Communication theories
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The document summarizes several communication theories: - The Hypodermic Needle Theory suggests media has direct influence over passive audiences. It is no longer accepted but still influences views. - The Agenda Setting Theory claims media can set what issues are discussed and how. Audiences often interpret messages as intended. - Reinforcement Theory argues media reinforces existing views and other social factors are more influential, except for introducing new ideas. - Two Step Flow Theory says opinion leaders influence public views after initial media exposure and interpretation. - Uses and Gratifications Theory proposes audiences actively use media to fulfill needs and have power over media content and influence.
Communication theories
- 2. THE HYPODERMIC NEEDLE • The Hypodermic Needle Theory suggests that the media has a direct and powerful influence on audiences. The audience are seen as passive viewers and just absorb the messages of the media – like it is being injected from a needle. • It was developed in the 1920s and 1930s after researchers observed the effect of propaganda during World War I and incidents such as Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds broadcast (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds_(radio_drama) • It became the dominant way of thinking about media influence during the subsequent decades. The Hypodermic Needle theory is a linear communication theory which suggests that a media message is injected directly into the brain of a passive, homogenous (meaning the same) audience. This theory suggests that media texts are closed (no room for interpretation of the message) and audiences are influenced in the same way. • The Hypodermic Needle Theory is no longer accepted by media theorists as a valid explanation of communication and media influence. Although the Hypodermic Needle Theory has been abandoned by most media theorists, it continues to influence mainstream discussion about the influence of the mass media. People believe that the mass media can have a powerful effect on people and parents continue to worry about the effect of television, violent video games and new social media tools.
- 3. THE HYPODERMIC NEEDLE Defining Characteristics: • Texts are closed to interpretation (that is there is only one possible meaning or message in a text) • The sender (the media) controlled the meaning of that message • Audience members were all the same ( a homogeneous group) • Audience members received or interpreted messages exactly the same way. • Audiences were passive • The media was incredibly powerful.
- 4. AGENDA SETTING FUNCTION • Agenda Setting Function Theory claims that the media has the power to set agendas. That is, the media can determine what can and cannot be talked about, and in what manner. • “The media can't tell the public what to think, but they can tell them what they can think about.” • This theory states that the media has the power to set the agenda or terms of reference for any social, political or economic issue. The media then, sets the terms of reference for any discussion. The process by which they achieve this is called 'gate-keeping'. ‘Gate-keeping’ is the idea that on the one hand the media allows certain things to be discussed and on the other not discussed or shut out. • It is argued by Agenda Setting Function theorists that the media does therefore have the power and the potential to shape and influence the ways in which people who consume media products think. The media construct stories (through selecting and omitting certain points/images etc) The audience will view these stories and will often read the message as intended. They call the process behind this a dominant or preferred reading.
- 5. AGENDA SETTING FUNCTION Defining Characteristics: • Media has the power to set the terms of reference of any social/economic/political issue. • Texts are open to interpretation but the majority of audiences will interpret messages as they were meant to be understood.
- 6. REINFORCEMENT • The Reinforcement Theory suggests that the media reinforces (supports/strengthens) what the audience already believes and that peers, family and institutions such as school have a more powerful effect on the beliefs and behaviour of individuals. • In 1960, theorist Joseph Klapper published 'The Effects of Mass Communication' in which he proposed the Reinforcement Theory. Klapper proposed that the media has very little power to shape or influence public opinion, because audiences are active, texts are open to interpretation, and these media texts actually work to reinforce our existing opinions. For example if you watch a news story that supports your opinion you agree with the story. If you see a news story that disagrees with your existing opinion then you dismiss it as incorrect, further reinforcing your beliefs! • Klapper argued that other socialising agents such as families, peer group, schooling, occupation, religion and social class are far more influential. However, in the case of a new issue that an audience hasn’t been exposed to then the media does have power to shape and influence opinion by reporting and presenting these issues in a particular way. "Regardless of whether the effect in question be social or individual," he wrote, "the media are more likely to reinforce than to change." Klapper argued that people's attitudes, beliefs and behaviour was more likely to be influenced by their family, schools, communities and religious institutions. He argued that the only time the media could influence people was when the media introduced a new idea or concept.
- 7. REINFORCEMENT Defining Characteristics: • Texts are open to interpretation • Audiences are individual and active users of the media. • The media have very little power to shape or influence public opinion • Media can only influence in a new and special circumstances
- 8. TWO-STEP FLOW • From Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-step_flow_of_communication • The Two Step Flow Model says that most people form their opinions based on opinion leaders that influence the media. Opinion leaders are those initially exposed to specific media content, and who interpret it based on their own opinion. They then begin to infiltrate these opinions through the general public who become "opinion followers". • These "opinion leaders" gain their influence through more elite media as opposed to mainstream mass media. In this process, social influence is created and adjusted by the ideals and opinions of each specific "elite media" group, and by these media group's opposing ideals and opinions and in combination with popular mass media sources. Therefore, the leading influence in these opinions is primarily a social persuasion.
- 9. TWO STEP FLOW Defining Characteristics: • Audience members are active (particularly opinion leaders) • Audiences are seen as part of a society • The viral spread of social media campaigns seems to support this theory
- 10. USES & GRATIFICATIONS • The Uses and Gratifications Theory suggests that the media has no power over an audience and that the audience actually use the media to satisfy its own needs/desires. • Early thinking about communication theories focused on what the media does to people. The Uses and Gratifications Theory was developed in the 1950’s as a complete reaction against the beliefs of The Hypodermic Needle Theory. The Uses and Gratification Theory concerns itself with what people do with the media. • This theory proposes that audiences are active participants in the communication process. They choose media texts to gratify their own needs - such as the need for information, personal identity, integration, social interaction or entertainment. • Uses and Gratification researchers maintain that the best way to find out about media use is by asking the audience because they are "sufficiently self-aware" to explain their reasons for using media texts. According to this theory, texts are open and audiences are active. In fact, the Uses and Gratification theory suggests that audiences actually have power over the mass media. For example, if they choose not to watch a particular program it won't rate and will be taken off the air.
- 11. USES & GRATIFICATIONS Defining Characteristics: • Texts are open to interpretation (that is they are open to different interpretations by individual audience members) • Audiences are not passive. They are active and create their own meaning. • The media have no power to shape or control an audience. • Audiences determine media content. ‘We give audiences what they want”