Beyond Media: Unveiling the Veil of Media's Influence on Audiences

Author: Tong Qingyan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-01-01
Features: This book starts with the core concept of modern cognitive psychology—cognitive structure—to explore the ways and means by which people acquire knowledge (or information) from modern media, as well as the characteristics exhibited by the cognitive structure of media audiences during this process, and their role in the central proposition of communication studies, "objective reality" (i.e., the reality understood by the audience). The book begins with conceptual distinctions to argue the interactive relationship between media and audiences, as well as between media messages and audience cognitive structures, thereby revealing the "veil" of media influence on audiences. The conclusion asserts that optimizing audience cognitive structures through media education should be a top priority for mass media in the information age.