Chapter 2: Mass Communication Effects: How Society and Media Interact
Summary and Learning Objectives
With the rise of mass society and the rapid growth of the mass media starting in the 19th century, the
public, media critics, and scholars have raised questions about the effects various media might have on
society and individuals. These effects were viewed initially as being strong, direct, and relatively uniform
on the population as a whole. After World War I, critics were concerned that media-oriented political
campaigns could have powerful direct effects on voters. This view, although still widespread, was largely
discredited by voter studies conducted in the 1940s and 1950s. These studies found that the voters with
the strongest political opinions were those most likely to pay attention to a campaign and hence least
likely to be affected by it. More recently, research has expanded to move beyond looking just at the
effects that media and media content have on.
Individuals and society to examinations of how living in a world with all-pervasive media changes the
nature of our interactions and culture.
Understanding the effects of media on individuals and society requires that we examine the messages
being sent, the medium transmitting these messages, the owners of the media, and the audience
members themselves. The effects can be cognitive, attitudinal, behavioral, or psychological.
Media effects can also be examined in terms of a number of theoretical approaches, including functional
analysis, agenda setting, uses and gratifications, social learning, symbolic interactionism, spiral of
silence, and cultivation analysis.
After studying this chapter, you will be able to:
1. Discuss the history and development of our understanding of media effects.
2. Explain how the critical theory model differs from the effects models.
3. Name four types of effects the mass media can have.
4. Explain eight major communication theories and their uses.
5. Explain how the mean world syndrome addresses the effects of consuming large amounts of
violent media.
Review Questions
1. Why did the number of stories of sexual harassment and abuse explode in October 2017?
What are at least two theoretical explanations of what happened then?
2. How did the existence of electronic documents allow Edward Snowden to steal and release so
many secret government records? Could he have done the same thing with paper documents?
3. What were the major problems with the direct effects model—the original theory of media
effects?
4. What are the four major types of media effects? Give an example of each.
5. Compare and contrast how the direct effects model, versus the cultivation theory, would
explain the effects of media violence?
6. What kind of questions can you best answer using critical theory? What kind of questions is it
weakest at answering?
Media Literacy Exercises
Cultivation Analysis
Start by rereading the material in your book on cultivation analysis and the mean world syndrome
(pages 48–49). Then read the blog post: Revisiting Dr. Gerbner and TV Violence
• https://www.ralphehanson.com/2014/10/10/link-ch-2-revisiting-dr–gerbner-and-tv–
violence/
You are then to write a 500-to 700-word essay that answers the following questions in your own
words:
• What is cultivation theory, and why has it remained so popular over the years?
• According to George Gerbner, what are the effects of television violence (HINT: You will
want to read the links to the two readings by Gerberner when you write this part of your
answer.)
• How has the media world changed since Gerbner developed cultivation theory?
• How did reading about Gerbner’s research and the follow-up on it by Jamieson and Romer
change your understanding of the effects of media violence?
Grading Rubric
Criteria
Ratings
Pts
Length
5.0 pts
Superior
Assignment is fully
developed essay
that goes beyond
basic assignment.
4.25 pts
As Assigned
Assignment is
approximately 500
words.
2.0 pts
Less Than
Assigned
Assignment is under
assigned length.
0.0 pts
Deficient
Assignment is
significantly under
length.
5
pts
Cultivatio
n Theory
6.0 pts
Superior
Assignment
contains all
required materials,
elaborates on
details.
3.6 pts
Less Than
Assigned
Response on lacks
details from
readings.
Misrepresents the
type of effects
violent media can
have.
0.0 pts
Deficient
Assignment omits
multiple required
details. Assignment
makes significant
incorrect claims.
6
pts
Criteria
Ratings
Pts
Analyzing
Research
6.0 pts
Superior
Assignment goes
beyond basic
requirements to
explain how
cultivation research
is being used.
5.1 pts
As Assigned
Assignment explains
how media world
has changed since
Gerbner developed
cultivation theory.
Includes mention of
Jamieson and Romer
research.
3.6 pts
Less Than
Assigned
Assignment is
vague or
incomplete.
0.0 pts
Deficient
Assignment omits
multiple required
details. Assignment
makes significant
incorrect claims.
6
pts
Personal
Response
3.0 pts
Superior
Assignment has added
depth to reaction to
cultivation theory and
media violence. Shows
understanding of
implications of
cultivation theory.
2.55 pts
As Assigned
Discusses personal
reaction to media
violence in terms of
cultivation theory.
1.88 pts
Less Than
Assigned
Assignment has
simple or unclear
reaction to
cultivation theory.
0.0 pts
Deficient
Assignment omits
significant details. Has
primarily a direct
effects approach to
discussing media
violence.
3
pts
Total Points: 20.0
C-SPAN versus commercial networks
Watch C-SPAN’s Washington Journal morning interview program for half an hour. It can be viewed
on your local cable service or on the Internet at www.c-span.org/. Then watch half an hour of a
morning news show on a commercial broadcast or cable news channel.
In a brief essay, describe three ways in which Washington Journal differs from the morning news
show you watched on the commercial network. Which type of program do you prefer? Why?
Notes: There are a number of key differences between C-SPAN and the commercial networks. They
include:
• C-SPAN does not stop for commercial interruption at regular intervals.
• While some C-SPAN hosts are better known than others, they all adopt a similar detached
style of interviewing. There is a stylebook for C-SPAN interviewing that describes exactly
how interviews should be done.
• The guests and callers are the focus of C-SPAN programs, not the hosts.
• Commercial network interviews tend to be livelier and more confrontational.
C-SPAN has a video archive that has every program the C-SPAN networks have ever aired that
you can call up as free streaming video. This is an incredible resource for mass communication
teachers. Check it out at
• http://www.c-spanvideo.org/
You can also view all three of the C-SPAN networks online at https://www.c-span.org/networks/
Suggested Readings
• McLuhan, M. (1964). Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. New York: McGraw-Hill. The
original work on how the media shape how we perceive the world.
• Meyrowitz, J. (1985). No Sense of Place. New York: Oxford University Press. An examination of
how television through its very existence changes the world we live in.
• Berger, A. A. (1994). Media Analysis Techniques (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. An excellent
and readable summary of different approaches to studying the mass media.
• McQuail, D. (2010). McQuail’s Mass Communication Theory (6th ed.). London: Sage.. This is a
huge, comprehensive look at mass communication theory and was one of my primary
references for this chapter. This title is one for you, not for your students, most likely.
• All of the Chapter 2 links posted to my RalphEHanson.com blog
https://www.ralphehanson.com/category/chapter-2/
Lecture Builders
How Sexual Harassment & Assault Became the Story of 2017
• https://www.ralphehanson.com/tag/wssa-2018/
Material on political influence
Our understanding of the media and the campaign process has evolved over the past 100 years. In the
How Do Political Campaigns Affect Voters?
If, as The People’s Choice study indicates, campaigns do not have strong direct effects on voters,
what are candidates trying to accomplish with their campaigns? They may be trying to directly
persuade voters with the content of the messages, but more likely they are trying to shape the
campaign in subtler ways. These are interactional models that say that the interaction among
voters, the media, and the campaigns that are triggered by the ads are more important than any
direct persuasion of voters. Here are two examples:
The resonance model says that the candidate’s success depends in part on how well his or her
basic message resonates with voters’ preexisting political feelings. Thus, the candidate who does
the best job of sending out messages that connect with target voters is the one most likely to win.
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Balz, D., & Kornblut, A. E. (2007). Obama joins race with goals set high. Washington Post, February 11.
public’s direct reaction to the charges didn’t matter as much as how the public reacted to Obama’s
reaction to the charges.
Media Theory Notes: McLuhan: Marshall McLuhan was famous for his quote “The medium is the
message.” Now it is absurd to argue that there is no importance in the actual message. Rhetorical
theorist Kenneth Burke says to imagine you are given a warning that you have an enemy coming to
kill you. You will want to know who the enemy is and why he hates you. You want to know more
• Television technology shapes the views people receive of the world.
• The commentary from an announcer helps shape the views of television audience members.
• The event itself was staged primarily for television coverage rather than the in-person
audience.
• The goal of the broadcast was to give the audience something interesting to look at rather than
an accurate portrayal of reality.
Media Theory Notes: Media Logic
Media logic is an approach to analyzing the effects of mass media that was developed by David
Altheide and Robert Snow. They argue that we live in a media world in which the dominant
cultural forms are those defined by the media.
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The media provide major types of content—news,
sports, action, drama, comedy, and advertising—that follow standardized formats. When we turn
on a television set, long before we can say what specific program is on, we can use format cues to
tell what type of program it is, even if we’ve never seen it before. These standard formats become a
lens through which we view our everyday life. For example, we may use the format of a sports
broadcast to describe our presidential races and apply soap opera formats to describe ongoing
high as my fellow Sage author Dr. Doris Graber. Dr. Graber died in February 2018, and I wrote a
blog post talking about her influence and my own interactions with her. You may find some useful
lecture material here on political communication. And if you read Graber in grad school or as a
faculty member, you can take a look back at one of our great scholars.
• https://www.ralphehanson.com/2018/02/26/processing-the-news-remembering-doris-
graber/
Social Learning Batman Example
Think about a small boy who watches Batman defeat evil bad guys (EBGs) by physically fighting with
them. Fighting with the EBGs proves to be a successful strategy and generally earns the superhero praise
and the keys to Gotham City. Thus, while watching the animated show may not lead directly to the child
engaging in violence, it could teach him that fighting is an effective way of solving problems and leads to
social approval. He may then try out the practice by fighting with his sister, at which point he discovers it
does not lead to social approval from his parents, and he stops the behavior. Or he might try it out by
fighting with his friends and discover that it leads to his receiving respect. From this simplistic example,
we can see how social learning theory can be applied to analyzing media. The content of the media can
provide a large-scale source of content from which social learning can take place.
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If the behavior being
modeled is successful in achieving the person’s goals, it may continue to be used. Think of the Batman–
watching child who gains respect among his friends by fighting. If the behavior is unsuccessful in
achieving results, the person may try other strategies. Think of the Batman-watching child who earns
parental disapproval by fighting with his sister. He may instead sharpen his verbal or negotiating skills to
gain the upper hand in conflicts with his sister.
Notes: Who Is The Audience: A good bit of the media content exists for relatively small audiences. For
example, the Sunday morning shows on the various cable and broadcast networks, such as Fox News
Sunday, Meet the Press, and Face the Nation, are heavily watched by print journalists, who may write
stories for Monday’s paper based on what was said on the Sunday pundit shows. The influence of these
programs comes not from how many people watch them but rather who watches them.
Notes: How Does Television Change Political News: Joshua Meyrowitz, in his book No Sense of Place,
says that when we see too much of our leaders, we tend to lower them to our level. For leaders to
appear heroic they need to keep people at a certain distance, which is hard when the media are
constantly viewing them. The coming of the television camera to presidential press conferences made
the meetings between the press and reporters public. No longer can the president banter with the press
Media Activities
When Words Matter
The words we use matter intensely. Sometimes they tell others a lot about who we are. Sometimes
when we use the wrong words we hurt people we hadn’t intended to. And sometimes we don’t have
any idea what the actual words are as illustrated in this link:
• http://www.ralphehanson.com/2014/11/21/when-words-matter/
Questions: Consider, for example, the language people use to refer to immigrants who enter the
United States without the permission to do so. How does using different words change how we feel
about or perceive people?
How Media Used Matters—McCain and Obama Speeches
Both President Barack Obama and his challenger Senator John McCain were credited with giving
excellent speeches on election night 2008. Take a listen to these two speeches, then read a
transcript of them. Which gives you a better sense of what the speech was like?