Mass Communication Effects How Society and Media Interact

History of Media Effects Research Rise of Mass Society Industrial revolution in the nineteenth century: people moved from rural to urban areas shift from self-sufficiency to wage-earning jobs comfortable local community was being replaced by a impersonal mass society

Propaganda and the Direct Effects Model The fear that media would replace influential institutions. Direct effects—message effects would be widespread; affect many people in the same way researchers found little effect from media messages Indirect-effects approach people’s perceptions are selective responses to messages vary as well

Voter Studies and the Limited Effects Model 1920s and 1930s: media may have powerful, direct effects on the public political messages of special concern People’s Choice study of the 1940: Roosevelt–Wilkie Presidential election Paul Lazarsfeld examined how voters in Erie County, Ohio, decided which candidate to vote for

Lazarsfeld’s results: People highly interested in the campaign were least likely to be influenced. Voters who decided at the last minute usually turned to friends or neighbors, rather than the media: opinion leaders—influential community members who spend significant time with the media Campaigns reinforced existing political attitudes.

The Importance of Meaning and the Critical/Cultural Model qualitative examination of the social structure looks at how people use and construct messages: people were limited in their ability for feedback mass media controls flow of information subjects covered are those that best represent advertisers

Effects of the Media in our Lives Message Effects: cognitive effects—most common and observable, short-term learning of information attitudinal effects—feelings about a product, individual, or idea on the basis of media content behavioral effects—clipping a coupon, buying a product, or voting for a candidate psychological effects—media content can inspire feelings of fear, joy, happiness, or amusement

Medium Effects Marshall McLuhan: Joshua Meyrowitz: “The medium is the message” Joshua Meyrowitz: development of media can lead to radical changes in society major effect of print as a medium is to segregate audiences according to education, age, class, and gender electronic media cross demographic boundaries

Ownership Effects: concern over owner’s control of ideas long-tail media are providing alternative channels

Active Audience Effects: important to know who the audience is comprised of: geographics—where people live demographics—gender race, ethnic background, income education, age, educational attainment, etc. psychographics—a combination of demographics, lifestyle characteristics, and product usage James Potter: media audience can be seen as a pyramid

Theories of Media and Society Functional Analysis Harold Lasswell—Three major social functions of the media Surveillance of the environment Media allows us to survey our surroundings. Status conferral—Media coverage exposes individuals to large audiences, so they seem important.

Functional Analysis (cont.) Correlation of different elements of society: selection, evaluation, and interpretation of events through correlation, we make sense out of what we learn through surveillance Transmission of culture from one generation to the next: learning the values of our society Entertainment (an additional function, Charles Wright): communication designed primarily to amuse may serve other functions as well

Agenda-setting theory issues portrayed as important in the media become important to the public. Donald Shaw and Maxwell McCombs studied voters in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1968 strong relationship between issues the press considered important and issues that voters considered important story must resonate with the public

Uses and Gratifications views audience members as active receivers of information of their own choosing gratifications audiences members may seek include: to be amused to experience the beautiful to have shared experiences with others to find models to imitate to believe in romantic love

Social Learning Theory Albert Bandura: We are able to learn by observing what others do and the consequences they face. Humans go through three steps to engage in social learning: We extract key information from situations we observe. We integrate these observations to create rules about how the world operates. We put these rules into practice to regulate our own behavior and predict the behaviors of others.

Symbolic Interactionism common creation of society through our interactions based on language: mass media are biggest source of shared meanings Spiral of Silence why people become unwilling to express what they perceive to be a minority opinion: becomes a death spiral of diversity of ideas

dominant cultural forms are those defined by the media: Media Logic dominant cultural forms are those defined by the media: example, an organization’s media planning Cultivation Analysis watching large amounts of television cultivates a distinct view of the world that is sharply at odds with reality cultivates a response known as mean world syndrome

Media, Politics and Society How do Political Campaigns Affect Voters? Resonance model—the candidate’s success depends in part on how well his or her basic message resonates with voters’ preexisting political feelings Competitive model—campaigns seen as a competition for the hearts and minds of voters: A candidate’s response to an attack critical as the attack itself

Media and Political Bias more opinionated form of reporting that takes on an explicit point of view Liberal versus Conservative Bias liberal reporters, conservative media owners 1985 study—journalists were more likely to hold a range of liberal views than the public at large

Herbert Gans’ Basic Journalistic Values Gans identified the actual values exhibited within news stories: ethnocentrism—your own country and culture is better than all others altruistic democracy—politicians should serve the public good, not their own interests responsible capitalism—open competition among businesses will create a better, more prosperous world for everyone

small-town pastoralism—nostalgia for the old-fashioned rural community individualism—the constant quest to identify the one person who makes a difference moderatism—the value of moderation in all things social order—is seen primarily in the coverage of disorder leadership—media tend to look at the actions of leaders while the actions of lower-level bureaucrats are ignored