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Chapter 3
History of the Scientific Study of
Media Effects
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The “Established” History
Propaganda
“Bullet” or “hypodermic-needle”
theory
• Public Opinion (1922)
• Propaganda Technique in the World War
(1927)
• Allied Propaganda and the Collapse of the
German Empire in 1918 (1938)
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A Revised History
 Acknowledgement of early studies by
psychologists and sociologists
 Reevaluation of major studies
 Inclusion of studies omitted from “standard”
scenario
 Importance attributed to particular scholars
 Emphasis on advances in research
 Identification of fundamental classification
rules
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Precursors of Media Effects
Research
Power of newspapers to either direct or
reflect public opinion
Effects of music on attention
Effects of music on thoracic breathing
Study of musical enjoyment
Study of the nature and origin of humor
as a mental process and functions of
humor
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Important Studies
Frances Fenton
• Study of the effects of media violence on
behavior
Gabriel Tarde
• Effects of reading about crimes
• Penal Philosophy (1912)
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Some Pioneers in Media Effects
Research
Carl Hovland
Paul F. Lazarsfeld
Harold Lasswell
Kurt Lewin
Samuel A. Stouffer
Douglas Waples
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Carl Hovland
Studied effects of training films on the
attitudes of American soldiers
Experimental research about media
effects on attitude change
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Paul Lazarsfeld
Studied the effects of radio
Interpersonal communication
“opinion leaders”
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Harold Lasswell
Five-question model
Pioneered content-analysis methods
Studied propaganda
Introduced Freudian psychoanalytic theory
to the social sciences.
 Identified 3 important functions mass
communications serve in society:




1. Surveillance of the environment
2. Correlation of society’s response to events in the
environment
3. Transmission of cultural heritage
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Kurt Lewin
Dynamics of group communication
Experiments to explore the differences
in persuasive power on audiences in
different group conditions
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Samuel Stouffer
Pioneered the use of empirical research
Precise statistical methods
Studies of communications media
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Douglas Waples
Effects of print media: What Reading Does
to People
Famous definition of communication:
“Who says what in which channel to
whom with what effect” (Lasswell, 1948)
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Interest in Media Effects Continues
 Wilbur Schramm
• Initiated the first PhD program in mass
communication
 Mediating Factors
• Researchers began to focus experiments on the
different reactions of people to the same media
presentations.
• Selective exposure, selective perception, selective
retention, and social categories perspectives
Attempts to Generalize About
Effects: Bernard Berelson
First researcher to make umbrella
generalizations about mass
communication effects
Five variables are involved in the
process of generalization:
• Communication
• Issues
• People
• Conditions
• Effects
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Attempts to Generalize About
Effects: Joseph Klapper
 The Effects of Mass Comunication (1960)
 Provided five generalizations about
the effects of mass media messages
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The 1970s and Beyond
Albert Bandura
• Social learning theory
• Social cognitive theory
Researchers began to examine:
• More complex behavioral messages
• Changes in cognitive patterns
• Media effects on learning and knowledge
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Final Points of Contention With the
Standard History
Inconsistencies during the bullet theory
years:
• G.A. Lundberg found that mass media had
only limited effects on audiences
• M.D. Beuick believed the effects of radio
broadcasting were limited
Same inconsistencies during the
“limited effects” years
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Future of Effects Research:
Challenges
Develop standard lines of demarcation
to separate powerful, moderate, or
limited effects
Identify the circumstances, conditions,
or variables that account for media
effects and offer generalizations