McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights reserved.

THE

DYNAMICS

OF MASS

COMMUNCATION

Joseph R. DominickUniversity of Georgia--Athens

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Impact of the Media

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Chapter 18

Social Effects of Mass Communication

Investigating Mass Communication EffectsEffects on Knowledge and Attitudes Media Effects on Behavior: A Short HistoryThe Impact of Televised ViolenceEncouraging Prosocial BehaviorOther Behavior EffectsResearch about the Social Effects of the Inter

netCommunication in the Future: Society ImpactC

hapt

er O

utlin

e

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• Scientific approaches to studying media effects • Surveys

– Large groups of people answer questions– Do not prove cause and effect relationships– Do suggest associations– Panel studies

• More reliable, more expensive• Study groups over long time periods

• Experiments– In a laboratory or in the field– Manipulate factors to determine impact on other factors

Investigating Mass Communication Effects

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• Media and Socialization• The Media as a Primary Source of

Information• Shaping Attitudes, Perceptions, and Beliefs• Cultivation Analysis• Media and Socialization• Children and Television Advertising• Agenda Setting

Effects on Knowledge and Attitudes

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Effects on Knowledge and Attitudes

Media and Socialization

Figure 18-1 Agencies of Socialization

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• Learning important in socialization• The mass media serve as important

sources of information– Often the prime source– Wide range of topics: politics, crime, health, the

environment• 90% of Americans learned about 9/11

from TV

Effects on Knowledge and Attitudes The Media as Primary Source of Information

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TV is an important socialization agent when…

Effects on Knowledge and Attitudes

Shaping Attitudes, Perceptions, and Beliefs

young people are heavy viewers

there is no alternative information

Stereotypes can be at odds with Real Life (RL) ~30% of TV programs are about crime and law enforcement and 90% of TV crimes are solved On TV, 60% of crimes are violent (vs. 10% in RL) Portrayal of Arab men on TV

Heavy viewers of violent TV programs are likely to favor use of violence in RL Children who are heavy viewers of police shows believe police are more successful than in RL Link between heavy viewing and attitudes that favor traditional sex roles

Research in this area is inconsistent Under some circumstances, TV affects young people’s attitudes if there is no relevant

alternative input Example: dating behavior

TV presents stereotypes

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• George Gerbner and colleagues at University of Pennsylvania

• Thesis: Heavy TV viewing “cultivates” perceptions of reality consistent with the view of the world presented in TV programs.

Effects on Knowledge and Attitudes

Cultivation Analysis

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• Methodology– Step 1: Identify predominant themes and

messages in television content– Step 2: Examine what viewers absorb from

heavy exposure to TV. Viewers respond to questionnaires with “real world” or “TV world” answers

Effects on Knowledge and Attitudes

Cultivation Analysis

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• Most research finds a cultivation effect– Three complications

• Questions of cause and effect (ex: going out at night)

• Controlling for other factors weakens the result• Technical issues such as method of counting

viewing hours and wording of questions can affect findings significantly

– Mainstreaming; Resonance

Effects on Knowledge and Attitudes

Cultivation Analysis

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• Typical child sees 20,000 TV commercials annually: toys, cereals, candy, fast-food

• Action for Children’s Television– Children are vulnerable and subject to

exploitation.– Younger children may be deceived by TV ads– Long-term exposure to TV ads could hurt a

child’s socialization as a future consumer

Effects on Knowledge and Attitudes Children and Television Advertising

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• Choosing and emphasizing topics can cause the public to perceive these issues as important

• Research suggests– Cause and effect relationships are still unclear– Results hinge on medium being studied– Topic covered can influence agenda setting– Experience with topic influences results

• Political campaigns

Effects on Knowledge and Attitudes Agenda Setting

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• Agenda research has two general fields of study:– Framing – how topics are treated by the

media and how that leads us to think about them

– Agenda building – examines how media build their agenda of newsworthy items

Effects on Knowledge and Attitudes

Agenda Setting

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• 1940s: Surveys examine political influence when President Roosevelt airs fireside chats

• 1950-60s: Surveys concerned with excessive media violence and influence on children

• 1970: Exposure to TV violence linked with antisocial behavior

• 1990s: Congress mandates new TV rating system and use of “V” chip; several bills to regulate TV and movie violence

Media Effects on Behavior: A Short History

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• A recent summary of research concludes– A significant correlation exists between viewing

violent TV shows and day-to-day aggressive behavior

– A relationship is not necessarily cause and effect. – International panel study of children (1986)

• Weak relationship between viewing TV violence and aggression

• Pattern of circularity in causation: viewing violent TV more aggression; being aggressive watch more violent TV

The Impact of Televised Violence

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• Rival Theories• Catharsis Theory (Aristotle)

– Watching violence purges the urge to be violent• Stimulation Theory

– Watching violence stimulates you to be more violent

• Albert Bandura’s Experiment (1960)– Reactions of children seeing a model interact

violently with a Bobo doll

The Impact of Televised Violence

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• Factors that complicate research– Age, sex– Length and type of violent media content– People with whom the subject watches the media– Social class, family history, economic background

• Study of Canadian TV in 3 towns (1974+)• What Can We Conclude?

– Watching television violence does increase aggressive tendencies. The effects are small but not trivial

The Impact of Televised Violence

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• Prosocial behavior – cooperation, sharing, self-control, helping

• Experiments: – Films, TV shows improve child’s self-control– Kids imitate cooperative, generous, and helping behavior

portrayed in films or TV• Surveys:

– Children perceive prosocial messages– Little relationship between viewing prosocial programs and

prosocial behavior

• Prosocial behavior is more subtle than antisocial behavior and harder to perceive

Encouraging Prosocial Behavior

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• Political Behavior– Voter turnout studies– Negative political advertising– The difficulty of candidate conversion– Reinforcement– Crystallization– Presidential debates

Other Behavior Effects

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• Political Planning and TV– Nominating conventions planned to

impact voter– TV has increased the cost of campaigning– Most campaigns organized around TV– Campaign staff include TV image

consultants

Other Behavior Effects

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• Does Internet use have an effect on other media?– Takes time away from television– A significant source of news

• Is there a link between heavy Internet use and a user’s social involvement?– Recent surveys find heavier use means more social

involvement and a greater number of social contacts– “Rich get richer”

Research about the Social Effectsof the Internet

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What might the future bring?Less privacy

Email Databases Buying habits Identity theft

Fragmentation and IsolationSelectivity Cocooning

EscapeVideo games HDTVWilliam Gibson’s Neuromancer

Communication in the Future: Social Impact