Media effects
How do the media influence us?
Effects studies
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Early effects scholars
“Powerful effects” theory
Walter Lippmann, Public Opinion
Harold Lasswell, WWII propaganda
“Bullet” or “hypodermic needle” theory
Assumes that people are passive,
uncritical
Minimalist effects theory
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Paul Lazarsfeld, 1948
“Two-step flow” model
Status conferral
Agenda setting
Narcotizing dysfunction
Media lull people into passivity
Cumulative effects theory
• Elizabeth Noelle-Neumann
• cumulative effects theory’spiral of
silence model
• dominant view can snowball through the
media
• dominant view not sufficiently
challenged
• people fear rejection
Uses and gratifications studies
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challenges to audience passivity
reevaluation of scholarly assumptions
“gratifications”--why people use media:
“surveillance” function--scan
environment for danger
• “socialization” function--helps us
maintain social relationships
• “parasocial” relationships--artificial
Gratifications, con’t
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diversion function
stimulation
relaxation
release
Consistency theory
• individual selectivity
• selective exposure
– we choose our media
• selective perception
– Walter Lippmann: “We do not see first and
then define; we define first and then see.”
• selective retention and recall
– 1938 War of the Worlds broadcast
Socialization
• Media’s initiating role
– by age 18, US children have watched
18,000-20,000 hours of TV
– children learn prosocial behavior
• Role models--big influence
• Stereotyping--forms images in our mind
• Erosion of boundaries that separate
generations--children’s exposure
Media-depictions of violence
• learning about violence
• observational learning
• media violence-– a catharsis?
– prods socially positive action?
– teaches us the world is a scary place
Media violence as negative
• Aggressive stimulation theory
– Albert Bandura’s studies in 1960s
– Zamora case
– Bundy case
– Deer Hunter cases
• Catalytic theory-Schramm, Lyle, Parker
– for some children under some conditions
George Gerbner’s “Mean
World Syndrome”
• Societally debilitating effects of violence
– media world is more dangerous real world
– desensitizing theory--more violence is
necessary to make an impact
– Gerbner Index since 1970s
– 30,000 murders, 40,000 attempted
murders seen on TV by age 18
– give up freedom for personal safety
Media agenda-setting
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creates awareness
establishes priorities
perpetuates issues
not “what to think,”
but “what to think
about”
Media induced anxiety and
apathy
• information “overload” or “pollution”
• New York Times--12 million words! More info
in one day than in a 17th century person’s
lifetime!
• media induce passivity--”couch potato”
• we neglect sports, neighborhood &
community activities
• “well informed futility”