Social Psychological

and Sociocultural
Theories
COMM6502 DR HENDERSON
OCTOBER 2020
Today’s Session
❑We consider media in the social context: psychological and cultural; individual and macro

❑Survey four theories:

❑Cognitive Dissonance
❑Group Norms
❑Diffusion of Innovations
❑Cultivation
What have been your favourite shows?
 ❑Media “interpose themselves” (McQuail,
2005, p. 81) between ourselves and the
social reality.
memories identities
❑Communication itself is a social act carried
out through the “medium”.

❑Society and culture are inseparable –

cultural artefacts are products of societal
process often accessed through media
norms experiences
❑The interposition of media is seen as both
positive and (often historically) negative
“A central presupposition, relating to questions both of society and
of culture, is that the media institution is essentially concerned
with the production and distribution of knowledge in the widest
sense of the word” (McQuail, 2005, p. 81).
How to study the relationship?

society media
Main Themes for Media Theory (McQuail, 2005)

1 Power and inequality – cost, value, influence

2 Social integration & identity – “togetherness”

3 Social change & development – cause or effect?

4 Space and time – shared webs, discourse

Types of Effects (Potter, 2008)
Cognitive: factual, social

Attitudinal: opinions, beliefs

Emotional: fear, rage, love

Physiological: influence on body systems (e.g. blood pressure)

Behavioral: inducing action

Macro: on institutions (e.g. family, politics)

Why social-psychological?
❑ The first important consideration is
that a primary function of
communication is persuasion –
influencing others through symbols –
consider Aristotle’s ethos, pathos &
logos
❑ Humans functions in the context of
groups – affecting message reception
❑ Messages with an interpersonal link
are more salient
Why social-cultural?
❑Many influences and effects – short or
long-term, collective or individual – are not
necessarily intended but have significant
social and cultural implications.

❑These may or may not be negative, but over

time become embedded in the norms,
practices and artefacts of society.
Severin and Tankard (2001)
They organize the social-psychological approach towards studying communication under four
broad themes:

❑ Cognitive consistency: humans need things to remain “stable”

❑Persuasion and attitude formation & change

❑Groups and communication

❑Mass media and interpersonal communication

McQuail (2005)
There are a number of frames of reference regarding the intersection between media and society:

❑Media Theory 1: Power and inequality

❑Media Theory 2: Social integration and Integrity (Cultivation Theory)

❑Media Theory 3: Social Change and Development (Diffusion of Innovations)

❑Media Theory 4: Space and Time

1 Festinger (1957) and Cognitive Dissonance
❑“Two elements of knowledge are dissonant if the
obverse of one element would follow from the Starving myself is deadly
other” (p. 13) but I do it cause I want to
look thin
❑Dissonance – holding two thoughts that are
incongruent with each other

❑Resolution of the dilemma is to change a

Riding a motorbike without
thought, change a behaviour . . . or add a thought
a helmet is risky but I love
the rush of the wind
1 Cognitive Dissonance
❑After making a decision, dissonance is
extremely sharp when the chosen
alternative “ought to have been rejected”,
and the dismissed option is still attractive.

❑Key issue for us – how do consumers of

media accept information which counteracts
knowledge already held to be true?

❑An example of cognitive effect.

2 Group Norms - Sherif (1936,1937)
❑ Withinsociety groups share rules, standards and norms in dress, hair styles,
music etc.
❑Individuals tend to change their personal account or evaluation of
something when placed in a group setting – they tend to conform or cluster
around the accounts of others = group norm
❑That group norm remains after the individual is apart from the rest
❑Moreover, in times of uncertainty people tend to depend on others for
guidance (Severin & Tankard, 2001).
2 Group Norms – the process
Initial uncertainty
Varied interpretations
Group-based ‘think’
Shared experiences
Sanctions for challengers
❑Media messaging serves to entrench or
consolidate the ‘contours’ of group norm
through agenda setting processes –
framing, news cycles
❑Benefits for remaining, and sanctions for
exiting, in the context of visible, prominently
known group members are consequential
❑Cognitive, behavioral effects
3 Diffusion of Innovations (Rogers, 2003)
❑An intentional social use for media has been for its ‘modernizing’ possibilities particularly
for the developing world.

❑Diffusion, a kind of social change “is the process in which an innovation is communicated
through certain channels over time among members of a social system” (p. 5).

❑“Innovation is an idea, practice or object that is perceived as new by an individual or other

unit of adoption” (Rogers, 1995, p.11), spread through the society in particular ways.

❑Innovations have varied widely – public health interventions, agriculture, automation

3 Diffusions of
Innovations
❑ Adopter categories have been the most
studied aspect of this theory
❑Innovators

❑Early adopters

❑Early majority

❑Late majority

❑Laggards

❑How does media assist in promoting

adoption of important innovations? What
variables make adoption possible (or not?)
4 Cultivation
❑Gerbner (1973) and his team held that television had assumed a dominant place in America’s
‘symbolic environment’.

❑Hypothesis: television leads to adoption of beliefs with a stereotyped, distorted and selective
understanding of reality.

❑Cultivation is gradual and cumulative; in terms of heavy exposure to violence leads to a “mean
world syndrome”
4 Cultivation
❑The more television people viewed, the
more they would exaggerate the incidence
of real world crime.

❑Cultivation theory has a bearing on

recent theorizing about Internet filter
bubbles and echo chambers.

❑Current TV experience is now more

differentiated with people accessing
varied content on-demand, on any screen.
“The media are unlikely to be the main driving forces of fundamental long-
term change. Rather they act as a channel and facilitator and help to make
society aware of itself as well as of changes, by reflecting them in content
and also by providing the means for debating and adapting to change”
(McQuail, 2005, p. 501).
Notes
❑Good Times: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Times

❑Vybz Kartel: https://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/18833/1/the-jekyll-hyde-life-

of-vybz-kartel

❑Pepsi-Cola Jamaica Bottling Co. Ltd.: www.youtube.com

❑Face masks: www.nytimes.com

❑Tom and Jerry: www.bbc.co.uk