THE
DYNAMICS
OF MASS
COMMUNCATION
Joseph R. Dominick
University of Georgia--Athens
McGraw-Hill
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Impact of the Media
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© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights reserved.
Chapter 18
Chapter Outline
Social Effects of Mass
Communication
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Investigating Mass Communication Effects
Effects on Knowledge and Attitudes
Media Effects on Behavior: A Short History
The Impact of Televised Violence
Encouraging Prosocial Behavior
Other Behavior Effects
Research about the Social Effects of the
Internet
Communication in the Future: Society Impact
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Investigating Mass Communication
Effects
• Scientific approaches to studying media effects
• Surveys
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Large groups of people answer questions
Do not prove cause and effect relationships
Do suggest associations
Panel studies
• More reliable, more expensive
• Study groups over long time periods
• Experiments
– In a laboratory or in the field
– Manipulate factors to determine impact on other factors
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Effects on Knowledge and
Attitudes
• Media and Socialization
• The Media as a Primary Source of
Information
• Shaping Attitudes, Perceptions, and Beliefs
• Cultivation Analysis
• Media and Socialization
• Children and Television Advertising
• Agenda Setting
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Effects on Knowledge and
Attitudes
Media and Socialization
Figure 18-1 Agencies of Socialization
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Effects on Knowledge and
Attitudes
The Media as Primary Source of Information
• Learning important in socialization
• The mass media serve as important
sources of information
– Often the prime source
– Wide range of topics: politics, crime, health,
the environment
• 90% of Americans learned about 9/11
from TV
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Effects on Knowledge and
Attitudes
Shaping Attitudes, Perceptions, and Beliefs
TV is an important socialization agent when…
 TV presents stereotypes
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Stereotypes can be at odds with Real Life (RL)
~30% of TV programs are about crime and law enforcement and 90% of TV crimes are solved
On TV, 60% of crimes are violent (vs. 10% in RL)
Portrayal of Arab men on TV
 young people are heavy viewers
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Heavy viewers of violent TV programs are likely to favor use of violence in RL
Children who are heavy viewers of police shows believe police are more successful than in RL
Link between heavy viewing and attitudes that favor traditional sex roles
 there is no alternative information
Research in this area is inconsistent
Under some circumstances, TV affects young people’s attitudes if there is no relevant
alternative input
Example: dating behavior
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Effects on Knowledge and
Attitudes
Cultivation Analysis
• George Gerbner and colleagues at
University of Pennsylvania
• Thesis: Heavy TV viewing “cultivates”
perceptions of reality consistent with the
view of the world presented in TV
programs.
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Effects on Knowledge and
Attitudes
Cultivation Analysis
• Methodology
– Step 1: Identify predominant themes and
messages in television content
– Step 2: Examine what viewers absorb from
heavy exposure to TV. Viewers respond to
questionnaires with “real world” or “TV
world” answers
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Effects on Knowledge and
Attitudes
Cultivation Analysis
• Most research finds a cultivation effect
– Three complications
• Questions of cause and effect (ex: going out at
night)
• Controlling for other factors weakens the result
• Technical issues such as method of counting
viewing hours and wording of questions can
affect findings significantly
– Mainstreaming; Resonance
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Effects on Knowledge and
Attitudes
Children and Television Advertising
• Typical child sees 20,000 TV
commercials annually: toys, cereals,
candy, fast-food
• Action for Children’s Television
– Children are vulnerable and subject to
exploitation.
– Younger children may be deceived by TV ads
– Long-term exposure to TV ads could hurt a
child’s socialization as a future consumer
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Effects on Knowledge and
Attitudes
Agenda Setting
• Choosing and emphasizing topics can
cause the public to perceive these issues
as important
• Research suggests
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Cause and effect relationships are still unclear
Results hinge on medium being studied
Topic covered can influence agenda setting
Experience with topic influences results
• Political campaigns
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Effects on Knowledge and
Attitudes
Agenda Setting
• Agenda research has two general fields
of study:
– Framing – how topics are treated by the
media and how that leads us to think about
them
– Agenda building – examines how media
build their agenda of newsworthy items
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Media Effects on Behavior:
A Short History
• 1940s: Surveys examine political influence
when President Roosevelt airs fireside chats
• 1950-60s: Surveys concerned with excessive
media violence and influence on children
• 1970: Exposure to TV violence linked with
antisocial behavior
• 1990s: Congress mandates new TV rating
system and use of “V” chip; several bills to
regulate TV and movie violence
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The Impact of Televised Violence
• A recent summary of research concludes
– A significant correlation exists between viewing
violent TV shows and day-to-day aggressive
behavior
– A relationship is not necessarily cause and effect.
– International panel study of children (1986)
• Weak relationship between viewing TV violence and
aggression
• Pattern of circularity in causation: viewing violent TV
 more aggression; being aggressive  watch more
violent TV
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The Impact of Televised Violence
• Rival Theories
• Catharsis Theory (Aristotle)
– Watching violence purges the urge to be violent
• Stimulation Theory
– Watching violence stimulates you to be more
violent
• Albert Bandura’s Experiment (1960)
– Reactions of children seeing a model interact
violently with a Bobo doll
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The Impact of Televised Violence
• Factors that complicate research
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Age, sex
Length and type of violent media content
People with whom the subject watches the media
Social class, family history, economic background
• Study of Canadian TV in 3 towns (1974+)
• What Can We Conclude?
– Watching television violence does increase
aggressive tendencies. The effects are small but not
trivial
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Encouraging Prosocial Behavior
• Prosocial behavior – cooperation, sharing, selfcontrol, helping
• Experiments:
– Films, TV shows improve child’s self-control
– Kids imitate cooperative, generous, and helping behavior
portrayed in films or TV
• Surveys:
– Children perceive prosocial messages
– Little relationship between viewing prosocial programs and
prosocial behavior
• Prosocial behavior is more subtle than antisocial
behavior and harder to perceive
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Other Behavior Effects
• Political Behavior
– Voter turnout studies
– Negative political advertising
– The difficulty of candidate conversion
– Reinforcement
– Crystallization
– Presidential debates
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Other Behavior Effects
• Political Planning and TV
– Nominating conventions planned to
impact voter
– TV has increased the cost of
campaigning
– Most campaigns organized around TV
– Campaign staff include TV image
consultants
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Research about the Social Effects
of the Internet
• Does Internet use have an effect on
other media?
– Takes time away from television
– A significant source of news
• Is there a link between heavy Internet
use and a user’s social involvement?
– Recent surveys find heavier use means more social
involvement and a greater number of social contacts
– “Rich get richer”
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Communication in the Future: Social
Impact
What might the future bring?
Less privacy
Email Databases Buying habits
Identity theft
Fragmentation and Isolation
Selectivity Cocooning
Escape
Video games HDTV
William Gibson’s Neuromancer
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