Lesson – III

EFFECTS OF MASS COMMUNICATION

This lesson discusses about the effects of mass

communication. In media studies, psychology,
communication theory and sociology, media influence
and media effects are topics relating to mass media and
media culture effects on individual or audience thought,
attitudes and behavior.

Media influence is the actual force exerted by a

media message, resulting in either a change or
reinforcement in audience or individual beliefs. Media
effects are measurable effects that result from media
influence, or a media message. Whether that media
message has an effect on any of its audience members is
contingent on many factors, including audience
demographics and psychological characteristics. These
effects can be positive or negative, abrupt or gradual,
short-term or long-lasting. Not all effects result in change:
some media messages reinforce an existing belief.
Researchers examine an audience after media exposure

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for changes in cognition, belief systems, and attitudes, as
well as emotional, physiological and behavioral effects.

OBJECTIVE

 To learn about the mass communication effects.

 To discuss how effect of media on different field

STRUCTURE

 Meaning of Effects
 Selective Exposure, Perception and Retention
Theory
 Various Approaches to Understanding Effects
 Types of Media Effects
 Impact of Media
 Summary
 Questions for Discussion

MEANING OF EFFECTS
When we talk of studying media effects, we talk in
terms of measuring the impact media has on an individual
or a particular social group. The major question in
studying the effects was “who says what to whom with

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what effect”. Mass media effects can be defined as
understanding, explaining and predicting the impact of
mass media. There were researches that attempted to do
so by studying the source, the message, the audience and
the impact that communication have made on individuals
and society. For example, it was found through researches
that children watching violence in cartoons tend to show
violent behavior towards other children.
 A change which is a result or consequence of an
action or other cause.
 The extent to which something succeeds or is
operative.
 An impression produced in the mind of a person.
 The lighting, sound, or scenery used in a play,
film, or broadcast.
 Personal belongings.
‘Media effects’ means different things to different
people. A psychologist, for example, has ‘psychological’
effects in mind when talking about media effects; the
sociologist, the ‘social’ effects, the anthropologist, the
‘cultural’ effects, political scientist the ‘political’ effects,

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the preacher, the ‘moral’ effects… and so on. Parents too
are concerned about the amount of time their children
spend with television, music, films, mobile phones and
the Internet and the effects this might have no their
children’s behavior and attitudes. Effects are of various
types and various gradations too. They may be short –
term, medium – term or long – term; they may be deep or
profound, or transient or superficial as in the case of
fashions, mannerisms, and life-styles. Then there are
influences of a passing nature or of a more permanent
nature.
With the rise of mass society and the rapid growth
of the mass media starting in the nineteenth century, the
public, the 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. Understanding the effects of
media on individuals and society requires that we examine
the messages being sent, the medium transmitting them,
the owners of the media, and the audience members
themselves.

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 The effects can be cognitive, attitudinal,
behavioral, psychological, selective exposure with
selective perception and selective retention. It becomes
imperative here to know about exposure, perception and
retention at some lengths.
Selective Exposure: This is the tendency of the people
to expose themselves to any message which are in
accordance with their existing opinions and interests.
Under the guidance of pre-dispositions, they consciously
and deliberately expose themselves selectively to
messages.
Selective Perception: There is the tendency for people to
misinterpret and misperceive messages according to their
own predispositions, even distorting the message in favor
of their predisposition. This is called selective perception.
Selective Retention: Selective retention presupposes
selective perception. The line demarcating the two
processes is rather impossible to draw.

Selective Exposure, Perception and Retention Theory

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 Selective exposure occurs when people tend to
expose themselves selectively only to communication
which are in general accordance with their established
convictions and avoid communication which seem to
challenge their beliefs. This theory relates to media
exposure of the audiences.
Selective perceptions means the news that is
regarded favorably is more likely to be recalled by a
reader, viewer, or listener than the items that are regarded
unfavorable. Also, the viewers will shape his or her
interpretation of a news event according to one’s attitude.
Selective perception also implies the tendencies of
media audience members to misperceive and misinterpret
persuasive messages in accordance with their own
predisposition. Two areas similar to selective perception
are: selective exposure and selective retention. Some
persons habitually watch Doordarshan news rather than
Star news or Zee news. The selective retention plays a role
in the effectiveness of efforts to change attitudes through
informational campaigns. People remember what they
want to remember.

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 There is a thin line of difference between selective
perception and selective retention. Selective retention,
according to Joseph Klapper, occurs when a person who
has been exposed to a communication of a few minutes
before, presents a distorted or incomplete report of its
contents, it is difficult to determine whether the content of
(media exposure) was selectively perceived in the first
place, whether it was correctly perceived but not retained,
or whether the two processes complemented one another.

The difficulty of making such distinction is

obviously far greater, the period between exposure and
report is a matter of days or weeks. Selective retention of
pictorial material has greater possibilities. Therefore, as
Joseph Klapper points out, selective exposure, selective
perception and selective retention do not occur among all
and people in all communication situations. One or more
of these processes occur among a stipulated percentage of
audience. Researchers have found that about one-third of
a group does not practice selective exposure, one-fifth are
exposed to more communication opposing their interests.

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But it has been proved that selective processes do occur
most frequently.
The Reality:
Beyond the sphere of local primary contact of the
citizens, the mass media provide most of the reality for the
received world.
The Agenda Setting:
The mass media are effective in both determining
what is to be talked about now and what is seen as urgent
future consideration. Mass media better early warning
system of almost all major social problems.
Effect on Values, Attitudes and Life Style:
The effects are seen as reinforcement of existing
factors. The mass media effect values and life style
through reporting the attitudes behavior and values of
others.
Effects on Behavior:
Consumer response to advertising continues high
and within limits media have high impact on the buying
patterns of the public.

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VARIOUS APPROACHES TO UNDERSTANDING
EFFECTS
Attitude change:
An attitude is the tendency to act or react
positively or negatively to something based on the
individuals values placed in his social experience. Mass
communication is capable of initiating several types of
attitude modification.
Attitude Reinforcement:
It is strengthening of the existing attitude called
congruent attitude change.
Boomerang Effect:
A shift in the attitude in the direction opposite to
that intended, ie backfire
Conservation:
The maintenance of the existing attitudes.
Neutralization:
The shifting of an attitude to the neutral zone:
neither positive nor negative action tendencies are present
here.

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Opinion Leaders:
The two step flow theory suggest that the mass
communicated message does not reach the audience
directly. As communication takes place in a dynamic
society, the media – exposed people would, in course of
their interpersonal interaction with others pass on the
message to those who have not received it or not been
exposed to media.
The initial mediators of messages here are referred
to as ‘Opinion Leaders’. They would influence in the
society as they are expected to be literates though not
always educated. Although this process is still referred to
as the two step flow theory, many involve more than just
one relay person, to be called as the multi-step flow
theory.
Individual Difference Approach:
There are individual difference in personality
characteristics among audience members, they react
differently to mass mediated messages.
Categories approach:
Audience are categorized by their demographics,
like gender, age, income, education, family structure etc,

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 and by their psychographics – values, beliefs, attitudes
and life style.

TYPES OF MEDIA EFFECTS

MASS MEDIA EFFECTS

CONTINGENT
DIRECT

NEWS
INDIVIDUAL HORROR
POLITICAL
VIOLENCE

LOVE &
DISASTER ROMANCE
CUES FROM
SS
THE
INTELLECTUAL DEPENDENCY SEXUAL
EFFECTS THEORY CONTENT

GLOBLIZATION
GROUP
EFFECTS
ENTERTAIN
MENT
EFFECTS
SOCIAL PERCEPTION BEHAVIOUR
EFFECTS
SOLO
ENTERTAINMENT 67
EFFECTS
 I. DIRECT EFFECTS OF MASS MEDIA
1. Political effects of the mass media: The mass media have
made deep forays into the political realms lf all nations.
They are quite often used (or misused) to serve the base
interests of political groups. Image-building exercises (by
politicians), poll campaigns (through media blitzkrieg),
exposure of sleaze in political parties and government
departments (by the media), and spin doctoring (by the
politicians through the media) are some of the various facets
of such effects.

1. Agenda setting theory

According to this theory, the media influence the
importance that people give to public issues. In
the process of agenda setting, an issue is defined
or identified and ranked by importance on the
public agenda. Hence the media can influence
political processes by emphasizing what the
public deems important. The placement of an
issue on the public agenda is affected by how
important an issue is to individuals. This theory
tries to delve into the relationship between the
understanding of the masses of important issues
and politicians and the treatment meted out by
the Press to these important issues and political

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figures. Such studies do not analyze how the
media cover an issue but how they set an agenda
through the choice of issues that they cover.

Salience refers to how important an issue is to

people. Salience interacts with media coverage.
If the media do not cover salient issues, their
agenda setting role is relegated to a back-seat.
Agenda setting is affected by interpersonal
communication. The mass media give
information, friends, family relations, and
neighborhood also provide information of
various categories to people. Therefore, at
sometimes, interpersonal communication
reinforces the agenda of the media. However, at
some other occasions, it goes against it or
competes with it. This effect depends upon the
amount of media coverage, obtrusiveness of the
topic etc. Thus, the mass media influence public
issues. These public issues affect political
behaviors of the masses. The mass media may set
different agendas for different people. They may
also set different agendas for different issues
facing the masses. Researchers are trying to
delve into the relationship among the media,
government organs, and the masses in setting the
public policy agenda.

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 2. Spiral of Silence
This theory was propounded by Elizabeth Noelle
Neumann. It studies the effects of the media on public
opinion. According to Noelle –Neumann, three features
of the mass media produce powerful effects on people.
They are as follows.
a. Cumulation: Mass media effects increase
over a period.
b. Ubiquity: the media send messages at almost
all the times.
c. Consonance: There is he presentation of a
consistent and unified picture of the political
world.
These three features of the media mould the perceptions
of people. Thus, the dominant ideas of the majority of
people are not the ones that these three features create
in the minds of public. The ideas disseminated by the
media become the thinking norms of the masses because
the media cover news and events in a unique manner.
The prime original thoughts of the masses are relegated
to a back-seat. That is why, they do not express
themselves on many issues. They think they are in a
minority and that the majority may not accept their views
because the media have reflected the views of the so
called majority. Thus, the spiral of silence develops in
the social milieu. This silent majority keeps mum. The
ideas of the minority are able to take the center stage in
political processes.
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 3. Cultivation Theory
The late twenties and early thirties of the last century
saw the advent of TV software affected audiences. The
theory concluded that heavy TV viewers are more likely
than light TV viewers to think that the world is like what
is presented on the idiot box. The cultivation effect also
included change in political attitudes, sexism,
stereotyping, and depression.
4. Dependency Theory
This theory was propounded by Melvin De-Fleur and
Sandra Ball-Rokeach, they analyzed how and why
media impact varies from person to person and from
situation to situation. According to this theory, media
firms control information that people depend upon to
live. Further, people also control money and
information. These resources are scarce, and the media
need them to survive. Thus, the media and individuals
are dependent upon each other. This mutual dependency
defines the effects the media have on individuals and
vice versa. This theory also states that social systems are
also interdependent. The political system depends upon
the media to inform its ambitions to the masses. The
media depend upon the political system to define their
freedoms and to maintain economic stability. Thus the
media, individuals, and groups depend upon and affect
one another.

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According to this theory, mass media can have six types
of effect on individuals. They are as follows:
a. Self Understanding: People depend upon the
media to grow in intellectual terms.
b. Social Understanding: People depend upon the
media to learn about the world and their
community.
c. Action Orientation: People depend upon the
media to decide what to buy and how to act.
d. Interaction Orientation: People depend upon the
media to decide how they would behave with
others.
e. Solitary Play: People depend upon the media to
entertain themselves when they are alone.
f. Social Play: People depend upon the media to
entertain themselves when they are in groups (eg.
Family, friendship circle, neighborhood etc).

This theory incorporates the elements of

psychology, sociology, and economics to
determine the relations of interdependence
between various groups, individuals, and the
mass media.

2. Individual effects of the mass media

a. Intellectual effect (the self-understanding effect
of the Dependency Theory)

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 b. Globalization effect
c. Commercial effect
d. Social effect
e. Solo entertainment effect
f. Group entertainment effect

II. CONTINGENT EFFECTS OF THE MASS

MEDIA

1.Violence : Martin Barker and Julian Petley state,

“Media violence is the witchcraft of our society”. TV,
magazines, cinema, and the internet are the most effective
vehicles of media violence nowadays. This violence
includes physical duels, acts of crime, blunt refusal to
obey the law, and challenges posed to the established
system of governance. Media violence can have two
formats – The Physical opposition to a person or group of
persons and mental opposition to a thought, person, or
group. Hence, media violence can be physical as well as
intellectual; the former stimulates the body and mind
while the latter stimulates the mind and body. Both types
of violence can be viewed as reactions of an individual to

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media stimuli with varying degrees of intensity. The acts
of fight, war, hooliganism, robbery, arson etc affect the
minds of the audience in the physical sense. However, the
complex acts of ego clash, political opposition,
challenging of the parent by the child in a family etc affect
the psyche of audience.
According to Albert Bandura, if a child
watches a person on TV that seems very attractive and
receives rewards for acting in an aggressive manner, the
child would be more likely to imitate the behavior of that
character. If a child, avers Bandura, watches a character
that receives punishment for acting in an aggressive
manner, he would refrain from acting in that manner in his
real-world settings. Hence, researchers, including
Bandura, have arrived at some conclusions. Firstly, TV
violence can make children aggressive. Secondly, the
effects of violence are more prominent for boys and not
for girls. Thirdly, the effects are quite general in nature
(ie, the presence of attractive TV characters that receive
rewards for acting aggressively seems to promote more
aggressive behavior among children). Fourthly, not every
child, who saw aggression on video, behaved

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 aggressively. Further, some of the children, who saw the
aggressor being punished, acted in an aggressive manner
(which means years of teaching or coaxing by parents and
teachers could be having some effects on the behavior
patterns of such children).
1. Sexual Content: Obscenity has different repercussions in
different societies. The Press, cinema, and the internet are
known for the sexual content of the extremely obscene
kind. Books on pornography are available in all markets
of the globe. The availability of erotic media has created
problems for parents and teachers alike. Even girls have
started hooking on to pornographic web sites.
Two major notions in this context are as follows:-
i. Trigger Psychosis: Exposure to sexual material
would cause a response in some individuals that
may provoke them to commit a sex-based crime like
rape or indecent exposure.
ii. Safety Valve theory: Exposure to sexually
exploitative material would satisfy whatever urges
might cause a person to commit a sex-based crime.
2. Horror: Fear is a negative emotion. The media use fear
to tingle the innate fears of readers or viewers. Dorf

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Zillmann has tried to answer why people watch horror
movies. He states that when people become scared while
watching a movie, their arousal system kicks into high
gear. The heart rate and blood pressure increases. Muscle
tension and other vital body processes are also high or in
an excited of fear. This arousal helps to intensify the
negative emotion of fear. After the movie is over, this
feeling remains for some time in the mind of the viewer.
Children in the age group of 2 – 5 years can be terrified
by animated features. For older children and adults,
fiction could hold the key to terror. Horror literature is
popular, but most writers lack imagination. Girls quite
often watch horror movies in groups. Today’s horror is
synonymous with dragon’s teeth, a dead body covered by
bandages, blood oozing out of the mouth of a demon, or a
ghost who is nothing but a perverted human form. Out
adults do enjoy horror movies, but these movies can only
superficially prick their imagination. The viewers of the
west are slightly more courageous than those of the east.
That is because they want to feel the extreme horror,
unlike their cousins of the east.

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3. Disaster Themes: a disaster is a perpetual state of
uncertainty due to which lives of people are continually at
risk. In a disaster movie, some people are shown as dead
while some others are shown under the threat of death.
Rescue operations form a majority part of the footage of
such movies. Examples - Titanic movie
4. Love and Romance: TV, cinema and books have used
these tow topics extensively to sell their products.
Teenagers are the most easily identifiable markets for
selling love stories, novels, and romantic soap operas. The
impact of love theme is so great that is usually crosses the
limits of sanity and makes the audiences hysterical.
5. News / views on TV and in the Print Media: Political,
social, moral and economic effects of news and views
have been observed on all types of global audiences.
6. Cinema Based on Marital Arts: The arrival of Bruce Lee
in the cinematic world changed the entertainment scenario
during the early seventies of the last century. Enter the
Dragon is probably the most successful movie devoted to
martial arts. The youth were the most prominent customers
of such movies, although adults and children also watched
them with keen interest. Action stars like Bruce Lee, Chun

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 Yao Fat, Jackie Chan, Jim Kelly stole the limelight in
various action flicks of this genre. The youth adored them
and tried to ride the martial arts bandwagon after watching
such movies.
7. Comedy in Cinema: comedy movies were supposed to
entertain families not individuals. Charlie Chaplin was the
pioneer of comedy-based cinema.
8. Art Cinema: Some movies based on classic literature,
poplar novels of the past, and the trends of society and
polity in different parts of the world. There were only a
few takers of this kind of cinema. Only elders and elite
people watched these movies. For example Aviator. The
cinema of the west covered social taboos, sex, arrival of
the white in the USA, Roman history, interpersonal
relations ego clash the two wars etc. The effects of these
movies on the elite and elder people were positive.
In India, Satyajit Ray, Govind Nihalani, Hrishikesh
Mukerjee, Mrinal sen, Abbas and sohrab Modi made
some of the finest Hindi movies. Mughal – e-Azam is the
most impressive movie of Bollywood tile date.
9. Action Thrillers: These movies entertained the audience
and made them feel ‘superhuman’, at least in theaters.

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 These movies affected the psyche of the masses in the
sense that they also tried to become more materialistic,
adventurous, meticulous and clever. They emulated not
only the heroes, but also the villains and vamps of the
silver screen. Some viewers watched a move based on the
robbery theme and broke into a bank following the same
style of heist as had been followed in that movie. Example
– movies like Sholay, Don, Karz, Raaz and Qayamat.
10. Science Fiction in Cinema: Star wars, Jurassic Park, ET
and Alien movies attracted the attention of the youth and
children alike. Children watched the world from a
scientific viewpoint after they were exposed to sci-fi
cinema.
11. James Bond Movies: People watched the high – action
and incredible movies but could not comprehend what was
happening. Action sequences and special effects were
superb enough to mesmerize the audiences. They provided
entertainment value and a signature tune that goes on till
date.

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III. SOCIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF THE MASS MEDIA

1. They have eroded our old values and beliefs.

2. They have more negative impact on urban masses
3. They try to make us secular and cosmopolitan
4. They change political opinions and affiliations
5. They reach the majority of the mass audience
6. They help in perpetuating western influences over
the eastern societies.

IV. ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF THE MASS MEDIA

1. They give commercial opportunities to
individuals, firms, and groups
2. They generate the demand for products and
services direly needed by the masses; they also
generate the demand for those products and
services that are not needed by the masses.
3. They have made us ambitious in materialistic
terms.
4. They persuade the masses to spend more
5. They change the fortunes of corporate empires

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 6. They give support to the masses by promoting and
supporting consumer awareness campaigns and by
giving a fillip to consumer’s rights issues.

IMPACT OF MEDIA

You have seen in the earlier sections the tremendous

impact of the media on people. Just as a coin has two sides,
the impact of mass media also can be positive or negative.
Now let us list some of the positive and negative effects of
media.

Positive Effects

 Media provide news and information required by

the people.
 Media can educate the public.
 Media helps a democracy function effectively.
They inform the public about government policies
and programmes and how these programmes can
be useful to them. This helps the people voice their
feelings and helps the government to make

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 necessary changes in their policies or
programmes.
 Media can entertain people.
 Media can act as an agent of change in
development.
 Media has brought people of the world closer to
each other.
 Media promote trade and industry through
advertisements
 Media can help the political and democratic
processes of a country.
 Media can bring in positive social changes.

Negative Effects

 The traditional culture of a country is adversely

affected by mass media.
 Entertainment has become the main component of
mass media. This affects the primary objectives of
media to inform and educate the people.

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  Media promote violence. Studies have proved that
violence shown on television and cinema have
negative effects on children
 Mass media promote the desire in people to buy
and own products that are advertised through the
media but which may not be essential for them

The Effects Debate

Media’s impact is always debated. Where on one hand,
some researchers believe that media effects are limited.
Others believe that it has a profound impact on the minds
of the audience. This can be explained as:
 While some people believe that people know that media
content is not real, it is all made up, so it has limited
impact. Others believe that a considerable amount of
media content is real, like news, reality shows and
documentaries.
 Media content has limited impact on audiences because it
basically serves only entertainment function. Those who
believe in media making a huge impact on people believe
that even if media content is only play, play is very
important to the way we develop our knowledge of

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 ourselves and our world. Play is not less influential even
if it is not directly in the form of play, that is, it is in the
form of internet or movies.
 It is believed by some that even if media has any effects
at all, media is not at fault, it simply holds a mirror to the
society and reflects what already is. Others believe that
this content is very selective and manipulated. There is no
equal representation of all sections and categories of
people and some sections any be over represented over
represented or even find no representation at all.
 Media only reinforces preexisting values and beliefs. The
counter argument says that reinforcement is done not only
of what is positive but also of what is negative. So it does
not mean that media has no impact.

SUMMARY
With the rise of mass society and the rapid growth of the
mass media starting in the nineteenth century, the public,
the 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
84
a whole. Understanding the effects of media on
individuals and society requires that we examine the
messages being sent, the medium transmitting them, the
owners of the media, and the audience members
themselves. The effects can be cognitive, attitudinal,
behavioral, psychological, selective exposure with
selective perception and selective retention. It becomes
imperative here to know about exposure, perception and
retention at some lengths. Various approaches to
understanding effects like Attitude change, Attitude
Reinforcement, Conservation, Opinion Leaders,
Individual Difference Approach, Categories approach and
Boomerang Effect.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. Discuss the various approaches to understanding

effects of mass communication.
2. Comment on effects of mass communication.
3. Elaborately discuss the types of media effects.

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