Chapter 13 Flashcards
(25 cards)
Comstock Act
Passed on March 3, 1873, this Act made it illegal to send “obscene, lewd, and/or lascivious” content through the U.S. Postal Service. It was actually passed as an amendment to the original Post Office Act.
Industrial Revolution
A period of time in the US generally the late 19th century- when the country’s economy shifted from a focus on agriculture to a focus on manufacturing. As part of this shift, many people began leaving smaller farming comunities and migrating to larger urban spaces where factories were located.
Miller test
Also called the three-pronged test of obscenity, a U.S. Supreme Court test to determine wheter or not content-usually sexual content- is considered porn. The test is important because porn content is subject to different laws than regular media content.
Prurient
media content that has or encourages excessive interest in sexual matters, such as porn.
Patently offensive
something that would be considered as being obvious;in this case, obviously offensive.
Embedded journalist
reporters who report on events by placing themselves in the actual event, such as a war correspondent traveling with a military division to report as part of the action
Fatalist/fatalism
An individual who believes that they have little influence over their surroundings.
Moderating variables
in stats, a moderating variable is on ethta influences the association between a cause and and effect. For media effects, moderating variables change the nature of how media content influences individuals who consume it.
Experimental design
a form of scienrific research that attempts to isolate the effect of one variable on another by manipulating one variable and measuring changes in the other variable as a result of these manipulations
Face validity
in research, this is the degreee to which a measured variable represents the concept it is supposed to measure.
Content analyses/ content analysis
A research method that attempts to quantify, or count, the presence of a given variable of interest
Spurious
In stats, a relationship between two variables that does not actually exist in real life, but appears to because of an unidentified common variable.
Media watchdogs
people and organizations, usually volunteers or concerned individuals without any legal authority, who tend to carefully monitor media content for the presence of antisolcial content and share thier concerns through public channels.
Rape myth
a belief that most rape accusations are false and that victims are at least partly reponsible for their rape, often suggestion the victim to have been overly sexual or otherwise inviting the sexual act.
Federal Communications Commision (FCC)
In the US, the federal office responsible for regulating communications technology, in particular wireless and broadcast systems, to make sure these channels are used in the public interest.
Age authenticator
Programs, usually used by Web pages, that attempt to verify the age of a suer before allowing access. Some programs require the suer to create an online profile that they can use from on eWeb page to the next to determine their identity.
Communication Decency Act (CDA)
Passed as part of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, CDA was one of the first attempts by the U.S. Congress to regulate obscene content- in particular, porn- on the internet.
Internet services providers
Companies that control and manage access to the Internet by selling subscribers the necessary equipment and services.
Cultivation hypothesis
the notion that through continual exposure we begin to believe that the social world has the same attributes and tendencies as that which we perceive in media.
Mean world effect
A phenomenon by which individuals who watch a lot of crime and violence on tv feel as if the real world is a violent and dangerous place; part of Gerbner’s cultivation hypothesis.
Parasocial Contact Hypothese
A theory thath explains that we can have contact with individuals from other cultures by seeing them portrayed in different media products, and this contact can influence how we understand a different culture.
Displacement Hypothesis
a theory that suggests that tijme spent using entertainment media might take away from our time spent with other people.
social capital
economic value that comes from the info that we get from the people we know.
Edutainment
a combination of edu and entertainment, this notion refers to using entertainement content to teach different academic or social lessons.