1. Social Effects of Mass Communication
Chapter 19
© 2009, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

2. CHAPTER OUTLINE 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: Social Impact

3. INVESTIGATING MASS COMMUNICATION EFFECTS
Focus on scientific studies
Two methods common
Survey
Panel study
Experiment
Field experiment

4. EFFECTS ON KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDES
The dividing line between knowledge and attitudes is fuzzy. We will consider both
We will examine several topics that have generated the most research interest

5. Media and Socialization
Socialization is how individuals come to adopt behaviors and values of the group
Agencies of socialization include media

6. The Media as a Primary Source of Information
Learning is important part of the socialization process
Media, especially TV, are primary information source
Especially politics and public opinion
Entertainment media also provide information
About diverse topics such as occupations, crime, relationships, minorities, morals, etc

7. Shaping Attitudes, Perceptions, and Beliefs
Media can play important role in transmitting attitudes, perceptions, beliefs
Especially in young people who are heavy viewers of TV, when stereotypes consistently recur, and when they have limited exposure to alternative beliefs or other socializing agents
Creating stereotypes
Effects of heavy viewing
Absence of alternative information

8. Cultivation Analysis
Heavy TV viewing cultivates perceptions of reality consistent with the view of the world presented on TV.
Methodology
Research findings
Mainstreaming
Resonance
Criticisms of cultivation analysis
Determining cause and effect
Factors other than TV may affect people
Wording of questions on surveys

9. Children and Television Advertising
Given extent of children’s exposure to advertising, most people accept that children deserve special consideration from advertisers, due to:
Vulnerability of the audience
Effects of special selling techniques
Consumer socialization

10. Agenda Setting
When the media emphasize certain topics, we begin to think these topics are important
Most agenda-setting studies examine information-based media, especially political campaigns and issues
Agenda-setting research has led to
Framing research
Agenda-building research

11. MEDIA EFFECTS ON BEHAVIOR: A SHORT HISTORY
1940s research was prompted by concern about political effects of mass media, especially radio
1950s-1960s: Growth of TV shifted concern to affects on young people
1970s-1980s-1990s: Concern about affects of violent content
2007: FCC urged Congress to allow the agency to regulate violent content

12. THE IMPACT OF TELEVISED VIOLENCE
The impact of televised violence is a complex issue, and the definitive answer has not yet been found

13. Survey Results
Decades of surveys reveal a significant correlation between viewing violent TV and aggressive behavior in real life
Correlation does not prove causality
Panel studies have provided stronger evidence that there is a mutual causal connection between watching TV violence and performing aggressive acts
Connection is small and influenced by individual and cultural factors

14. Experimental Results: The Catharsis Versus Stimulation Debate
Two rival theories on impact of media violence
Catharsis
Stimulation
Experiments support stimulation, not catharsis

15. Bandura’s Experiment Albert Bandura, 1960s Experiments with Bobo doll
Found that film and TV might teach aggressive behavior to children

16. Complicating Factors
Many factors can influence the outcomes of experiments into the effects of violent content, including:
Experimental setting
Participate age, gender, social class, family history, economic background, etc
Length and type of content viewed
Reactions of others to the same content

17. Field Experiments Field experiments are more naturalistic
People react more naturally
Harder to control for other outside influences
Field experiment results vary but tend to support the notion that viewing TV violence fosters aggressive behavior

18. What Can We Conclude A consistent thread appears
Tentative acceptance that watching violence on television increases aggression in at least some viewers
Effects are weak or small, but are not necessarily trivial

19. ENCOURAGING PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR
Most media research has studied potential negative effects of media
Research on prosocial behavior studies potential positive effects, including
Cooperation, sharing, self control, helping

20. Experiments
Lab experiments have shown that film and TV content can affect young children’s self control, cooperation, sharing, and helping

21. Surveys
Survey data measure what TV programs children watch, and how often they perform prosocial acts
A wide variety of prosocial behaviors have been examined

22. Research Results Research in this area is hard to interpret
Prosocial behavior covers many areas
Experiments indicate moderate short-term impact of exposure to prosocial behavior
Surveys reveal moderate impact of voluntary exposure to prosocial programs
Positive impact about as strong as that of the negative impact from exposure to violence
Altruism is most strongly-affected prosocial behavior

23. OTHER BEHAVIOR EFFECTS
Researchers have also studied other potential effects of media exposure

24. Political Behavior Negative advertising
Effects of mass media on voter choice
Conversion
Reinforcement
Crystallization
Effects of televised debates
Television and the political behavior of politicians

25. RESEARCH ABOUT THE SOCIAL EFFECTS OF THE INTERNET
Two trends in Internet studies
Impact of Internet use on other media
Greatest effect on TV usage
Internet important as source of news
Relationship between Internet use and social involvement
Contradictory results don’t yet support conclusions

26. COMMUNICATION IN THE FUTURE: SOCIAL IMPACT
Advances in media technology usually have an upside and a downside

27. Privacy
The widespread exchange of information has had both positive and negative consequences
Personal information is uncomfortably easy to find

28. Fragmentation and Isolation
Mass media serve needs of ever more specialized audiences
Directing people to ever more selective content exposure
Could result in smaller and smaller interest groups
The cocoon effect

29. Escape
People could always immerse themselves in world of mass media, and tune out of the real world
New technologies have caused those fears to resurface
HDTV, the Internet, virtual reality, role-playing games