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Mass communication began when humans could transmit messages from a single source to multiple receivers. Mass communication has moved from theories including the hypodermic needle model (or magic bullet theory) to more modern theories such as computer-mediated communication. [citation needed]
A similar theory that examines media's effects on individuals is the magic bullet theory. It is one of the first theories concerning mass communication. It is a linear model of communication concerned with audiences directly influenced by mass media and the media's power over them.
These leaders tend to influence others to change their attitudes and behaviors. The two-step theory refined the ability to predict how media messages influence audience behavior and explains why certain media campaigns do not alter audiences' attitudes. This hypothesis provided a basis for the two-step flow theory of mass communication. [9]
The hypodermic needle model (known as the hypodermic-syringe model, transmission-belt model, or magic bullet theory) is claimed to have been a model of communication in which media consumers were "uniformly controlled by their biologically based 'instincts' and that they react more or less uniformly to whatever 'stimuli' came along".
The book details basic communication models (Lasswell model, Shannon and Weaver's model, Gerbner's model), theories of media, audience-centered models, and mass media systems in general. In textbook style, the book outlines each topic: it is a compilation of existing communication theories with the author's own thoughts.
Communication theories vary substantially in their epistemology, and articulating this philosophical commitment is part of the theorizing process. [1] Although the various epistemic positions used in communication theories can vary, one categorization scheme distinguishes among interpretive empirical, metric empirical or post-positivist, rhetorical, and critical epistemologies. [13]
Most theorists identify Schramm's model with his 1954 book The process and effects of mass communication and present it as a reaction to earlier models developed in the late 1940s. [2] [3] [15] However, marketing scholar Jim Blythe argues that Schramm's model is of earlier origin and was already present in Schramm's 1949 [a] book Mass ...
[3] Similarly, Cooley asserts that political communication makes public opinion possible, which in turn promotes democracy. Each of these authors represent the Chicago School's attention to electronic communication as a facilitator of democracy, its faith in the informed electorate, and its focus on the individual as opposed to the mass.