Influence of mass media


In media studies, mass communication, media psychology, communication theory, political communication and sociology, media influence and the 'media effect' are topics relating to mass media and media culture's effects on individuals' or audiences' thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors. Through written, televised, or spoken channels, mass media reach large audiences. Mass media's role in shaping modern culture is a central issue for the study of culture.
Media influence is the actual force exerted by a media message, resulting in either a change or reinforcement in audience or individual beliefs. Whether a media message has an effect on any of its audience members is contingent on many factors, including audience demographics and psychological characteristics. These effects can be positive or negative, abrupt or gradual, short-term or long-lasting. Not all effects result in change; some media messages reinforce an existing belief. Researchers examine an audience after media exposure for changes in cognition, belief systems, and attitudes, as well as emotional, physiological and behavioral effects.
The influences of mass media are observed in various aspects of human life, from voting behaviors to perceptions of violence, from evaluations of scientists to our understanding of others' opinions. The overall influence of mass media has changed drastically over the years, and will continue to do so as the media itself develops. In the new media environment, we have dual identities - consumers and creators. We not only obtain information through new media, but also disseminate information to wide audiences.
Further, the influence of the media on the psychosocial development of children is profound. Thus, it is important for physicians to discuss with parents their child's exposure to media and to provide guidance on age-appropriate use of any media, including television, radio, music, video games and the Internet.
There are several scholarly studies which addresses media and its effects. Bryant and Zillmann defined media effects as "the social, cultural, and psychological impact of communicating via the mass media". Perse stated that media effects researchers study "how to control, enhance, or mitigate the impact of the mass media on individuals and society". Lang stated media effects researchers study "what types of content, in what type of medium, affect which people, in what situations". McLuhan points out in his media ecology theory that "The medium is the message."

History

Media effects studies have undergone several phases, called media effects paradigms, often corresponding to the development of mass media technologies.

Power of media effects phase

During the early 20th century, developing mass media technologies, such as radio and film, were credited with an almost irresistible power to mold an audience's beliefs, cognition, and behaviors according to the communicators' will. The basic assumption of strong media effects theory was that audiences were passive and homogeneous. This assumption was not based on empirical evidence but instead on assumptions of human nature. There were two main explanations for this perception of mass media effects. First, mass broadcasting technologies were acquiring a widespread audience, even among average households. People were astonished by the speed of information dissemination, which may have clouded audience perception of any media effects. Secondly, propaganda techniques were implemented during war time by several governments as a powerful tool for uniting their people. This propaganda exemplified strong-effect communication. Early media effects research often focused on the power of this propaganda. Combing through the technological and social environment, early media effects theories stated that the mass media were all-powerful.
Representative theories:
  • Hypodermic needle model, or magic bullet theory: Considers the audience to be targets of an injection or bullet of information fired from the pistol of mass media. The audience are unable to avoid or resist the injection or bullets. "The effects of the magic bullet were direct, uniform, and powerful"

    Limited media effects phase

Starting in the 1930s, the second phase of media effects studies instituted the importance of empirical research while introducing the complex nature of media effects due to the idiosyncratic nature of individuals in an audience. The Payne Fund studies, conducted in the United States during this period, focused on the effect of media on young people. Many other separate studies focused on persuasion effects studies, or the possibilities and usage of planned persuasion in film and other media. Hovland et al. conducted a series of experimental studies to evaluate the effects of using films to indoctrinate American military recruits. Paul Lazarsfeld and his colleagues' studies of democratic election campaigns launched political campaign effect studies.
Researchers, including Lazarsfeld, uncovered mounting empirical evidence of the idiosyncratic nature of media effects on individuals and audiences, identifying numerous intervening variables such as demographic attributes, social psychological factors, political interest, and different media use behaviors. With these new variables added to research, it was difficult to isolate media influence that resulted in any media effects to an audience's cognition, attitude, and behavior. As Berelson summed up in a widely quoted conclusion: "Some kinds of communication on some kinds of issues have brought to the attention of some kinds of people under some kinds of conditions have some kinds of effect." Though the concept of an all-powerful mass media was diluted, this did not determine that the media lacked influence or effect. Instead, the pre-existing structure of social relationships and cultural contexts were believed to primarily shape or change people's opinions, attitudes, and behaviors, and media merely function within these established processes. This complexity had a dampening effect upon media effects studies.
Representative theories:
  • Two-step flow of communication: Discusses the indirect effects of media, stating that people are affected by media through the interpersonal influence of opinion leaders. Opinion leaders are more likely to pay attention to mass media messages and pass on the messages to others' in their social network.
  • Klapper's selective exposure theory: Joseph T. Klapper asserts in his book, The Effects Of Mass Communication, that audiences are not passive targets of any communication contents. Instead, audiences selectively choose content that is aligned with previously held convictions.

    Herman and Chomsky's filters

and Noam Chomsky state that there are five filters through which the US corporate news media operate:
  • Ownership: At the end of the day, mass media firms are big corporations trying to make profit so most of their articles are going to be whatever makes them the most money.
  • Advertising: Since mass media costs a lot more than what most consumers are willing to pay, media corporations are in a deficit. In order to fill this gap, advertisers are used. While the media is being sold to consumers, those consumers are, in effect, being "sold" to advertisers.
  • The Media Elite: By its nature, journalism cannot be completely regulated, so it allows corruption by governments, corporations, and large institutions that know how to "game the system".
  • Flak: It is difficult for a journalist to stray from the consensus because the journalist will get "flak". When a story does not align with the narrative of a power, the power will try discrediting sources, trashing stories, and trying to distract readers.
  • The Common Enemy: Creating a common enemy for audiences to rally against unifies public opinion.

    Rediscovered powerful media effects phase

Limited media effect theory was challenged by new evidence supporting the fact that mass media messages could indeed lead to measurable social effects. Lang and Lang argued that the widespread acceptance of limited media effect theory was unwarranted and that "the evidence available by the end of the 1950s, even when balanced against some of the negative findings, gives no justification for an overall verdict of 'media importance.'"
In the 1950s and 1960s, widespread use of television indicated its unprecedented power on social lives. Meanwhile, researchers also realized that early investigations, relying heavily on psychological models, were narrowly focused on only short-term and immediate effects. The "stimuli-reaction" model introduced the possibility of profound long-term media effects. A shift from short-term to long-term effect studies marked the renewal of media effects research. More attention was paid to collective cultural patterns, definitions of social reality, ideology, and institutional behavior. Though audiences were still considered in control of the selection of media messages they consumed, "the way media select, process and shape content for their own purposes can have a strong influence on how it is received and interpreted and thus on longer-term consequences".
In the early 1970s, additional theories reinforced the strong media effects paradigm, including Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, who introduced the Spiral of silence, and George Gerbner, who conducted a series of studies developing Cultivation theory.
Representative theories:
  • Agenda-setting theory: Describes how topic selection and the frequency of reporting by the mass media affects the perceived salience of specific topics within the public audience. In other words, the mass media tell the public what to think.
  • Framing: Identifies the media's ability to manipulate audience interpretation of a media message through careful control of angles, facts, opinions, and amount of coverage. The media tell audiences how to think.
  • Knowledge-gap theory: States the long-term influence of mass media on people's socioeconomic status with the hypothesis that "as the infusion of mass media information into a social system increases, higher socioeconomic status segments tend to acquire this information faster than lower socioeconomic status population segments causing the gap in knowledge between the two to increase rather than decrease".
  • Cultivation theory: As an audience engages with ubiquitous and consonant media messages, particularly on television, they infer the portrayed world upon the real world.
  • Spiral of silence: Individuals who perceive their opinion to be in the minority are less likely to speak out due to fear of social isolation, which in turn leads others who hold the same opinion to avoid speaking out.