Mass Media Theories

Dr. Holly Kruse

Communication Theory
 Media Effects Theories

Direct effects:
• Hypodermic needle theory
• Payne Fund studies into film’s
effects (1929-1932)
 Media Effects Theories
Limited effects:
• Cantril, War of the Worlds (1940).
• Lazarsfeld, Berelson, & Gaudet,
The People’s Choice (1948)
• Lazarsfeld & Katz, Personal
Influence (1955) – Two-Step Flow
 Media Effects Theories
Powerful but limited effects model:
• “Mass
Media and Violence” report to National C
ommission on the Causes and Preventio
n of Violence
(1968)
• Surgeon General’s Report, “Television a
nd Growing Up”
(1972)
• Problems proving causality
 Limited Effects Theories
Agenda- Setting (McCombs &
Shaw):
• The process by which the news
media, by selecting certain topics
(repeatedly) for news coverage,
determine the issues the public
thinks about and knows about.
 Limited Effects Theories
Agenda-Setting:
• McCombs & Shaw, 1968 – high
correlation between media
coverage of issue & voter
perception.
• 1972 study: what was causal
order? Who set whose agenda?
 Limited Effects Theories
Agenda-Setting:
• 1972 results unclear, though June
newspaper agenda correlated with
October voter agenda.
• Highest correlation: Voter agenda in
June & voter agenda in October.
• How could there be a media effect if
voters’ agenda basically unchanged?
 Limited But Powerful Effects
Spiral of Silence:
• Perception of public opinion
influences willingness to express
opinions.
• People unwilling to publicly
express opinions when they
believe they’re in minority.
 Limited But Powerful Effects
Spiral of Silence:
• Fear of social isolation helps
determine what people will talk
about, which then shapes public
opinion.
• This is the spiral.
 Limited But Powerful Effects
Spiral of Silence:
• People try to assess climate of
opinion, both current distribution
and in future, using quasi-
statistical sense.
• Minority ignore perceived public
opinion: the hard core.
 Limited But Powerful Effects
Spiral of Silence:
• Mass media plays a role.
• Media helps provide sense that a
point of view is legitimate.
• Recent research shows spiral
exists in social media.
 Limited But Powerful Effects
Cultivation theory:
• TV viewing has long-term effects.
• These effects are small, gradual,
indirect, but cumulative and
significant.
• Mass media cultivate attitudes and
values already present in a culture.
 Limited But Powerful Effects
Cultivation theory:
• Studies combine surveys with content
analyses.
• Distinguishes between heavy and light
viewers.
• Heavy viewers more influenced by TV
content.
• A key effect: “mean world syndrome.”
 Qualitative Approaches
Uses and Gratifications:
• Is not about what the media does
to people
• Is about what people do with media
• How does media use help satisfy
social or psychological needs?
 Qualitative Approaches
Uses and Gratifications:
• Developed in 1960s & 1970s
• Original research focused on TV
• Media users fill out questionnaire
about media use and reasons for
it.
 Qualitative Approaches
Uses & gratifications - gratifications
come from:
• The medium’s content
• Familiarity with genre within the
medium
• General exposure to medium
• Social context of use
 Qualitative Approaches
Uses & gratifications – reasons for
media use:
• Information
• Personal identity
• Integration and social interaction
• Entertainment
 Qualitative Approaches
Media ecology:
• Looks at how media of communication
affect human perception, understanding,
feeling, and value…
• The word ‘ecology’ implies the study of
environments: their structure, content,
and impact on people.” (Postman, 1970)
 Qualitative Approaches
Media ecology – Harold Innis:
• Large scale interactions between
media & society
• Not concerned with content of
media, but with the technology and
kinds of communication it enables
 Qualitative Approaches
Media ecology – Harold Innis:
• Bias of communication – space vs.
time bias
• Monopolies of knowledge
• Most famous student was…
 Qualitative Approaches
Media ecology – Marshall McLuhan:
• Each medium has own effects,
independent of content
• “The medium is the message”:
• It is “the medium that shapes and
controls the scale and form of
human association and action.”
 Qualitative Approaches
Media ecology – Marshall McLuhan:
• “The global village”:
• Via electronic media – less
individualistic culture, more
collective identity
• Not necessarily a good thing
 Qualitative Approaches
Media ecology – Marshall McLuhan:
• Hot vs. cool media…
• Media that mostly involve a single
sense, like a movie or a novel: hot
• Media that involve more senses to
fill in details, like a comic book:
cool
Hot vs. Cool Media