Beth Fly, Horacio Reyes, Hunter Rowe

Theories of MassCommunication

Index

• What is mass

communication?

• Technological

Determinism

• Critical Assessment

• Cultivation Theory

• Critical Assessment

• Closing

• Game

“present views of human

beings, cultural

events, and social life.

…mass media

”

Technological

Determinism

• Marshall Mcluhan, the “Oracle of the

Electronic age” and “Prophet of the Media”

• Deterministic theories claim that a single

cause or phenomenon determines other

aspects of life

• “The theory of technological determinism

states that technology—specifically, media—

decisively shapes how individuals

think, feel, and act and how societies organize

themselves and operate.”

Media History of

Human Civilization

• McLuhan states that history can be

divided in four distinct media epochs

Tribal Epoch Literate Epoch Print Epoch Electronic Epoch

2.000 B.C. A.D. 1450 A.D. 1850

The Tribal Epoch

• Communication consisted of face to face

interactions

• The reliance on spoken word made oral

cultures cohesive

• Some preliterate groups remain, such as the

Hmong of Laos

The Literate Epoch

• The invention of the phonetic alphabet

facilitated the literate epoch.

• The literate epoch used symbols that

allowed people to communicate without

face-to-face interaction.

• Sight replaced hearing as dominant sense

• According to Mcluhan, the continuous

sequential order of written communication

cultivated linear thinking and logic.

The Print Epoch

• Previously, there was no way

to mass produce the written

word.

• The print epoch began when

Johann Gutenberg invented

the printing press.

• Reading was no longer

restricted to the elite.

The Electronic Epoch

• The telegraph was the forerunner of the

electronic epoch.

• According to Mcluhan, electronic media

revived the oral tradition and the

preeminence of hearing and touch.

• People are no longer separated from each

other by distance.

The Medium Is the

Message/Massage

• McLuhan’s best known idea is that “the

medium is the message”.

• Content is not irrelevant, but not as important

as the form or medium of communication.

• “The medium is the massage”.

• Media manipulate how we perceive

ourselves, others, society, and the world

Hot and Cool Media

• Hot media include relatively complete

sensory data.

• Cool media demand involvement from

individuals.

• Mcluhan believed that hot media

encourage individuals to be passive.

• Cool media require

imagination, effort, and emotional

involvement.

Critical Assessment of

Technological Determinism

• Lack of Empirical Support

• Hyperbolic Speculation

• Overly Deterministic

Lack of Empirical Support

• Convincing research has not been produced

in support of McLuhan’s claims.

• Lack of evidence to support McLuhan’s

theory led to a communication professor

named George Gordon branding his work

“McLuhanacy”

Hyperbolic Speculation

• Criticized for exaggeration

• Reading is still a major activity in developed

countries

• Implies linear logic as inferior

Overly Deterministic

• Implies humans are passive victims of mass

media.

• Could lead to self fulfilling prophecy

• Obscures the complex variables that play a

role in how we think as individuals and how

we organize social life

Cultivation Theory

• George Gerbner

• Television cultivates an innacurate reflection of

real life

• Cultivation is the cumulative process

by which television fosters beliefs about

social reality”

“

Breaking down the theory

• “Cultivation is the cumulative process by

which television fosters beliefs about

social reality”

• Television and reality

Violence on television

• 57% of all programs include at least some

violence.

• Only 10% of recorded crimes are violent in

nature.

• Abnormal over Normal

The Power of Synthetic Reality

• “Children who watched commercial television had

notably more sex-stereotypical views of women

and men than children who didn’t watch

commercial television (Kimball, 1986).”

How does it work?

• Mainstreaming

-Stabilize and homogenize views within a society.

• Resonance

-Congruent with personal experience.

Television forms the Cultural

Mainstream

• Because it is uniquely accessible to most

people, television forms the cultural

mainstream, or the general view of life in the

society.

• The three B’s: blurring, blending, and bending

Critical Assessment of

Cultivation Theory

• Weak Support

• Incompatibilities

• Neglects Individual Variation

• Correlation Vs. Cause; Cause Vs. Effect

Conclusion

• Technological determinism explains that the

dominant media affects how we think, process

information and communicate.

• Cultivation Theory places emphasis on

television and how it is uniquely influential as a

socializing agent of the culture.

• Commonalities?

• Differences?

Key Terms

• Cool media

• Cultivation

• Cultivation theory

• Cultural mainstream

• Electronic epoch

• Hot media

• Literate epoch

• Mainstreaming

• Mass communication

• Mean world syndrome

• Multitasking

• Print epoch

• Resonance

• Technological

determinism

• Tribal epoch