mass-communication-theory

THINKING
about
THEORY
school—began to lose their powerful positions in people’s socialization (and
therefore in limiting media effects).
Finally, Klapper might have erred in equating reinforcement with no effects. Even
if it were true that the most media can do is reinforce existing attitudes and beliefs,
this is hardly the same as saying they have no effect. You’ll see in Chapter 8, as you
did in the Chapter 4 discussion of contemporary propaganda theory, that many contemporary
critical scholars see this as media’s most negative influence. The box entitled
“Joseph Klapper’s Phenomenistic Theory” presents Klapper’s own explanation of
his theory and asks you to assess it in light of some recent momentous events.
Joseph Klapper’s own summary of his reinforcement,
or phenomenistic, theory makes it clear that his ideas
are very much at home in the limited-effects perspective.
The following is drawn directly from his landmark
work, The Effects of Mass Communication, published
in 1960 (p. 8).
JOSEPH KLAPPER’S PHENOMENISTIC THEORY
Theoretical Statements
1. Mass communication ordinarily does not serve
as a necessary and sufficient cause of audience
effects but, rather, functions among and
through a nexus of mediating factors and
influences.
2. These mediating factors are such that they
typically render mass communication a
contributing agent, but not the sole cause,
in a process of reinforcing the existing
conditions.
3. On those occasions that mass communication
does function to cause change, one of two
conditions is likely to exist:
a. The mediating factors will be found to be
inoperative and the effect of the media will
be found to be direct.
b. The mediating factors, which normally favor
reinforcement, will be found to be themselves
impelling toward change.
4. There are certain residual situations in which
mass communication seems to produce direct
effects, or directly and of itself to serve certain
psychophysical functions.
5. The efficacy of mass communication, either as a
contributory agent or as an agent of direct effect,
is affected by various aspects of the media and
Chapter 6 The Rise of Limited-Effects Theory 165
communications themselves or of the communication
situation.
Your Turn
Can you find hints in Klapper’s overviewofhistheory’s
links to the dominant perspective of its time? Can you
identify his subtle explanation of why advertising
seems to work, an important point to make for a fine
scientist who was also chief researcher for broadcast
network CBS? After reading his summary of phenomenistic
theory, can you explain why it remains, even
today, the clearest and most used articulation of media’s
limited effects? Based on point number 3 in
Klapper’s summary, can you develop an explanation
for the power of media during times of war, for example
in the Middle East? Are the factors that normally
mediate the power of media “inoperative”? Or are
these factors “themselves impelling toward change”?
List some of the factors that normally mediate the
power of media. These would include things like personal
relationships with friends and family, relationships
with opinion leaders, contacts with teachers
and classmates, or contacts with church members
or religious leaders. Klapper would likely label the
power demonstrated by media during war and occupation
as an anomaly—an exception to the rule that
media power is constantly checked by “a nexusof
mediating factors and influences.” Do you agree?
How would he (and you) explain the precipitous drop
in support for the conflict in Iraq after broadcast and
publication of the horrific images of detainee abuse at
Abu Ghraib prison (Time/CNN, 2004), if not a media
effect? Would you argue that media have somehow
become more powerful since Klapper developed his
theory in the 1940s? If so, how?
Copyright 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.