Unit 2

Question 1

When do babies learn better from screen media? When is there less of a video deficit?

Answer 1

• socially contingent (ex. video chat)
• an adult is engaging w/ them
• socially meaningful characters and cues are used
• less of vid def when a familiar character or someone they know (feels like a social connection)

Question 2

What is Piaget’s Centration?

Answer 2

poured same amount of water into 2 diff glasses -kids thought taller/thinner had more in it
***focus on perceptually salient features (how it looks/sounds) vs conceptual

Question 3

What are 2 hallmarks of identity in adolescence?

Answer 3

1) imaginary audience: belief that others are paying attention to you
2) personal fable; the belief that you and your experiences are unique

Question 4

Why do adolescence engage in more risky media use? ie sexting?

Answer 4

• pre-frontal cortex isn’t fully developed (ie impulse control)
• shifts in dopamine (neurotransmitter driven by rewards)
• hormones
• trimming -affects emotions or regulation of emotions?

Question 5

Hypodermic Needle Theory or Magic Bullet theories?

Answer 5

-what you consume is directly affecting your behaviour -what you see is what you do

Question 6

cultivation theory

Answer 6

media gradually cultivates certain views in the audience over time -amount matters

• proposed in 1960s/70s by G Gerbner (after hypodermic)
• not as much about behaviour -instead views, our thinking, our beliefs
• media molds you like clay
• strongest impact on those who watch it
• need large # of ppl to watch similar content

Question 7

What is the Mean World Syndrome/Theory?

Answer 7

-more scary event you see on TV/the news the more likely you think it will happen to you -even if it’s rare

Question 8

What it resonance?

Answer 8

the similarity between media and an individual’s circumstances

• (shows who might be impacted more, the person who’s views are already similar?)
• exception to mainstreaming
• cultivation theory

Question 9

Who is most likely to be impacted by viewing crime?

Answer 9

-heavy media consumer, female, and city-dweller

fem & city are more likely to be affected by being heavy viewers

Question 10

What is mainstreaming?

Answer 10

-all of us start out w/ diff views but heavy media use will tend to homogenize them -get closer to the mainstream view

Question 11

What is social learning/social cognitive theory?

Answer 11

• our own behaviour is influenced by observing the behaviour of others
• ex. Bandura’s Bobo doll

Question 12

What is reciprocal determinism?

Answer 12

interplay btw environmental factors, personal factors, and behaviour

Question 13

What is the availability heuristic? And what theory does it underlie?

Answer 13

• estimation is based on ease w/ which info can be retrieved from memory (easily remembered seems more common)
• cultivation theory

Question 14

What is the simulation heuristic? And what theory does it underlie?

Answer 14

• events that can be easily imagines are perceived to have greatest chance of occurring
• cultivation theory

Question 15

What is the representativeness heuristic? And what theory does it underlie?

Answer 15

• similarity of features btw an event and the memory influences estimation -the closer they the more probable the event seems
• cultivation theory

Question 16

What is priming?

Answer 16

• media primes related networks of emotions, thoughts, and concepts -info becomes available for use
• similar thoughts/emotions become triggered
• can be affected by context
• more it’s used more likely to be activated in the future
• can bias available thoughts -ex. perceive aggressive intent
• ex. fill in the blanks

Question 17

What is social learning theory?

Answer 17

behaviour is a learned response resulting from observations made in the world

• (Bandura)
• observational learning
• no consequences same as reward -higher likelihood of imitating
• alongside operant and classical conditioning
• UNIDIRECTIONAL (ex. enviro to behaviour)

Question 18

What is social cognitive theory?

Answer 18

theoretical expansion of bandura (own work) -behaviour is more of a choice than a response to the environment -there are cognitive, emotional, and motivational influences on behaviour
influences
1) behavioural 2) personal 3) environmental
^interact = reciprocal determinism
BIDIRECTIONAL -effect one another

Question 19

What is reciprocal determinism?

Answer 19

when behavioural, personal, and environmental factors interact to influence human actions, thoughts and feelings (w/in social cognitive theory)
-influences and influenced by

Question 20

What is Script Theory?

Answer 20

• ppl use scripts in real life -expectations for interactions -used to deem appropriateness of actions
• can us them in new enviros/contexts to figure out what to do (ex. in new restaurant)
• consider consequences of using certain scripts
• develop from observational learning & experience
• harder to change well-established scripts
• media helps form scripts (w/ repeated exposure)
• want to use & validate our scripts

Question 21

Do SCT, SLT, Hypo, UMM (GAM), ET, Priming, Scripts, etc meet criteria for developmental theory?

Answer 21

No -don’t talk about how these might change throughout development

Question 22

Why do kids point to the taller cup when the same amount of water is moved from a shorter, wider cup to a tall skinny one?

Answer 22

• kids focus on perceptually salient features -ex. size, sounds
• vs. underlying conceptual properties/meaning