Agenda Setting

     Agenda setting is how the media agenda will cause the public agenda (aka-media tells everyone else what is important).  Thus, topics that are given much coverage in newspapers and television are the same topics that people think are important issues.  Three related agendas are taken into the discussion of agenda setting:
1) Media agenda-  topics given by media sources.
2) Public agenda- the set of topics that the members of the public deem are important.
3) Policy agenda- issues that decision makers think are salient.

     Miller (2007) argues that these three agendas can be viewed as dependent variables in a causal equation; thus, they are interrelated.
     Several factors are related to using this theory.  First, is orientation.  This is the combo of interest and uncertainty in an issue.  Secondly, is issue obstrusiveness.  A topic is obstrusive if the audience has had direct contact with the issue.  ( Foreign Policy is nonobstrusive and teenage pregnancy is).  Framing is the last factor this blog will mention and this is when the media emphasizes some issues and downplays others.
     Critiques of this theory include the fact that some scholars do not even look at this like a theory at all; they consider it to be more like a model.  The fact the this theory is simple contributes to it's "fruitfulness" and critiques.
For more information:
Miller, K. (2007). Communication Theories: Perspectives, Processes, and Contexts. McGraw-Hill publishing.

Social Cognitive Theory

     When discussing this theory, Bandura (who came up with it), emphasized on the social learning process and the cognitive behaviors that impact the learning process (Miller, 2007).  The main concept associated with the theory is observation.  Watching how people do things is a learning process and can cause an effect.  When children see adults using a fork or what they do to turn on the tv-they remember at some point.  The modeling process may also be associated with Social Cognitive Theory; you may see how someone unwraps a present, and after observing, one may actually be able to perform this task.

    When observation is not enough for learning, reinforcement occurs through the inhibitory and disinhibitory effect.  Inhibitory effect occurs when an individual sees another person get punished for a certain action.  For example, if you see someone burn their hand by touching the stove, you know the consequences without touching the stove yourself.
     Disinhibitory effect occurs when an individual observes someone get rewarded for certain actions.  The example for this is, when a student answers a question correctly in class and the teachers gives them a piece of candy.  This may encourage you to do the same thing.
     Social Cognitive Theory may be applied to a plethora of fields where things are learned through observation (Miller, 2007).  One example may be weight loss and infomercials.  We see how to do the exercise through the observing process.  Through the inhibitory effect, we see what happens when someone loses too much weight and becomes unhealthy.  Through the disinhibitory effect, we see someone losing a good amount of weight and toning their body.
     Another study could be the media and dating.  Many children and adolescences see and define dating expectations and perceptions from what they observe from tv.  From soap operas to MTV, the way young people look at dating is influenced.
For more information: 
Lent, R. W., Brown, S. D., Hackett, G. (1994).  Toward a unifying Social Cognitive Theory of career and academic interest, choice and performance. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 45 (1), 79-122.
Miller, K. (2007). Communication Theories: Perspectives, Processes, and Contexts. McGraw-Hill publishing.