

the variable whose value is presumed to "depend" upon the independent variable

Front 62

what makes a theory good?

Back 62

predictive accuracy, internal consistency, economy, fertility

Front 63

predictive accuracy

Back 63

it can reliably predict behavior

Front 64

internal consistency

Back 64

there are no logical inconsistencies among the constructs

Front 65

economy

Back 65

it only contains needed constructs

Front 66

fertility

Back 66

it spawns other research

Front 67

correlational study

Back 67

random assignment not possible; researcher cannot manipulate the independent variable; researcher simply measures the strength of relationship between the two variable of interest; can't infer causality

Front 68

quasi-experiment

Back 68

random assignment not possible; researcher must take people as they are

Front 69

margin of error of 3%

Back 69

sample of 1200

Front 70

content analysis

Back 70

describes in a systematic manner the content of the communication

Front 71

perfect positive correlation

Back 71

+1.0

Front 72

perfect negative correlation

Back 72

-1.0

Front 73

small correlation

Back 73

+- .1

Front 74

medium correlation

Back 74

+- .3

Front 75

large correlation

Back 75

+- .5

Front 76

replication

Back 76

the same result is observed over and over again by different researchers

Front 77

triangulation

Back 77

employing different methodologies in order to examine a given phenomenon

Front 78

meta-analysis

Back 78

a literature review that combines the statistical results (e.g. correlations) from different studies conducted on the same topic

Front 79

powerful effects

Back 79

1920-30s; 1980s-Present

Front 80

magic bullet/hypodermic-needle model

Back 80

media effects are powerful, immediate, direct, and uniform

Front 81

limited effects

Back 81

1940s-60s

Front 82

moderate effects

Back 82

1970s

Front 83

mimicry

Back 83

a short-term process in which children immediately mimic whatever they see

Front 84

social learning theory; most likely to adopt modeled behavior if:

Back 84

1) model is similar to the observer
2) model has admired status
3) model is rewarded
4)behavior has functional value

Front 85

distinct cognitive capacities

Back 85

symbolizing capacity, self-reflective capacity, self-regulatory capacity, vicarious capacity

Front 86

symbolizing capacity

Back 86

symbols are vehicle of thought and can be used to store, process, and transform experiences for mental processes' used to represent objects, thoughts, ideas

Front 87

self-reflective capacity

Back 87

people perform a self-check to make sure his or her thinking is correct

Front 88

self-regulation

Back 88

refers to the self's capacity to alter its own responses

Front 89

vicarious capacity

Back 89

people learn by observing others

Front 90

four component processes

Back 90

attention, retention, motor reproduction, motivation

Front 91

attention

Back 91

people can't learn much by observation unless they attend to the significant features of the modeled behavior

Front 92

retention

Back 92

modeled behavior must be remembered or retained in order to be used again

Front 93

motor reproduction (production)

Back 93

individuals have to have the physical abilities and skills to replicate the action

Front 94

self-efficacy

Back 94

belief that one can perform the behavior

Front 95

motivation

Back 95

socially learned behaviors may not be enacted unless one is motivated

Front 96

storage bin model

Back 96

recency emphasized

Front 97

storage battery model

Back 97

frequency emphasized

Front 98

synapse view model

Back 98

recently primed concept have stronger effect for a limited period of time; frequently primed concepts have a stronger effect over a long period of time; time emphasized

Front 99

variables that enhance priming effects

Back 99

perceived meaning (intent), perceived justifiability, character identification, perceived reality, memories of prior experiences