Communication Research Project

Lecture 2: Effects Research, Uses & Gratifications, Causes

& effectsRay Archee

Background and foreground to Media Effects Research

• Mass audiences are faceless anonymous collections of millions of people (end 19C)

• Use of statistics to understand populations used by government and business (early 20C)

• New forms of mass media (radio, film) supported notions of mass audiences

• All media research looks for effects!

Hypodermic needle theory

• Brett Lamb http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qt5MjBlvGcY

• Beauty and advertising http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAW4LIFYFng

• The pron effect http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8ptP3qFIxA

• 12 yr old Vajazzling http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/girls-having-bikini-waxes-vajazzling-1787328

4 Epochs of Effects Research(McQuail, 1984)

1. 1900-30 Media is all-powerful (hypodermic needle)

2. 1930-59 Opposition to all-powerful media model

(‘no-effect’ model, or limited effects)3. 1960-79 Powerful media revisited (long-term

effects, media ownership, agenda setting models)

4. 1980-04 Negotiated Media Meaning model5. 2005+ Social media models change everything

Alternate system: four models of effect (Perse, 2001)

• Direct effects – short tem, testable• Conditional effects – based upon beliefs of the

audience• Cumulative effects – saturation & repetition

leads to build up• Cognitive-transactional effects – occurs due to

individual responses to the priming effect of media

The problem with media violence• Road Runner

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odNLJNXnAb0• If we see a lot of violence on TV then some of us will copy

that violence in real life?• Children are usually the focus of these studies- early studies

counted the acts of violence in kids’ shows• Problem here is cause and effect – no evidence that cartoons

lead to long term kiddie criminals• Contradicted by the evidence:

TV violence is increasingCrime statistics are decreasing

Reality of violence in society

• Most domestic violence are men -> women• Stranger rape much less common than acquaintances• Murder is not the most common crime• Black people more likely to be victims• Older people more likely to be victims• Domestic violence accounted for 25% of all violent crime, and

33% of all murders in USA• These stats - not the portrayal of violence on TV and movies• http://youtu.be/DHRwo48twyE Book of Eli

Famous Media Case Studieshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbine_High_School_massacre

• Columbine shooting was blamed on violent video games.

Media recants its theories and mythshttp://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-04-13-columbine-myths_N.htm

• James Bulger murder blamed on violent video material, eg Childs Play.

http://www.youtube.com/v=Vx1uUnr2aCM (response to causal links to video)

The evidence re media violence:

• Clear lack of evidence but supporters of the ‘negative effect’ thesis often make very firm statements about causality

• The only evidence is correlational links – X occurs at the same time as Y, therefore X caused Y, or Y caused X

• However… there is a lot of correlation:• http://www.thepci.org/articles/The%20Role%20of%20Media%20Violence%20in%20Violent%20Behavior.pdf

Media accuracy and bias• Journalists often reproduce bias surrounding various

issues, forgetting to check sources• Attitudes to beauty, obesity, alcohol, drugs,

education, politics, boat people… are created and maintained by media

• Agenda-setting role leads to mass audience paranoia in some cases – HRT reports http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/181726.php

• Media is subject to PR messages from big business http://www.universaldrugstore.com/news/tamiflu/is-tamiflu-better-than-relenza/

Affect and Effect

• Ross and Nightingale (2003) argue that many people easily say that media violence is harmful

• Investigations of viewer responses• Studies often focus on content, not on audience

perceptions • Strong statements about causality are therefore

speculative• All that can be said is that the media can cause

effects in certain contexts

What about advertising?

• If the media did not cause consumers to go out and buy stuff, why is billions of dollars spent on advertising?

• Is behaving in a violent manner so different to buying clothes or food?

• Why do governments spend millions on health campaigns through the media?

Successful PR advertisingEdward Bernays 1929 “torches of freedom”from 12% of market to 18% (1935), 33% (1965)

No.1Successful online media campaign

Barack Obama in 2007 was a one-term senator who nobody knewHe used social media of YouTube (20mill hits) and Facebook (2.5mill fans)Used photos, social mediafriendly website, calls-to-action

Media effects on sexuality

• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1070813/

• http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/archive//ldn/2005/jul/05070604

• Issue largely ignored by researchers: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/116/Supplement_1/303.full

Uses and Gratifications

• If effects research is a hypodermic needle, then U&G research is akin to a smorgasborg – we choose what we assimilate

• U&G theories conceptualise the audience as being able to selectively choose what media they use, and how they use it

• A good deal of contemporary research adopts a tacit U&G approach, e.g. social media research

• Because it is somewhat old, U&G models are not talked about very much these days

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6y-h5lNol-0

U&G in the age of the Internet• If hypodermic needles are not a suitable metaphor for current media

consumption, then a range of self-selected drips has been hypothesised for our current obsession with mobile phones, tablets and notebook computers

• The drips are perfect metaphors for the way in which we need our fix of Facebook, email, SMS and games. They gratify our new identities in many ways that have not yet been considered

The U&G approach has 5 assumptions

1. The audience is active, with media usage being goal oriented

2. The individual selects different media to satisfy different needs

3. Mass media compete for the individual’s attention4. Audience members are aware of their needs and

motivations5. Scholars should not make value judgments about about

individual’s media choices e.g. wrestling, video games, or pornography

Much research into new media uses a tacit U&G approach

• The Internet and social media has changed the nature of audiences and the media

• E.g. bloggers are both audience members and part of the alternate media

• Facebook users are members of a multiplicity of communities and networks

• Media conglomerates, advertisers and marketers are also part of the alternate media, and function in different ways depending on their audience

McQuail, 1983 found 4 types of reasons to use the media:1. Information

finding out relevant events & conditions in immediate surroundings, society & the worldseeking advice on practical matters or opinion and decision choicessatisfying curiosity and general interest | learning; self-educationgaining a sense of security through knowledge

2. Personal Identity

finding reinforcement for personal values | finding models of behavioridentifying with valued others (in the media) | gaining insight into oneself

3. Integration and Social Interaction

gaining insight into the circumstances of others; social empathyidentifying with others and gaining a sense of belongingfinding a basis for conversation and social interactionhaving a substitute for real-life companionship | helping to carry out social rolesenabling one to connect with family, friends and society

4. Entertainment

escaping, or being diverted, from problems | relaxinggetting intrinsic cultural or aesthetic enjoyment | filling timeemotional release | sexual arousal

Main criticisms of U&G

• McQuail has said that U&G does not predict media usage, it merely describes what happens (it also explains)

• There are at least 3 more problems:1. U&G ignores social usage of media and also audiences which may have media forced upon them?2. What messages do people actually understand as opposed to simply receive and be gratified by?3. The traditional media (and social media) are not there for us, they serve large corporations, and the advertising industry

Moving away from media research

• All social research seeks to explore, describe, explain or predict

• The most basic research explores, the most difficult predicts

• Much of what we do is about description and explanation

• When we explain we tend to look at causes and effects

• So we are back to effects research but taken away from media contexts

Many social questions should either study effects (and causes) + uses (& needs)

For example:

Does the media create false expectations of males or females?Why do some people binge drink?Is the current ‘coward’s punch’ campaign effective?Is the Commonwealth Bank really the most trusted Australian brand?

Finally, some weird researchSee http://www.improbable.com/ig/winners/

• David Schmidt for his partial solution to the question of why shower curtains billow inwards.

• Steven Stack and James Gundlachs’ (2004) found listening to country music makes it more likely that you’ll kill yourself

• Vicki Silvers Gier and David Kreiner’s (2002) - The Effects of Pre-Existing Inappropriate Highlighting on Reading Comprehension (no effects)

• Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognising One’s Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments, – aka the redneck effect – found that if someone isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, they’re likely to think they’re a razor.

• In 2009 University of Bern, Switzerland, found – by experiment – whether it’s better to be smashed over the head with a full bottle of beer or with an empty bottle.

• Team from the Netherlands, Belgium and some Aussies, who confirmed what we all know: priorities shift when you need to pee.

• In 2001, the Australian government awarded John Keogh a patent for a circular transportation device… called…