Hypodermic Needle Theory

Joe, Lauren and Rachel

Starter Task

If the media were to tell you that we were going to be invaded by aliens.. Which source of media would you believe and why? Put them in order;

Television (News Broadcast) Newspaper (On the front page) A Radio Broadcast (Interruptions into Capital, Radio 1, Viking etc) A headline of Google homepage Word of mouth

5 minutes to do this task!!

http://www.online-stopwatch.com/countdown-timer/

It's an outdated theory of communication that suggests that an audience is helpless to the effects and messages of a medium, such as television. The theory says that an audience will absorb all of the intended information; they will unknowingly believe anything they see. This theory was very popular in the 1930s, especially after H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds" broadcast in 1938, but has since been disproven by more modern theories.

Due to the knowledge being very slim in the 1930’s compared to now you can comply with the fact the information was taken in so easily, however a weakness of the theory now is that people have built opinions before they have been given the information to take in, therefore this theory isn’t as strong as it used to be.

The Theory

MAGIC BULLET OR HYPODERMIC NEEDLE THEORY OF COMMUNICATION

History:In mid-1930’s media scholars found the first theory on Media Effects and the Media Behaviors. During second world wars media plays a vital role in both United States and Germany to made influence in thepeople’s mind. The Germany Hitler’s Nazi used film industry for Propaganda and they produced lots of movies about their achievements which made a great impact in Germans mind. Later the United States alsoused its own Hollywood and produced films like “Its Happened one night”, “It’s a wonderful life” and Mr. Smithgoes to Washington” to portrait Germany as Evil force which also made impact in Americans Mind. Here mediaaudience accepts the messages directly without any rejection.

Example

In 1930, Newly formed mercury theater and Orson Wells join together and created a fake news bulletin about aliens invasion in American city called Grover’s Mill, New jersey. They broadcast this news bulletin in between the radio program called “The War of the Worlds”. The “Panic Broadcast” was reached merely 12 million American people and one million were seriously believed. Due to this broadcast the whole country was in chaos.

Orson Wells

Orson Wells Before televisions people sat in front of their radios and listened to music,

news reports, plays and various other programs for entertainment. On Sunday, October 30, 1938 at 8 pm American actor, producer and director spoke into a microphone during his CBS radio program. The broadcast begun with an announcer letting America know that the broadcast will be aired out through various stations throughout America.

The ‘war of the worlds’ broadcast begun when millions of radio listeners were shocked when radio news alerts announced the arrival of Martians. They panicked when they learned of the Martians' ferocious and seemingly unstoppable attack on Earth. Many ran out of their homes screaming while others packed up their cars and fled.

After a weather report faded in, stating that it came from the Government Weather Bureau. The official sounding weather report was quickly followed by "the music of Ramon Raquello and his orchestra" from the Meridian Room in the Hotel Park Plaza in downtown New York. However the broadcast was all done from the studio, but the script led people to believe that there were announcers, orchestras, newscasters and scientists on the air from a variety of locations.

During the interview they tell the audience that Professor Pierson had just been handed a note, which was then shared with the audience. The note stated that a huge shock "of almost earthquake intensity" occurred near Princeton. Professor Pierson believes it might be a meteorite.

Another news bulletin announces, "It is reported that at 8:50 p.m. a huge, flaming object, believed to be a meteorite, fell on a farm in the neighbourhood of Grovers Mill, New Jersey, twenty-two miles from Trenton.“

Do you believe? This led America to believe every bit of information that was being

‘injected’ into them as they didn’t know any different as the radio, at the time, was there information and only live news provider. This relates to the Hypodermic Needle Theory and backs up the theory as it communicates the message of media shooting messages at you which you feel you have to believe. (Which the Americans did)

This relates to todays live broadcasts, if we was to wake up in morning and find out from Daybreak that a meteorite was about to hit Hull, would you believe it or not?

Subconsciously, you would believe it as we know nothing different and believe everything the news project out at us and publicise in masses. An Example of this happening recently is the story such as ‘December 21st was the day the world was to end’.

How many of you had a guilty belief that the world was about to end on this day?

The Payne Fund

The Payne Fund

The Payne Fund Studies, which were conducted between 1929-1932 looked at the effect movies have on children, also contributed to this idea that the mass media has a powerful and direct influence on audiences. Although these studies have been criticised for their lack of scientific rigor, they were really one of the first and most comprehensive examinations of how the media works. Writing about the influence of movies, the project chairman WW Charters wrote that they have the potential to profoundly affect the way children behave. Even in the 1930s, however, researchers were starting to realise that this way of thinking about media influence was kind of inadequate.

http://lessonbucket.com/media-in-minutes/the-hypodermic-needle-theory/

The Payne Fund were a private foundation who although got criticized as lacking scientific rigor they were politically significant. There were a total of 13 studied financially supported by The Payne Fund, each study fell into one of three main categories of research: film content, audience composition, and effects on children. This became the foundation of the studies people undertake on this object today.

At the time sources were limited for research and movies were seen as a novelty. “The experience of sitting in the movie theatre activated multiple senses unlike other media at the time, such as radio or newspapers, which are dominated by only one sense. Also, during this post-war period, there was a continued "legacy of fear" of the power of the media to influence the masses. The controlling power behind propaganda had recently been exposed, and was still fresh in many minds. Finally, this was a time of a perceived erosion of moral standards. Children, who regularly attended the movies unsupervised during the Saturday matinee, were seen at risk from the influences of this powerful medium. The unknown effects of movies (a new technology) on the next generation frightened many grownups, and researchers set out to discover the truth about movies and children.”

The Payne Fund

Effects Of Video Games

99% of young boys and 91% of young girls play video games 50% of young boys and 14% of young girls prefer ‘mature’ games such as

Grand Theft Auto

Cheryl Olson – Health specialist at Harvard did a study on effects of video games on children.

She did find some positives in that games promote self expression, role, creative problem solving, positive interactions and leadership. However the negatives out way those positives in that it reduces empathy, promotes aggression and creates a moral panic from panic.

Olson also found that 31% of gamers strongly agree that guns and other weapons motivates their gameplay. 36% of gamers strongly agree that video games help get their anger out.

However I don’t think an eleven year old would go on the street, steal a car because it’s better than the one he’s already got, then go to a shop and shoot someone and steal their money because that’s what they’ve just done on a video game, personally I can’t see that happening.