… on individuals & society

mass communication effects

the effects tradition

the entire study of mass communication is based on the assumption that the media have significant effects

yet, there is little agreement on the nature and extent of these assumed effects

the paradox

the difference between the general and the particular

we can be sure that effects are occurring all the time

… without being able to see or predict the aggregate outcome or to know after the event how much is attributable to the media

media effects?

are simply the consequences of what the mass media do, whether intended or not

essential for research and theory is to observe the distinction between ‘levels’ of occurrence – individual\society

kinds of media-induced change

media can:

- cause intended change- cause unintended change- cause minor change- facilitate change (intended or not)- reinforce what exists (no change)- prevent change

all these changes may occur at the level of the individual or society

• stimulus-response model

effects are specific reactions to specific stimuli, so that one can expect and predict a close correspondence between media message and audience reaction

the main elements S – O – R:

- a message (stimulus)- a receiver (organism)- the effect (response)

‘hypodermic needle’

media as a set of all-powerful tools for circulating effective symbols

the audience was seen as a passive target, blindly responding to stimuli, in uniform and predictable ways

media content was seen as injected in the veins of the audience

… direct, undifferentiated impact on atomized individuals

assumptions

society, as consisting of an aggregate of relatively atomized individuals (acting according to their personal interests; little constrained by social ties and constraints)

mass media, engaged in campaigns to mobilize behavior according to intentions of powerful institutions (advertisers, political parties, etc.)

the features

… of the ‘mass society’ stimulus-response model:

- messages prepared and distributed in systematic ways on a large scale; made available for attention by many individuals

- technology of reproduction maximizes aggregate reception and response

- all individual recipients are ‘equal’ in value (only aggregate numbers count – voters, consumers)

…

- direct contact between media campaigner and individual

- little or no account of an intervening social or group structure

- contact from the media message will be related at some given level of probability to an effect

critique

mechanistic stimulus-response model

mass communication process as a process of persuasion

unlimited power of the mass media

another model …

rigorous study of the effects of mass communication in an election campaign, the United States presidential election of 1940 (Lazarsfeld)

the findings failed to identify significant direct effects on voting or opinion from the main media of newspapers and radio

undermined widespread assumptions that mass media operated according to the stimulus-response model

• the two-step flow hypothesis

… an explanation of the lack of effect was that: ideas often flow from radio and print to the opinion leaders and from them to the less active sessions of the population (Katz and Lazarsfeld, 1955)

interpersonal influence was stronger than that of mass media

a theory that later was tested in different contexts (consumer behavior) and soon became the dominant paradigm of communication theory and research

assumptions

- individuals are members of social groups, interacting with other people

- the response and reaction to a media message will not be direct and immediate, but mediated through, and influenced, by those social relationships

…

- two processes are involved: one of reception and attention and another of response in the form of acceptance or rejection of information, influence

- individuals are not all equal in the face of media campaigns, but have different roles in communication process (those who are active in receiving and passing on ideas from the media – those who rely to other personal contacts)

… opinion leaders

- more use of the mass media

- higher levels of sociability

- self-perception as influential on others

- having an attributed role as source and guide

overall

according to two-step flow model, mass media do not operate in a social vacuum

they have an input into a very complex web of social relationships and compete with other sources of ideas, knowledge and power

critique

- ambiguity of concepts; lack of clear empirical demonstration of the two-step process

- implicit denial or subordination of the original ‘one step’ process of influence direct from media to individuals

revision

Robinson (1976) revised the model on the basis of election research to take into account an even larger category of less attentive ‘non-discussants’ who may be open to direct influence by mass media

he distinguishes between people who are involved in social networks (get thus information from opinion givers) and those who are not so involved (susceptible to a one-step influence by media)

a tradition of social research

Lazarsfeld sought to combine qualitative and quantitative methods – participant observation and depth interviewing, content analysis and biographies

he introduced deviant case analysis, in which individual cases are examined that do not fit a general statistical pattern

workshop:

think about the role of media in your own life; discuss it with your classmates and reflect as group on it

….

- what changes would you like to make in your relationship to media?

- how would you go about making these changes?

… so far

we discussed about media effects in terms of:

-effects that are mainly intended by the senders

-they are usually short term (immediate and temporary)

-they have to do with attitudinal, informational or behavioral changes in individuals

beyond the individual

media also affect the culture, the stock of knowledge, the norms and values of society

they make available a set of images, ideas and evaluations from which audience members can draw in

to culture/society

concerned with effect processes which are more unplanned, long-term, indirect and collective

-attention less at separate ‘messages’ or items of information and more at whole sets or systems of messages which share some features in common

-attention also to the ties which integrate society, or to the forces which tend towards conflict and fragmentation

• cultural indicators

one of the most productive and influential traditions of research into the long-term and indirect effects of the media

origins lie in early theories of the great power of the medium of television to shape beliefs, ideas and indirectly behavior

the hypothesis

viewing television gradually leads to the adoption of beliefs about the nature of the social world which conform to the stereotyped, distorted and very selected view of reality as it is portrayed in a systematic way in television fiction and news

… interactive process between messages and audiences

the parameters

-(commercial) TV presents an organically composed total world of interrelated stories (drama and news) produced to the same set of market specifications

-television audiences (unlike those of other media) view largely unselectively – it is like a ritual (religion)

TV constructing reality

TV provides many people with a consistent and near total symbolic environment which supplies norms for conduct and beliefs about a wide range of real-life situations

it is not a window on or reflection of the world, but a world in itself

Annenberg School of Communication

(University of Pennsylvania)

… comparison between beliefs about reality with actual reality, taking account of varying degrees of habitual exposure to television

those who watch increasing amounts of television are predicted to show increasing deviance of beliefs about reality

focus on TV portrayal of violence, crime

• agenda setting

the mass media simply by the fact of paying attention to some issues and neglect others will have an effect on public opinion

people will tend to know about those things which the mass media deal with and adopt the order of priority assigned to different issues

the figures

Malcolm McCombs & Donald Shaw (1976)

‘audiences not only learn about public issues and other matters through the media, they also learn how much importance to attach to an issue or topic from the emphasis the mass media place upon it’

power of mass communication: ability to affect cognitive change among individuals

the case study

most agenda-setting research has concerned itself with election campaigns

it has become a common strategy to establish the image of a given candidate by association with certain positions on the perennial problems of a society and with certain special issues of the candidate’s choice

if voters can be convinced that an issue is important, they will vote for the candidate or party which has been projected as most competent to deal with

the model

the basic idea is that, amongst a given range of issues or topics:

those which get more media attention will grow in their familiarity and perceived importance over a period of time

and those which get less will decline correspondingly

…

issues differential media attentionconsequent public

perception of issues

x1 =========== x1

x2 = x2

x3 ===== x3

controversial issues

it is not clear whether we should look for direct effects from the media on personal agendas or whether agenda setting works through interpersonal influence

different kind of agendas are involved (individuals/groups, institutions) – multiple role of media; they may try to influence the opinion of the public and they may also try to influence the elite

missing: the relative power of sources in relation to the media and to other sources

- differential agenda setting

the simple version of agenda-setting hypothesis posits an effect from the media on the topics of public opinion

later research has pointed to more complex interactions, distinguishing between different kinds of agenda

…

Rogers and Dearing (1987) distinguish between:

- media agenda; refers to the priorities of attention in media content to issues and coverage

- public agenda; varying importance of issues in public opinion and knowledge

- policy agenda; policy proposals of politicians

overall

- public debate is represented by a set of salient issues (an agenda for action)

- the agenda originates from public opinion and proposals of political elites

- competing interests seek to promote the salience of ‘their’ issues

…

- mass media news selects issues for more or less attention according to several pressures – from interested elites, public opinion and ‘real-world’ events

- the outcome in media (relative degree of prominence of issues) both gives public recognition to the current agenda and has further effects on opinion and the evaluation of the political scene

•the spiral of silence

focus: how the public opinion is formed

… mass media giving more coverage for the majorities and less coverage for minorities

people tend to remain silent when they feel that their views are in the minority

the figure

Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann (1974), German political scientist

“The Spiral of Silence: A Theory of Public”

explains why the Germans supported wrong political positions in the 1930s-1940s

.

the assumptions

there is an osmosis of the public opinion through indications in others and via the mass media (“a prevailing climate of opinion”)

“a fear of isolation”; people know what behaviors will increase their possibility of being socially isolated

people are inclined to keep their attitudes, views

to themselves, when they are in the minority, primarily out of fear of being isolated.

the more a person believes the opinion they hold is congruent to prevailing public opinion, the more willing they will be to openly disclose that opinion in public

and, the more a person feels their opinion is divergent from the perceived mainstream view, the less likely they will be to express it publicly

… media accelerate the muting of the minority in the spiral of silence

•the spiral of silence

#- Barlow, D. & Mills, B. (2009) Reading Media Theory:

Thinkers, Approaches, Contexts. London: Pearson

- Katz, E. & Lazarsfeld P. F. (1955) Personal Influence: the Part Played by People in the Flow of Mass Communication. NY: Free Press

- Mattelart, A. & Mattelart, M. (1998) Theories of Communication: a Short Introduction. London: Sage

- McQuail, D. & Windahl, S. (1993) Communication Models: for the Study of Mass Communications, 2nd edition. London: Pearson

- Rogers, M. E. (1994) A History of Communication Study. NY: Free Press

coming …

PresentationsPresentations

thank you for your attention

further discussion on:

selective passages from :‘Ten things wrong with the media effects model’(Gauntlett, 2005)

The effects model tackles social problems backwardness

To explain the problem of violence in society, researchers should begin with that social problem and seek to explain it with reference, quite obviously, to those who engage in it: their background, lifestyles, character profiles, and so on. The ‘media effects’ approach, in this sense, comes at the problem backwards, by starting with the media and then trying to lasso connections from there on to social beings, rather than the other way around

workshop:

conduct a media critique session in groups, looking critically at the role, influences, and place of media in Turkish society