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Back to Subjects - Psychology

The effect of Media

The effect of Media In America, women are known as the breadwinners of the family. They go off to work in the morning while their husbands spend the day cleaning and cooking, some may even have a part-time job. Employed or not, the husband always makes sure their woman is fed after a hard days work. Do these statements sound ridiculous to you as an American? Are they even feasible? Not in this country, here things are the complete opposite. How do we know that? Because we have been socialized since day one of our existence to believe in gender separation, as well as all other aspects of American society. So who does this to us? Family, friends, schools, and churches are a few. However, in this day in age, a lot of our socialization process is assumed through the media. Commercials, cartoons, printed words, spoken words, pictures, movies and videos are all part of that socializing agent: the media.(Davis & Pallodino,1997) As an adult you have more of a choice in whether or not to believe what you see and hear. As a child though, you do not. “…if an audience is naīve and unaware that the message is intended to persuade…the message is more likely to succeed.” (Davis & Pallodino,1997) The minds of children are like blank slates just waiting to be permeated with the ways of the world. A way in which this process works is vicarious learning. This is a method “whereby people acquire new…attitudes and corresponding behaviors through observation rather than through direct experience… (Cafferata & Tybout,1989) Children are constantly subjected, therefore socialized, by the media, that they are unable to form their own opinions and biases to attach to their clean slate. Although vicarious learning is mostly observing, and can consequently be anything, it is shown most strongly with advertisements. Viewers experience the reaction of a person who is rewarded, associate the reward with the product being advertised and then acquire positive feelings about the product. (Percy & Woodside,1983) An example of this when referring to children has been in hot controversy over the past few years. Cigarette companies are constantly trying to defend the fact that they try to lure young kids into the world of smoking through ads. These ads show attractive settings, maybe a beach with clear blue water and carefree and happy people, maybe a couple, of course with a cigarette. Kids who see this, observe a carefree, cool lifestyle want these benefits for themselves and begin smoking. This illustrates how easily children can be convinced. We always thought cartoons were harmless, animated figures are purely entertainment. However, kids begin with cartoons that easily socialize and next thing you know, “Americas young minds are spending two to four hours a day viewing… (t.v.).” (Spicher & Hudak,1997) Studies show that children recall more information if it’s presented verbally and visually- such as a t.v. screen.(Walma van der Molen & Van der Voort,1997) In a society where we use the boob tube as both entertainment and baby-sitter, an average 20 hours a week could be fatal. In these harmless cartoons, studies show that male characters outnumber female characters by about 4:1 and that only a small number of females are shown in non-traditional roles such as doctors or police officers. (S&H,1997) This dominance of males in authoritative jobs, feeds on our American division of labor and gender separation. “…Cartoons tell cultural stories that can’t help but inform young minds about who they are to become.”(S&H,1997) Classical conditioning plays a big role in media effect, especially in commercials. An attractive stimulus (UCS) will elicit favorable responses (UCR) and eventually viewers will be forced to make an association between the UCS and the product, creating a positive feeling (CS). If the commercial is continually aired, the product itself will elicit the positive feelings. The effect of this classical conditioning is that viewers, who can now be considered potential consumers, will have consciously, or subconsciously acquired a more favorable brand. (Cafferata & Tybout,1989) In this instance, the latent effect is focused more on women, as they are thought to be the shoppers in the family. By graduation, it is estimated that students will have watched 25,000 hours of television, and 356,000 commercials. (Davis & Pallodino,1997) All these hours result in learning through observation and conditioning. They, along with other agents, make us who we are. Advertisers and the media achieve their goal by sneaking into the viewers mind and showing things that are comfortable and familiar and they can especially invade the minds of children whose are completely innocent. Essentially, they have a job to do, and know how to do it. Bibliography:

Word Count: 773