Media effects
Does media content affect
society or reflect society?
The Payne Fund
Studies
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A series of studies of the effect of
movies on children's behavior.
They were paid for by The Payne
Fund, a private foundation, and
performed in the late 1920s and
early 1930s.
They have been criticized as
lacking scientific rigor…but…
The Payne Fund
Studies
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…but … were the first attempt to
rigorously study the media.
They were politically significant
and were instrumental in the
enforcement of the Hays Code.
 MPAA
began strictly enforcing it in
1934
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They are credited with contributing
to the demise of Pre-Code filmmaking in Hollywood.
Immense Popularity of
Film
The Payne Fund Studies
(1929-1932)
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Offshoot of public concern and emergence of social
science in the 1920s.
Designed to find out impact of films on children and
adolescents, using social scientific methods.
Phase One: Content Analysis by Edgar Dale
 Attempted
to categorize movies according to most
popular themes.
 What were the most popular themes from 1920 to 30,
accounting for 75% of 1500 films?
Dale’s Movie
Categories
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Children
Comedy
Crime
History
Love
Mystery
Sex
Travel
Social Propaganda
War
The Payne Fund Studies
(1929-1932)
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Dale also had coders content analyze films. . . In
“real time” in movie theaters!
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Coded for nine types of “social values,” with numerous
measured variables under each one:
Nature of American life and characters
 Nature of foreign life and characters
 Motivation of characters
 Emotional appeals to audience
 Crime/delinquency/violence
 Relations of the sexes
 Military situations
 Depictions of underprivileged peoples
 Deportment
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The Payne Fund Studies
(1929-1932)
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Emphasized
Dale’s diverse findings included
this “balance sheet” for 1930:
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Not emphasized
Portrayals of life in the upper
economic strata
Life among the middle and lower
economic strata
Problems of the unmarried and young
Problems of the married, middle-aged,
and old
Problems of love, sex, and crime
Everyday problems
Motifs of escape and entertainment
Motifs of education and social
enlightenment
Individual and personal goals
Social goals
Physical beauty
Beauty of character
The Payne Fund Studies
(1929-1932)
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Another Phase: Emotional Responses to
Romantic or Sexual Content (Dysinger &
Rucknick)
Physiological measures used.
Younger children not affected but
adolescents were—became more aroused
by content.
The Payne Fund Studies
(1929-1932)
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Another Phase: Effects of Movies on Social
Attitudes (Peterson & Thurstone)
Series of experiments involved exposing
children and adolescents to films with social
messages and measuring before and after
attitudes.
One experiment used D.W. Griffith’s Birth
of a Nation as stimulus—shown to 434 high
school children in Illinois.
Effect of Birth of a Nation
School children’s attitudes toward Blacks went
down, from a mean of 7.46 to 5.95 (on a 0-10
Unfavorable/Favorable scale). . . The effect was
still apparent 5 months later (Peterson &
Thurstone, 1933; also studied impact of Four
Sons on attitudes toward Germans)
Reaction…
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What inaccurate portrayals of race, gender,
religion, etc. are on TV or in movies?
What effect do such portrayals have on
people?
What unrealistic ‘living situations,’
‘relationships,’ ‘relationships’ are there on
TV or in movies?
What effect do such portrayals have on
people?
The Payne Fund Studies
(1929-1932)
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Another Phase: Behavioral Effects of
Motion Pictures (Blumer)
Used questionnaires and interviews.
Asked respondents to recall instances
when they were affected by media.
What are some strengths and weaknesses of
this technique?
How have you been affected by media?
The Payne Fund Studies
(1929-1932)
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Huge role in development of the study
of media effects.
Helped establish legacy of fear, or
belief that media is powerful and
dangerous and might pervert and upset
proper social order.
Does this still exist today?
Laswell’s Model of Mass
Communication
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Who
Says What
In Which Channel
To Whom
With What Effect
Effects Theories
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Walter Lippmann: Public Opinion
(1922)
We see the world as "pictures in
our heads"
Media shape perception of things
we have not experienced personally
Powerful Effects Theory
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Media have immediate, direct influence
Assumes people are passive and absorb
media content uncritically & unconditionally
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“Hypodermic Needle” model
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“Magic Bullet” model
Minimalist Effects
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Paul Lazarsfeld Erie County study (1940)
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Mass media had hardly any direct effect
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Personal contact more important than media
contact
Media effects mostly indirect
Two-step Flow model
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Media affect individuals through
opinion leaders
Opinion leaders are those who
influence others
 Clergy,
teachers, neighborhood
leaders, etc.
Diffusion of
Innovations
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Everett Rogers—the main developer
Adapted ideas from Gabriel Tarde
and from the Hybrid Seed Corn Study
(Ryan & Gross)
This theory has been used and studied
across many fields: Rural sociology,
Medical sociology, Anthropology,
Economics, Marketing
Innovation
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Innovation = An idea, practice, or object
perceived as new by an individual or other
unit of adoption
The Diffusion of Innovations Theory
attempts to predict adoption of innovations.
. . Typically, the adoption follows a standard
pattern:
The Classic S-Shaped Adoption Curve
The corresponding Classic Bell-Shaped Adopters Curve
The corresponding Classic Bell-Shaped Adopters Curve
Many studies have looked at how these groups differ:
Innovators are highly cosmopolite and open to new
things.
Early adopters tend to be opinion leaders.
Early majority provide “legitimization” of the
innovation.
Individual Differences and Adoption
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Rogers originally identified key social
indicators (demographics) as related to
innovativeness:
 SES
(socio-economic status)
 Education
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Atkin, Neuendorf, & Jeffres (1998; 2003),
studying adoption of audio information
services and digital TV, identified a trend:
 Attitudinal
and communication variables more
important than demographics
Individual Differences and Adoption
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Blake et al. (2004 – 2009) identified
national or cultural differences in
factors that seem to affect adoption of
online shopping; e.g.:
In Poland, “perceived newness” is a
positive factor
In Greece, online shopping is seen as
highly compatible with past practices
(catalog shopping)
The Role of Opinion
Leaders
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Opinion Leadership was first identified by Lazarsfeld,
Berelson, and Gaudet in their 1944 book The People’s
Choice
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Reported on first (1940) in a series of studies of voters
in Erie County, Ohio
 Unexpectedly found a Two-Step Flow of
communication about the presidential race. . .
 Mass Media  Opinion Leaders  Opinion
Followers
 A combination of media and interpersonal channels
resulted in information and influence re the election
Status Conferral
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Media coverage can create
prominence for issues & people
Agenda Setting
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Maxwell McCombs & Don Shaw
Media tell people what to think about
– but not what to think
Media can:
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Create awareness
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Establish priorities
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Perpetuate issues
Narcoticizing dysfunction
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Media do not energize people into
taking action
Media lull people into passivity by
overwhelming them with
information
People deceive selves into
believing they’re involved when
they’re actually only informed
Cumulative Effects Theory
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Media influence is gradual over time
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Effect is often powerful
Spiral of Silence (Noelle-Neumann)
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Vocal majority intimidates others
into silence
Focus on the audience
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1940s challenge to audience
passivity
Uses & Gratifications
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People choose media that meet
their needs & interests
Needs such as:
 Surveillance
 Diversion
 Socialization
Surveillance
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Media provide info about what’s
going on
Both news & entertainment
Diversion
Media as entertainment
 Stimulate
 Relax
 Release
Socialization
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Mass media can help initiate
people into society
And help them fit in
Demonstrate dominant behaviors
and norms
“Observational learning”
Role modeling
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Imitative behavior
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Impact can be negative or
positive ("prosocial”)
Socialization via
eavesdropping
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Children learn about adult topics
by seeing them depicted in
media
Parasocial interaction
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False sense of participating in
dialogue
Communication is actually oneway
Consistency theory
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Individuals exercise control over
media’s effects on them
People choose media & messages
consistent with their existing views
& values
Selective:
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Exposure
Perception
Retention & Recall
Selective Exposure
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People choose some media
messages over others
People ignore messages that
contradict their beliefs
Selective Perception
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People tend to hear what they want
or expect to hear
Selective retention & recall
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People retain & recollect some media
messages and not others
Bottom line:
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Individuals have a large degree of
control over how the mass media
affect them … but
Propaganda Model – do recipients
know when they’re exposed?
‘let the buyer beware’ – but…
War of the Worlds
• Why did – OR ‘did’ the Orson
Welles broadcast have such a
powerful effect on its audience?
• War of the World’s, 1938
Mercury Radio Theatre Radio
Drama on CBS, Mars invasion,
panic
• Newspapers’ role in ‘myth’
The War of the Worlds
Broadcast, 1938
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Halloween eve—CBS radio show
Mercury Theater on the Air
(narrated by Orson Welles)
broadcast an adaptation of H. G.
Wells’ novel War of the Worlds.
Around 6 million heard the
broadcast.
More than 1 million were
frightened or disturbed.
Orson Welles on the air
Aftermath
The War of the Worlds
Broadcast
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Aftermath studied by sociologist Hadley Cantril.
Why did it frighten some and not others?
1) Characteristics of the Broadcast
 Highly
realistic
 Dramatic excellence
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2) Characteristics of Affected Listeners
 Naive,
rural, low SES country
 Had faith in broadcasting
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3) Situational Variables (maximized influence)
 Tuning
in late
 Poor reception from competing stations
The War of the Worlds
Broadcast
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BUT...
Research company that night counted 2% audience
Many in later years said they heard it that night, but
is that true
The War of the Worlds ‘effect’ may be a very
different kind of study about society than about
media effects
Determining Causality
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Correlation means that 2 or more
variables coexist
Causality means that one variable
causes another
Beware of bad science (studies
purporting causality)
X causes Y
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Anecdotal evidence
‘measure whether 55 mph gives better MPG than
75 mph’
Measure how? Variables?
Measure effects of violence on kids
Measure how? Variables?
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