Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
essay on bobo doll experiment
HOW MEDIA IS INFLUENCED
media influence on society perceptions
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: essay on bobo doll experiment
The hypodermic syringe approach, created in the 1930s believes that the media is a highly influential factor that can determine ones behaviour, emphasising the ‘copy-cat’ idea. This theory has been heavily critiqued and is outdated; however, it has proven to be somewhat true in the ‘Bobo Doll experiment’ conducted by Bandura, Ross and Ross (1961). These findings uncovered a correlation between the observation of aggressive media and the subsequent imitation by children, however, it does not take into account an individual’s own circumstances and other factors that can influence their behaviour. Gramsci (1971, as cited in Chapter 22: Media and Popular Culture, 2015, pg 471) further investigates the power the audience has by arguing that messages …show more content…
This highlights that the audience makes a choice when accepting or rejecting media influence, placing the onus of the shaping of one 's actions on the individual (Hall 1973). Lilleker (2006) extends this, arguing that the postmodern audience is not as homogenous as the previous generations and therefore are more likely to rebuff media influence, questioning the perceived audience passiveness presented by the hypodermic syringe approach. Although the approach is, to a degree, too simplistic in order to account for audience interpretation and does view audiences as passive, which has been argued to not be the case (Lilleker, 2006), it does hold some merit. Particularly when looking at the ‘Bobo Doll Experiment’ the short term effects of the media, whether it is by language or by actions disseminated to the masses, the findings are too strong to be ignored. Functionalists view the media as playing an active socialising role in society. They argue that this ‘socialising’ teaches society how to behave, thereby ensuring the successful reproduction of societal norms. Functionalism …show more content…
The Frankfurt School (Marjoribanks, pg 471) further extend this idea by understanding media as commodifying culture, viewing the media as a hegemonic force, conversely presenting the audience as passive. This perceived passivity has been widely contested (Macionis & Plummer 2002 cited in Marjoribanks, pg 471), and even Gramsci (1971, cited in Majoribanks, pg 471) has critiqued this notion by indicating that in order for a hegemonic ruling to happen it must be consented by the public, thereby placing the choice of submitting to the media and its influences on the audience. Marjoribanks makes a valid point in highlighting the idea of ‘hegemony’ indicates a possibility that the audience can challenge the dominant ideas and overturn consent, presenting the notion that the audience is an active group, rather than passive. Extending this argument Hall’s (1973) encoding and decoding is mentioned; which found that the accepting and rejecting of media messages is controlled by an individual’s upbringing, values and ideals, thereby diminishing the perceived strong power that hegemonic forces have over the public. Morley (1992) agrees, highlighting Counihan’s (1973:43 as cited in Morley (1992) pg 72) conclusions that the media-audience
- Taylor, L., & Willis, A., 1999, Media Studies – Texts, Institutions and Audiences, Blackwell Publishers Ltd., Oxford
It is no secret that in society no matter where a person goes they will be surrounded by influences of news media and social media. There are televisions in restaurants, gyms, and homes, and on them there is a constant stream of twenty-four hour news. Often times what is being reported on television, or through news apps, is being presented primarily for an entertainment purpose. This is what George Saunders analyzes in his 2007 essay, “The Braindead Megaphone,” in which he criticizes not only the news media system, but also society as a whole, for the way news is received and accepted. He speaks to the fact that news media has an expectation that society doesn’t reflect, or have critism, for what is reported to them. Society accepts what they hear, because it is coming form a reliable source. He says, “Does stupid, near-omnipresent media
According to Dr. Jean Louis Ntang Beb and Dr. Shantella Sherman, people are largely impacted by entertainment and different forms as media when they become more readily available and prominent in people’s lives. Postman refers to this as ‘media – metaphors’ that “classify the world for us, sequence it, frame it, enlarge it, reduce it, color it, [and] argue a case for what the world is like” (10). The media is able to do this because it knows it has a heavy influence in an individual's life. When an entity has knowledge of power, it is able to manipulate its delivery in anyway it wants. This is because at the end of the day, even if the information received is not practical, society will still end up talking about with
The media has a huge influence on today’s culture and the norms of our society. The media-deviance nexus explains relationships between media and deviance, which helps to explain why media has the impact that it does (Bereska, 2014, pp. 108.). The influence of media is also demonstrated in the television show Friends (Bright, 1994). The media’s influence on sexual norms is huge, especially today because media focuses so much on the idea of sex.
Society may seek answers to an issue through a medium that most directly cause them. Neil Postman examines this alarming problem in his work of nonfiction Amusing Ourselves to Death, explaining how television challenges public discourse by transfiguring events from our life into a form of entertainment. This very country designates, “...A city entirely...to the idea of entertainment” (Postman 3) which shows the accepting common norm that usually goes disregarded. Postman’s argument circles the idea of a washed out culture who, “...Come to love their oppression” (xix) controlled by television. He juxtaposes two prophecies, Orwell’s, “...Dark vision” (xix) of societies bond to authority and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, where people allow
Media, the plural form of medium, describes various ways in which we communicate in society. A phone call, email, radio, computer, news on TV, etc. are all forms of media. In our society today, the media plays a significantly large role in influencing society negatively, twisting one’s perspective of the truth. In author Brooke Gladstone’s, The Influencing Machine, she discusses how media is looked at as an “influencing machine,” that’s controlling the mind of its viewers. Throughout the reading, Gladstone guides her readers through perceptions of media and how it influences them to get readers to understand the truth about media and the manipulation behind it.
Stuart Hall’s theory of encoding/ decoding is where the notion of audience activity begins, he tried to account for active consumption also (Moores 1993). The encoding part of Hall’s theory (producing the media) was done by an individual but the messages ‘have a complex structure of dominance’ ( During 1993:477),meaning the encoding part is bound by institutions that constrain individuals. The message needs to be decoded meaningfully (Hall 1977) as the messages that are encoded are designed to give a preferred reading (Hall 1977) which has dominant ideology and a means for consumption. Due to the preferred meaning having an ‘institutional/political/ideological order imprinted in them’ (Hall 1977: 482) they then also have social order entwined in them.
David. "Mass Media and the Loss of Individuality." Web log post. Gatlog. N.p., 11 Sept. 2007. Web. 10 May 2014.
Human life has always contained some brutality, murderousness and violence. Recent researches link violence among viewers, young people especially, to the media violent substances. Albert Bandura, as an example, accused media for its direct stimulation of offenders to behave violently. Consider in contrast, George Gerbner argues that media has long term and lasting impacts on viewer’s lives rather than mere immediate direct effect. In this essay, this academic argument about media
O’Shaughnessy, M., Stadler, J. (2009)Media and Society: An introduction. Dominant Ideology and Hegemony. London: Oxford.
Regarding the manipulation process through mass media, Schiller identifies five myths that structure the content: myth of individualism and personal choice, the myth of neutrality, the myth of unchanging human nature, the myth of the absence of social conflict and the myth of media
Malcolm X, a human rights activist, once said, “The media´s the most powerful entity on Earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and the guilty innocent, and that´s power. Because they control the minds of the masses.” Through numerous studies and considerable amount of research, it has become clear that the media has a significant effect on society and its perception. This applies to all topics, but mostly to issues that are difficult for the mass to experience for themselves. For example, our views of government and social institutions are largely based on the medium’s reports, not our own experiences.
Since the television was invented in 1924, news and current affairs programs have surly become one of our main media sources. With this in mind, reporters and stations alike are able to manipulate their audiences through a variety of techniques, to make them believe a representation of reality as opposed to the true fact. This is evident in the current affairs story “Video Game Violence” and the standard news story “Music Video Ban”. These similar stories both originated from Channel Nine and represent violence in society’s youth today, stating children are at risk if exposed to such material. Through a selection of techniques, the audience is lured into supporting the told story and agreeing with the general attitudes promoted.
The mass media has played a key role in shaping people’s lives. The modern society’s use of mass media including TV, radio, newspaper, as well as print media has largely influenced people’s ideas regarding themselves and the society at large. This is evident from their behavior towards themselves and their community as well as their treatment of the environment. While some experts believe that the media is to blame for most of the negative behavioral traits among the active members of society, the majority agree that the media makes people understand and develop a positive sense of association with their society within which they live, making it easy for them to identify and get their role in it.
Media is the most powerful sector of an economy. It is a tool to maintain a balanced society which is characterized by well informed people, effective democracy and social justice. In fact, media has unparallel influence on all aspects of human life in modern times.