Sociology

Media 16
 Media E
ffects- Diffe
of the effect rent theorie
s and uses o s
Media (1/3 f the
)
• It’s imp to understand the ways in which audiences are
affected by the media.

• If media has no effect on people’s ideas and behavior,

then how content is selected and presented is of little
significance.

• This lecture will focus on different “Media Effects”

theories, based on categories of Direct, Indirect and
Limited effects.

• According to a lot of psychologists and pressure groups

etc, there is a direct causal link b/w violence in Media
(e.g. films, games) and every day real life violence
• Violent and immoral media is responsible for
negatively affecting audience especially young people.

• As a result of which, Govt tries to control and censor

particular types of media.

• Sociologists Media content can have a direct effect

on audience and trigger certain types of behaviors
and attitudes.

• Some Sociologists E.g. Gerbner Focused on

representations of violence in certain types of
media they lead to violent crime and anti social
behavior in real life (usually in young people)
• Some Feminist Sociologists E.g. Dworkin &
Morgan Consumption of pornography via
newspapers, magazines and internet encourages
sexual violence and negative attitudes

• Some Feminists Representation of women as size 0

models in the media, creates a lot of anxieties, eating
disorders and insecurities in females.

• Some Early Marxists E.g. Marcuse (Frankfurt

School) Media transmitted a Mass Culture which
was directly injected into the hearts and minds of
people and it made them more vulnerable to Ruling
Class Propaganda
• Contemporary Marxists They way media is organized and
operated reflects Ruling class ideology and keeps people in False
consciousness Media Representations of minority groups may
also create and reinforce negative stereotypes.

• When discussing Media Effects, two observations can be made :

1. Sociologists distinguish b/w effects on behavior and effects on

audience.
2. The claim that Media has an effect upon its audience can be
divided into:

i. Those who assume that audience is passive, homogenous and

vulnerable
ii. Those who assume that audience is actively interacting with the
media and responsibly making choices abt their identities and
lifestyles
  Direct Effects
• Models that argue that Media has a direct and tangible
effect (usually negative) on behavior are sometimes
called Media- Centric

• Older forms of this media suggest a simple, direct ad

effective relationship b/w Media and the audience.

 Hypodermic Syringe Model

• Also known as Magic Bullet models Def it’s a type

of Media Effects Theory which argues that media
msgs are like a drug injected directly into the
audience’s mind in ways that change their behavior.
• So according to this theory, msgs are transmitted and
received by an audience in ways that change or
reinforce their ideas and behavior.

• Media Msgs determine how audiences see and

understand the world in a directly measurable causal
fashion.

• Media (Cause) transmits info and Audience reacts

(Effect) in predictable ways.

• Audience is seen as passive receivers rather than

active interpreters of media msgs this is based on
the concept of Mass Society
• Where people are socially isolated, they have few strong links
to social networks (such as family, friends, work colleagues,
community etc, that can provide alternative source of info and
interpretation.

• Audience are receptive to whatever the Media transmits

because their social isolation means they depend on it for
info.

• Cumulation theory Variation of this basic idea that suggests

that media effects are cumulative, rather than immediate.

• Prolonged exposure to violent films or games can result in

changed behavior and Desensitization so the more you are
exposed to media violence, the less likely u are to be shocked
by real violence
• Hypodermic model of media violence there’s a direct correlation b/w
violence and anti social behavior portrayed in films, games, rap lyrics etc and
violence and anti social behavior such as using drugs or teenage gun/knife
crime.

• Young people are vulnerable to media content because they are in their early
stages of socialization and hence are very impressionable they need
protection from Media which is a very strong secondary agent of socialization.

• People who support the Hypodermic syringe model quote examples as

evidence.

• E.g. 1 April 1999, “Columbine High School Shooting in Colorado 2 boys

took guns and bombs to school and killed 13 students and 1 teacher and
wounded many students, then killed themselves.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yqe6sdAeZk - the incident,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TgnmlGtx_A - survivor of the attack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fSKsPwP2JI - interview by BBC of the
mother of one of the killers post 17 years of the incident)
• A number of media influences have have been cited by the
supporters of the hypodermic syringe model as being primarily
responsible for the boys actions such as playing the computer
game “The Doom”, listening to violent rap lyrics of Marilyn Manson
and watching violent videos like “The Basketball Diaries”

• E.g. 2 12th Feb, 1993 two 10- year old boys abducted toddler
James Bulgar from a shopping center in Liverpool and tortured and
killed him by mimicking scenes from “Child’s play 3) (according to
Tabloid press The judge when sentencing these two boys
reflected on how violent videos might have influenced these
boys after this incident people started protesting and tried to
ban violent films.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4DNnnIaXTI - the incident

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-u9pIf04l2U - interviews of
the 10 year old murders)
• Supporters of the Hypodermic Syringe model present
these examples as a straightforward illustration of the
relationship b/w screen violence and violence in real
life

• However, the police investigation team stated that there

was no evidence that either of James Bulgar’s killers
had seen Child’s Play 3 or that they were imitating any
scene.

 Imitation or Copycat violence

• Earlier studied explored the relationship b/w media

and violence by conducting experiments in laboratories.
• Bandura et al explored a direct cause
and effect relationship media content and
violence “the Bobo Doll Experiment” 

• They showed 3 groups of children real, film

& cartoon examples of a doll (Bobo Doll) being
attacked with mallets (hammer) and didn’t show the
4th group any violent activity.

• They were then taken in a room full of toys and made

them frustrated by telling them that these toys
weren’t for them then they were taken to another
room containing a Bobo Doll, where they were
observed by a one way mirror
• The 3 groups who were exposed to violent activities
behaved a lot more aggressively than the 4th group
Bandura et al concluded that violent media content could
lead to imitation or “copycat” violence.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOMkZbQauOA- The Bobo

Doll experiment)

• McCabe & Martin imitation was an outcome of media

violence because the latter is portrayed as a heroic
problem solving exercise which usually goes unpunished
& brings rewards to it’s perpetuators  Media violence
has a “disinhibition effect” it convinces children that in
some social situations, “normal rules” which govern
conflict & difference can be suspended Discussion &
Negotiation can be replaced with violence
 Desensitisation

• Newson (most influential supporter of the hypodermic model and

psychologist) commissioned to investigate the effect of violent films
and videos after the James Bulgar murder

• Sadistic images in media were easily accessible and films encourage

viewers to identify with violent perpetuators rather than victims.

• Young people are subjected to a lot of killings and violence as they

grow up through media exposure

• Prolonged media exposure has a ‘Drip drip effect” on young people

and eventually makes them Desensitised to violence- they become
socialized into accepting violent behavior as normal and as a problem
solving device due to this newer generations have weak moral
codes and behave in anti social ways more than the previous
generations.
 Critique of the Hypodermic Syringe Model

 Preventing Real Life Violence

• Some Media sociologists media violence can

actually prevent real life violence because they have
the following effects:

① Catharsis Fesbach & Sangar Screen violence

provides a safe outlet for people’s aggressions which
is known as catharsis.
• Study Groups of teenagers were shown TV for 6
weeks
• Some groups were only shown aggressive content
whereas some where only shown non aggressive
content

• Result? Groups that were shown aggressive content

was actually less aggressive in their behavior than
other groups so basically by watching aggression,
teenagers release their aggressive energy into these
safe media outlets as they feel involved it it (e.g. an
action movie)

• Conclusion Media Violence has a Cathartic Effect.

② Sensitisation Young argues that seeing violent
content, esp pain and suffering of the victims, makes
people more aware of the effects and consequences of
violent behavior which is why they aren’t inclined to
commit such acts.

• Graphic Violence can actually put people off violence

altogether.

 Methodology

• Methodology of Hypodermic Syringe models is

questioned :
1) Gauntlett Hypodermic Syringe studies are conducted in
artificial conditions like laboratories this questions the
validity and reliability of the study because people don’t
act naturally when they know they are being observed.

• Lab Research can be affected by “Experimental Demand”

where the researcher where participants will figure out
what the researcher is trying to find and will hence deliver
that kind of behavior.

2) Since there are so many different types of violence, these

studies aren’t clear abt how violence should be defined,
whether every type of violence has the same or different
effect on audience and how do they react to it they
usually focus just on particular types of fictional violence
3) Hypodermic studies assume that all types of violence
will be interpreted by the audience as wrong
Morrison Context in which Screen Violence occurs,
affects it’s impact on the audience.

4) They tackle social problems like violence

backwards Belson study showed violent
teenagers violent videos & claimed that because they
reacted positively to them, this type of viewing had
obviously causes the violence in the first place.

• Gauntlett such studies don’t tell us abt the viewing

preferences of teenagers, they actually tell us abt the
effects of such habits on their behavior
 Children as Sophisticated Media users

• According to some sociologists, children aren’t as

vulnerable as the Hypodermic Syringe Model implies

• Most children can distinguish b/w Fictional Violence and

Real Violence from very early on and they also know that
they shouldn’t copy it.

• E.g. Wood study Some boys arranged an after school

screening of a horror movie which was like a rite of
passage for these boys they felt that just because they
watched this movie, made them more macho and
heterosexual and fearless This “Terror as pleasure”
didn’t corrupt the minds of these boys
 Audiences aren’t Homogeneous

• Hypodermic Syringe model fails to recognize that audiences

aren’t Homogeneous everyone is different and hence their
reactions and behaviors will also be different

• Audiences aren’t cultural dopes or passive recipients of the

media, as Hypodermic models assume, instead they actively
engage with it.

 Scapegoating the Media

• Hypodermic Syringe models Media content is the scapegoat

of all the society’s ills which is why they fail to acknowledge
that other factors might be causing anti social behaviors such
as peer group pressure, mental illness, trauma
 Conclusions abt the Hypodermic Syringe model

• Evidence these types of models are very weak

• Most studies assume that children’s behavior was negatively

affected when TV came in society but a lot of studies showed
that introduction of TV had no significant affect on children’s
behavior.

• Rhodes Violent crimes in Europe and Japan, either stayed

the same or declined after the advent of TV.

• Cumberbatch Media violence is subjected to a lynch mob

mentality with almost any evidence used to prove guilt
there is no conclusive evidence either way that violence
shown in the media influences or changes people’s behavior
  Transmission Models
• They were developed by Shannon and Weaver
Transmission process is split into 2 parts:

1. The Info Source (e.g. Govt Announcement)

2. The Transmission Source ( e.g. newspaper or TV report
of the announcement)

• Media msgs can have different sources :

i. Direct reporting  A newspaper printing a speech

made by the Govt minister
ii. Indirect Reporting Speech being selectively quoted
to support a particular story
• So basically the source of the msg affects how it’s received .

• It’s possible for audiences to be indirectly affected by a

media msg through their interaction with people who are
directly affected these are people who pass on media
msgs through conversation with those who haven’t
personally experienced them

• This ^ introduces the concept of Noise and Interference-

anything that distracts from or interferes with the
transmission of a msg.

• Media can introduce noise through selective reporting,

while audience may receive the same msg in different
ways, both directly and indirectly.
• Transmission Models are a sophisticated explanation of Media
effects as compared to their Hypodermic Counterparts, because
although they suggest Direct Effects, these are mediated and
modified through different channels and sources.

• This makes it more difficult to measure the exact effect of the

Media.

• Gauntlett All Transmission Models have a major flaw They

see audience as uncritical individuals, easily influenced by
whatever they read, see or hear.

• He suggests that Empirical Evidence for Direct Media Effects is

weak, partly because most research takes place under artificial
conditions such as a laboratory they don’t adequately represent
real situations and contexts in which people use the Media (An
Ecological Fallacy) :
i. Bandura et al.’s Bobo Doll experiment Weakness of
this study was that the children were rated for
violence by Adult Assessors which raises questions
abt the objectivity of the research.

ii. Belson Prolonged exposure to Media violence

produces violent behavior in young males However
Hagell and Newburn found a general lack of interest
in TV among young offenders.

• Focus of direct effects model has changed over time

now they moved away from general audiences
towards the idea of vulnerable audiences e.g.
children
• The lack of social experiences and the tendency to
copy behavior makes children more vulnerable to
Direct Media Effects (Copy Cat Violence) than adults.

• Evidence for Direct Effects tends to be Anecdotal- the

media claims, rather than proves, a relationship b/w
violent behavior and violent play.

• Gauntlett Very young children may be Media

Liberate- they have an understanding abt the Media
and how it works E.g. most children can distinguish
b/w factual and Fictional representations of violence