History Established by Joseph Klapper 1960 Released a book The Effects of Mass Communication Suggested that the media has little power to influence people Thought it was important to move away from thinking that the media is all powerful in influence ID: 603098
Download Presentation The PPT/PDF document "Reinforcement Theory" is the property of its rightful owner. Permission is granted to download and print the materials on this web site for personal, non-commercial use only, and to display it on your personal computer provided you do not modify the materials and that you retain all copyright notices contained in the materials. By downloading content from our website, you accept the terms of this agreement.
Slide1
Reinforcement Theory Slide2
History
Established by Joseph Klapper (1960)Released a book ‘The Effects of Mass Communication’Suggested that the media has little power to influence peopleThought it was important to move away from thinking that the media is all powerful in influence
The reinforcement theory is a
linear
theory that contains relatively
open
textsSlide3
School of Thought
Reinforcement theory is a form of a reception theory more than a cultural effects model – why? Kappler’s theory suggests:Media has power but it isn’t that significant
The audience
use
the media to reinforce their predispositions
Audience therefore has an
active
involvement due to the three primary mechanisms that are behind the theorySlide4
Three Primary Mechanisms
As an audience member we have;Selective Exposure: we favor information that supports our own beliefs and viewsSelective Perception: we won’t notice/will forget stimuli that contradicts prior beliefs
Selective Retention: based on prior two mechanisms, we will selectively continue to retain the information we want toSlide5
Media as a Reinforcer
Klapper theorised that the media acts only to reinforce our –pre-existing attitudes and beliefsIt’s unlikely that media will actually change
audience’s attitudes or ideas under this theorySlide6
Media as an Influencer
Media only influences people on new ideas or conceptsMedia is unlikely to change audience’s views on most issues with deeply entrenched values such as racial or religious viewsSlide7
Main Influences
Since he theorised that media wasn’t the main source of influence in people’s lives, he suggested that things like;SchoolsFamily
Community
Religious institutions Slide8
Real World Example
Violent Video games – reinforcement of violent behaviorParticipating in violent video games where users are ‘awarded’ for killing opponents could reinforce violent behaviorsThe reinforcement theory however would suggest that the games don’t actually impart the behavior, but would simply reinforce violent tendencies users would already have