1. Mass Communication Effects
How Society and Media Interact

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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.

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

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

10. 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

11. 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.

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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.

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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