How Fantasy Becomes Reality: Seeing Through Media Inflluence

Karen E. Dill
In press, Oxford University Press
Anticipated print date, July, 2009
Book Abstract: It is a widely held belief that because we understand that mass media
stories are fantasies, they cannot affect our realities. This book argues against that
premise using research and theory in social psychology. Early on we learn that although
mass media scholarship demonstrates important and consistent media effects, many of us
are either unaware of those effects or disbelieve that they could be true, thus becoming
media apologists who enable our own manipulation. Major areas of focus of this book are
the work of the author and other scholars on media violence and on racial and gender
stereotyping and the consequences of exposure to this content. Because almost every
time we are given a choice, we choose to spend our free time staring at electronic screens,
it is important that we develop media literacy skills and learn to better understand and
manage our own media consumption. The book explores both the challenges and
opportunities of growing and living in a media-saturated world, including a discussion of
new and emerging technologies and of the digital divide between children and adults.
There is chapter-length treatment of the social psychology of political coverage--with an
emphasis on political comedy such as The Daily Show with Jon Stewart--and on
advertising with a focus on advertising and health. The final chapter gives
recommendations for improving personal media habits and media literacy skills and calls
for greater communication between mass media stakeholders, especially concerning
scientific understanding and communication between media experts and the public.
Word count: 248
Book Keywords: mass media, social psychology, media violence, racial and gender
stereotyping, media effects, media consumption, media literacy, political coverage,
advertising and health, scientific communication
Jacket Copy: It is a widely held belief that because we understand that mass media stories
are fantasies, they cannot affect our realities. This book argues against that premise using
research and theory in social psychology. Early on we learn that although mass media
scholarship demonstrates important and consistent media effects, many of us are either
unaware of those effects or disbelieve that they could be true, thus becoming media
apologists who enable our own manipulation. Major areas of focus of this book are the
work of the author and other scholars on media violence and on racial and gender
stereotyping and the consequences of exposure to this content. Specific topics related to
media violence and stereotyping that are explored include domestic violence coverage,
the beauty myth, the sexualization of girls, social identity, eating disorders, fear reactions,
television violence and video game violence. Because almost every time we are given a
choice, we choose to spend our free time staring at electronic screens, it is important that
we develop media literacy skills and learn to better understand and manage our own
media consumption. The book explores both the challenges and opportunities of growing

and living in a media-saturated world, including a discussion of new and emerging

technologies and of the digital divide between children and adults. There is chapterlength treatment of the social psychology of political coverage--including an emphasis on
political comedy such as The Daily Show with Jon Stewart--and on advertising with a
focus on advertising and health. The final chapter gives recommendations for improving
personal media habits and media literacy skills and calls for greater communication
between mass media stakeholders, especially concerning scientific understanding and
communication between media experts and the public.
Word count: 281
Chapter Abstracts
Section I: Media Psychology
Ch. 1 - Fantasy and Reality: A Primer on Media and Social Construction
Abstract: Today the majority of free time is screen time time spent consuming media.
We do not fully understand how the fantasy of mass media contributes to our realities;
that while we are transported by fiction, we are also learning. We can be unconscious of
media manipulation, so that denial can be out of genuine ignorance. Many of us become
media apologists, defending medias right to influence us due to factors such as cognitive
dissonance, threatened autonomy, and our understanding of how manipulation works. The
latest research on mirror neurons and unconscious influence also sheds light on the
common disbelief in media influence. Media now pervade our lives, offering much that is
positive as well as negative. This book helps readers become savvier about media
consumption, media effects, and the social psychology of mass media.
Word count: 135
Keywords: Mass media, media influence, screen time, cognitive dissonance, media
apologist, media effects, media consumption, mirror neurons, unconscious influence,
social psychology
Ch. 2 Challenges and Opportunities of Growing Up in a Media-Saturated World
Abstract: This chapter addresses the challenges and opportunities of growing up in a
media-saturated culture. It explores some specific correlates and effects of childrens and
adolescents media use and how media use has supplanted play time. Also discussed are
new and emerging technologies (ex. social networking sites, blogs, text messaging, text
and video chatting, video sharing), fear reactions, attentional problems, developmental
psychology and mass media, pararelationships, and social comparison. The chapter
explores medias role as storytellers and the social construction of culture. The notions of
fantasy and reality and the fantasy/reality myth are further explored, including the
application of transportation theory. Media consumption statistics are covered and we
revisit the notion that almost every time we have a choice of how to spend our time, we
choose screen time. Media literacy is defined and explored, and suggestions for
improving media literacy are discussed.

Word count: 142

Keywords: Media literacy, new and emerging technologies, developmental psychology,

media consumption statistics, fear reactions, pararelationships, media preference
statistics, children and adolescents media use, culture, fantasy/reality myth,
transportation theory
Section II: Issues and Controversies in the Social Psychology of Mass Media
Ch. 3 - Media Violence: Scholarship versus Salesmanship
Abstract: On one side of the media violence debate are the majority of scholars,
especially those considered the major experts in the field, who believe that the so-called
media violence debate has essentially been resolved. Those opposed to this viewpoint
include some who profit from media sales and some who do not adequately understand
the scholarship. This chapter details compelling research, including mirror neuron and
other brain research, longitudinal research, and other scholarly research that concludes
that media violence exposure is related to a host of negative outcomes and explains why
this programmatic line of research makes such a compelling case. Examples are
presented from a parent-oriented web site, Whattheyplay.com, which includes content
such as videogame violence, videogame ratings, and game players reactions. The chapter
uses a health metaphor, comparing media diets to food diets. Along the way, a number of
media violence myths are debunked.
Word count: 145
Keywords: media violence, mirror neuron, videogame content, media violence myths,
videogame violence, media violence controversy
Ch. 4 - Seeing Through and Seeing Beyond Media Visions of Race and Gender
Abstract: This chapter explores how race and gender are socially constructed by mass
media. Today media provide much of our social experience--albeit mediated experience-with members of other groups with whom we otherwise have little contact. The chapter
unpacks how fantasy images of race and gender become incorporated into peoples social
schemas, thus becoming part of their realties. Research shows that people have trouble
with reality monitoring, even believing that stereotypes they just imagined actually
happened an experience termed imaginal confirmation. Imaginal confirmation is
applied to mediated experiences with race. Research on sexual harassment and rape myth
acceptance are discussed, as are a variety of other studies on gender and race. Social
theories such as ambivalent sexism theory, system justification theory, and theories of
hegemony and social dominance are explored. The chapter ends with a discussion of
positive representations of race and gender in the media.
Word count: 145

Keywords: mass media, social construction, race, gender, imaginal confirmation, reality
monitoring, sexual harassment, rape myth acceptance, hegemony
Ch. 5 - Issues in Media and Social Learning: Rap Music, Beauty and Domestic
Violence
Abstract: The social construction of domestic violence and the beauty myth are the focus
of this chapter. A brief history of public discourse about domestic violence leads into an
exploration of how popular magazines have construed domestic violence over the past 30
years compared with how theorist Evan Stark conceptualizes domestic violence in his
book Coercive Control (OUP, 2007). Media treatment of The Burning Bed and effective
coverage of domestic violence are discussed. Wolfs concept of The Beauty Myth and
research on and attitudes towards beautification are discussed, as is research on
representations of women in rap music.
Word count: 97
Keywords: mass media, women, social construction, domestic violence, The Beauty
Myth, magazines, rap music, Evan Stark, Coercive Control, Burning Bed
Section III: The Social Psychology of Media Influence
Ch. 6 Advertising, Consumerism and Health
Abstract: This chapter begins with a brief history of psychologist J. B. Watsons
contributions to the psychology of advertising, explaining the behaviorist concepts of
classical and operant conditioning, including a social psychological perspective. After a
discussion of consumerism, it then turns to a focus on health advertising. Topics
discussed include: agenda setting theory, product placement, food and fitness advertising,
the fit to fat cycle, pathologizing normalcy, the FTC report on advertising to children,
consumer protection, advertising weight loss products, public service announcements
(PSAs) (including the Ad Councils Small Step PSA), advertising prescription drugs, and
direct to consumer ads.
Word count: 97
Keywords: advertising, J. B. Watson, classical and operant conditioning, agenda setting
theory, advertising to children, weight loss products, direct to consumer ads, prescription
drugs, public service announcements (PSAs)
Ch. 7 Get With the Programming: Media Messages About Who You Are
Abstract: This chapter discusses how mass media program messages about social identity,
suggesting how we should feel about ourselves. A research article about penis size and
social attitudes is discussed in light of media messages designed to cultivate male anxiety.
Explorations of Brown and Lambs Packaging Girlhood and Levin and Kilbournes So

Sexy So Soon and the report of the APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls are part
of a larger discussion on how media present sexualized images of girls and women and
how those images affect viewers including effects on self esteem, self image, eating
disorders, sexuality, anxiety and depression. The chapter ends with an account of how
positive media images can enhance and how negative ones can derogate members of the
portrayed group.
Word count: 126
Keywords: mass media, social identity, social attitudes, APA Task Force on the
Sexualization of Girls, mass media and self esteem, mass media and anxiety/depression,
eating disorders, mass media and sexualization, media portrayals of gender
Ch. 8 - The Social Psychology of Political Coverage
Abstract: This chapter articulates a social psychological perspective on political
journalism. It explores the social psychology of persuasion and the role of media literacy
in decoding political messages. It includes an analysis of persuasive language, agenda
setting, framing, political decision making, the role physical attractiveness in politics and
press coverage, and partisan reporting. Research on physical and psychological
differences between political parties is presented, including research on mortality salience
and fear in political contexts. The chapter also focuses on a social psychological analysis
of political comedy including discussions of Letterman, Stewart and Colbert (and the
Colbert Bump). The Daily Show and Saturday Night Live coverage of the 2008
presidential election are analyzed in depth alongside discussions of satire, parody and the
real versus unreal news distinction. The chapter ends with a discussion of the role of new
media in politics.
Word count: 139
Keywords: political coverage/journalism, social psychology, persuasion, political
comedy, The Daily Show, Saturday Night Live, mortality salience, political satire, agenda
setting, framing, media literacy
Section IV: Redefining Freedom in a Media-Rich Landscape
Ch. 9 From the Passengers Seat to the Drivers Seat
Abstract: This chapter begins by revisiting the books basic stances on the social
construction of reality, the influence of mass media and the idea that media use now takes
up the lions share of our free time. A major focus of the chapter is on recommendations
for becoming more media savvy, including better management of media consumption. It
urges readers to become more media literate and to jump from the passengers seat to the
drivers seat to take an active role as media consumers. It touches on McCluhan and
Chayefskys views about medias role in individual life and in culture. Finally, a model of
communication between media stakeholders the public, business, scientists/experts and
politicians is articulated with an emphasis placed on improving understanding between

media experts and the public. The need for improved scientific communication is
emphasized and specific recommendations are given.
Word count: 143
Keywords: mass media, media literacy, media consumption, media influence, social
construction, media use recommendations, media stakeholders, scientific communication,
experts, public