1. Concern With Media Effects
Early Media Theories
Concern With Media Effects

2. Early Media Theories
Early theories were primarily based on the interest to find the effects of mass communication on society and individuals
They were based on te assumption that mass media have an enormous and direct influence upon society
But later researches questioned this premise

3. Early Media Theories
Later researches went against any direct cause and effect relationship between mass communication and society
The Psychological Theories focused on the importance of individual differences, personal influences on the transmission, acceptance and retention of messages
While sociological theories looked at mass media as an outcome of changes in society

4. Early Media Theories
Normative Theories showed how media ought or expected to behave under prevailing political and economic
Most theories tried to give insights into the role of mass media in society and the way in which audience utilize different mass media

5. Early Media Theories Hypodermic or Bullet theory:
This theory reflect the awe and fear of mass media being used for massive propaganda during the World War II
Media was seen as being able to manipulate it audiences at will
Media were seen to be like bullets shot at defenseless and passive receivers

6. Early Media Theories
Audiences were seen as passive recipients of media messages
Media were seen as extremely powerful institutions and media consumers were naïve and malleable
It saw audiences as an enormous undifferentiated mass of humanity
And each member of the audience would respond identically to mass mediated messages

7. Early Media Theories
Later researches did not support such a view of audiences

8. Early Media Theories Psychological Theories were greatly influenced by
The premise that consistency underlies all of science
The concept of consistency in human behavior is an extension from the physical world to the area of human behavior
Theorist believed humans strive for consistency

9. Early Media Theories
Consistency between attitudes, between behaviors and between attitudes and behaviors in our perception of the world
We try to organize the world in ways that are meaningful and sensible to us
When consistency is not achieved we try to rationalize
Explain irrational behavior in a rational consistent ways

10. Early Media Theories
Rationalization emphasizes our desire to appear rational or consistent to ourselves
And often employ means which appear irrational or inconsistent to others
Mass communication is often concerned with how individuals deal with discrepant or inconsistent information used to bring about attitude change

11. Early Media Theories
Psychological theorist presume this to be one of the ways by which discomfort or psychological pressure of inconsistency can be reduced or eliminated
Heider’s Balance Theory
Newcomb’s Symmetry Theory
Osgood's Congruity Theory
Festinger’s Theory of Cognitive Dissonance

12. Early Media Theories
Unbalanced state produce tension and generate forces to restore balance
Dissonance is a psychologically uncomfortable state
We attempt to influence one another to bring about symmetry (balance/equilibrium)
When change occurs it is always towards congruity

13. Early Media Theories
The focus of all these theory is on restoring equilibrium, balance and congruity
Even change is explained in terms of restoration of equilibrium, balance and congruity
We can see this understanding in the Psychological theories

14. Early Media Theories
Psychological theories or Individual Difference Theory:
Focused on different personality variables that resulted in different reactions to the same stimuli
Reactions to different media content differ according to motivation of audience members, their predispositions to accept or reject media messages

15. Early Media Theories
Factors such as intelligence, beliefs, opinions, values, needs, moods, prejudices and perceptibility
All contributed to the way individuals responded to media messages
As a result selective exposure and selective perception limit the scope of direct impact of media messages

16. Early Media Theories Selective Exposure:
People tend to expose themselves to messages selectively
And general expose themselves to messages that are in accordance with their established convictions
And avoid those that question or challenge their beliefs

17. Early Media Theories
If by chance they are exposed to contrary opinions they selectively invest these hostile arguments with acceptable meanings
Thus narrowing the gap between what they already believe and what they are invited to believe

18. Early Media Theories Selective Perception:
Individuals tend to ‘read into’ the message whatever suits their needs
So individuals attend to, interpret and retain messages that are related to their interests, consistent with their attitudes, congruent with their beliefs and supportive of their values

19. Early Media Theories
Similarly Selective retention was also used erase tension creating aspects of any story
These theories remained inconclusive

20. Early Media Theories Personal Influence Theories:
Lazarsfeld 1940 ‘People’s Choice’, revealed people are not directly influenced by mass media in making political choices, other people, particularly political ‘opinion leaders’, had a greater influence on people’s decision making than mass media

21. Early Media Theories
Informal communication networks, and people talking to each other was seen to play a significant role
From this emerged the Two-Step Flow theory of communication
Opinion leaders who had first hand access to mass media information passed it down thus providing an important link in a two step flow of information

22. Early Media Theories
Opinion leaders were more knowledgeable, educated, influential both socially and economically and more modern in their outlook
They were held in high esteem, and people relied on them for ideas and guidance

23. Early Media Theories Multi-Step flow:
Further studies led to the modification and re-conceptualization of the two-step flow theory
Because of the multi-directional influence of opinion leaders

24. Early Media Theories
Both the two-step theory and the multi step theory discredited the belief of the direct influence of the mass
Influence of the media was mediated by:
Extraneous, and interpersonal channels and social relations of audiences
Which were often complex multi-directional and multi dimensional proved more important

25. Early Media Theories Sociological Theories of Mass Communication:
Are based on the assumption that there is a definite relationship between mass media and social change
What do mass media do for society?
What is the relationship of mass media with society?
Are mass media an outcome of changes in society?
Or are they simply a response to certain demands?
Are media merely reflectors or are they molders of society?

26. Early Media Theories
Do mass media cultivate common beliefs about the world?
Does the mass media set agendas for people?
How do people use the media and why?
Do media have control over audiences?

27. Early Media Theories
Cultivation Theory: Developed by George Gerbner 1967
Assumed that mass media had subtle influence on audiences
Who in turn unknowingly absorb the dominant symbols, images, and messages of the media
This results in the cultivation of a ‘dominant image pattern’

28. Early Media Theories
Media provide a set of cultural indicators that have reliability and authority analogous to economic and social indicators for policy makers

29. Early Media Theories
Long persistent exposure to TV is capable of cultivating common beliefs about the world
Message of TV do not portray reality in society
Repeated exposure to such distortion leads to a particular view of the world which gets reinforced once they are developed

30. Early Media Theories
Gerbner also strongly suggests that the powerful effect of mass media act cumulatively as molders of society

31. Early Media Theories
Agenda Setting Theory: Maxwell McComb and Donald Shaw 1967
Agenda setting theory maintains that the media sets an agenda for people
Telling people ‘what to think about’ rather tan telling them ‘what to think’

32. Early Media Theories
This was based on research showing correspondence between the order media gives to issues and the order of significance attached to issues by the audience
Priorities accorded to by media become public priorities

33. Early Media Theories
However many media thinkers felt the evidence was insufficient to show such a causal connection

34. Early Media Theories
Uses and Gratification Theory: (I. Katze et al 1959)
This approach assumes audiences are active and willingly expose themselves to media
Even the most potent media content cannot influence an individual who has no ‘use’ for it in the environment in which he or she lives

35. Early Media Theories
The uses of the mass media are dependent on the perception, selectivity and previously held beliefs, values and interest of the people

36. Early Media Theories There is an underlying idea of function:
For what purpose do people use the media?
Study of soaps Bereleson (1948) revealed
People use it for emotional release
Some treat media as a school of life

37. Early Media Theories
Gratification refers to the rewards or satisfaction people derive after media use
According to this theory communication effects can be more meaningfully explained in terms of enabling people to have a more meaningful relations between themselves and the world around them

38. Early Media Theories
Albert Banduras Social Learning theory is based on the concept of reinforcement
Individual is seen as making choices about behavior and seeks reinforcement from the environment
This is also called the ‘Modeling theory’ because it presumes that people adopt certain behavior by watching other people

39. Early Media Theories
By watching other people’s behavior and its consequences
If the consequence is positive then there is a positive reinforcement of that behavior and the viewer will tend copy/use it as a model for his or her own behavior

40. Early Media Theories So people set goals that give positive rewards
Adopt behavior which has the potential to achieve those goals
People interpret behavior and its consequences in terms of reward and punishment
Choices are made by perceived success or failure of the past as well as by anticipated consequences

41. Early Media Theories
Dependency Theory: Melvin De Fluer and Sandra Ball Rokeach
Proposed an integrated theory of mass communication recognizing both psychological and sociological factors that prevent the media from exercising arbitrary control on its audiences

42. Early Media Theories
Mass media not only lack arbitrary influence powers but lack the personal freedom to engage in arbitrary communication behavior
Both the media and its audiences are integral part of society
Surrounding socio-cultural contexts provide controls and constraints

43. Early Media Theories
This control is evident not only on media messages but also effects on audiences
Communication has an important role in holding society together
However:
The need to belong to the society
To understand the society and to keep up with society has increased the dependency on the media