Download Limited Effects Theory

Limited Effects Theory
of Mass Communication
Source:
Baran & Davis (2003). Mass communication
theory. Belmont CA: Thomson. Chapter 6.
: Longman.
Severin & Tankard (1997) . Mass communication
theories. Chapter 9. NY
Preview of the lesson
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Introduction
Paradigm shift
Paradigm shift in mass communication Theory
The two step flow of information & influence
Lazarsfeld Model
Limited effects theory
Attitude Change Theories
Hovland Model
Communication Research program
Selective processes
Hovland-Lazarsfeld Legacy
Introduction
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Effects of World War II saw the rise of the
other mass communication theories, in
particular the effects on the mass
communication.
The outcome of the theories of propaganda
gives rise to the other moderate view of the
‘power’ of mass media.
The media were no longer feared as
instruments of political oppression and
manipulation but instead view a force wich
has potential social good.
The media’s power over the public was seen
limited (defying the Magic Bullet Theory). So
limited that no government regulations were
deemed necessary to prevent media
manipulation.
The public was viewed as independent and
intelligent & could resistant persuasion &
extremist manipulation.
There was a belief that most people were
influenced by other factors rather than by the
media and that the role of opinion leaders
were responsible for guiding and stabilizing
politics.
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It was also believe that a very small minority
of people psychologically were vulnerable to
direct manipulation be the media.
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Media were conceptualized (viewed) as
relatively powerless in shaping public
opinion as compare to other influences like
‘individuals’ or ‘group memberships’.
How and why did such radical
transformation of thinking in media theory
takes place in a very short period of time?
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This change of thinking apparently was the
result of continuous research by Paul
Lazarsfeld (Prinston University & later moved
to Colombia University) who developed the
use of sophisticated surveys to measure
media influence on how people’s
thought and act.
These surveys provided convincing evidence
that media rarely are powerful and has
direct influence on individuals.
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The effects were limited in scope.
Media can only influence few people
in their thoughts and actions which
was referred to as limited effects
perspective.
That is the idea that the media have
limited effects on individuals
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Only a small minority of the people had
psychological traits that made them
vulnerable to direct manipulation by media.
In fact, media were thought relatively
powerless in shaping public opinion.
How is that, such radical transformation of
media theory takes place in a short period
of time?
Paradigm Shift
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There is a shift in paradigm (believing,
thinking) and this led by Paul Lazarsfeld,
Hovland & others, who did a lot of research
on media influence & how people thought
and acted.
The result shows that media rarely had any
direct influence on individuals. The media lack
the power to instantly convert an average
people
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The effect s were limited,
effecting few people or on trivial
(less important) influence.
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These findings were was later referred to
as the limited effects perspectives.
In times of war & national crisis we turn to
media as a means of making sense of
what is going on & trying to anticipate
what might happen in the future.
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The more we depend on the media to do
this, the more we effectively placed our
faith in the media to guide us & the more
likely the media will influence our lives. For
this the Lasswell’s propaganda theory works.
In times the ‘power’ lies in ourselves in the
way we choose to allow media to effect our
lives.
This is the essence of the limited effect
perspectives.
Paradigm Shift
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There is a paradigm shift from war times to
peace time. i.e. There is a transformation of
thinking from one perspectives to the other.
During the war years, Lazarsfeld (Colombia
U.) & Hovland (Yale U.) were drawn into
media studies to understand the power of
propaganda & the threat it posed. They
hope that if the media is so powerful it
might be controlled & use for the good.
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But they found out that the media were not
as powerful as what was initially thought to
be. Media influence over public opinion were
less important than other factors such as
social status & education.
During the 1950’s, new paradigm in
communication began to take shape &
remain strong in 1960’s & 1970’s . New
methods of research were employed namely
survey & interview (as part of the empirical
evidence)
The Two-Step Flow of
Information & Influence
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Lazarsfeld believed that theories must be
supported by empirical data i.e. he used
inductive approach to theory construction,
that is research should began with empirical
observations & not based on speculations.
He did two major studies on election
campaigns (1940) Erie, Ohio (known as
Ohio study) & in (1943) in Decatur, Illinois.
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The Ohio study he used 3000/43,000
residents with 600 follow up interviewed.
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In, Illinois he used 700 interviewed.
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Observations were done within 6 months
period.
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His observations, that voters were divided
into three categories as follows:
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Early deciders, Waverers,
Converts & Crystallizes.
1. Early Deciders i.e those who
choose the candidate in May & never
change during the entire campaign.
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2. The Waverers – i.e. choose one
candidate & later were undecided or switch
to another.
3. The Converts i.e. choose one candidate
but then voted the opponent.
4. The Crystallizes i.e. those who had not
choose a candidate in May but made a
choice in November.
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He used a long detailed questionnaires on
mass media content (candidate speeches)
His argument is that if propaganda is so
powerful as mass society theory predicted
this research should allowed him to
pinpoint media influence. If the mass
society theory was valid, he should have
found that most voters either Converts or
Waverers.
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The results:
What he found was that:
55 % Early deciders. Choose one
candidate in May & never change.
28 % Crystallizes –made a predictable
choice & stay with it.
15% Waverers –choose one candidate &
later switch
8% Converts –choose one but later vote
the opponent.
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He found little evidence that media played
an important role in influencing the
crystallizes & the weavers or the converts.
Instead the voters are more likely to say
they are more likely influence from other
people than media. Often the decision was
that they decide to vote following the
people closest to them. Not because of
media contents.
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The influence of mass media was only to
reinforce a vote choice they had already
made.
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Media gives people more reasons for
choosing a candidate of their choice.
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For crystallizes media helped party loyalties.
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Very little evidence to suggest media convert
voters. The converts were in fact those
people with divided loyalties.
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They had group ties that pulled them
to the opposite direction.
Lazarsfeld found out that the early
deciders were the same people whose
advice were being sought after by
other voters.
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The early deciders were sophisticated who
held well-developed political views & use
the media wisely & critically. They are
capable of listening & evaluating opposition
speeches. They gained information that help
them advice others so that others would be
more resistant to political campaign.
They are the gate-keepers. Screening
information & passing on items that would
help others share their views.
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These people were known as opinion
leaders and those who follow their
advise were opinion followers.
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Lazarsfeld & Katz (1955) based on
their experienced research
conceptualized that how people use
the media to develop the of
Two-step flow theory
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In this theory opinion leaders existed
at all level of society and that the flow
of their influence tended to be
horizontal rather than vertical.
Opinion leaders influenced people like
themselves rather than those above or
below them in the social order.
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Opinion leaders differ from followers n
term of personal attributes, use the
media more, were socially active &
share social status.
Limitations of Lazarsfeld’s
Model
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1. Survey cannot measure how people
actually use media on a day-to-day
basis. E.g. the more educated the
person is the lesser they are influence
by the media. But the lesser the
educated person is, the more the
stronger the linked to various media.
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2. Surveys are expansive to study
people’s use of the media content.
3. Lazarsfeld procedures and
methodologies are conservative in
assessing media’s power. It only
measuring voting decisions.
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4. Other research on Two-step flow
produced contradictory findings
depending on (a) types of information
being transmitted and (b) social
conditions exist at that particular time.
These patterns are constantly
changing.
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5. Survey can be useful for studying
changes over time but are considered
crude techniques. i.e. Lazarsfeld
interview people once a month –
problem of recalling.
6. Survey’s omit many other variables
which could further insights,
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7. The period is only true for the time
allocated. Result would definitely
differ if measurement taken at
different timing.
The Main points of
Limited Effects Theory
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1. Media rarely directly influence
individuals.
Most people are sheltered from direct
propaganda manipulation. People did
not believe everything what they hear
or see in the media.
They turn to others (family, friends,
coworkers & social groups) for advice &
interpretations.
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2. There is a two-step flow of media
influence.
Media will be only be influential if
the opinion leaders who guide
others are influenced first.
Because opinion leaders are
sophisticated , critical, & not easily
manipulated by media content.
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3. By the time most people becomes
adults, they have developed strong
held group commitments such as
political party, religious affiliations
that individual media messages are
powerless to overcome.
These commitments cause people to reject
certain messages. E.g. Voters of certain
parties will only subscribe to the party
magazines etc.
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4. When media effects do occur, it will
be small and isolated.
Small pocket will be influenced.
What would be the Strength
and weakness of the TwoStep Flow Theory
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Strength:
1. Focus on the environment in which
effect can and can’t occur.
2. Stress importance of opinion leaders in
formation of public opinion.
3. This theory is based on ‘inductive’ rather
than deductive reasoning.
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4. Effectively challenges the simplistic
notions of direct effects.
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Weaknesses:
1.It is limited to its time (time frame)
2. Report only the voting behavior.
3. Downplay reinforcement as an
important media effect.
4. Uses survey method.
5. Later research demonstrate a multi
flow effects.
Part II
Two-Step Flow Theory
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SUMMARY (recapture)
TWO-STEP FLOW THEORY
The idea that messages pass from the
media through (inter-mediaries) such as
opinion leaders to opinion followers.
GATE-KEEPERS
In two-step flow, people who screen media
messages & pass on those messages that
help others share their views.
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OPINION LEADERS
In two-step flow, those who pass on
information to opinion followers.
OPINION FOLLOWERS
In two-step flow, those who receive
information from opinion leaders.
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MIDLE-RANGE THEORY
A theory composed of empirical
generalizations based on empirical fact.
INDUCTIVE
An approach to theory composed of
empirical generalizations based on empirical
facts.
Limitations in the
Lazarsfeld’s Model
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1. Survey cannot measure how people
use media on day-to day basis.
e.g. more educated people tend to
underestimate media influence on
their decisions whereas less educated
people might overestimate it.
2. Surveys are very expansive way to study
specific media contents.
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3. The research design & data analysis
procedures Lazarsfeld’s developed are
very conservative.
4. Further research on two-step flow has
produced highly contradictory
findings.
These flow has been found to differ
greatly according to the type of
information being transmitted & the
social conditions that exist.
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5. Surveys can be useful for studying
changes over time, but are
relatively crude techniques.
6. Surveys omit many other
potentially important variables.
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INDIRECT EFFECTS THEORY
When media seemed to have an effect, that
effect is filtered through other parts of the
society e.g. through friends or other
social groups.
The following are the most important
findings on limited effect research between
1945-1960:
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1. The media rarely directly influence They
turn to others (family, friends,
coworkers, social groups etc) for advice
& interpretations.
2. There is two-step flow of media
influence.
Media will only be influential if he
opinion leaders who guide others are
influence first.
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3. By the time most people become
adults , they have developed
strong held values & media are
powerless to overcome.
When media effects do occur they will
be small and isolated.
Part III
Attitude Change Theory
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Initiated in the 20th Century.
Second World War provided the ‘laboratory’
development of the attitude change theory.
US went to war and needed to be able to
mount an effective counter offensive against
the Nazi.
The war provided important motivation for
researchers interested in attitude change
research.
Attitude Change Theory
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It was a simple convenience , were
the military saw soldiers in training,
physiologists saw subjects available.
The Work of Hovland
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He was to undertake experimental
evaluations of the effectiveness of various
military programs.
Testing on the military propaganda film ‘Why
we fight’ and to measure its effectiveness
(indoctrination goals) using the
experimental design method.
The researcher hope that as the result of
viewing the films there might find shifts in
peoples’ attitudes.
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Hovland’s found that although the movies
were successful in increasing knowledge,
they are not as effective in influencing
attitudes & motivations.
Film produced little change & that what
change did occur was influence by people’s
individual differences. This contradict with
mass society theory.
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The second finding was that as an outcome
of the theory they were able to direct the
trends of future attitude change theory. i.e.
while films were good in parting factual
information but certainly not effective in
changing attitudes.
Thus using control experimental groups is
good method in changing people’s attitudes.
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In particular the nature and the
organizational of the appeal.
They also found out that the more
highly people value their
membership in a group, the more
closely their attitudes will
conform to choose the group.
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They also found out that individual’s
status (personality factors) has
very little to do to be persuaded. E.g.
more intelligent people are more likely
to be persuaded if the message they
receive is based on solid and logical
arguments.
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The reasons that why mass media is rarely
direct because it is always mediated By:
(a) Individual differences
(b) Group membership or
relationships.
The two factors serve as effective
barriers to media influence.
Persuasion research
influencing media
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In persuasion and attitude change theory
two factors are important:
1. Reorganization of the individual
differences. (psychological make
up) (DeFleur 1970).
2. Social categories
That is the broad assumptions that
urban societies are collectively and
whose behavior can be aggregated
(or more or less uniform).
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People with similar backgrounds (age,
gender, income level, religious
affiliations etc) will have similar
patterns of media exposure and similar
reactions to that exposure.
This generalizations derived partly
from Lazarfeld’s work.
Selective Processes
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The change theory was adopted by
influential scholars like Lazarfeld, to
Klaper to De Fleur and was later
developed into the idea of cognitive
consistency.
Cognitive Dissonance
Theory
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COGNITIVE CONSISTENCY
The idea that people consciously and
unconsciously work to preserve their
existing views and avoiding messages that
challenged them.
Leon Festinger took up this idea and
developed in his theory of Cognitive
Dissonance.
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COGNITIVE DISSONANCE
The idea that information that is
inconsistent with a person’s already held
attitude created psychological discomfort or
dissonance.
People generally work to keep their
knowledge of themselves and their
knowledge of the world somewhat
consistence.
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If for some reasons a person knows
several things that are not
psychologically consistent with
another, he will, in variety of ways, try
to make them more consistence.
This process is known as selective
process.
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SELECTIVE PROCESS
Exposure (attention), retention, and
perception, physiological process
design to reduce dissonance.
This defense mechanisms that we use
to protect ourselves (our egos) from
information that would threaten us.
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Klapper (1960) wrote by and large people
tend to expose themselves to those mass
communications that are in accord with their
existing attitudes and interest. Consciously
or unconsciously they avoid communications
of the opposite. In the event that they are
exposed to unsympathetic materials, they
often seem not to perceive it, OR interpret
to fit their existing views OR to forget about
it.
Persuasion influenced on
the study of media.
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Attitude Change Researchers identify
three forms of Selectivity:
1. Selective Exposure
2. Selective Retention
3. Selective Perception
Selective exposure
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People tendency to expose themselves
to messages that are consistent with
their preexisting attitudes and belief.
E.g. In Lazarsfeld’s study of the voters,
2/3 of the voters managed to see and
hear more of their own side’s
propaganda than the opposite’s.
Selective Retention
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People end to remember best and
longest those messages that are
meaningful to them.
Selective Perception
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People will alter the meaning the
messages so they become consistent
wit preexisting attitudes and beliefs.
It is a mental or psychological image
of the message so that the meaning
is in line the person’s belief and
attitudes.
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E.g. Allport & Poseman (1945) study of the
rumors proved this point (the fight between
a white & black American. Originally the
knife was in the hand of the white man,
and because of rumors spreads, it quickly
changes to the black man).
60 yrs. had passed by can the same
scenario happened in 2005? What do you
think?
Applications of Attitude
Change Theory
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STRENGTHS:
1. It pays a deep attention to the
process
in which messages can & can’t have effects.
2. Provides insight into influence of
individual differences & group affiliation
in shaping media influence.
3. Attention to selective processes helps
clarify how individuals processes
information
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WEAKNESSES:
1. Manipulation of the variables (e.g.
messages) overestimate the power and
underestimate the media’s influence.
2. Focuses only on effects of media
messages
3. Uses attitude change as only measure of
effects ignoring other subtle forms of
media’s
influence.
Limitations of Persuasion
Research
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1.
The experiments conducted in
laboratory the results cannot be
generalized –because the time
conducted too short.
2. Experiments suited only to measure
immediate effects of specific media
content on small homogeneous groups
of people.
3. Limitation of standardized instruments
(statistics).
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4. Experiments are crude
techniques for examining the
influence of media over time.
5. Limitation of experimentation
design
At the end of this lesson you
should have acquired the
following concepts:
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1. Attitude Change Theory
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2. Festinger’s Cognitive Dissonance.
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3. Selective processes – Selective
Exposure, Selective Retention &
Selective Perception.
4. Strength & weaknesses of the Attitude
Change
Theory.
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5. Limitations of the Persuasion
Research (experiments)