9699 · 10.2
Different models of media effects flashcards
Revision flashcards for Cambridge 9699 Different models of media effects (syllabus 10.2). Flip, recall, then mark a real past-paper question.
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Hypodermic syringe model?
Media inject ideas directly — passive audience accepts message.
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Two-step flow?
Katz & Lazarsfeld — opinion leaders filter media to others.
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Uses and gratifications?
Audience actively chooses media to meet needs — entertainment, identity, information.
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Cultivation theory?
Gerbner — heavy TV viewing shapes worldview (mean world syndrome).
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Reception analysis?
Morley — audiences decode same text differently by subculture.
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Model chronology?
Direct effects → limited effects → active audience → cultural effects.
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What is an 'opinion leader' in the context of the two-step flow model?
An individual who actively consumes media and is seen as a trusted source of information within their social network. They interpret media messages and pass on their interpretation to others ('opinion followers').
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Define 'hegemony' as it relates to the cultural effects model.
A neo-Marxist concept (from Gramsci) describing how the ruling class maintains power not through force, but by persuading other classes to accept its values and ideology as 'common sense'. The media is a key institution for establishing hegemony.
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What is the core question asked by the Uses and Gratifications model?
Instead of asking 'What does the media do to people?', it asks 'What do people do with the media?'. This shifts the focus from media power to audience agency and motivation.
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Briefly describe the Hypodermic Syringe Model's view of the audience.
It views the audience as a passive, undifferentiated mass that is vulnerable and powerless. It assumes individuals receive media messages directly and uncritically, leading to immediate and uniform effects.
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What is the main difference between the effect proposed by the Hypodermic Syringe model and the Cultural Effects model?
The Hypodermic Syringe model proposes a direct, immediate, and short-term behavioural effect. The Cultural Effects model proposes a slow, cumulative, and long-term ideological effect on attitudes and beliefs.
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What is 'moral panic' in the context of media effects?
A concept by Stanley Cohen. It's an intense, widespread fear, often an overreaction, about a perceived threat to social order, amplified by the mass media. The media identifies a 'folk devil' (a group to blame) and creates a narrative of crisis.
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What is a key criticism of the Uses and Gratifications model?
It overstates audience rationality and choice, while underestimating the ideological power of media to shape the very 'needs' that audiences seek to gratify. It also tends to ignore the social context in which media is consumed.
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What is the 'drip-drip' effect?
A term associated with the Cultural Effects model. It describes the slow, cumulative, and long-term process by which media messages gradually shape an individual's attitudes, beliefs, and understanding of the world, rather than causing an immediate, dramatic change in behaviour.