Grounded in theoretical principle, Media Effects and Society help students make the connection between mass media and the impact it has on society as a whole. The text also explores how the relationship individuals have with media is created, therefore helping them alleviate its harmful effects and enhance the positive ones. The range of media effects addressed herein includes news diffusion, learning from the mass media, socialization of children and adolescents, influences on public opinion and voting, and violent and sexually explicit media content. The text examines relevant research done in these areas and discusses it in a thorough and accessible manner. It also presents a variety of theoretical approaches to understanding media effects, including psychological and content-based theories. In addition, it demonstrates how theories can guide future research into the effects of newer mass communication technologies. The second edition includes a new chapter on effects of entertainment, as well as text boxes with examples for each chapter, discussion of new technology effects integrated throughout the chapters, expanded pedagogy, and updates to the theory and research in the text. These features enhance the already in-depth analysis Media Effects and Society provides.

"Media Effects offers students an in-depth examination of the media's constant influence on individuals and society. W. James Potter frames media's effects in two templates: influence on individuals and influence on larger social structures and institutions. By positioning the different types of effects in the forefront, Potter helps students understand the full range of media effects, how they manifest themselves, and the factors that that are likely to bring these effects into being. Throughout the book, Potter encourages students to analyze their own experiences by searching for evidence of these effects in their own lives, making the content meaningful on a personal level." -- Provided by publisher.

Media Effects covers topics such as intermedia processes and powerful media effects, political communication effects and media influences on marketing communications.

Now in its fourth edition, Media Effects again features essays from some of the finest scholars in the field and serves as a comprehensive reference volume for scholars, teachers, and students. This edition contains both new and updated content that reflects our media-saturated environments, including chapters on social media, video games, mobile communication, and virtual technologies. In recognition of the multitude of research trajectories within media effects, this edition also includes new chapters on narratives, positive media, the self and identity, media selection, and cross-cultural media effects. As scholarship in media effects continues to evolve and expand, Media Effects serves as a benchmark of theory and research for the current and future generations of scholars. The book is ideal for scholars and for undergraduate and graduate courses in media effects, media psychology, media theory, psychology, sociology, political science, and related disciplines. Chapter 16 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

Publisher description

Mass medias potential to influence audience beliefs and behavior is a subject that has long fascinated scholars and the general public. The ongoing interest and concern are reflected in the common tendency to blame the media for many of societys problems. This extensively revised and updated edition cuts through popular notions of presumed effects to provide a balanced, informed, up-to-date treatment of the media effects literature. The clear, compelling presentation, illuminated by dozens of new photographs, equips readers with a fundamental understanding of the history, theoretical underpinnings, and current status of media effects researchknowledge that will help them navigate in a media-saturated environment. Several outstanding elements distinguish the Second Edition of Fundamentals of Media Effects. New chapters explore the impact of computer/video games, the effects of the Internet and social networking sites, and the way mobile communication devices have transformed the way we live. An extensive new chapter on childrens educational television describes the considerable body of research that supports positive effects like language development and flexible-thinking skills. Framing studies are covered in a separate chapter where they are distinguished both theoretically and experimentally from agenda setting and priming. Finally, the authors provide overviews of classic and current research studies in an invaluable feature called Research Spotlight, which enable readers to envision how theories translate into research.

Media Effects provides students with an in-depth understanding of how the media are constantly influencing individuals and society. W. James Potter guides readers through the extensive body of research on the effects of the mass media by organizing the book around two Media Effects Templates. The first template helps organize thinking about media influences on individuals, and the second focuses on media influences on larger social structures and institutions. Throughout the book, Potter encourages students to analyze their own experiences tby searching for evidence of these effects in their own lives, making the content meaningful.

The study of media effects is one of the most central to the discipline of communication and encompasses a vast array of theoretical perspectives, methodological tools, and application to important social contexts. In light of this importance - as well as the rapid changes in the media environment that have occurred during the past 20 years - this Handbook of media effects theorizing and research explores where media effects research has been over the past several decades, and, equally important, where it would be most fruitful to go in the years ahead. In addition to providing a comprehensive framework for those interested in media effects, the Handbook also emphasizes the changing nature of the media landscape. Thus, new technologies not only provide new venues for research, but they also represent challenges to many existing media effects theories (that were formulated prior to the widespread adoption of the Internet). The contemporary diversity of the field and its research is seen in chapters addressing sociological, cultural, and organizational approaches and in chapters on specific approaches, domains, and context-related effects. Throughout the Handbook and within each chapter, authors address the following issues: (1) historical context on theory development/area of study; (2) theory explication and theoretical developments through to the present; (3) typical method of study/research approach/moderators; (4) conceptualization of the audience; (5) the impact of new media environments; (6) criticismsntroversies; and (7) directions for future research. Section I: Begins with an overview of the field, conceptualization of media effects, and the editors' goals for the volume and then focuses on the range of methodologies (both quantitative and qualitative methods) used in the study of media effects. Section II: Focuses on dominant theoretical approaches in the media effects area from a more societal perspective. Included here are some of the most dominant theoretical perspectives in the media effects realm (i.e., cultivation, agenda setting, framing) that relate to broad-reaching effects of both entertainment and news programming. The section then focuses on related theories that, though less developed, have received significant attention in the literature. To expand the horizon of this Handbook, a chapter on Cultural Studies in included to engage more qualitative views of media's societal effects. Section III: Focuses on issues of message selection and processing that are central to the mass media literature. These chapters cut across application contexts. For examples, the emotion chapter touches on entertainment, persuasion, and children's media; the Social Influence/Environmental Aspects chapter includes issues of co-viewing in families, among peers, etc. Section IV: Refelcts a dominant trend in media effects literature - that related to persuasion and learning - and traces its theoretical perspectives (including major theories of persuasion and especially social cognitive theory) through the various contexts in which media have such effects, such as health, advertising, media literacy, and the like. Section V: Explores the contexts and audiences that have been traditional foci of media effects research - violence, children, body image, video games, sports, etc. In each chapter authors address the theories most applicable to those contexts, further expaning the theoretical offerings of this Handbook. The focus on how this sort of research is typically conducted methodologically and how it will need to change in light of new technologies and media advances make these chapters unique. Section VI: Expands on existing work by focusing on a concern central and unique to the communication discipline - message medium - and how it influences effects ranging from what messages are attended to (e.g., formal features), how we spend our time (e.g., displacement effects), and even how we think (e.g., medium theory).

People have always depended on the mass media for information and entertainment. With mobile devices and easy access to the internet, people are now in constant connection with an ever growing source of information and entertainment and they contribute their own content to those sources through social media. As their media usage shifts towards digital media with their immediacy, interactivity, and intrusiveness, the way media affects people has fundamentally changed. Digital Media Effects focuses on those changes in media effects. While the author acknowledges the findings from the very large literature of effects from exposure to traditional media. Expanding from traditional media effects studies, this book focuses attention on the kinds of effects that have arisen in the new digital age.

Media permeate our lives and are so omnipresent that we take them for granted and overlook their impact. Mobile communication devices, the internet, and social networking sites have transformed the way we live. The media inform us about everything from a polarized electorate to a global pandemic. The potential of media to influence beliefs and behavior is a longstanding topic in media research. This thoroughly revised edition offers an up-to-date look at media effects literature. Fundamentals of Media Effects, 3/e begins with a historical overview of media effects and then covers foundational theories. Research spotlights throughout the text help readers understand how theories translate into specific studies. Understanding the history and theory behind media effects scholarship aids readers in navigating the media-saturated environment. The final section looks at effects in ten key areas: media violence, media sexual content, frightening media content, political communication, health, stereotyping, educational television, video games, the internet, and mobile communication. For more than two decades, the primary goal of Fundamentals of Media Effects has been to present the vitally important topic of media effects in an expansive yet comprehensible format. Compelling discussions include myriad examples from recent scholarship to engage reader interest. Through exploration of mass communication theories and major areas of research, readers develop media literacy skills and become better media consumers and producers.