Critical and cultural studies offer invaluable insight as to how communication affects media and vice-versa. While there are currently hundreds of studies taking place that attempt to establish basic premises about new media, nationwide advertising campaigns and interpersonal communicative development, critical analysis is needed to develop raw data into usable information. In the blogs in this category, we will discuss new studies from leading media and communication experts and offer our own take on the latest research and critical theory. We will explore the findings of some of the top researchers in media/communication fields and try to develop a better understanding of the ways that we interact and how our Internet, television and print media can affect our interactions.
Video Gaming Magazines Influence Muscularity Among Boys
In a study to be published this summer in the journal Body Image, University of Illinois researchers discovered that exposure to video gaming magazines has a stronger influence on preadolescent boys’ drive for muscularity, or desire for muscle mass, than does exposure to magazines that depict a more realistic muscular male-body ideal.