If Scholars Assume That Audiences Are Active Rather Than Passive

question 114

Multiple Choice

If scholars assume that audiences are active rather than passive, what does this imply about the meaning of media "texts"?

• A) Media producers manipulate audiences in order to sell goods.
• B) Media content is "shot" into audience members, who respond instantaneously to its stimulus.
• C) Every media consumer experiences meanings in the same way.
• D) The meaning of any particular media text isn't very important.
• E) Consumers can alter and even invert meanings to suit their own purposes.

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Definitions:

Frontal Lobe

The part of the brain located at the front of each cerebral hemisphere, associated with higher cognitive functions such as reasoning, planning, problem-solving, and emotional control.

Mirror Neurons

Neurons that fire when an animal or person performs an action and also when an animal or person observes that same action being performed by another.

Facial Expressions

Visible changes in the face that communicate emotional states or reactions.

Somatosensory Cortex

Area of cortex at the front of the parietal lobes responsible for processing information from the skin and internal body receptors for touch, temperature, and body position.