Summary
Contents
Subject index
Our society has become characterized by aggressive media. Information is constantly at our fingertips – whether it be through the books, newspapers, and magazines we read, the television we watch, the radio stations to which we listen, or the computers that connect us to the world in a matter of seconds. We can try to limit our media exposure, but it is impossible to avoid all media messages. As a result, we psychologically protect ourselves by automatically processing the media to which we are exposed.
Theory of Media Literacy: A Cognitive Approach comprehensively explains how we absorb the flood of information in our media-saturated society and examines how we often construct faulty meanings from those messages. In this book, author W. James Potter enlightens readers on the tasks of information processing. By building on a foundation of principles about how humans think, Theory of Media Literacy examines decisions about filtering messages, standard schema to match meaning, and higher level skills to construct meaning.
A central theme of Potter's theory is the locus that governs the degree to which a person is media literate. The locus is enriched by developing skills as well as good knowledge structures on five topics: media effects, media content, media industries, real world parameters, and the self.
Key Features
Presents the first social scientific theory of the process of media literacy; Explores a broad range of literature on media literacy written during the past two decades; Focuses on how the human mind works, especially in this mass media-saturated society
Theory of Media Literacy is an essential resource to a wide audience within the media discipline. The book provides empirical researchers with direction to test the theory and extend our understanding of how the media affect individuals and society. Practitioners will find it helpful in developing strategies to achieve goals and, at the same time, avoid high risks of negative effects. In addition, new scholars will find it to be an excellent introduction to various media literacy research.
The Meaning-Construction Task
The Meaning-Construction Task
- I. Types of Meaning-Construction Challenges
- II. Accessing More Information
- A. Outside Sources
- B. Inside Sources
- 1. False memories
- 2. Confusing media world knowledge with real-world knowledge
- 3. Inert knowledge
- III. The Reasoning Process in Meaning Construction
- IV. The Media Literacy Perspective
- V. Summary
There is a difference between matching meaning and constructing meaning. Recall from the previous chapter that matching meaning is primarily decoding, that is, using schemas to access the association between a referent and a definition. To be prepared for meaning matching, people acquire information from authorities outside themselves. This information can be learned in one exposure and, once learned, can be repeatedly accessed automatically with little effort.
In contrast, ...
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