QUESTION 1,A - Early communication theory, and the general study of communication itself grow out of several other areas of investigation and discourse into human activity. How did this evolve and what were some of the shaping and molding concepts, ideas, theories?
QUESTION 1,B- it was posited that modern "mass society" evolved over time and changes were not planned, but rather grew somewhat hap-hazardly. Explain the trends presented and then offer some discourse on each of their meanings within the concept of media influence.
QUESTION 2,A- it has been argued that the "mass media" functions as many "things" and for several "reasons". Several early studies addressed the idea that one may have several purposes for the media. Some of the writers of the period were concerned that the media could acause changes that were not acceptable to society. Please note some of these and how they were covered in the body of scholarly work of the period. How these concerns are currently addressed in the research related to the mass media?
QUESTION 2,B- Communication research has used many of the findings from other areas of research in human study. It did not come full born into existence. How did this evolve, what were some of the various fields of study and how were the techniques from earlier research study incorporated into what eventually become the field of human communication?
QUESTION 3- Discuss the following theories of mass media effects. Please use example and complete as possible.
A. Uniform Influences
B. Selective Influences
C. Indirect Influences
QUESTION 4,A- The Payne Fund Studies addressed some major concern about the primary visual mass media of the period. The findings from the studies opened the way for far more studies and posited more questions that were answered. Explain the techniques operationalization of the questions and the findings from these seminal studies in order to explain how they posed discourse for further study. How did later examinations of the questions raised help further the study of mass communication? When using examples please note the names of individuals who conducted the research and their contributions.
QUESTION 4,B- Early mass media studies addressed the media from an "effects" stand point later studies began to utilize a "uses" stand point. Please define each, identify each. Give example of each, compare and contrast each and discuss the reasons for a move from or to a particular perspective.
QUESTION 5,A- During the late 1940s and early 1950s, personal influence was discovered as mitigating incidence in the effects of the mass media message. Explain how these interpersonal effects of the lass media were discovered and discussed, what these concepts had on the explanation of mass media effects and what different kinds of future questions were posed from this initially unplanned discovery.
QUESTION 5,B- Critical ability was posited as a major mitigating factor in several of the early studies that directly impacted the fledgling field of communication as it attempted to grow away from its parental influences, discuss how this concept was perceived as influencing mass media message interpretation and how the study of "communication" addressed this other similar emerging instances that did not neatly fit into the available fields of study of human activity.
QUESTION 6- On October 30, 1938, "the war of the worlds" was broadcast on CBS radio mercury theater on the Air. Many people were frightened, many were not; discuss the reasons and what played a major role in determining the panic experienced by some, but not by all. Understanding the limitations that this study had, why would a student of mass media effects consider the task of working through it, what is important about it, how could it be applied to modern communication research and what kind of current questions could its study generate? How could one extrapolate to later investigations in the field of communication?
QUESTION 7- In several of the outside readings, online and chapters in the text, ideas were presented that would lead the mass media student to the thought that the media effect just might not be nearly as powerful or all-encompassing as previously imagined. Please discuss this using explanations of these examples.