Posts Tagged: schema theory

Understanding communication theories from both the past and the present can help us analyze and comprehend the media in our society today.  In my previous posts, I posed questions about studying communication theories.

In my first question, I asked how we can learn from theories that have been proven false.  For example, the Bullet Theory, or Hypodermic Needle Theory, is no longer accepted as an accurate portrayal of the relationship between media and audiences.  The Bullet Theory states that the media inject ideas into an audience and the audience then immediately takes on that belief.  This theory, however, does not take into account the fact that audiences actively take in and process what they see and hear in the media.  Today, when audiences have more and more ways to be active pursuers and participants in media, this theory not valid.  Even so, I believe it is important to be aware of this theory, and others like it, because it tells us about how our thought on communication has evolved through the years.  Understanding why something is no longer true is just as valuable a piece of information as understanding the latest theories.

In my next question, I asked how the schema theory could be applied to entertainment, or another faction of the media other than journalism.  First, let me pose a scenario.  Suppose someone is watching an episode of Glee– a show about misfit kids, cheerleaders, and jocks who all join a glee club, become friends, and tackle the challenges of adolescence together.  The viewer will take into account their own high school experience and judge the validity of the actions of the the characters based on those experiences.  In this example the schema theory can most certainly analyze entertainment.  People judge all sorts of things that they receive from the media based on their experience in order to understand and feel more secure in the world.

Lastly, I asked if the commodification of culture is still relevant in our digital age when media companies are constantly trying to produce something that stands out from the competition.  As I pondered this question, I came to the realization that this attempt to be unique is part of the commodification metaphor.  Commodities need to evolve and be innovative to competitive in the marketplace,  just as media and culture change to better compete to serve society.  So, competition does not falsify the Commodification of Culture Theory, but solidifies it.

1. Chapter 5 discusses many early research findings in mass communication.  Some of them can still be applied to mass communication today, but others of them are outdated, or have been proved false.  What do these theories, although falsified, say about communication and our society that makes them still important to understand today?
2. The schema theory states that when information becomes available, a person uses past experience to process the new information as a way to make sense of the complex world.  I can easily see how this would make sense with news and journalism in the media.  How can this theory be applied to other forms of media, for example entertainment?
3. In Schiller’s commodification of culture theory, he states that viewing information as something to be “sold” can explain the simplistic and similar “products” in the media.  I have noticed in the past few years, many media outlets are trying to be more innovative in order to stand out from the competition.  In the modern age, is the commodification of culture still relevant with all of the variety available to consumers?