Media effects
Media effects are changes in knowledge, attitudes, emotions, or behavior associated with exposure to media content or technologies.
Agenda-setting theory: A theory that media influence which issues people consider important by emphasizing some topics over others. Explains how repeated coverage can change the perceived importance of public issues.
Mass communication: The production and circulation of messages to large, dispersed audiences through media systems. Provides the broad communication setting in which many effects are studied.
Bobo doll experiment: Albert Bandura and colleagues' experiments in which children observed adults behaving aggressively toward an inflatable doll. A landmark test of whether observed media-like behavior can be imitated.
Hypodermic needle model: A model portraying media messages as directly and uniformly producing effects in passive audiences. Contrasts with evidence that influence is often selective, mediated, and variable.
Media violence: Depictions of physical aggression or harm in media content. A heavily studied content area in debates about behavioral and emotional effects.
Framing (social sciences): The selection and emphasis of aspects of an issue that shape how it is interpreted. Shows how presentation can alter judgments even when the underlying facts remain unchanged.
Media exposure: Contact with media content, measured by factors such as frequency, duration, or attention. Defines the input whose relationship with changes is being examined.
War of the Worlds broadcast: A 1938 radio drama by Orson Welles's Mercury Theatre, presented as a series of news bulletins about an alien invasion. A famous, disputed case of claims about media-induced panic.
Limited effects theory: An account emphasizing that media influence is often constrained by prior beliefs and interpersonal relationships. Challenges claims that media exposure routinely transforms audiences on its own.
Political communication: The production and exchange of messages about politics among citizens, institutions, and media. Provides a domain where effects on knowledge, opinion, and participation are examined.