CMNS1234 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Cultivation Theory, Hypodermic Needle Model, Crowd Psychology
28 May 2018
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Persuasion, Propaganda and Effects Theory
Persuasion and Propaganda
• With the outbreak of the First World War, advertising was used to attract volunteers.
• After the First World War, the admen seemed determined to improve on the
techniques of persuasion they had deployed so successfully during the war
Harold Lasswell
• Harold Lasswell attempted to explain the workings of propaganda and draw lessons
about it from WWI.
• ideas current at this time included:
- crowd psychology;
- behaviorism
- Pavlov
- only certain primitive impulses or instincts could explain the acts of human beings
and animals.
• These approaches developed empirical methodologies inspired by the natural
sciences
• The 1930s offered Lasswell “a perfect laboratory for studying political propaganda
• Out of Lasswell’s work in the 1940s, during WWII, came one of the most famous
formulations of the communication process, that is, the formula: Who says what in
which channel to whom with what effect?
The Stimulus Response Model
• S (stimulus) → O (organism) → R (response)
• the hypodermic model = silver bullet theory of communication. It can also be traced
to Aristotle’s formulation of the constituent parts of the act of rhetoric, the art of
persuasion through speech.
• The Speaker → The Speech → The Audience
Sender → Message → Receiver
Paul Lazarsfeld and the Two Step Model
• Contrary to the then accepted hypodermic needle model of direct media influence,
the researchers found little evidence that voters were swayed by what they read or
heard
• print and electronic media influence masses of people only through an indirect two
step flow of communication
Albert Bandura and the Bo Bo Doll Experiment
• excitation transfer accounts for violent acts performed immediately after TV viewing
• social learning theory the use of force modeled on television today may erupt in
antisocial behavior years later.
George Gerbner and the Cultivation Theory
• Gerbner developed “cultivation theory, which suggests that exposure to vast
amounts of symbolic violence on the screen conditions viewers to view the world as
a mean and scary place”
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Harold lasswell: harold lasswell attempted to explain the workings of propaganda and draw lessons crowd psychology; about it from wwi. ideas current at this time included: The stimulus response model: s (stimulus) o (organism) r (response) the hypodermic model = silver bullet theory of communication. It can also be traced to aristotle"s formulation of the constituent parts of the act of rhetoric, the art of persuasion through speech: the speaker the speech the audience. Albert bandura and the bo bo doll experiment: excitation transfer accounts for violent acts performed immediately after tv viewing, social learning theory the use of force modeled on television today may erupt in antisocial behavior years later. George gerbner and the cultivation theory: gerbner developed cultivation theory, which suggests that exposure to vast amounts of symbolic violence on the screen conditions viewers to view the world as a mean and scary place .
