Shifts in Modern Media Theory

1481 Words6 Pages
The theories that are enthralled with diagnosing correlations between media effects and audience activity, have constantly evolved since the first effects model was established in the 1940’s. Subsequently, three key paradigmatic shifts have occurred in response to increased substantiation and changes in researcher’s approaches to the topic. The first shift occurred between the original powerful effects model to the limited effects tradition, which then shifted to the new effects model and finally the more contemporary new audience studies theory, illustrating that there has been a significant transforming of perspectives in relation to this research. In modern society the media is effectively one powerful institution that affects the lives of everyone regularly, with one of the main influencers being television viewing and its content. As suggested by the Cultivation Theory this can create major misconceptions about reality for its viewers namely in regard to crime, which is a case-study that is illustrative of a more current media situation and the reaction of its audience. The first theory to develop was the powerful effects model otherwise known as the hypodermic needle or bullet theory (Severin & Tankard 262) which saw media audiences as being simple-minded and unreactive figures who absorbed the messages being broadcast to them uncritically and unreservedly. Therefore it was assumed that the media automatically had a direct influence on the behaviour of its audience. This encouraged researcher’s to discover to what extent causality existed between the messages of mass communication and viewers subsequent behavioural changes. (Thompson 4:9) Micro-level laboratory studies were conducted in order to prove this such as the Bobo Doll experiment. It was greatly regarded as unreliable despite Bandura’s claims that children who observed and were exposed to the violent
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