Media effects

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Media effects
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Laswells Model of Mass Communication

• Who
• Says What
• In Which Channel
• To Whom
• With What Effect

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Effects Theories

• Walter Lippmann
• Public Opinion (1922)
• We see the world as "pictures in our heads"
• Media shape perception of things we have not
  experienced personally

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Powerful Effects

• Media have immediate, direct influence
• Hypodermic Needle model
• Magic Bullet model

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• Assumes people are passive and absorb media
  content uncritically unconditionally

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Minimalist Effects

• Paul Lazarsfeld Erie County study (1940)
• Mass media had hardly any direct effect
• Personal contact more important than media
  contact
• Media effects mostly indirect

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Two-step Flow model

• Media affect individuals through opinion leaders
• Opinion leaders are those who influence others
• Clergy, teachers, neighborhood leaders, etc.

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Status Conferral

• Media coverage can create prominence for issues
  people
• Agenda Setting
• Maxwell McCombs Don Shaw
• Media tell people what to think about not what
  to think

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Media can

• Create awareness
• Establish priorities
• Perpetuate issues
• Intramedia effect as well

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Narcoticizing dysfunction

• Media do not energize people into taking action
• Media lull people into passivity by overwhelming
  them with information
• People deceive selves into believing theyre
  involved when theyre actually only informed

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Cumulative Effects Theory

• Media influence is gradual over time
• Effect is often powerful
• Spiral of Silence (Noelle-Neumann)
• Vocal majority intimidates others into silence

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Uses Gratifications

• People choose media that meet their needs
  interests
• Needs such as
• Surveillance
• Socialization
• Diversion

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Surveillance

• Media provide info about whats going on
• Both news entertainment

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Socialization

• Media help people fit into society
• Parasocial interaction
• False sense of participating in dialogue
• Communication is actually one-way

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Diversion

• Media as entertainment
• Stimulate
• Relax
• Release

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Consistency theory

• People choose media messages consistent with
  their existing views values
• Selective
• Exposure
• Perception
• Retention Recall

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Selective Exposure

• People choose some media messages over others
• People ignore messages that contradict their
  beliefs
• Individuals exercise control over medias effects
  on them

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Selective Perception

• People tend to hear what they want or expect to
  hear
• Also called autistic perception

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• Bottom line
• Individuals have a large degree of control over
  how the mass media affect them

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Mass media socialization

• Mass media can help initiate children into
  society
• Demonstrate dominant behaviors and norms
• Observational learning

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Role modeling

• Imitative behavior
• Impact can be negative
• Impact can be "prosocial"

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Socialization via eavesdropping

• Children learn about adult topics by seeing them
  depicted on television/movies

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Stereotyping

• Can perpetuate social inequality

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War of the Worlds Revisited

• Why did the Orson Welles broadcast have such a
  powerful effect on its audience?
• EarthStation1.com's Radio Sounds Showcase The
  1938 "War of the Worlds" Radio Broadcast Wavs

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• Audience preconceptions and predispositions
  contributed

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• Reverence for radio as a reliable medium
• Predisposition to expect bad news
• Selective perception
• Gullibility fueled by awe of science
• WWI memories gas warfare
• Failure of common sense

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Determining Causality

• Correlation means that 2 or more variables
  coexist
• Causality means that one variable causes another
• Beware of bad science (studies purporting
  causality)