Introduction to Communication Science week 4: 4.4 Selective Processing
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0:09 - 0:12Uses and Gratification studies taught us that
people were -
0:12 - 0:16actively seeking out media to fulfill their needs.
-
0:16 - 0:20It makes sense that when people are able to
open themselves up to specific content, -
0:20 - 0:23they can also close themselves off to certain
messages. -
0:23 - 0:27Closing oneself off to messages may be seen
as a coping mechanism. -
0:27 - 0:30Scientists who studied the brain discovered that,
-
0:30 - 0:35since we are constantly bombarded with
sensory input, in order to make sense of the -
0:35 - 0:37world around us, and not get overwhelmed,
-
0:37 - 0:41we have become very adept in blocking
unnecessary input -
0:41 - 0:45and at the same time selecting and amplifying
relevant data. -
0:45 - 0:49Note that these processes are usually
unconscious, -
0:49 - 0:53meaning that they also occur when we do not
intend to filter out information. -
0:53 - 0:59A simple example of this, in a crowded room our
brain will filter away background noise -
0:59 - 1:03and conversations that we are not interested in,
focusing on the people we are talking to. -
1:04 - 1:07Amplifying their voice and blocking other
sounds. -
1:07 - 1:11But if someone in one of those other
conversations would suddenly drop our name, -
1:11 - 1:14we would probably hear that.
-
1:14 - 1:18Because our brain knows that we are interested
when people start talking about us! -
1:18 - 1:22Hastorf and Cantril studied this phenomenon in
1954. -
1:22 - 1:27They asked several university students from
Princeton and Dartmouth to count the -
1:27 - 1:30amount of violations in a Princeton-Dartmouth
football game. -
1:30 - 1:35Princeton students reported more Dartmouth
violations and Dartmouth students -
1:35 - 1:39had ‘seen’ more Princeton violations. Both
groups, -
1:39 - 1:44despite the fact that they had to observe
seemingly simple and objective facts, had -
1:44 - 1:47processed the message in a different way,
-
1:47 - 1:52filtering out unwanted information – whenever
their own team made a violation – and amplifying -
1:52 - 1:56information that corresponded with their
predispositions. -
1:56 - 2:02These and similar findings later led to the
proposal of the so called Hostile Media Effect. -
2:02 - 2:06In 1982, the first major study of this
phenomenon was undertaken -
2:06 - 2:11by Vallone, Ross and Lepper. Pro-Palestinian
students and pro-Israeli students -
2:11 - 2:15were shown the same news and asked to count
the amount of pro- and anti-Israeli -
2:15 - 2:19and pro- and anti-Palestinian references.
-
2:19 - 2:24Both sides found that the media were biased
against their side. -
2:24 - 2:29Pro-Israeli students counted more anti-Israel
references and fewer pro-Israel references -
2:29 - 2:34than the students who favoured the Palestinians.
And vice versa. -
2:34 - 2:37These studies indicate that there is an actual
difference of perception -
2:37 - 2:40between members of the same audience.
-
2:40 - 2:46They see, hear, remember and process
messages differently on a subconscious level. -
2:46 - 2:50This is called a cognitive bias.
-
2:50 - 2:53We think we are objectively watching the news
or a sports game -
2:53 - 2:57but in reality our mind is already serving as a
filter. -
2:57 - 3:04Making selections and blocking out unwanted
information. There are many reasons for this. -
3:04 - 3:07We’ll discuss some of them in the next section
of our MOOC.
- Title:
- Introduction to Communication Science week 4: 4.4 Selective Processing
- Description:
-
Download links
1. not in the Coursera site:
Transcript of all Week 4 videos: https://d396qusza40orc.cloudfront.net/commscience/transcripts%2FTranscript_Week_4_Coursera.pdf
This lecture in .webm: http://d396qusza40orc.cloudfront.net/commscience/recoded_videos%2F4.4.50576ccd6b8dc0b740d50fe96155d78e.webm
2. In the Coursera site, but apparently unaffected by the login block, for this lecture:
Subtitle text: https://class.coursera.org/commscience-001/lecture/subtitles?q=65_en&format=txt
Video mp4: https://class.coursera.org/commscience-001/lecture/download.mp4?lecture_id=65
*****Week 4 description:
The reception and signification perspective
This week we'll cover some basic theories on message construction and (selective) processing. We will see that scholars are working towards theoretical models that give audiences a more active role in communication processes. - Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- Captions Requested
Claude Almansi edited English subtitles for Introduction to Communication Science week 4: 4.4 Selective Processing | ||
Claude Almansi edited English subtitles for Introduction to Communication Science week 4: 4.4 Selective Processing |