"I hate television. I hate it almost as much as peanuts. But i can't stop eating peanuts." - Orson Wells.
Communication Theories & Models
Are violent video games changing the way children behave?
Can the media be used to set a national agenda? To change people's minds?
Is social media consuming our lives to the point we can relate to each other like we used to?
The Media industry is large, and certainly powerful. Now more than ever, we need to be media literate. We need to understand and speak the language of media. We especially need to understand the theories and possible effects on audiences that consume the media. Over the years there have been many theorists who have attempted to gauge the nature and extent of influence the media may or may not have.
Let's have a look at some communication theories that attempt to explain the nature and extent of media influence:
Can the media be used to set a national agenda? To change people's minds?
Is social media consuming our lives to the point we can relate to each other like we used to?
The Media industry is large, and certainly powerful. Now more than ever, we need to be media literate. We need to understand and speak the language of media. We especially need to understand the theories and possible effects on audiences that consume the media. Over the years there have been many theorists who have attempted to gauge the nature and extent of influence the media may or may not have.
- The Nature of media influence refers to how media influences people; the ways in which media influence manifests eg. copycat behaviour, emotional trauma etc.
- The Extent of media influence refers to how much/the level of influence that is evident eg. media can inspire violent thoughts or violent acts.
Let's have a look at some communication theories that attempt to explain the nature and extent of media influence:
Cultural Effects Theories
(what the media DOES TO audiences)
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Examples: War of the worlds, Nazi Propaganda
weaknesses: every single instance when we see or hear something in the media and are not influenced by it |
The Bullet/Hypodermic TheoryThe "Magic Bullet" or "Hypodermic Needle Theory" of direct influence effects was based on early observations of the effect of mass media, as used by Nazi propaganda and the effects of Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s. People were assumed to be "uniformly controlled by their biologically based 'instincts' and that they react more or less uniformly to whatever 'stimuli' came along". The "Magic Bullet" theory graphically assumes that the media's message is a bullet fired from the "media gun" into the viewer's "head".Similarly, the "Hypodermic Needle Model" uses the same idea of the "shooting" paradigm. It suggests that the media injects its messages straight into the passive audience. This passive audience is immediately affected by these messages. The public essentially cannot escape from the media's influence, and is therefore considered a "sitting duck". Both models suggest that the public is vulnerable to the messages shot at them because of the limited communication tools and the studies of the media's effects on the masses at the time. It means the media explores information in such a way that it injects in the mind of audiences as bullets.
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Examples: Fox news (Rupert Murdoch) and their pro war stance. The ABC's left leaning bias. Newscorp (Rupert again!) and their right leaning bias
weaknesses: audiences are very knowledgable and are aware of media bias. Audiences are also bombarded with so many media outlets that one opinion could not possibly dominate. |
Agenda Setting/Function theoryAgenda-setting theory (McCombes and Shaw - 1972) describes the "ability [of the news media] to influence the salience of topics on the public agenda." That is, if a news item is covered frequently and prominently, the audience will regard the issue as more important. Agenda-setting theory was formally developed by Max McCombs and Donald Shaw in a study on the 1968 American presidential election. In the 1968 "Chapel Hill study," Combs and Shaw demonstrated a strong correlation coefficient between what 100 residents of Chapel Hill, North Carolina thought was the most important election issue and what the local and national news media reported was the most important issue. By comparing the salience of issues in news content with the public's perceptions of the most important election issue, McCombs and Shaw were able to determine the degree to which the media determines public opinion. Since the 1968 study, published in a 1972 edition of Public Opinion Quarterly, more than 400 studies have been published on the agenda-setting function of the mass media, and the theory continues to be regarded as relevant.
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Reception Theories
(what audiences DO TO the media)
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Examples: The Theory suggests that audiences are far more likely to be influenced by 'socialising agents' such as family, friends, schools, occupations and religion.
Weaknesses: if we get our opinions from family and friends... where do they get their opinions? |
Reinforcement TheoryReinforcement theory (Joseph Klapper - 1960s) is a limited effects media model applicable within the realm of communication. The theory generally states that people seek out and remember information that provides cognitive support for their pre-existing attitudes and beliefs. The main assumption that guides this theory is that people do not like to be wrong and often feel uncomfortable when their beliefs are challenged. The statistics on undecided voters indicate that most people have pre-existing beliefs when it comes to politics. Relatively few people remain undecided late into high-profile elections. For example, about a month prior to the 2008 U.S. presidential election, less than one-fifth of likely voters claimed to be undecided (Sidoti, 2008).
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Examples: Kony 2012, Celebrity endorsements of political leaders
Weaknesses: do we believe everything we hear from opinion leaders? what if they're being paid to say certain things? What if they are biased? what if we simply just dont agree? |
Two-Step Flow TheoryThe two-step model (developed by Paul S Lazarsfeld in the 1940s) says that most people are not directly influenced by mass media, but that they rather form their opinions based on opinion leaders who interpret media messages and put them into context. Opinion leaders are those initially exposed to a specific media content, and who interpret it based on their own opinion. They then begin to infiltrate these opinions through the general public who become "opinion followers". These "opinion leaders" gain their influence through more elite media as opposed to mainstream mass media. In this process, social influence is created and adjusted by the ideals and opinions of each specific "elite media" group, and by these media group's opposing ideals and opinions and in combination with popular mass media sources. Therefore, the leading influence in these opinions is primarily a social persuasion.
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Examples: addictions to social media. Video games being used for therapy. people go the movies with frineds and family
weaknesses: events in history like War of the Worlds and nazi propaganda where the media was used to manipulate. also, the fact that we dont always get to choose what we consume |
Uses and Gratification Theory Uses and gratifications theory (Harlod Lasswell - 1940s) is an approach to understanding why and how people actively seek out specific media to satisfy specific needs. UGT is an audience-centered approach to understanding mass communication. It was developed in the 1940s as a means to debunk the Hyperdermic Needle Theory. Diverging from other media effect theories that question "what does media do to people?", UGT focuses on "what do people do with media?" This communication theory is positivistic in its approach, based in the socio-psychological communication tradition, and focuses on communication at the mass media scale. The driving question of UGT is: Why do people use media and what do they use them for? UGT discusses how users deliberately choose media that will satisfy given needs. People use the media for:
1. diversion/entertainment - to distract from their lives/entertain 2. personal relationships - to share in a communal activity amongs others 3. personal identity - to enhance their own sense of self (eg: social media) 4. surveillence - to learn more about the world around them. |
Social Impact Theory - Bibb Latané (1981)
Social impact theory was created by psychologist Bibb Latané in 1981 long before social media. While Latané developed this theory to measure the influence of a individuals social network, it can be applied to the current social media landscape quite easily.
According to Bibb Latané, social impact is defined as any influence on individual feelings, thoughts or behaviour that is created from the real, implied or imagined presence or actions of others. Latané developed the social impact theory using three key variables:
According to Bibb Latané, social impact is defined as any influence on individual feelings, thoughts or behaviour that is created from the real, implied or imagined presence or actions of others. Latané developed the social impact theory using three key variables:
- Strength (S) is a net of all individual factors that make a person influential — size, intellect, wealth — as well as dynamic, situation-specific relational components like belonging to the same group.
- Immediacy (I) takes into account how recent the event occurred and how close the audience feels to the source
- The number of sources (N) refers to the amount of sources of influence.
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Let's use Kylie Jenner as an example. in 2018 after a Snapchat redesign, Kylie tweeted "sooo does anyone else not open Snapchat anymore? Or is it just me... ugh this is so sad." This tweet cause her millions of followers to boycott Snapchat including a Change.org petition amassing over 1.2 million signatures. This caused Snapchat's stock to drop 6% or 1.3 billion dollars!
So in this case Kylie's Strength is that she is the most powerful influencer alive. She is a reality TV star and social media icon She uses twitter and instagram which feels immediate to her followers. they can comment and like the things she says and she doesn't feel disconnected from their reality. And her number of sources? She has over 141 million followers on Instrgram. |
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