Effects of Mass Media
PART 1: Short Definitions

The exam will include a list of SEVEN terms selected from the list below (drawn from course readings and lectures). Your task will be to briefly define ANY FIVE of those terms in two or three sentences and to offer a concise example from either the readings or your own experience to illustrate the concept. You will need to define both terms in a paired set (e.g. terms linked with a slash mark (/), or “vs.”) but only one term in sets linked with an “or.” (5 terms x 5 points per term = 25)

influencing machine
fairness bias
narrative bias
bad news bias
(donut) sphere of consensus
creativity vs. commerce
high production costs and low reproduction costs
symbol creators
narrowcasting / ego-casting
branding
technological determinism / symptomatic technology
aura of consumerism
social cement or psychic adjustment
pseudo-individualization
two-step flow model or supplementation
narcotizing dysfunction
vulgarization of taste
social prestige
status conferral or status legitimization
canalization
private attitudes / public morality [enforcement of social norms]
empiricism or value-free research
correlation vs. causation
selective exposure
selective attention or perception
selective interpretation
selective recall or retention
cognitive dissonance
magic keys / magic bullet
active audience
goal-oriented media use
self-aware media use
personal identity
integration and social interaction
frustration-aggression hypothesis
disinhibition
imitation
catharsis
justified / unjustified violence
high threshold / inobtrusive
low threshold / obtrusive
what we think vs. what we think about
content analysis
agenda building
salience
message delivery
interpersonal message diffusion
preventive innovation
incremental innovation
communication skills
stored information
relevant social contacts
nature of the mass media system
ostensible audience
social distance / social identification
“experts“
pluralistic ignorance
spiral of silence
PART 2: Effects Approaches (75 points total) / Short Answer Format

Effects Approaches: Uses and Gratifications
Priming Effect
Agenda Setting
Knowledge Gap
Information Diffusion
Third Person Effect

The actual midterm exam will include 4 recent media texts. You may choose any three. For each text, a relevant media effects approach (from the list above) will be named for you and you will be asked to answer a set of THREE brief questions.

In each case, the questions will ask you to:
A. BRIEFLY (in a sentence or two) define the specified effects approach.
B. & C. ANSWER two specific questions which require both an understanding of key terms related to the effects approach and the ability to apply that knowledge to a new media text. To answer each of these questions, you will need to be able to NAME/identify and DEFINE the appropriate term and ILLUSTRATE it in connection with the media text. These terms may include relevant research methods, underlying assumptions, key concepts, findings, criticisms, or refinements.

NOTE: Examples of pertinent terms for each effects approach are given above in Part 1. Additional terms from class readings or lectures may be appropriate as well.

NOTE: Short, clear, concise answers with specific concepts/terms presented in bullet form or otherwise clearly indicated (e.g. underlined or circled) are preferred. Do NOT include additional information n your answers that the prompt did not ask for.

(Approximate) point distribution for each set of questions:
A. Define the effects approach: 5 points (x 1) = 5
B & C. Name and Define appropriate concept: 5 points each (x 2) = 10
Apply/illustrate concept using example from the text: 5 points each (x 2) = 10

TOTAL = 25 (x 3) = 75

 

Part 3: There will be ONE EXTRA CREDIT QUESTION on the exam.