Lesson – IV

THEORIES OF MEDIA EFFECTS

Mass Communication is directly related to social

phenomena. How a person or media interacts with society
depends on how much he knows about concerned society.
Therefore, mass communication theories are the
explanations and predictions of social phenomena that
make an effort to relate mass communication to various
facts of our cultural, and social milieu. Every field
develops because of the theory or set of theories that
supports its basic tenets and fuels growth. Mass
communication has just crossed its infancy sage, yet the
researchers have been able to define some theories that
would help it grow as a full-fledged academic realm in the
future.

OBJECTIVE

 To learn about the various approaches to

understanding effects
 To understand the concept of mass
communication and society

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STRUCTURE
 Theories of Media Effects
 Effects Theories
 Reinforcement: Limited Effects Theory
 Catharsis and Narcosis
 Incidental Effects
 Uses and Gratifications Theory (UGT)
 Cultivation Theory
 Technological Effects – McLuhan Perspective
 Reflex Effects
 Inoculation theory
 Summary
 Questions for Discussion

THEORIES OF MEDIA EFFECTS

Several theories related to the effects or changes
brought about by the media on individuals and society
have been propounded by both ‘functionalist’ and
‘critical’ schools of communication. The ‘functionalist’
theorists begin with the assumption that the media have a
role and a function in society: to stabilize, reinforce and
maintain the consensus in society. They do not see the

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question of power and conflict as a major driving force in
society; they assume that the competition among the
various groups in society allows for free and fair play, and
all groups have an equal chance to dominate and to
control. The ‘critical’ theorists, on the other hand, place
the struggle for power among social classes/groups at the
Centre of society; the mass media are invariably
employed by the dominant class to propagate its ideology.
Further, while the ‘functionalists’ research media effects
using empirical quantitative methods, the ‘critical’
theorists are so not much concerned with effects as the
cultural and political context in which media experiences
take place, the ownership and economics of the media,
and the various ways in which audience ‘read’ the media.
EFFECTS THORIES
These theories range from one extreme position of
all powerful wide-ranging effects of the media, to the
opposing extreme position where the media have no
effects at all. At the one extreme are writers and
researchers like Marie Winn who take the media,
especially television, to be a ‘plug – in drug’. At the other
extreme is Joseph Klapper who concluded from his

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longitudinal research that media succeed only in
‘reinforcing’ old attitudes, habits, and beliefs. In between,
are the ‘negotiation’ or interaction theorists who suggest
that effects, like meanings of media texts are ultimately
‘negotiated’ by audiences. Most media theories deal
directly with the ‘effects’ of the content of programmes
on opinions, attitudes, perceptions, beliefs and social
behavior.
Reinforcement: Limited Effects Theory
Joseph Klapper and others, for example, believed
that media reinforce existing values and attitude. Only
then, after all, can programmes of the media be popular
with a majority of social groups which have an interest in
the perpetuation of their own traditions and statues.
Lazerfeld and Merton held that the mass media ‘cannot be
relied upon to work for changes, even minor changes, in
the social structure.
Reinforcement theory is a limited effects media
model applicable within the realm of communication. The
theory generally states that people seek out and remember
information that provides cognitive support for their pre-
existing attitudes and beliefs. The main assumption that

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guides this theory is that people do not like to be wrong
and often feel uncomfortable when their beliefs are
challenged.

Catharsis and Narcosis Theory

Catharsis (Seymur Feshbach – 1961) is an emotional
release. The word catharsis comes from the Greek word
katharsis, which literally translated means "a cleansing or
purging”. Many directors and producers of violent, media
claim that their products are cathartic – films, video games
etc.
The basic notion of catharsis theory is that the
frustrations of everyday life build up within all
individuals. Eventually these frustrations boil over and
lead to aggression. However, in certain cases the
aggression may be relieved by watching others release
their aggression. According to Aristotle- that people feel
pleasure when reading tragic literature not because they
want to experience the exact same emotions as the
fictional characters. We don’t read or watch tragedy
because we enjoy tears, rage, and manic emotions. The

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pleasure we take tragedy is aesthetic. We enjoy the
representation of tragic events because it offers an ‘artistic
taming of the horrible’. Tragic literature arouses a very
specific set of emotions – pity and fear and brings a
healthy and pleasurable experienced called Catharsis.
Sigmund Freud was the first to use catharsis
theory in psychological therapy, although he gave upon
cathartic therapy and spent more time on psychoanalysis.
The theory states that expressing or getting out one’s
aggression and anger should reduce the feeling of
aggression.
The individual differences most central to
catharsis theory are the level of accumulated frustration
and hostility which individuals are experiencing prior to
exposure to violent television programmes. The cathartic
effect of televised violence should be greatest for these
individuals with the strongest catharsis need, namely
individuals who have built up considerable frustration and
hostility.
Narcosis (Lazarfeld and merton-1951) According to this
theory, “exposure to a flood of information distracts the
audiences from the real problem and in fact prevent their

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doing anything about it”. This is because of a lot of
information, the audience stands confused. This effect
was termed as ‘dysfunctional’ rather than ‘functional’.
With five or six hours of TV viewing in addition to radio
listening and newspaper reading every day, the
knowledge of problems and issues and very rarely leads
corrective action. For example, news related to terrorism
in India is flooded to the audience by all media –
newspapers, radio and television. Getting the information
from so many different sources ends up confusing the
audience about their role in it. They, in fact, become
insensible to the information provided and baffled on
what should be the proper action in the context.

Incidental Effects
Aldous Huxley took the stand that media indeed
do teach people things, but most of them are of no
consequence; they also have effects, but mostly in
unimportant and trivial facets of our lives although we
may think that they are important. These trivial facets are
fashions are fashions, mannerisms, mating habits, and
food habits. As Schramm, Lyle and Parker found in their

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study of children and television, ‘television could be an
especially effective agent of incidental learning while the
child is still young. This is because at that time it seems
so real.

Uses and Gratifications Theory (UGT)

Is an approach to understanding why and how
people actively seek out specific media to satisfy specific
needs? It is an audience-centered approach to
understanding mass communication. It assumes that
audience members are not passive consumers of media.
Diverging from other media effect theories that question
“what does media do to people?” UGT focuses on “what
do people do with media?” This communication theory is
positivistic in its approach based in the socio-
psychological communication at the mass media scale.
UGT discusses how users deliberately choose media that
will satisfy given needs and allow one to enhance
knowledge, relaxation, social
interactions/companionship, diversion or escape.
It assumes that audience members are not passive
consumers of media. Rather, the audience has power over

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their media consumption and assumes an active role in
interpreting and integrating media into their own lives.
Unlike other theoretical perspectives, UGT holds that
audiences are responsible for choosing media to meet
their desires and needs to achieve gratification,. This
theory would then imply that the media compete against
other information sources for viewer’s gratification.
According to Katz, Blumier and Gurevitch’s research
there were five components comprising the Uses and
Gratifications Approach. The components are
1. The audience is conceived as active.
2. In the mass communication process, much
initiative in linking gratification and media choice
lies with the audience member.
3. The media compete with other sources of
satisfaction.
4. Methodologically speaking, many of the goals of
mass media use can be derived from data supplied
by individual audience members themselves.
5. Value judgments about the cultural significance of
mass communication should be suspended while

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 audience orientations are explored on their own
terms.
According to the research, goals for media use can be
grouped into five uses. The audience wants to:
1. Be informed or educated
2. Identify with characters of the situation in the
media environment
3. Simple entertainment
4. Enhance social interaction
5. Escape from the stresses of daily life.

Cultivation Theory
This theory suggests that exposure to television,
over time, subtly “cultivates” viewers perceptions of
reality. Gerbner and Gross assert: ‘Television is a medium
of the socialization of most people into standardized roles
and behaviors. Its function is in a word, enculturation.
Within his analysis of cultivation, Gerbner draws
attention to three entities – institutions, messages, and
publics.
This theory is mainly applicable to the TV as it is
an audio visual medium and has greater impact on the

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audience. It states that TV shapes and maintains the
audiences’ perception of the real world. The symbols
(both verbal and non-verbal) arouse in the viewers a set of
subjective expressions that are similar to those aroused
earlier in the communicator. The major media effects have
been viewed as arousal of emotions among audience such
as fear, anxiety, excitement etc. Thus, TV constructs a
reality for the audience which may not be the same as the
real world.
This also depends on the individual perception of
the audience and individual difference regarding
motivation, experience, personality, attitude, etc. People
who share similar social category characteristics are also
likely to share similar experiences and conceptions of the
real world, and are thus likely to be similarly affected by
exposure to the media world.
Technological Effects – McLuhan Perspective
“The medium is the message”, wrote Marshall
McLuhan, setting the controversy over media effects on
its head. No matter what the contents of programmes, he
argued, people will watch television; it commands their
attention as no other medium has. He warned like a

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doomsday prophet that “the electronic media are
transforming every aspect of man’s life and re-structuring
civilization, not so much by the content of their messages,
as by the nature itself of television, movies, computers and
other media. “Mass communications, therefore, are
neither good nor bad, but rather mystical devices that
possess powers to change the way mankind lives and
thinks. For instance, Indian cities are already witnessing
some change in eating, sleeping and socializing habits as
a result of the introduction of television.
Reflex Effects
Mass communicators are known to review each
other’s work, and reporters carefully go through rival
papers, and switch on to news programmes on the air. It
is no surprise, therefore, that ‘copycatting’ in content and
form has become a common phenomenon. Let a topic be
introduced in one paper, and the others take it up with a
vengeance. So when a ‘health’ programme proves popular
on TV, every newspaper introduces a ‘health’ column.
Then there are the effects of new media upon the
old, and vice versa. The formats of Doordarshan’s
newscasts and features have in fact been copied from All

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India Radio and Magazines are all profusely illustrated
because of the impact of television. Again, short stories
first published in the papers or magazines, are turned in to
radio, TV and cinema scripts. All these inter-media and
intra-media effects may be called ‘reflex effects’ or
‘bandwagon effects’.

Inoculation theory was developed by social psychologist

William J. McGuire in 1961 to explain ore about how
attitudes and beliefs change, and more importantly, how
to keep existing attitudes and beliefs consistent in the face
of persuasion attempts.
Inoculation theory states that to prevent
persuasion it is necessary to strengthen preexisting
attitudes, beliefs, or opinions. First, the receiver must be
made aware of the potential vulnerability of an existing
position (e.g. attitude, belief). This establishes threat and
initiates defenses to future attacks. The idea is that when
a weak argument is presented in the inoculation message,
processes of refutation or other means of protection will
prepare for stronger arguments later. It is critical that the
attack is strong enough to not actually change those

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preexisting ideas. This will hopefully make the receiver
actively defensive and allow them to create arguments in
favor of their preexisting thoughts. The more active the
receiver becomes in his or her defense the more it will
strengthen their won attitudes, beliefs or opinions.

There are two basic key components to successful

inoculation. The first is threat, which provides motivation
to protect one’s attitudes or beliefs. Threat is a product of
the presence of counter arguments in an inoculation
message and/or an explicit forewarning of an impending
challenge to an existing belief.
Reputational preemption is the second component.
Reputational preemption is the cognitive part of the
process. It is the ability to activate one’s own argument
for future defense and strengthen their existing attitudes
through counter arguing. Scholars have also explored
whether other resistance processes might be at work,
including affect. Most recently, inoculation researchers
have turned to the presence and function of word-of –
mouth communication, or post-inoculation talk.

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SUMMARY

Several theories related to the effects or changes brought

about by the media on individuals and society have been
propounded by both ‘functionalist’ and ‘critical’ schools
of communication. Reinforcement: Limited Effects
Theory was introduced by Joseph Klapper. This theory
believed that media reinforce existing values and attitude.
Catharsis (Seymur Feshbach – 1961) is an emotional
release. The word catharsis comes from the Greek word
Katharsis, which literally translated means "a cleansing or
purging”. Many directors and producers of violent, media
claim that their products are cathartic – films, video games
etc.

Uses and Gratifications Theory (UGT) -Is an approach

to understanding why and how people actively seek out
specific media to satisfy specific needs. It is an audience-
centered approach to understanding mass communication.
It assumes that audience members are not passive
consumers of media. Cultivation Theory suggests that
exposure to television, over time, subtly “cultivates”
viewers perceptions of reality.

100
“The medium is the message”, wrote Marshall McLuhan,
setting the controversy over media effects on its head. No
matter what the contents of programmes, he argued,
people will watch television; it commands their attention
as no other medium has. Inoculation theory was
developed by social psychologist William J. McGuire in
1961 to explain ore about how attitudes and beliefs
change, and more importantly, how to keep existing
attitudes and beliefs consistent in the face of persuasion
attempts.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. Write an short notes on the following

a. Inoculation theory
b. Perception Theory
c. Uses and gratification theory
d. Reinforcement theory
2. Briefly discuss the role of cultivation theory in
our day to day life.
3. Explain the process and functions of catharsis
and Narcosis.

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