PIONEERS IN MEDIA EFFECTS RESEARCH

Presented By: M.Sher Juni

Roll No:BG833400
Program: Ph.D Mass Communication
Course: Approaches to Mass Communication: Media Effects
Theories and Studies (Part.1I)

Code No:6766
 Contents

Carl Hovland
Paul Lazarsfeld
Harold Lasswell
Kurt Lewin
Samuel Stouffer
Douglas Waples
Wilber Schramm
Bernard Berelson
Joseph Klapper
 Introduction
Industrialization,urbanization,Mass media
Mass circulated Newspapers, Motion picture and
Radio
The media has powerful and deep rooted influence
on the lives of the people as it has power and
proficiency to effect and construct public attitude,
refine their thoughts and actions (McQuail, 2005).
 Walter Lipmann; Public Opinion (1922)
Picture in our heads
Media Create the pseudo reality and public react to
it
Lasswells Propaganda Techniques (1927)
This qualitative work analyzed the content of
propaganda messages of world war I
Identifying various propaganda techniques
Continue.........
Payne Fund Studies (1929-32)
Blumer: how film influence the children every day behavior,
dressing, interaction, ideas about romance and their plans.
Findings indicated powerful effects on children
Peterson: Sun of God and Birth of Nation ( Indicated
Powerful effects)
Dysinger : Conducted studies on emotional responses of
children to movies and concluded that younger treated the
films as fancily but children take it real
Payne fund studies proved that children were deeply
influenced by mass media contents
Continue.................
Institute for Propaganda Analysis (1937):
This research institute was formed in response to public
fear regarding the persuasive power of propaganda via
mass media
Studies were conducted in an effort to understand the
effects of propaganda
Cantril Study 1939:
Media has powerful effect on public or not?
Effects were not equal
Tradition changed and notion of MBT rejected
 Carl Hovlands (1942-45):
Conducted persuasion research for the Research branch of US army
They found that the films did not increase soldiers motivation
Mr.Biggot Study 1947:
Examined the effects of cartoons that poked fun at prejudice
Rather than changing any attitude
The peoples Choice 1948:
Lazarsfeld, Berelson and Gaudet studied voting decisions among voters in Erie
county Ohio
Found that interpersonal contacts were more powerful than mass media in
influencing the voting choice and decisions
Mass media messages reached influential citizens called opinion leaders
This process was labeled the Two Step Flow of communication
Continue............
Voting 1954:
Berelson, Lazarsfeld and Mcphee conducted panel surveys
among voters in Elmira, New York during 1948 campaign
Found that mass media influence played a small part in
affecting the voting decision
Personal influence was found to be most important factor
determining a persons voting decision
Klappers, s effects of Mass Communication 1960:
This classic work surveyed several hundred media effects and
concluded that the effects of mass communication were limited
 McLuhans Understanding Media 1964:
Media effects did not result from media content but from the form of
medium itself
The effects occurred at a very base level, altering pattern of perception and
thought
Tichenor, Donohue and Olien 1970:
These researchers posited the Knowledge Gap Hypothesis
Which states that as the infusion of mass media information into a social
system increases, segments of population with higher socioeconomic status
tend to acquire this information at a faster rate than the lower status
segments
So that the gap in knowledge between these segments tends to increase
rather than decrease (Tichenor, Donohue and Olien, 1970 pp 159-160).
Continue.........
Mccombs and Show 1972:
These researchers concluded that first study of the
agenda setting hypothesis which posits that news
media coverage of particular issues influence their
audiences views about what issues are important
Continue.....
Spiral of Silence; Noelle Neumann 1973:
Suggest that people become reluctant to speak an opinion that is
counter to the majority opinion in the society
Mass media are instrumental in shaping impressions about public
opinion that are dominant or becoming dominant
Ball Rokeach and DeFleur Dependency Theory 1976:
This theory stresses a relationship between social system and
audience.
It states that the degree to which audience depend upon mass media
information varies based on individual differences
The amount of disorder or conflict present in society and the number
and centrality function that they serve
 Kurt Lewin
(September 9, 1890 February 12, 1947)

Kurt Lewin was a German-American psychologist, known as

one of the modern pioneers of social, organizational,
and applied psychology in the United States
Did pioneering studies in the dynamics of group
communication
He conducted a famous group of communication
experiments to explore the differences in persuasive power
on audience in different group conditions
Whenever an individuals attitudes and actions are in conflict
,the person will adjust cognition in an attempt to resolve the
conflict
 Samuel Stouffer
(June 6, 1900 August 24, 1960)

Samuel Andrew Stouffer was a prominent

American sociologist and developer of survey research
techniques.
Stouffer spent much of his career attempting to answer the
fundamental question, How does one measure can
attitude?
Emphasized on the importance of controlling for variables
such as educational status or other differences among
audience that could count for differences between the
groups tested. The variable that might mediate media
effects.
 Douglas Waples
(March 3, 1893April 25, 1978)

Douglas Waples was a pioneer of the University of Chicago

Graduate Library School in the areas of print communication
and reading behavior
Waples authored one of the first books on library research
methodology, a work directed at students supervised through
correspondence courses.
Wapless scholarly research into the social effects of reading
as the foundation for the approaches to the study of
knowledge known as social epistemology.
In 1999,American Libraries named him one of the "100
Most Important Leaders We Had in the 20th Century".
 Bernard Berelson
(19121979)

Bernard Reuben Berelson was an American behavioral scientist, known for

his work on communication and mass media
Work
What Reading Does to People? A Summary of Evidence on the Social
Effects of Reading and a Statement of Problems for Research. (1940),
with Douglas Waples and Franklyn R. Bradshaw
The People's Choice (1944) with Paul F. Lazarsfeld and Hazel Gaudet
Reader in Public Opinion and Communication (1950) with Morris
Janowitz
Content Analysis in Communication Research (1952) first textbook on
content analysis
Voting: a study of opinion formation in a presidential campaign with Paul
F. Lazarsfeld and William N. McPhee
 The Behavioral Sciences Today (1963)
Human Behavior: An Inventory of Scientific
Findings (1964) with Gary Steiner
Geneva, 1965. Family planning and population
programs. A review of world developments
National Programmes in Family Planning.
Achievements and Problems. (1969) editor
Graduate Education in the United States
"The Great Debate on Cultural Democracy"
Conclusion.
Thanks