media effects

The two chapters for this week provide quite a contrast to the two from last week. Whereas the chapters that focused on media and culture stemmed from the work of postmodernists and took an interpretive (or critical) approach, media effects research takes an objectivist approach.

The section in the text on media effects sets the stage for agenda-setting theory and spiral of silence. In this introductory section, Griffin discusses earlier views on media effects. A very early model, the hypodermic needle model, depicts a direct media influence on audience members. In the two-step flow of communication model, opinion leaders are posited to pass on and interpret messages to others in face-to-face conversations. In contrast, the excitation transfer theory suggests that fear, anger, humor, and love produce the same physiological state. Bandura’s social learning theory model is probably the most famous as his research with children has been widely reported in the media. His theory predicts that violence on television leads to antisocial behavior when children get older.

The two theories for this week, agenda-setting and spiral of silence, provide a more sophisticated view of media effects than the ones I’ve mentioned here. Still, all these theories have in common an objective approach, which assumes that there is one truth accessible through unbiased observation. In addition, the theories seek to identify a cause-and-effect relationship between media content and human behavior.

~ Professor Cyborg