Michigan Sate University COM 275-Chapter 3

Carl Hovland

-effects of military training films --he created films to convince men to go to war during WW2 and he found it was a lot harder to affect the public then he thought it would be --maybe these communication models arn't as effective as we previously thought -experimental research about media effects on attitude change -first experiments in mass communication

Harold Lasswell Textbook

1. His five-question model of communication led to the emphasis in communi- cation study on determining effects. Lasswell's contemporary, Paul F. Lazars- feld, did even more to crystallize this focus on communication effects. 2. He pioneered in content analysis methods, virtually inventing the meth- odology of qualitative and quantitative measurement of communication messages (propaganda messages and newspaper editorials, for example). 3. His study of political and wartime propaganda represented an important early type of communication study. The word propaganda later gained a negative connotation and is not used much today, although there is even more political propaganda. Propaganda analysis has been absorbed into the general body of communication research. 4. He introduced Freudian psychoanalytic theory to the social sciences in America. Lasswell integrated Freudian theory with political analysis, as in his psychoanalytic study of political leaders. He applied Freud's id-ego- superego via content analysis to political science problems. In essence, he utilized intra-individual Freudian theory at the societal level. 5. He helped create the policy sciences, an interdisciplinary movement to integrate social science knowledge with public action. The social sci- ences, however, generally resisted this attempt at integration and appli- cation to public policy problems (pp. 232-233).

Klapper's Generalizations

1. Mass communication ordinarily does not serve as a necessary and sufficient cause of audience effects but functions through a nexus of mediating factors and influences 2. Mediating factors render mass communication a contributory agent but not a sole cause 3. When mass communication functions in service of change, (a) mediating factors are inoperative and media will be direct; (b) mediating factors will be impelling toward change 4. Certain residual situations seem to produce direct effects 5. Efficacy of mass communication is affected by various aspects of the media and communication themselves

Lazarsfeld's Two-Step Flow Theory

1940, says people's (opinion followers) voting behavior was limited by opinion leaders Media Message-> Opinion Leaders-> Opinion Followers Just now stopped using it because social media shows more then two steps--networking

What was of the earliest (perhaps the first) studies of the effects of consumption of media violence on behavior?

A doctoral dissertation by Frances Fenton Fenton pointed out that the popular notion that newspaper accounts of antisocial activities had suggestive powers on readers was well established prior to her thesis Fenton argued "on the basis of the psychology of suggestion" that a direct causal relationship could be assumed between reading newspaper articles on crime and on antisocial activities and subsequent criminal or antisocial acts. In her dissertation, she identified numerous cases in which individuals were known to have committed copycat-type crimes or other antisocial acts after getting ideas from a newspaper article. Due to lack of available space, the journal articles included only summary headings to describe the nature of the cases, but these headings were said to represent She also measured the amount of such material appearing in several large- circulation newspapers of the "yellow" variety, although she emphasized that

Effects of Varing Levels

Attention is selective Social categories perspective Strong or weak effect may occur under different context

Bernard Berelson textbook

Berelson was perhaps the first researcher to attempt to make umbrella generalizations about mass communication effects when he suggested the following formulation for research. His concern was for the influence of communication effects on public opinion, rather than media effects overall, yet his formulation could be applied to other research in media effects

dependent variable

DI - the effect

Effects Debates

Debat on power and limits of effects remains Knowledge in the field continues to advance -Behavioral Effects -Cognitive Effects -Emotional Effects Individual differences and environments are important moderators of media effects

Bernard Berelson

Five variables in generalization There is evidence that: - Some communication - On some issues - On some people - Under some conditions - Have some effects In order to make these generalized statements you have to be able to identify under what conditions these effects would be true

Kurt Lewin Textbook

He instituted pioneering studies in the dynamics of group communication experiments to explore the differences in persuasive power on audiences in different group conditions. In the best known of these experiments, "the sweetbreads study," groups of housewives reluctant to serve glandular meats to their families learned about the benefits of beef hearts, thymus (sweetbreads), liver, and kidneys by either attending a lecture or a dis- cussion group. The discussion group situation proved far more effective in changing the behavior of the housewives (making them more likely to serve glandular meats to their families).

independent variable

IV - the cause

Future of effects research challenges

Identify circumstances, conditions, or variables that: - Account for media effects - Offer generalizations

Lewin Sweetbreads Study

In the 1950s, nutritionists were convinced that Americans weren't getting enough iron in their diet. Lewin tried to communicate to nutrition household opinion leaders (mostly moms) that their families should eat more sweetbreads to get more iron. Could convince mothers to serve things like liver to their families because it was named "sweetbreads" and had a different look

Two articles in the American Journal of Sociology in the late 19th century illustrate early differing views on the power mediated communications exerted on audiences.

Jenks (1895) doubted the influence of newspapers of the period on the formation of public opinion, and he pro- posed that the individual differences of audience members modified the influen- tial power of communications: Yarros took the opposite view by emphasizing the power of the newspaper as an organ of public opinion; however, he bemoaned the "mendacity, sensational- ism, and recklessness" (1899, p. 374) that characterized most of the newspapers of his day. He also regretted that so many editors of the day were so incompetent yet wielded so much power over an unsuspecting public The debate about the power of newspapers to either direct or reflect public opinion, which is the forerunner of the mirror/lamp metaphor of the popular culture debate of the 1950s, as well as an antecedent of the modern-day argument for and against the agenda-setting hypothesis, continues to this day.

Early scientists assumed powerful effects. What is an example of this?

Magic Bullet aka Hypodermic Needle Mass Society allowed strong media influence Early books advocate powerful effects ex: Public Opinion (1922)

Frances Fenton

Media & copycat crimes

Joseph Klapper

Media effects generalization Ordinarily, media are not a necessary or sufficient cause of change Typically mediating factors result in media being an agent od reinforcement than change When media do cause change two things are likely: -Mediating factors are inoperative allow a direct mass media effect -Mediating factors themselves can sometimes impel change--ex: US low point 9/11 attacks Media effects do occur in certin residal situation

example of mediating variable

People with high incomes tend to have better medical care than those with low incomes. Medical care is an intervening variable. It mediates the relation between income and longevity. Exposure to TV Violence--Perceptions of Increased Crime--Protective Behavior

example of moderating variable

Perceptions of Inceased Crime--Protective Behavior Effected by Age --make you think nothing can happen to you, makes you feel like you are very likely to be affected by crime

Limited Media Effects

Scientists start to study this more methodically and focus shifts to indviduals post depression Interactivity in groups limited impact of media Some studies failed-Cal Hovland US War Department

Albert Bandora

Social learning theory--burning urself on stove/know not to do it--watching brother burn finger on stove Social cognitive theory--now called this Bobo Doll Studies

Paul Lazarsfeld's two-step flow theory

Step 1: news goes from mass media to opinion leaders, step 2: rest of us look to these opinion leaders and want to influence us → we aren't directly influenced by the media but we are by opinion leaders

Samuel Stouffer Textbook

Stouffer pioneered the use of empirical research, especially survey research, for social enquiries, and the use of precise statistical methods. He directed research for the Division of Information and Education of the United States Army during World War II. Stouffer conducted several studies of communications media, but these studies deal more with the effectiveness of media and often are not labeled as effects studies. A Sociologist Takes a Look at Communications Research," Stouffer applauded the careful methods of the investigation by Peterson and Thurstone (1933), one of the famous Payne Fund studies that examined the effects of movies on children. Stouffer emphasized the importance of controlling for variables such as educational status, age, or other differences among audiences that could account for differences between the groups tested—variables that might make a difference in media effects. When the researcher does not control for confounding variables, he warned, "we can only hope and pray that we are controlling all the factors which would tend to differentiate" (p. 139) the control and experimental groups. Finally, Stouffer's empirical expertise and prescience allowed him to identify problems in 1942 that continue to plague communication researchers in the 21st century—namely, the accurate measure of cumulative effects of mass media communications:

Precursors of Scientific Media Effects Reasearch

Study of Newspaper-reflect or directed public opinion Study of Humor Effects of Music-attention, physiology, enjoyment

Harold Lasswell Three functions mass communication should serve in society society

Surveillance of the environment--to inform Correlate societies response to events in the environment--to guide Transmission of cultrual heritage--to educate

limited effects model

The idea that audiences are obstinate, active processors who are capable of defending themselves against media influence. Joseph Klapper's The Effects of Mass Communication

During World War I, social scientists were concerned about propaganda spread by the military and, after the war, by corporations this resulted in what?

The immense power of media messages on unsuspecting audiences was described in colorful ways: Mass media supposedly fired messages like dangerous bullets, or shot messages like strong drugs pushed through hypodermic needles. These descriptions gave rise to the "bullet" or "hypodermic-needle" theory of powerful media effect The hypodermic-needle theory remained dominant until after the Depression, when empirical studies began to indicate that effects from mass media were not as powerful as originally thought.

Paul Lazarsfeld Text Book

They pioneered research in the effects of radio and introduced the notion that interpersonal communication was an important moderating factor in certain mass media effects. In the 1940s he and his colleagues examined the influences of mass media on public opinion during a presidential campaign. They found that most people were influenced primarily through interpersonal contacts rather than by what they read in newspapers and magazines or heard on the radio, although those media were found to have some influence in and of themselves.7 Particular individuals whom the researchers called "opinion leaders," who were often heavy users of mass media, were found to pass along information to others in the community who looked to them for guidance. This finding led to the establishment of a two-step flow model of mass communication, in which media effects were perceived as being modified by interpersonal communication about those media messages.

Carl Hovland

They studied the effects of training films on the attitudes of American soldiers during World War II (Hovland, Lumsdaine, & Sheffield, 1949), and later directed experimental research that explored media effects on attitude change.6 The tight design of the experiments conducted by Hovland became the model for much future research in media effects.

Douglas Waples Textbook

Waples, Bernard Berelson, and Franklyn Bradshaw published their work on the effects of print media, What Reading Does to People. The work revealed much about print media effects on attitude change. Waples offered the earliest published version of the most famous statement about the process of communication in the history of effects research, and he added an important phrase that the later versions neglected. "Who says what in which channel to whom with what effect?" The identity of the speaker is less important than the substance of the Waples quote; namely, the inclusion of the "under what conditions" phrase. T

Harold Lasswell

Who says what in which channel to whom with what effect? Five-question model Content analysis Propganda Three functions mass communication should serve in society society

Douglas Waples

Wrote a popular definition of communication Added to Lasswells study the thought process of "under what conditions"

mediating variable

a variable that helps explain the relationship between two other variables intervening helps explain phenomena we observe IV--MEDV--DV

Wilbur Schramm Textbook

did not specialize exclusively in media effects (one of his principal areas of interest was in international communication and the role of mass communication in developing third-world nations), Schramm initiated the first PhD program in mass communication in 1943, when he served as director of the journalism school at the University of Iowa. Three years later, he had founded the Bureau of Audience Research at Iowa, one of several communication research institutes that sprang to life during the 1940s and 1950s. These institutes were patterned somewhat after Lazarsfeld's Bureau of Applied Social Research at Columbia.

Kurt Lewin

dynamics of group communication, Sweetbreads study

Paul Lazarsfeld

found voters are more influenced by other people than by mass media Effects of radio Opinion Leaders --Two step flow model of media effect

Wilbur Schramm

mediating factors (what comes between content and audience effect) Selective Process--selective exposure, selective perception, and selective retention Social categories perspective--similar populations have similar reactions, moderate to powerful media effects as possible The group you're from might moderate the effect a message might have on you If we don't perceive things the same way, we don't remember things that don't matter to us, how can all have

Samuel Stouffer

pioneered empirical research and statistical methods for media research Emphasized control for audience traits Noted problems for measuring cumulative effects

Joseph Klapper Textbook

pper offered several overarching generalizations "in their bare bones" (p. 7) about the effects of mass media messages. Unfortunately, through the course of history, the ideas in Klapper's book have been greatly reduced to a "limited effects" notion that encouraged a "phenomenistic approach" that would identify moderating factors involved in effects, even though Klapper warned repeatedly about the grave danger in "the tendency to go overboard in blindly minimizing the effects and potentialities of mass communications" (p. 252). Klapper's generalizations have usually been overlooked or quoted only in partial form.

Albert Bandura

social learning theory and, later, social cognitive theory—opened up alternative lines of inquiry for communication researchers.12 Rather than focus primarily on mass communication's effects upon attitude change, scholars in the 1970s and beyond began for the most part to examine more complex behavioral responses, changes in cognitive patterns, and media effects on learning and knowledge

moderating variable

variable that changes the nature of the relationship between two other variables regulates the phenomena control when or the extent to which it occurs