H.F Skinner (Operant conditioning) – no person has free will, schedule of reward is shown in his study, the fiction of free will means that an individual believes their actions determine an outcome whereas in reality the causes for these outcomes are external factors.
Propaganda is a manipulative and influential way of expressing opinions based on a authorities or publishers interests.
Persuasion
Harold Lasswell – Involved in WW1, wrote a book called “Propaganda technique in the world war” this book highlighted the “subtle poison” injected into the veins of staggering people until they are knocked into submission.
Hypodermic model – Suggest that we have a passive audience that are spoon fed by the media, relates to direct injection.
The Age of Surveillance, by Shoshana Zuboff explain that behaviour control technology is linked with conditioning, “technology has begun to develop new methods off behavior controlcapable of not just altering just an individuals actions nut his very personality and manner of thinking… the behavoural technology being developed in the United States today touches upon the most basic sources of individuality
-Bf Skinner: Operant Conditioning- Suggests we don’t have a free will ‘the fiction of free will’ – he’s deterministic suggesting that the environment has an effect on our behaviour and other outside factors are the reasoning for our behaviour making us not responsible for what we do.
-Schedule of reward- Instant gratification
Propaganda and Persuasion
Harold Lasswell- Involved in 1st world war- ‘Subtle Poison’ something injected into the veins of people
Hypodermic Model- Suggests we have a passive audience, spoon fed by media
Shoshana Zuboff- Speaks about behaviour management to persuade people to interact with certain types of behaviour
Cambridge Analytica-Alexander Nix
Early theoretical work on the relationship (or effects) of media consumption are often traced back to Harold Lasswell, who developed the theoretical tool of ‘content analysis’ and in 1927 wrote Propaganda Technique in the World War.
Shannon Weaver-1949- Developed and Criticized that model^– Maybe the message won’t go through ‘noise’-
Paul Lazerfeld-1948- 2 Step Flow– Tell one person they then tell other people- Those who interpret media messages first and then relay them back to a bigger audience.
Uses and Gratifications- Katz, Gurevietch, Haas- (1973)
Cultivation Theory- George Gerbner and Larry Gross and others worked on a large-scale, positivist, in-depth, longitudinal study into the effects of television, which started in 1975.
The Theory of Preferred Reading- Stuart Hall– Was developing a critical theory that looked to analyse mass media communication and popular culture as a way of both uncovering the invidious work of the State and Big Business, as well as looking for ways of subverting that process.
Clay Shirky-The End of Audience– To bring this summary of different audience approaches towards a conclusion, would be to look at Clay Shirky‘s notion of the end of audience. Because what could happen if, instead of the choice of three subject positions as offered by the theory of preferred reading, there were limitless, individual subject positions available to all of us, at any time, in any place, from any perspective?
B.F Skinner operant conditioning “The fiction of free will” and schedule of reward
Progaganda Vs Persuasion
Propaganda is the expression of opinions or actions carried out by individuals or groups with a view to influence the opinions or actions of other individuals or groups for predetermined ends through psychological manipulations.
Hypodermic Model= The hypodermic needle model is a model of communication suggesting that an intended message is directly received and wholly accepted by the receiver
Direct Injection= (in diesel engines) the use of a pump to spray fuel into the cylinder at high pressure, without the use of compressed air.
Passive Audience= A passive audience is an audience that merely observes and event rather than actively responding it. There’s been a few studies done on what is called the ‘audience effect’. Those studies seem to show that a passive audienceworks well for some performers that don’t require a whole lot of skill.
Harold Lasswell- Propaganda technique in the world war (1927) highlighted the brew of ‘subtle poison, which industrious men injected into the veins of a staggering people until the smashing powers knocked them out of submission’
Individuality and personal freedom vs behaviour modification
technology has begun to develop new methods of behaviour control capable of altering not just an individual’s actions but his very personality and matter of thinking
the behavioural technology being developed in the United States today touches upon the most basic sources of individuality and the very core of personal freedom
the most serious threat is the power this technology gives one man to impose his views and values on another.
expression of opinions and actions carried out deliberately to influence opinions and actions of others ending in psychological manipulation
overtly political and manipulative
PERSUASION
often appears invisible at first glance
concealed strategy manipulation
direct
ZUBOFF
(BOOK) the age of surveillance capitalism , the fight for a human future at the new frontier of power
“technology has begun to develop new methods of behaviour control capable of altering an individuals actions, personality and way of thinking”
CAMBRIDGE ANALYTICA
Alexander Nix
“the right message, to the right person, at the right moment”
LASSWELL
Propaganda Technique in the World War
believed all goverments ‘manipulated the mass media in order to justify its actions’ in World War 1
1948 – linear model of communication
SENDERis transferring aMESSAGE, through aMEDIUM(eg Print, radio, TV, etc) that has a direct effect on theRECEIVER
hypodermic model
‘keep building your business‘ – right wing (authoritarian, statement), focus on own success not treatment of employees
who – Daily Mail
what – advert for building your business
channel – newspaper
to whom – Daily Mail readers with own business (entrepreneurs)
what effect – you now know where to go to help grow your business
TRANSMISSION MODEL OF COMMUNICATION
lasswell’s model was later adapted byShannon and Weaver in 1949, as the Transmission model of Communication
including noise, error, encoding and feedback
suggestion that sending and receiving a message is clear-cut, predictable, reliable or dependent on certain factors
TWO STEP FLOW COMMUNICATION
Paul Lazarfeld (sociologist)
more likely to be influenced by other people than the media
media messages aren’t directly injected
filtered through opinion leaders who interpret messages then relay them back to the bigger audience eg journalists
Martin Moore
‘people’s political views are not, as contemporaries thought, much changed by what they read or heard in the media. Voters were far more influenced by their friends, their families and their colleagues’
key individuals in society influence the communication process making it subject to bias, interpretation, rejection, amplification, support and change.
USES AND GRATIFICATIONS
information / education
empathy and identity
social interaction
entertainment
escapism
linked to maslow’s hierarchy of needs
‘only through constant self-improvement and self-understanding can an individual ever be truly happy‘.
GERBNER
‘television cultivates from infancy the very predispositions and preferences that used to be acquired from other primary sources‘
cultivation theory
seeing something repeatedly makes you remember / believe it
STUART HALL
theory of preferred reading / reception theory
active in the making (or rejecting) of meaning through mass communication
OPERANT CONDITIONING – B.F Skinner – “the fiction of free will?” We decide to do something because the idea has already been planted in our minds by someone/something else. Free will is an illusion.
Propaganda vs persuasion
Propaganda – overtly political and manipulative
Persuasion – concealment, strategy and manipulation
Harold Lasswell – Propaganda Technique in the World War (1927) – highlighted “subtle poison”
Shoshana Zuboff – behaviour management – persuading people to engage in certain types of behaviour
We can connect with media messages through one-to-one communication
Individuality and personal freedom vs behaviour modification – “the behavioural technology being developed in the United States today touches upon the most basic sources of individuality and the very core of personal freedom…”
Cambridge Analytica – Alexander Nix – influences people through adverts on social media
Hypodermic model (passive consumption) – model proposes a clear linear (maybe even altered) connection between a message sent > message received
Paul Lazarfeld said that a simple, linear model may not be sufficiently complex to understanding the relationship between message sent > message received. Lazarfield developed the Two Step Flow model for communication, which took account of the way in which mediated messages are not directly injected into the audience.
Katz – Uses and Gratifications theory
Escapism, social interaction, educate and inform, identification
Maslow – Hierarchy of Needs
Self actualization, esteem, love and belonging, safety, physiological
Cultivation theory – effects over time…
George Gerbner and Larry Gross developed this theory that notes the distinct characteristics of television in relation to other media forms. They suggest that “television cultivates from infancy the very predispositions and preferences that sued to be acquired from other primary sources.”
Theory of preferred reading…
A dominant position accepts the dominant message
A negotiated position both accepts and rejects the dominant reading
An oppositional position rejects the dominant reading
Stuart Hall suggested we can reject media messages.
Clay Shirky – the end of audience
No mass audience, only a large group of individuals
The I and Daily Mail ownership – Daily Mail and General Trust
B.F Skinner operant conditioning; we do not have free will, it is an illusion.The friction of free will. Suggesting that the environment has an effect on our behavior and other outside factors.
Schedule of reward: Instant gratification.
Propaganda vs Persuasion: Propaganda appears as overtly political and manipulative, whereas the process of persuasion often appears invisible at glance, subsequently revealed as invidious, suggesting concealment, strategy, manipulation.
Harold Lasswell: Propaganda technique in the world war (1917). This highlights the brew of ‘subtle poison, which industrious men injected into the veins of a staggering people until the smashing powers knocked them into submission.’
Shoshana Zuboff – early student of Skinner. Individuality and personal freedom – behavior modification.
Cambridge Analytica: Alexander Nix.
Stephen Glover from the Daily Mail, says “Who’ll rid us of these anti-Brexit grenade throwing bishops.” He says this through the right-wing newspaper The Daily Mail, to its audience who is said to be made up of lower-middle-class British women. This is to show a right-wing view that portrays anti-Brexit voters as “grenade throwing”.
Shannon and Weaver: there is more to a communication model than Lasswell`s process.
Paul Lazarfeld: Two step flow of communication (active consumption). Communication is not linear, but is active (1948).
Martin Moore: ‘people’s political views are not, as contemporaries thought, much changed by what they read or heard in the media. Voters were far more influenced by their friends, their families and their colleagues.’
Elihu Katz explains the Uses and Gratifications theory diverges from other media effect theories that question: what does media do to people?, to focus on: what do people do with media?
George Gerber: Cultivation theory- the idea that long-term exposure of violent media will lead to a distorted view that the world seems more violent than it actually is.
‘Television cultivates from infancy the very predispositions and preferences that used to be acquired from other primary sources‘
Stuart Hall – The theory of preferred reading: proposed the encoding/decoding model of communication, or the theory of preferred reading, where individuals are not only active in the process of interpretation and the construction of meaning, but they are also able to dismiss and reject dominant messages.
Clay Shirky: The End of Audience – no mass audience, only a huge group of individuals.
‘The fiction of free will’ – links to ideological state apparatus.
It isn’t always free will that makes us do things.
Rewards are given when you do certain things – can question if free will is actually present or not.
You can tailor the media for certain needs – if someone doesn’t want to hear heavy stories, you could make something that will appeal to those people and fill that media with what people want to see.
Propaganda VS Persuasion
Propaganda is the expression of opinions in order to manipulate people to believe a certain thin. Generally overtly political
Persuasion is more about influencing people slowly by dripping information gradually and not obviously
Harold Laswell – spoke about how the US military used a rang of different persuasive devices in WW2 to get people ‘knocked into submission’ Hypodermic model – direct injection of messages into a passive audience.
Shoshana Zuboff
Surveillance Capitalism – we are all directly communicated to be manipulated to think certain things.
Persuasion through behaviour controlled technology
‘various form of persuasion are used to stimulate certain types of behaviours’
‘new methods of behaviour control’
‘ the power this technology gives one man to impose his views and values on another.’ – talking about the Donald Trump Campaign
Project Alamo
Helped to get donald trump elected
Campaign messages that are overwhelmingly negative towards the other party
Harold Lasswell
Developed the theoretical tool of ‘content analysis’ and in 1927 wrote Propaganda Technique in the World War which highlighted the brew of ‘subtle poison, which industrious men injected into the veins of a staggering people until the smashing powers . . . knocked them into submission’
If people are spoon fed information, they will believe it
Article with Boris Johnson having dandruff
Who = Caroline Jones (Journalist)
Says what = writes about the Priminister having dandruff
Channel = The Daily Mail
To Whom = the readers of the newspaper
With what effect = to mock Boris
Shannon and Weaver (1949)
They criticse that model and came up with the Transmission model of Communication, which included other elements, such as NOISE, ERROR, ENCODING and FEEDBACK.
Paul Lazarfeld – Two Step Flow Theory
Says that a linear approach doesn’t work
In 1948 he developed the Two Step Flow model of communication, which took account of the way in which mediated messages are not directly injected into the audience, but while also subject to noise, error, feedback etc, they are also filtered through opinion leaders, those who interpret media messages first and then relay them back to a bigger audience.
Example = In class you ask a question to your friend about something you didn’t understand from the teacher.
We’re more likely to take information from individuals rather than one big source. The individual is known as the ‘Opinion Leaders’.
The audience are active
Uses and Gratification
Research into this area began with Denis McQuail and Jay Blumler, who in 1969, looked to study the 1964 UK Election. In the early 1970’s they were joined by Elihu Katz, Joseph Brown, Michael Gurevitch and Hadassah Haas.
This theory recognises that people do choose things themselves and aren’t forced into thinking or choosing something.
Cultivation Theory – 1975
George Gerbner
We can be shaped by the media. Over time we can make people believe certain things.
Even if they are doing this through the media that the people want, they can still sneak those opinions into this.
In other words, television shapes the way individuals within society think and relate to each other. However, the research also notes that the effects of television are limited and as such, the overall position is that ‘watching television doesn’t cause a particular behaviour, but instead watching television over time adds up to our perception of the world around us‘.
Structure (organisations and big corporations) have more power than the individual. Individuals don’t know that they don’t have any power but are tricked into thinking they do.
Stuart Hall – 1980’s
The Theory of Preferred Reading
The idea that you can present information in one way but other people will reject the reading and not accept the desired message.
A dominant position accepts the dominant message
A negotiated position both accepts and rejects the dominant reading
An oppositional position rejects the dominant reading
Everyone is encoding and decoding things in a different way. Everyone reads things differently.
Clay Shirky: The End of Audience
‘the more ideas there are in circulation, the more ideas there are for any individual to disagree with.’
the fiction of free will the idea that social conditioning is determining free will not behavior or the individual.
Propaganda v Persuasion
Propaganda information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote a political cause or point of view.
Persuasion is the action or process of persuading someone or of being persuaded to do or believe something.
Hypodermic model
The hypodermic needle model is a model of communication suggesting that an intended message is directly received and wholly accepted by the receiver.
Zuboff wrote an Age of surveillance capitalism
‘A major segment of the emerging behavioral control technology is concerned with conditioning’ ‘technology has begun to develop new methods of behavior control capable of altering not just an individuals action but his very personality and manner of thinking’
Audience theories timeline
Lasswell Hyperdormic model (1920-30)
‘subtle poison, which industrious men injected into the veins of a staggering people until the smashing powers . . . knocked them into submission’ a passive consumption of media can cause people to act in a way that the encoder wants
The Daily Mail says Tories in turmoil over Rashfords free school meals through the mail on Sunday to readers which are usually females aged 15-34 years old to persuade them that conservatives are in panic over Marcus Rashford giving free school meals
However shanon and weaver later adapt this model as some receivers may not decode the message properly or there is error and the message may be decoded in different ways or not decoded at all.
Paul Lazarfeld Two step flow theory
Lazarfeld said that people don’t actually take info from the media but instead interact with each other and discuss information instead of just being spoon fed information
Uses and Gratification theory/ Maslows pyramid 1960s
How people think based off the media
Cultivation theory George Gerbner 1970s
If you keep giving people information they want you put bits of information into what people want and it will change how they think based off the things you want to see. ‘watching television doesn’t cause a particular behavior, but instead watching television over time adds up to our perception of the world around us‘ structure has more power over individual agencies.
Stuart Hall theory of preferred reading 1980s
There are three ways of interpreting a message:
A dominant position accepts the dominant message
A negotiated position both accepts and rejects the dominant reading
An oppositional position rejects the dominant reading
Clay Shirky The End of Audience 2000s
Roughly the same as Stuart Hall but there is no such thing as one audience but lots of group of audiences which interpret whats being encoded in different ways and act on it based of how they interpret it.
Fiction of Free Will = links to Marxs, Gramsci, Allthessar – social conditioning determines behaviour not free will
Predetermined – companies – promise of reward – conditioned by algorithms
Propaganda vs persuasion:
propaganda – expressions of opinions or actions carried out deliberately by individual;s or groups with a view to influence the opinions or actions of the other individuals or groups for predetermined ends through psychological manipulations – Ellul 1965
appears overtly political and manipulative, whereas the process of persuasion often appears invisible at first, subsequently revealed as invidious, suggesting concealment, strategies, manipulation.
Zuboff – 1974 = various forms of persuasion are used to stimulate certain types of behaviors while suppressing others.
technology has began new methods of behaviour control capable of altering not just an individuals actions but his very personality and manner of thinking.
New Tech – a control technology – manipulating and altering.
