Post on 18-Jan-2016
Media effects
Does media content affect society or reflect society?
The Payne Fund Studies A series of studies of the effect of
movies on children's behavior. They were paid for by
The Payne Fund, a private foundation, and performed in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
They have been criticized as lacking scientific rigor…but…
The Payne Fund Studies …but … were the first attempt to
rigorously study the media. They were politically significant
and were instrumental in the enforcement of the Hays Code. MPAA began strictly enforcing it in
1934 They are credited with contributing
to the demise of Pre-Code film-making in Hollywood.
Immense Popularity of Film
The Payne Fund Studies (1929-1932)
Offshoot of public concern and emergence of social science in the 1920s.
Designed to find out impact of films on children and adolescents, using social scientific methods.
Phase One: Content Analysis by Edgar Dale Attempted to categorize movies according to
most popular themes. What were the most popular themes from 1920
to 30, accounting for 75% of 1500 films?
Dale’s Movie Categories Children Comedy Crime History Love Mystery Sex Travel Social Propaganda War
The Payne Fund Studies (1929-1932)
Dale also had coders content analyze films. . . In “real time” in movie theaters! Coded for nine types of “social values,” with
numerous measured variables under each one: Nature of American life and characters Nature of foreign life and characters Motivation of characters Emotional appeals to audience Crime/delinquency/violence Relations of the sexes Military situations Depictions of underprivileged peoples Deportment
The Payne Fund Studies (1929-1932) Dale’s diverse findings
included this “balance sheet” for 1930:
Emphasized Not emphasized
Portrayals of life in the upper economic strata
Life among the middle and lower economic strata
Problems of the unmarried and young Problems of the married, middle-aged, and old
Problems of love, sex, and crime Everyday problems
Motifs of escape and entertainment Motifs of education and social enlightenment
Individual and personal goals Social goals
Physical beauty Beauty of character
The Payne Fund Studies (1929-1932)
Another Phase: Emotional Responses to Romantic or Sexual Content (Dysinger & Rucknick) Physiological measures used. Younger children not affected but
adolescents were—became more aroused by content.
The Payne Fund Studies (1929-1932)
Another Phase: Effects of Movies on Social Attitudes (Peterson & Thurstone) Series of experiments involved
exposing children and adolescents to films with social messages and measuring before and after attitudes.
One experiment used D.W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation as stimulus—shown to 434 high school children in Illinois.
Effect of Birth of a NationSchool children’s attitudes toward Blacks went down, from a mean of 7.46 to 5.95 (on a 0-10 Unfavorable/Favorable scale). . . The effect was still apparent 5 months later (Peterson & Thurstone, 1933; also studied impact of Four Sons on attitudes toward Germans)
Reaction… What inaccurate portrayals of race, gender,
religion, etc. are on TV or in movies? What effect do such portrayals have on
people? What unrealistic ‘living situations,’
‘relationships,’ ‘relationships’ are there on TV or in movies?
What effect do such portrayals have on people?
The Payne Fund Studies (1929-1932)
Another Phase: Behavioral Effects of Motion Pictures (Blumer) Used questionnaires and interviews. Asked respondents to recall instances
when they were affected by media. What are some strengths and
weaknesses of this technique? How have you been affected by media?
The Payne Fund Studies (1929-1932)
Huge role in development of the study of media effects.
Helped establish legacy of fear, or belief that media is powerful and dangerous and might pervert and upset proper social order.
Does this still exist today?
Laswell’s Model of Mass Communication
Who Says What In Which Channel To Whom With What Effect
Effects Theories
Walter Lippmann: Public Opinion (1922)
We see the world as "pictures in our heads"
Media shape perception of things we have not experienced personally
Powerful Effects Theory
Media have immediate, direct influence
Assumes people are passive and absorb media content uncritically & unconditionally
“Hypodermic Needle” model
“Magic Bullet” model
Minimalist Effects
Paul Lazarsfeld Erie County study (1940)
Mass media had hardly any direct effect
Personal contact more important than media contact
Media effects mostly indirect
Two-step Flow model
Media affect individuals through opinion leaders
Opinion leaders are those who influence others Clergy, teachers, neighborhood
leaders, etc.
Diffusion of Innovations
Everett Rogers—the main developer Adapted ideas from Gabriel Tarde
and from the Hybrid Seed Corn Study (Ryan & Gross)
This theory has been used and studied across many fields: Rural sociology, Medical sociology, Anthropology, Economics, Marketing
Innovation Innovation = An idea, practice, or object
perceived as new by an individual or other unit of adoption
The Diffusion of Innovations Theory attempts to predict adoption of innovations. . . Typically, the adoption follows a standard pattern:
The Classic S-Shaped Adoption Curve
The corresponding Classic Bell-Shaped Adopters Curve
The corresponding Classic Bell-Shaped Adopters Curve
Many studies have looked at how these groups differ:
Innovators are highly cosmopolite and open to new things.
Early adopters tend to be opinion leaders.
Early majority provide “legitimization” of the innovation.
Late majority are skeptical.
Laggards put trust in the status quo.
Individual Differences and Adoption Rogers originally identified key social
indicators (demographics) as related to innovativeness: SES (socio-economic status) Education
Atkin, Neuendorf, & Jeffres (1998; 2003), studying adoption of audio information services and digital TV, identified a trend: Attitudinal and communication variables
more important than demographics
Individual Differences and Adoption Blake et al. (2004 – 2009) identified
national or cultural differences in factors that seem to affect adoption of online shopping; e.g.: In Poland, “perceived newness” is a
positive factor In Greece, online shopping is seen
as highly compatible with past practices (catalog shopping)
The Role of Opinion Leaders
Opinion Leadership was first identified by Lazarsfeld, Berelson, and Gaudet in their 1944 book The People’s Choice
Reported on first (1940) in a series of studies of voters in Erie County, Ohio Unexpectedly found a Two-Step Flow of
communication about the presidential race. . . Mass Media Opinion Leaders Opinion
Followers A combination of media and interpersonal
channels resulted in information and influence re the election
Status Conferral Media coverage can create
prominence for issues & people
Agenda Setting Maxwell McCombs & Don Shaw
Media tell people what to think about – but not what to think
Media can:
Create awareness
Establish priorities
Perpetuate issues
Narcoticizing dysfunction
Media do not energize people into taking action
Media lull people into passivity by overwhelming them with information
People deceive selves into believing they’re involved when they’re actually only informed
Cumulative Effects Theory Media influence is gradual over time
Effect is often powerful
Spiral of Silence (Noelle-Neumann) Vocal majority intimidates others
into silence
Focus on the audience
1940s challenge to audience passivity
Uses & Gratifications
People choose media that meet their needs & interests
Needs such as: Surveillance Diversion Socialization
Surveillance
Media provide info about what’s going on
Both news & entertainment
Diversion
Media as entertainment Stimulate Relax Release
Socialization
Mass media can help initiate people into society
And help them fit in
Demonstrate dominant behaviors and norms
“Observational learning”
Role modeling
Imitative behavior
Impact can be negative or
positive ("prosocial”)
Socialization via eavesdropping
Children learn about adult topics by seeing them depicted in media
Parasocial interaction False sense of participating in
dialogue Communication is actually one-
way
Consistency theory Individuals exercise control over
media’s effects on them People choose media & messages
consistent with their existing views & values
Selective: Exposure Perception Retention & Recall
Selective Exposure
People choose some media messages over others
People ignore messages that contradict their beliefs
Selective Perception
People tend to hear what they want or expect to hear
Selective retention & recall
People retain & recollect some media messages and not others
Bottom line:
Individuals have a large degree of control over how the mass media affect them … but
Propaganda Model – do recipients know when they’re exposed?
‘let the buyer beware’ – but…
War of the Worlds
• Why did – OR ‘did’ the Orson Welles broadcast have such a powerful effect on its audience?
• War of the World’s, 1938 Mercury Radio Theatre Radio Drama on CBS, Mars invasion, panic
• Newspapers’ role in ‘myth’
The War of the Worlds Broadcast, 1938 Halloween eve—CBS radio show
Mercury Theater on the Air (narrated by Orson Welles) broadcast an adaptation of H. G. Wells’ novel War of the Worlds.
Around 6 million heard the broadcast.
More than 1 million were frightened or disturbed.
Orson Welles on the air
Aftermath
The War of the Worlds Broadcast
Aftermath studied by sociologist Hadley Cantril.
Why did it frighten some and not others? 1) Characteristics of the Broadcast
Highly realistic Dramatic excellence
2) Characteristics of Affected Listeners Naive, rural, low SES country Had faith in broadcasting
3) Situational Variables (maximized influence) Tuning in late Poor reception from competing stations
The War of the Worlds Broadcast
BUT... Research company that night counted 2%
audience Many in later years said they heard it that
night, but is that true The War of the Worlds ‘effect’ may be a very
different kind of study about society than about media effects
Determining Causality
Correlation means that 2 or more variables coexist
Causality means that one variable causes another
Beware of bad science (studies purporting causality)
X causes Y
Anecdotal evidence ‘measure whether 55 mph gives better MPG than
75 mph’ Measure how? Variables? Measure effects of violence on kids Measure how? Variables?
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