Social Evolution, Political Psychology, and the Media in Democracy

Acknowledgements......Page 7
Contents......Page 8
Chapter 1 Introduction: Why Democracy Is Not Working......Page 9
Chapter 2 Information: Evolution, Psychology, and Politics......Page 25
1 Memes or Social Evolution Theory......Page 31
2 What Meme/Social Evolution Theory Is Not......Page 34
3 What Social Evolution Theory Provides......Page 37
4 Schemas......Page 39
5 Social Representations......Page 42
6 Memes and Schemas in Social Representations......Page 48
7 Political Ideas......Page 53
8 Conclusion......Page 57
Chapter 3 Evolution: How We Got the Minds We Have Today......Page 70
1 Evolutionary Psychology—What We Know About How Our Minds Came to Be......Page 74
2 What Evolutionary Psychology Is, and Is not......Page 77
3 Human Cooperation: How Evolution Managed to Create and Sustain It......Page 79
4 Aggressive Egalitarians......Page 83
5 The Other Evolution......Page 85
6 Recent Evolution—In Evolution, and Our Understanding of It......Page 89
7 So What? How Evolution Matters to Today’s Societies......Page 92
8 What We Know About Our Evolved Political Psychology......Page 96
9 Evolution, Morality, and Politics......Page 102
10 The Significance of Our Evolutionary Minds......Page 105
Chapter 4 When Our Evolved Minds Go Wrong: Social Psychological Biases......Page 121
1 How Psychology Explains the Brain’s Contribution to Information Ecology......Page 124
2 A Bias Tour of the Human Mind......Page 127
3 Confirmation Bias......Page 133
4 Cognitive Dissonance Reduction......Page 136
5 Meaning Maintenance—Accounting for a Bevy of Biases......Page 139
6 Groupishness and Bias......Page 141
7 Beliefs Persist, Memories Less so......Page 144
8 If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Join ‘Em: System Justification Theory......Page 148
9 But Wait, There’s More: Attitude Inoculation and Counterintuitive Effects......Page 151
10 Moral Rationalization and Conflict......Page 153
11 Self-Deception......Page 155
12 Styles of Thought......Page 157
13 Conclusion......Page 159
Chapter 5 The Transition: Information from Media to Mind......Page 171
1 What the Media Does......Page 172
2 Other Media Effects......Page 178
3 Broad Effects: Cultivation Theory......Page 180
4 Informing the Mind: The Micro Level......Page 185
5 The Bigger Picture: How Does the Media Change Minds?......Page 188
6 Models of Media Influence: Priming......Page 190
7 Models of Media Influence: Framing......Page 191
8 Models of Media Influence: Agenda Setting......Page 194
9 From What to Think About, to What to Think......Page 197
10 The Silent Death Rattle of Media-Centered Democracies......Page 201
11 Ideological Self-Segregation......Page 202
12 Mo’ Media, Mo’ Problems: And Less Knowledge......Page 204
Chapter 6 The Supply Side: What Affects the Supply of Information Provided by the Media......Page 224
1 A Brief History of the Press......Page 225
2 A Brief History of Broadcast Media......Page 231
3 The Fourth Branch of Government and the Marketplace of Ideas......Page 235
4 The Media Oligopoly......Page 237
5 Journalism’s Economic Crisis......Page 240
6 Analyzing the Political Economy of Media—The Neoclassical Way......Page 242
7 Media Bias......Page 245
8 Explanations for Media Bias: Market Determination......Page 251
9 Censorship with American Characteristics: The “Propaganda Model”......Page 253
10 The Ecology of Information in the Media: Key Influences......Page 256
11 Conclusion......Page 263
Chapter 7 Comparing Media Systems: What a Difference Supply Makes......Page 277
1 What Democracy Needs from Its Media......Page 278
2 Commercialism and Its Discontents......Page 281
3 Commercialism Does not Guarantee Pluralism......Page 286
4 Three-Media System Models......Page 289
5 Testing the Three Models of Media Systems......Page 293
6 The Beeb vs. Madison Avenue: Do Public Service or Commercial Media Outperform in Informing?......Page 295
7 Spreading Knowledge: Public Service vs. Commercial Media......Page 297
8 Conclusion......Page 301
Chapter 8 Conclusion: The Invisible Hand and the Ecology of Information......Page 313
1 Social Evolution: Observations for Epistemology......Page 319
2 Power......Page 324
3 Economics......Page 327
4 What This Perspective Suggests About Contemporary Politics......Page 334
5 Outline of an Ideal Media System......Page 338
6 Final Remarks......Page 349
Index......Page 358