INTRO TO COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA

STUDIES
UNIT 2: THEORIES OF COMMUNICATION I
CLASSICAL THEORIES
Communication is an art made up of theories (or hypotheses) that try to explain the
importance of mass media, advertising…

Classical theories than help us understanding media and their effect on culture and society are:

1. The Hypodermic Needle Model

2. Two-Step Flow of Communication
3. Uses & Gratifications Theory
4. Agenda-Setting Theory

1. THE HYPODERMIC NEEDLE MODEL

“MEDIA HAS THE ABILITY TO INFLUENCE OR EVEN CONTROL ITS AUDIENCES”

 1930s
 Assumed people were “injected” with media messages which they absorbed and
accepted passively, without an escape
 Strong media effects to which everyone responded the same.

HISTORIC CONTEXT:

 WW1: 1st war using media

 Public opinion = crucial (media used for morale and support)

INFLUENCES:

 BEHAVIOURISM: Ivan Pavlov´s experiment (dog salivated when hear bell)

EXAMPLE:

 THE WAR OF THE WORLDS (1938)

o Based on the novel with the same name, this radio programme about a
fictional alien invasion made US citizens panic as they believed it was real.

“THE PEOPLE´S CHOICE”:

 One of the 1st studies to disprove this theory

 1940s
 Lazarsfeld and Herzog
 The study analysed the effect on media on people´s voting decisions
 Discovered that interpersonal sources of opinion were more influential than media
(media had small effect)
  The study proved that people could choose which messages to accept from the media
and how these affected them.
 From this study, Lazarfeld and Katz developed the “Two-step flow of communication”

2. THE TWO-STEP FLOW MODEL OF COMMUNCATION

“MEDIA´S MESSAGE ARE FIRST RECEIVED AND INTERPRETED BY OPINION LEADERS BEFORE
THEY REACH THE GENERAL PUBLIC”

 They wanted to know if mass media´s messages had direct influence of people´s
voting choices.
 They found that media messages (newspaper, radio) had less influence than informal,
personal conversations (on voting and public opinion)

OPINION LEADER:
 Leader of one group (not all groups) who gives the information and details that they
interpret to lesser active people on that group.
 Audiences are most likely to be influenced by others like themselves
PERSONAL INFLUENCE (1955):
 People´s reactions to media messages are moderated by interpersonal conversations
with people of their social environment.
 Someone belonging to a certain social group > mass media (on one´s decisions and
behaviour)
CRITICISM:
 1970/80s
 The theory was said to be an oversimplification (the flow of information from mass
media to consumers has more than 2 steps).

3. THE USES AND GRATIFICATION THEORY (UGT)

“A THEORY THAT FOCUSES ON WHAT PEOPLE DO WITH MEDIA INSTEAD OF WHAT MEDIA
DOES TO PEOPLE”

 Focused on the audience

 Explores how individuals intentionally look for media to fulfil certain needs or goals
(entertainment, socializing…)

THE 5 PEOPLE´S NEEDS THEY USE MEDIA FOR:

1. Cognitive needs: intellectual and academic knowledge, info… Ex. Apostrophes, Estudio
1, La Clave
 2. Affective needs: emotions, pleasure, moods… (television).
3. Personal Integrative needs: status, credibility, stabilization… (jewellery ad, car
magazines… TO CHANGE LIFESTYLE).
4. Social Integrative needs: socialize with friends, family, and relations in society.
Nowadays people more and more do this through social media (also watching a show
to discuss it with friends).
5. Tension free needs: escapism, relieve from stress. Media can grab one´s mind as we
connect with situations and characters on it.

CRITICS:

 Highly individualistic (takes only into account the individual phycological gratification
from media).
 Not all use of media is for gratification, it can be forced (advertisements).
 Little attention for media content as it focused on how people use it and not what
they get from it.

4. AGENDA-SETTING THEORY
“HOW MEDIA´S NEWS COVERAGE DETERMINES WHICH ISSUES ARE THE FOCUS OF PUBLIC
ATTENTION”

 1972
 McCombs and Shaw
 They found during an election that the problems the audience considered most
important were the one´s mass media depicted as most critical.
 attention from media importance from audience
FRAMING:
 Added on 1998
 Maxwell McCombs
 Media influences people on HOW to think
 Media gives a perspective to the audience.
CRITICISM:
 Difficult to measure
 Inconclusive relationship between public prominence and media coverage
 Not applicable to present day because of internet/social media, people look for more
than one source or point of views