why we fight / the people's choice

Summing up The Payne Fund Studies

Movies were proven to shape the perception and attitudes of children. This study has ongoing influence today (immediately started ratings system)
Reinforced racist attitudes—p.31 Birth of the Nation—change in attitude toward African-Americans.
Could confront racist assumptions if sympathetic.—Attitude Toward the Chinese p,31.
Thus single pictures could change attitudes and effects could be immediate as well cumulative and persistent.
(Again, co-factors were not examined—were racist attitudes being reinforced in primary and secondary group?)
Study did not look at children’s social relationship and did not differentiate between them.
Did not look at co-factors such as effect on sleep in orphans after watching horror movies.
Blumer “anticipated two theories of mass communication influence that have become more systematically developped in recent years. One is the ‘meaning’ theory of media portrayals advanced by DeFleur and Dennis. This other is the modeling theory of Albert Banduara.” Media provides content that user interpret and apply to their own lives; media provides models for behavior that users imitate.
Later, media theorist began to see that media provides USES and GRATIFICATIONS.
Payne Fund Studies established media research as a serious scientific field. With its experimental, quantitative, and survey methodology, it influenced how researchers developped, proved, and disproved theories of media usage, and the effects that various media had on the user, even though its own conclusions have not passed the test of time.
Nevertheless within the context of the 1920s, the Payne Fund Studies showed that “films were an influence on attitudes, they provoked models for behaviors ; they shaped interpretations of life” (42)


THE PEOPLE’S CHOICE—


ORIGIN OF OPINION LEADERSHIP THEORY
I. The People's Choice Study –Erie County, election in 1940 between Wilkie and Roosevelt
The two-step flow of communication hypothesis was first introduced by Paul Lazarsfeld, Bernard Berelson, and Hazel Gaudet in The People's Choice, a 1944 study focused on the process of decision-making during a Presidential election campaign
Several factors contributed to this "strong effects" theory of communication (14, on-line), including:
\-the fast rise and popularization of radio; War of thgw Worlds
-the emergence of the persuasion industries, such as advertising and propaganda,-The Payne Fund studies of the 20/30s-Hitler's monopolization of the mass media
The People's Choice study examined the effects of mass media (specifically radio, television and newspapers) on political behavior, which became the decisive end of the hypodermic needle theory and the beginning of the two-step flow model (21, p. 285).
The study involved a panel of 600 voters from Erie County, Ohio. Country was chosen because it usually voted for the president.
Homogenous. Urban/rural
Sampling—scientific method used to pick interviewees not a convenience sample.
\Panel design—to study sample over time, during the long course of a presidential campaign; Main panel interviewed every month
Control groups (3) interviewed once just before election, just after Rep convention, and after Dem convention.
Followed longitudinally. When did people pay attention?
Role of social status?
Why are some undecided?
What role does media and propaganda play in decisions?
The voters were interviewed at intervals throughout the campaign to determine what factors had the greatest influence on their decision-making. Although the study was designed to demonstrate the impact of the media in influencing voting decisions, the findings reported in The People's Choice indicated the flow of mass communications may be less direct and powerful than previously assumed (27, pp. 11-12), thus a "weak effects" theory of communication was born (14, on-line). Three main ideas were highlighted in The People's Choice report (27, pp. 12-13):
FINDINGS:
\1. High in socioeconomic level (SES) more likely to vote Republican
2. Blue collar less likely to vote Rep; white collar more likely
3. self identification makes a diff. bus class tend to vote Rep. if self-ID blue collar, democratic (regardless of occupation)
4. Religious category influence. Catholics more DEM; Prots more Rep.
5. DEMS younger in both categories of Christians.
Rural more Repub
INDEX OF POLITICAL PREDISPOTIONS—IPP
Likely voting character based upon age, religion, self-ID, profession.
Six categories
Strongly rep mod rep slightly rep slightly dem mod dem strong dem
Political predispositions could be identified and accurate. Voters tend to the center, but maintain allegiance to a Party.
High ses and educ level, more interest and predisposition.
Age-older voters more interested
Gender-men more than women
More interest earlier voting decision.
Cross pressures in IPP (rich Catholic, poor farmer) delays voter decision.
28% cystallizers. Solidified decision late
\15% waiverers. Made tentative decision then switched
8% party changers—started out w/decision but were persuaded. This is the key group that campaign ads can influence.
MAJOR EFFECTS OF MEDIA CAMPAIGN
Activation—activate latent predispositions. Takes place in steps.
1. propaganda arouses interest
2. increased interest brings increased exposure
3. increased attention causes the voter to select information.
4. Votes crystallize. Latent becomes manifest.

Reinforcement.
Campaigners need to reinforce voters predispotions.
Provide continuing flow of partisan arguments.

CONversion.
Voters can desert their candidate, but highly qualified yes.
Only less interested voters are usually converted.

OVERall effects
Speeches, editorials, magazine articles, radio talks, have three overall effects.
Activate indifferent voters w/predispositions
Reinforce the partisans
Convert the doubtful

Political messages are designed:
To corral the timid
Leading the willing
Convince the reluctant
But who listens and who reads—concentration of exposure—Very selective.
Further disproval of magic bullet theory.

RADIO was playing a bigger role than researchers initially imagined. And more used by the DEMS (not true today). Less literate users. Bypass the monopolies of the PRINT Press.

Also researchers realized the importance of personal influence and the two-step flow.
1. The impact of personal influence in the decision-making process, which "led the researchers to conclude that personal contacts appear to have been more frequent and more effective than mass media in determining voting decisions" (27, p. 12).2. The flow of personal influence was determined by the researchers to be "activated by certain individuals who were to be found on every level of society and, presumably, were very much like the people whom they influenced" (27, p. 12).3. The relationship between the mass media and opinion leaders was determined by the researchers to be a two-step flow of communication. "Ideas often flow from radio and print to opinion leaders [who were more exposed to the mass media] and from them to the less active sections of the population" (27, pp. 12-13).
Despite a number of criticisms by subsequent researchers, The People's Choice study is considered one of the most prominent studies in mass communication research due to its comparison between the mass media and personal flow of information and influence -- the oversimplification of the two-step flow
Subsequent research, such as the Decatur study, implemented a more systematic and thorough methodology aimed at identifying opinion leaders and their role in the flow of communications.

II. ORIGIN OF OPINION LEADERSHIP THEORYThe Decatur Study
Media not as all powerful as once thought. Published in 1955
Effects may be minor.
More complex than argued by earlier social scientists.
Revisiting Cooley’s idea of the primary group. Urban users of media not as alienated as thought, but interconnected. Not victims of the all powerful media. effects of media are themselves mediated by social milieu, social connections.
Mass communication as a process not as sender and receiver dyad.
The Decatur Study, named after Decatur, Illinois applied more systematic measures and examined both the relationships of opinion leaders with their followers and the media. Decatur was chosen as a result of its demographics, social and economic structure, population composition, mass communication usage patterns, and the general quality of community life. The study included women residents (aged 16 and over), who were interviewed twice - once in June and again in August - to track changes in prior decisions. Four specific areas of daily decision-making were the focus of the study:
1. Marketing (foods, household products, small consumer goods)2. Fashion (clothing, hair styles, cosmetics)3. Public Affairs (political and social issues)4. Movie-going (choices among movies offered)
If changes in decisions were noted between the first and second interview, "careful probing was employed to identify the sources that influenced the decision. By isolating specific changes of opinion and digressing to the influences that allegedly produced them, the researchers located the individuals who were mentioned more frequently as sources of influence"
The study identified opinion leaders by two methods.
1. The first was through the testimony of the followers
2. self-designation, where each participant was asked about her influenceability. The study found 693 "self-detected" opinion leaders, who Katz and Lazarsfeld used for continued research. Three significant factors related to the positioning and functioning of opinion leaders was documented:
1. Position on the social ladder (i.e. social status),2. Position in the "life-cycle," and3. Gregariousness.
Within the area of Marketing, Katz and Lazarsfeld found opinion leaders to be distributed across all levels of social status (high, middle and low), with tendencies toward a horizontal flow of communication, rather than vertical. Prior to the Decatur study, the flow of influence was presumed to be a vertical process, which would be reflected by a proportionately larger number of opinion leaders in "high" social status positions. Thus it was determined women turn to other women within their same social status for advice, as opposed to seeking out women of higher social status. Also there working class and middle class opinion leaders.
Fashion younger woman (the marriage game). Older women less concerned. Fashion was a way to “catch” a man.
Movies especially important for the young (still are). Movies also have a phatic quality. They encourage communication.
Public affairs opinion leaders do have verticality—influenced those beneath them in the social ladder. Opinion leaders were men.
Katz and Lazarsfeld also concluded opinion leaders concentrated among large-family wives. Finally, the researchers determined "highly gregarious women more likely to be opinion leaders." This finding was somewhat expected as opinion leaders are found to exercise their particular influence through their social ties.
Used probability sampling from entire 80,000 population.
This study was the first to focus on social relationships and their role in the mass communication process rather than trying to identify the effect on the individual.
Conclusion and implications
The effects of mass media are themselves mediated—by social relationships.
There is no direct causal relationship of media to users .Experience and social standing and connections always intervene.
Although the study failed to exactly trace the route from media to opinion leader to followers, it did further disprove “the validity of the idea that mass communications should be feared” for its immense and immediate effects.
From Klapper’s 1958 book”The Effects of Mass Media”
1. Media has less power than assumed. No case can be made for cause-effect relationships
2. although studies have shown that messages have effects, they are mnor.
3. conditions under which these messages have effects are far more complex than previously believed.

CHAPTER 7 WHY We FIGHT
The government recruited well-known filmmaker Frank Capra to create the infamous "Why We Fight" series of 12 documentaries aimed at increasing troop morale and support for the war. The "Why We Fight" experiments looked at the effects these films had on 200,000 soldiers, and they are the most famous and influential of all of Carl Hovland’s research efforts.
Design of the study—before/after w/ control group and experimental group. Use of questionnaires. Same questionnaire handed out twice, soldiers told they had to redo surveys.
Control group/experimental group--In a trial of a drug or an experimental procedure, a group matched with the experimental group in all respects except the factor under investigation. A control group is an essential part of the scientific research method because it ensures that any changes observed in an experimental group are due solely to the drug or experimental procedure and not to any other factors.
In the hovland/why we fight studies the experimental group viewed the films; the control group did not.

The films were intended to foster:
A firm belief in the right of the cause.
a realization that hard work lies ahead
a confidence in our own ability as well as in our leaders to do the job
a confidence in our allies
a resentment against our enemies
a belief that through victory our political goals are realized and the world is better.

Research questions of the study itself (focusing on Battle of Britain):
Was the film effective in improving factual knowledge?
Did the content of the film change opinions and interpretations?
Did the film improve the general attitudes of the soldiers toward allies?
Did the film improve overall motivation?
Answers:
yes, film had impact on facts—soldiers understood why Britain won its air battle.
yes, but difference between control and experiment group was not as great as in 1.
film had little impact on the general attitudes of the soldiers
film was ineffective in strengthening overall motivation.

Implications:
film, esp the documentary form, is good for teaching
film can help to shape specific opinions
film has limited effects when it comes to more general opinions
film, at least the documentary form, does not create patriotism/nationalism (cf the poetic vision of Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will)

(could be a sleeper effect in terms of motivation)

the assumption behind this research—changes in opinion are “keys to changing overt behavior.” What we think changes how we act.

--experiments also showed that more intelligent (or more edumucated) soldiers learned more from the films, analyzed the ideas more thoroughly, and were more persuaded by two-sided arguments than one-sided ones.
--Hovland discovered that one-sided arguments were more persuasive with people who initially agreed with the government’s viewpoint, but two-sided arguments were much more effective in persuading people who initially disagreed. Asked: is persuasion more effective when also present counterargument? (arguing that the war might go on in the Pacific after it was over in Europe.)
Suggestion this approach could backfire and confuse those who are not so educated.
Hovland concluded from his experiments that although the media can present facts, different people will have different reactions to the same information.
-Therefore, media effects depend on factors other than mere factual information, including the audience members’ intelligence and previous beliefs.
-These findings have had an enormous impact on many facets of the communications field.
-They must take the audience members’ personal attributes into account and tailor their messages accordingly.
-Communicators from all aspects of the media field, including public relations, advertising, grassroots protest movements, and other communication-based groups have applied Hovland’s findings to their work.
This all led to a limited effects theory.
What do you remember from last week’s class.

From the magic bullet theory to magic keys

From the pessimistic view of propaganda (Lasswell Lippman) to the opportunities of persuasion. From industry criticism to industry advisor (Hovland, Lazarsfeld)

From an assumption of urban isolation to a recognition of the role of social relationships in media usership.