Confirmation Bias

Confirmation Bias is a theory which explains why people view the world selectively. It states that people
continue to view the world selectively by choosing information and media which reinforces their beliefs.
Constructivism
People who are more cognitively complex will be more successful communicators because they possess the
ability to create customized and sophisticated messages that pursue multiple communication goals.
Cultivation Theory
Cultivation Theory argues media shapes a persons sense of reality. Because many acquire information
through mediated sources rather than direct experience, their world view becomes influenced by these
sources. For example, Cultivation Theory suggests that people who would be defined as heavy television
viewers see the world as more violent that it actually is.
Cultural Studies
Cultural Studies theorists suggest that mass media represents ideologies of the dominant class in a society.
They believe that media is influenced by profit, since corporations run the media. Cultural Studies theorists
are curious about the effect of power on culture.
Dramatism
Dramatism states that life is drama. Therefore, one can understand a speaker’s motive through the
dramatistic pentad of act, scene, agent, agency, and purpose. The greatest motive of rhetoric is to purge
guilt, and there can only be persuasion if the audience identifies with the speaker.