Full Description
The second edition of this innovative textbook provides a comprehensive overview of mass communication theories, as well as their origins and empirical supports in psychology, sociology, political science, and philosophy.
Each chapter presents a specific theory, describing its basic structure in simple formal terms and providing an accessible summary of the research studies and scholarly writings from which it developed. It breaks each complex theory down into five or six interlinked basic propositions, making them easily digestible for students. This new edition includes up-to-date research; improved coverage of all theories presented; expanded treatments of theories such as cultivation theory, the spiral of silence, and framing; contemporary and social media examples; chapter discussion questions; and informative charts and figures.
This textbook serves as an accessible core text for undergraduate and graduate Mass Communication, Communication Theory, and Communication and Society courses.
Contents
Chapter 1: SHAPING THE AMERICAN MASS MEDIA: AN OVERVIEW Chapter 2: INTRODUCTION TO THE ORIGINS, NATURE, AND USES OF THEORIES Chapter 3: THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD AND THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF REALITY: THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF PHILOSOPHY Chapter 4: PUBLIC OPINION AS SHAPED BY THE PRESS: THE CONTRIBUTION OF POLITICAL SCIENCE Chapter 5: COGNITIVE PROCESSING: THE CONTRIBUTION OF PSYCHOLOGY Chapter 6: THE CONCEPT OF MASS SOCIETY: THE CONTRIBUTION OF SOCIOLOGY Chapter 7: JAMES BRYCE'S 19th CENTURY THEORY OF PUBLIC OPINION AND THE PRESS Chapter 8: WALTER LIPPMAN'S 1920s THEORY OF UNINTENTIONAL NEWS DISTORTION: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE NATURE OF PUBLIC OPINION AND PUBLIC POLICY Chapter 9: THE "MAGIC BULLET" THEORY OF UNIFORM EFFECTS Chapter 10: THE SELECTIVE AND LIMITED INFLUENCES THEORY Chapter 11: THE TWO-STEP FLOW OF COMMUNICATION THEORY Chapter 12: GATEKEEPING THEORY Chapter 13: AGENDA-SETTING THEORY Chapter 14: FRAMING THEORY Chapter 15: USES AND GRATIFICATIONS THEORY Chapter 16: MODELING BEHAVIOR AND SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY Chapter 17: SOCIAL EXPECTATIONS THEORY Chapter 18: MEDIA-INFLUENCED DIFFUSION OF INNOVATION THEORY Chapter 19: A THEORY OF AUDIENCE AND MEDIA DEPENDENCY ON POPULAR CULTURE Chapter 20: CULTIVATION THEORY Chapter 21: CRITICAL CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES: INTERPRETATIONS OF MEDIA INFLUENCES ON INDIVIDUALS AND SOCIETY Chapter 22: ADDITIONAL THEORIES AND CONCEPTS
