Introduction to Media Effects

Catalog description

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the study of the effects of media on individuals and on society. This course will overview a broad range of media theories that have examined media as a social force, that have explored factors that affect individuals' selection of and perceptions of media messages, and that have studied how media affect viewers' attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. A little more than half of the course will take place in virtual settings. Extended realities and immersive media are exploding, with researchers and users employing these technologies to socialize, play, learn, exercise, sell products, and even train and explain new behaviors. The use of this format will give us a new, emerging, and fresh perspective to examine our theories and to expand upon our thinking of how (or if) they apply to our new, extended realities.