COM207 Abridged Guide - Lasswell, Lazarsfeld, Lewin, Hovland and Wiener Junjie ([email protected]) 1. Harold Lasswell A. Not Jew B. Trained in political science 1. Main interest in political power C. Attempts to relate Freudian psychoanalytic theory with political science resisted 2. Influenced by A. Freud 1. Psychoanalysis and political science B. Karl Marx 1. Critical of thinking that world proletarian revolution was the only possible outcome after age of capitalism had reached its zenith 2. Instead, argued that prolonged struggle between capitalist and communist nations may be so bitter only police and military could main order a) Creating a garrison state in which surveillance and repression would grip society C. George Herbert Mead 1. Use of symbols in his propaganda studies 3. Conducted 2 propaganda studies A. First qualitative and critical 1. Cited specific examples of propaganda B. Second quantitative and statistical 1. Aided US war effort by creating propaganda 4. Developed A. Content analysis as CR tool 1. Investigation of communication messages, by classifying content, to measure certain variables B. Five-questions model 1. Who, says what, to whom, in what channel, with what effects C. 3 functions of communication 1. Surveillance: Understand environment and reduce uncertainty 2. Correlation: How to think about; make sense of what is going on 3. Transmission: of cultural heritage, values, history, etc. 4. Entertainment: as fourth function added by scholars after Lasswell D. Policy science 1. An integrated approach of social sciences (political science, law, sociology, psychology) on public choice and decision making 2. To ameliorate certain political and social problems facing modern society Last updated 12/1/07 1:05:13 AM 1 4. Developed D. Policy science 1. An integrated approach of social sciences (political science, law, sociology, psychology) on public choice and decision making 2. To ameliorate certain political and social problems facing modern society 5. Impact A. Five-questions model led to emphasis on determining effects 1. Failed to include 'why' or 'noise' 2. Steered study away from other important topics 3. Assumed intentional and unidirectional communication, oriented towards a desired effect B. Pioneered content analysis methods 1. Qualitative and quantitative measurements of communication messages C. Study of propaganda as important early type of communication research 1. Impact not dissimilar to Chicago's Payne Fund studies 2. Note that communication did not exist as a discipline then yet D. Introduced Freudian psychoanalytic theory to social sciences in America 1. By using id-ego-superego via content analysis to political science problems E. Helped create policy sciences 1. An interdisciplinary movement to integrate social science knowledge with public action 6. Walter Lippmann A. Lasswell's propaganda analysis colleague B. Influential newspaper columnist C. Most influential non-academic 7. Developed A. Defined propaganda as a 1. Situation where communication flows are restricted 2. And a set of individual wishing to distort news 3. Thus barrier between actual event and public must be present for propaganda to occur B. Agenda Setting theory 1. Stereotypes as key factor in public opinion process, giving simplicity to confusion 2. 1922 Public Opinion book argued that media is principal connection between event in world and images in public's mind a) Pseudo-environment in people's mind a result of gatekeeping 3. Media help people determine knowledge (what to think about) over attitude (what to think), though a) Transfer of salience through placement and frequency b) A result of aggregate impact of very large number of messages 4. Process of media agenda setting (measured by CA) > public agenda setting > policty agenda setting 5. Proven by McCombs and Shaw's 1968 study of presidential election 8. Impact A. Indirect effects era 2 8. Impact A. Indirect effects era 1. Agenda-setting came at time when scholars dismayed at direct effects model 2. Led scholars to think about how media can have few direct effects, but strong indirect effects in influencing public agenda 9. Paul F. Lazarsfeld A. Jew 1. Blocked his career advancement a) But helped him gain the Rockefeller fellowship 2. Research Centre to be raided by Nazis 3. Wife and friends arrested 4. Gymnasium High School job lost later B. Trained in maths 1. Provided him with basic skills for his methodological expertise C. Love to work with data; methodologist 1. Preferred to work on methodologies than field of communication D. Focus on social research, and later applied research (RRP) 1. Shaped by studies of contemporary social problems at University of Vienna 2. Marienthal Study of Unemployment a) To help him gain fellowship to US E. Launched Research Centre for Economic Psychology (Vienna Research Institute) 1. To provide later communication research centre with framework of organisational form 2. To seek relief from financial problems 3. Did audience study for Radio Vienna a) First media audience study, to shape his radio research project in US F. Migrated to US with help of Robert Lynd 1. Lynd later recommended Lazarsfeld as director to RRP G. Not involved in US War efforts H. Tried bridging critical and empirical school, but failed 1. Brought Adorno in for the RRP I. From Office of Radio Research to Bureau of Applied Social Research 1. Robin hooding: shuttling funds from one study to another to pay for deficit 2. Serving two masters: applied research for corporate sponsors and later academia a) Unpopular with sociologist, who wanted academic sociology well removed from applications 3. Absence of statistical tests: exploratory research 4. Favour localised designs to random samples (? - though he was methodologist) a) Enable study of interpersonal communication and social relationships 3 9. Paul F. Lazarsfeld I. From Office of Radio Research to Bureau of Applied Social Research 4. Favour localised designs to random samples (? - though he was methodologist) a) Enable study of interpersonal communication and social relationships 10. Influenced by A. Vienna 1. Lazarsfeld home, was influenced by Freudian thought and socialism (? p. 342) B. Edward L. Bernays 1. father of PR, on his opinion leaders/two-step flow model theory 11. Researched on A. Marienthal Study of Unemployment 1. One of the first few study of unemployment 2. Provided him with academic reputation which aided in his migration to US B. From market research to political communication 1. A lot of market research on consumer behaviour a) Dependence on soft money, unlike Stanford's support for Schramm's communication school 2. Attempts to relate consumer goods and politicians resisted C. 'War of the Worlds' radio broadcast 1. Study led by Cantril, co-partner at RRP, aided by Lazarsfeld 2. Led to departure of Cantril from RRP and move to Columbia a) Disagreement over authorship of 'Invasion from Mars' study 3. Found: a) Some frightened, others not b) No single cause, contingent on other factors, e.g. education, religiosity, etc. 4. Impact: a) Bullet Theory undermined, yet perception of powerful media persist D. Erie County study (1940) 1. Longitudinal design panel study a) Conducted at monthly interval b) Enables determining of time-order of various independent variables c) Very difficult to undertake 2. Probability sampling: allows generalisation 3. Control groups: as check to people unexposed to messages 4. Deviant case analysis 5. Found: a) Most people decide early and remain unchanged, contrary to expectations (1) Three patterns of media campaign influence: activation, reinforcement, conversion (minority) b) Social categories linked to voting intentions and elections particiaptions c) Mass communication functions through a nexus of mediating factors to influence audience 4 11. Researched on D. Erie County study (1940) 5. Found: b) Social categories linked to voting intentions and elections particiaptions c) Mass communication functions through a nexus of mediating factors to influence audience d) Launched era of limited (and indirect) effects in mass communication (1) Media expected to have direct and powerful effects, but not true (2) Only persuaded a few (opinion leaders), who magnified the effect through interpersonal communication with their 'followers' E. Two-step flow model (as a result of limited effects) 1. Interpersonal communication => Mass media a) Contradicts prevalent fear of impact of mass communication 2. Media influence is indirect; through opinion leaders 3. Problems: a) active/passive dichotomy b) dubious classification of opinion leaders c) discounting direct effects of media 4. Found: Media effects not automatic, all powerful, but contingent on various factors F. Decatur Study (1945) 1. Study of influential by Wright Mills a) Recognition that interpersonal communication was very important 2. Found a) Media provided information, but individuals only motivated to act when information is transmitted interpersonally 12. Developed A. Question-and-interviewing design B. Cross tabulation; early proponent of triangulation 1. Use of multiple methods of measurement, data gathering and analysis to obtain many-sided view 2. Sought to combine qualitative with quantitative C. Lazarsfeld-Stanton Program Analyser 1. Enabled measuring of audience responses while they still remember a) To be adopted by advertising agencies later D. Focus group interviewing 1. Allow eliciting of qualitative data, to probe reasons for likes and dislikes E. Deviant case analysis 1. Strategy for examining unusual/uncommon cases that does not does not conform to relationship characterising most others F. By Herta Herzog: Uses and Gratification 1. "Soap operas" study of gratification obtained by housewives a) Inverted media effects paradigm 5 12. Developed F. By Herta Herzog: Uses and Gratification 1. "Soap operas" study of gratification obtained by housewives a) Inverted media effects paradigm b) People not interested in what media do to people; but what people make of media 13. Impact A. Initiated media effects tradition 1. Became dominant paradigm in US mass communications research B. Led to era of minimal, limited and indirect media effects 1. Media ineffective in changing people's thinking 2. Effects not automatic, all-powerful, but functions through a nexus of mediating factors to influence ors C. Advanced communication research methods 1. e.g. deviant-case analysis, triangulation, focus group interviewing 2. Transformed public opinion polling methods from descriptive to survey analysis D. Created prototype of research institutes 1. Imitated the organisational structure at Bureau of Applied Social Research at Columbia University E. Pioneered studying role of interpersonal vs mass media communication 1. Opinion leadership 2. Two-step flow of communication F. Similarity between market research and mass communication research 1. Lazarsfeld founded both fields 2. Bureau's emphasis on specific, measurable, individual, behavioural and attitudinal short-term effects stem from marketers desire to sell their products 14. Criticisms A. Abstracted empiricism 1. Focus too much on stuff he can measure, data 2. Too abstract, drawn away from real world social problems, like those Chicago scholars studied B. Overemphasis on individual effect 1. Than on societal level C. Entrepreneurial role 1. Sociologists wanted practical application well separated from academic sociology D. Bureaucratisation of social research 1. Bureau's studies were cluttered with facts and contain little observations by researchers 15. Robert Merton A. Key member of the Bureau of Applied Social Research B. Theoretically-inclined 1. Well matched for Lazarsfeld the methodologist C. Diplomatic skills helped extricate Lazarsfeld from problems with others 16. Researched on 6 15. Robert Merton C. Diplomatic skills helped extricate Lazarsfeld from problems with others 16. Researched on A. Self-fulfilling prophecy 1. Working unconsciously to attain a certain view, once held B. Theories of the middle range 1. Range of abstraction 2. Low, descriptive and non-theoretical; high, abstract and untestable 3. To focus ont heories that can be empirically examined and tested C. Narcotising dysfunction 1. People surround themselves with media for survellance, believing they're actually doing something, but not 2. Similar to Marx's false consciousness a) too much information out there, sense of engagement/participation, but doesn't mean actively involved D. Pseudo-Gemeinschaft 1. False sense of community, belonging (also false consciousness?) 2. Study of how popular singer Kate Smith's broadcast for 18 hours brought in $39 million purchases and pledges for US war bonds 3. Findings: a) Media can have direct effects on a massive scale (vs Bureau's findings of limited/indirect effects), (1) when persuasive messages are highly emotional, and (2) come from a source made credible by sentiments 17. Kurt Lewin A. Jew 1. Persecuted like Lazarsfeld 2. Marginal university status 3. Prejudice influenced his scholarly interests later (see Influenced by) B. Nazi authoritarian rule shifted his intellectual interests 1. Mother died in Nazi concentration camp 2. Became interested in group influences on individual behaviour (see Influenced by) C. Experimental Psychologist at University of Berlin 1. Experimental and gestalt approach to psychology a) Examines holistically by filling in partial lack of information to form overall impression D. Differ from Berlin Gestaltist 1. Gestaltists focus on individual perception and learning 2. Lewin focuses on needs, personality and social factors a) in forces leading to individual action (field theory) 7 17. Kurt Lewin D. Differ from Berlin Gestaltist 2. Lewin focuses on needs, personality and social factors a) in forces leading to individual action (field theory) E. Dependent on soft money for research 1. Like Lazarsfeld's Bureau 2. Came with strings attached: e.g. expectation of a solution to a practical problem a) May have influenced him towards applied/action research F. Applied/action research did not earn him respect he felt he deserved in US psychology 1. Interested and involved in application, which took up much of his time 2. Resisted by other psychologists of his day (like other sociologists and Lazarsfeld) 3. Belief that applying a theory can test its validity 4. Thus both practical and theoretical, though his research still driven by theory than data G. Easy going and engaging; free of status consciousness H. Totally rejected the German norms of learning concerning student-professor contact 1. Inspired doctoral students, who went on to spread his ideas I. Thinking-by-talking approach 1. Encouraged open discussion with his doctoral students on their research in quasselstripe groups he formed at each of the universities he taught J. Enlisted as German solider in WW1 K. Moved to MIT from Iowa in 1945 1. Due to inhospitable climate from criticisms of frequent absences, and from Clark Hull followers 2. Formed the Research Centre for Group Dynamics (RCGD) 18. Influenced by A. His prior study 1. Medicine, maths and especially physics, where he adopted many concepts to his field theory B. Gestalt-orientation 1. Concern with coherent wholes C. Intellectual shift with persecution and his move to America 1. From individualistic psychology to social psychology of small-group a) e.g. from Zeigarnik effects to group dynamics 2. Focus on group influences on individual behaviour, e.g. self-hatred among minority group a) e.g. sweetbreads, leadership style studies 3. Focus on social and human communication problems a) e.g. prejudice, race relations, authoritarian leadership, status of women b) and less on individual learning-and-perception psychology by Berlin Gestaltist at Berlin University 4. Focus on applied problems a) e.g. wartime field experiments (sweetbreads) 19. Researched on 8 18. Influenced by C. Intellectual shift with persecution and his move to America 4. Focus on applied problems a) e.g. wartime field experiments (sweetbreads) 19. Researched on A. Self-hatred among minority group, such as Jews 1. No member of minority group allowed to leave, due to greater power of majority group a) Such frustration turns individual against his own group and himself B. Leadership Style Studies 1. Conducted by his doctoral student Ronald Lippitt 2. Politically motivated by prejudice and persecution by authoritarian Nazis 3. Compare performance of making theatrical masks by four groups of 11-year-old boys under different leadership style a) High degree of control (authoritarian) vs low degree of control (democratic and laissez-faire) 4. 2 studies conducted a) First study (Authoritarian vs Democratic) (1) Autocratic group less happy, less productive, more scapegoating, more aggressive, more individualistic with little regard for group goals or interests of others (2) Democratic group friendlier with each other and showed more group spirit (3) Flaws i) Small sample size ii) No random assignment iii) But overlooked due to relevance of topic during Hitler's invasion b) Second study (Authoritarian vs Democratic vs Laissez-faire) (1) Added laissez-faire, 'janitor' criticism, switching of groups (2) Findings i) Happiness and productivity: democratic > laissez-faire > authoritarian ii) Members of laissez-faire that came from authoritarian group frightened iii) All but one of the 20 boys prefer democratic group (3) Flaws i) Still small sample size, insufficient for statistical test of significance ii) Fail to account for order effect C. Changing Food Habits/sweetbreads study 1. Use of lecture vs discussion style to encourage consumption of undesirable glandular meat 2. Findings: Only 3% of lecture vs 32% of discussion participants served the meat 3. Flaws: a) Different person who conducted lecture and group discussion b) Lecture-style did not include public commitment by showing hands, c) nor where they informed of follow-up 4. Developed 3-step model for behaviour change and gatekeeping theory 9 19. Researched on C. Changing Food Habits/sweetbreads study 3. Flaws: c) nor where they informed of follow-up 4. Developed 3-step model for behaviour change and gatekeeping theory D. Harwood Pajama Factory studies 1. Participatory management as means of bringing about change 2. Employees attain production goals set by themselves rather than by factory 3. Involving employees in discussion of changes help maintain productivity E. Westgate study of communication network (Leon Festinger) 1. Study of communication links of all married couples in Westgate apartments at MIT 2. Significance: non-laboratory study by an experimental researcher 3. Physical/spatial distance a major/main determinant in where a dyadic link occured F. Network research (Alex Bavelas) 1. Examine performance in solving group problems of experimentally-created networks with different levels of restrictions a) e.g. wheel > star > chain 2. Found: networks with less restrictive communication had higher performance, though star outperformed wheel due to information overload 20. Developed A. Field theory 1. Metatheory, a grand theory. Not theory of middle range. 2. Behaviour as determined by totality of an individual’s situation 3. Study of individual in his field (lifespace) as a result of forces in his immediate surroundings 4. Defined human behaviour as a function of individual (e.g. needs, personality) and his immediate environment (social factors) a) Underlying needs and subjective experience 5. Borrowed concepts from physics: field, valence, vector, barrier 6. Combined humanistic with scientific research a) Personally debrief respondents to understand their perceptions of their behaviour 7. At cross with with Clark Hull's behaviourism, centred on S-R learning B. Gatekeeping theory 1. Control flow of messages in a channel 2. Originated from housewives controlling food in families in sweetbreads study C. 3-step model for behaviour change 1. Unfreezing (process of disconfirming a person’s former belief system), moving, freezing 2. Group discussion and public commitment of discussion-style sweetbreads study had freezing effect D. Group dynamics 1. Legacy a) From a training programme to encourage group discussion and decision making, where its 10 participants could treat each other as peers