Theories of communication

1. Authoritarian theory: There are restrictions on the mass communication process especially in the form of insisting on a license obtained by rulers’ practice of censorship according to the wishes of rulers so that the reality is withheld from the masses.

2. Libertarian theory: The function of the press is to inform, sell, entertain uphold the truth, and check the government.

3. Social responsibility theory:

• Provide information for debate on public affairs,
• instructing and informing the public to make capable of self-government,
• protecting the rights of individuals,
• maintain the economic equilibrium,
• providing entertainment,
• remaining interdependence on outside pressure

4. Hypodermic needle theory:

• The hypodermic needle model postulated that mass media had direct immediate and powerful effects on a mass audience.
• Developed in the 1920s and 1930s
• Linear communication theory
• Passive audience
• No individual differences
• also known as the “magic bullet” theory because media messages are magic bullets piercing the minds of the populace.
• also called the “direct effects model,” the “Hypodermic Needle Theory,” or the “Magic Bullet” theory or uniform influence theory.

Assumptions of hypodermic Needle Theory

1. Humans react uniformly to stimuli.
2. The media’s message is directly “injected” into the “bloodstream” of a population like fluid from a syringe.
3. Messages are strategically created to achieve desired responses.
4. The effects of the media’s messages are immediate and powerful, capable of causing significant behavioral change in humans.
5. The public is powerless to escape the media’s influence.

Theory of uniform influence

• The media present message to the members of the mass society who perceive them more or less uniformly
• Such messages are stimuli that influence the individual emotions and sentiments strongly
• The stimuli lead individuals to respond in a somewhat uniform manner, creating changes in thought and action that are like those changes in other persons
• Because individuals are not held back by strong social control from others, such as shared customs and traditions, the effect of mass communication is powerful uniform, and direct
• An example of uniform influence is concentrating one general on a particular science, the development of a variety called Rampur composite this technology influences every farmer whether he is poor or rich

Theory of selective influence:

This theory of selective influence is based on individual differences as follows

• The media presented messages to the members of mass society but those messages are received and interpreted selectively
• The basis of selectivity lies in variation in habits of perception among members of society
• Variation in habits of perception occurs because each individual have a unique personal organization of beliefs, attitudes, values, needs, and modes of experiencing gratification that has been acquired through learning
• Because perception is selective, interpretation, retention, and response to media messages are also selective and variable
• Thus, the effect of media is neither uniform, powerful nor direct. Their influence is selective and limited by individual psychological differences.
• This view of the effect of the media became prominent, and a search was undertaken for those psychological factors that operate as perceptual screens, lettering some influence in, but keeping others out. For example technology of organic and inorganic is selected by the farmers.

Theory of selectivity based on categories.

Its essential proposition of the theory can be summarized in the following terms.

• The media present messages to the members of the mass society but they are received and interpreted selectively
• An important basis of the selectivity lies in the location of the individuals in the differentiated social structure
• That social structure is composed of numerous categories of people defined by such factors s age, sex, income, education, and occupations
• Patterns of media attention and response are shaped by the factors that defined these categories making response to mass communication somewhat similar in each.
• Thus, the effect of the mass media is neither uniform powerful nor direct but is selective and limited by social category influence
• For example, even in selectivity the choices are categorized as a rich person can eat in a five-star hotel but a poor cannot. The selection depends on caste, religion, etc. The rich can afford luxurious garments but the poor cannot afford them.

Theory of selectivity based on social relationship

The main ideas can be summarized as follows

• The media present messages to members of the mass society but they are received and interpreted selectively
• An important basis of selectivity lies in distinctive patterns of social influence on people from others with whom they have meaningful ties
• Such social influence is brought to bear when an individual decision regarding behavior towards mass communication is modified by family, friends, acquaintances, or others
• Patterns of media attention and response uniquely reflect the network of meaningful social ties of each individual in society
• Thus, the effects of the media are neither uniform, powerful nor direct they are greatly limited and shaped by the person’s social interactions.

Agenda setting theory:

• The Press may not be successful much of the time in telling people what to think, but it is stunningly successful in telling its readers what to think about.
• Media tells the public ‘What’ to think about the issue for example the coverage given to a war may supersede all other events and make people think it is the most important issue.

McLuhan’s theory:

Medium can stimulate our senses alter the ratio of sensory equipment used by us and change our characters altering the environment. There are some hot and cool mediums also known as Channel Theory

• Medium affects the perception
• McLuhan (1964 defines the medium as the message
• Channels differ not only in terms of content but also regarding how they stimulate and alter thoughts
• Channels are dominant force
• Focuses more on the medium than what it conveys

One-step flow theory

States that mass media channels communicate directly to the mass audience, without the message passing through opinion leaders; the message does not equally reach all receivers, nor does it have the same effects on each( Troldahl 1967 ).

The one-step flow theory probably results from a refinement of the hypodermic needle theory.

But the one-step model recognizes:

• The media are not all-powerful;
• The screening aspects of the selective exposure, perception, and retention affect message impact,
• Different effect occurs for various members of the receiving audience.

Two-step flow theory

• Viewed the masses as interacting individuals
• Implies that mass media were not so powerful nor so direct as once thought
• Recognized interpersonal influence from opinion leaders as an intervening mechanism between mass messages and their effects.

Multi-step flow model theory

• Incorporated all of the models
• Based on sequential relaying functions that seem to occur in most communication situations
• Suggests that there are variable numbers of relays in the communication flow from a source to a large audience.
• Some members receive messages directly through channels from the source, while others may be several times removed from the message origin.

Individual difference theory:

a) Individual preference and action of communication depend on individual personality traits. Human beings is varying greatly in personal, psychological organization,

b) Biological endowment & differential learning contributed to individual difference

c) Personality variables acquired from the social environment provide for the individual perception of events that differs from someone else

d) Individual psychological makeup sets him/her apart from others and grows out of a set of attitudes, values, and beliefs acquired from his/her learning

e) An important product of human learning is the acquiring of a stable predisposition concerning one’s perception of the event.

The modeling theory

• The individual perceives a form of behavior described or portrayed by a character in media content
• The individual judges these behaviors to be attractive and potentially useful for coping with some personal situation that has risen or might arise.
• The exposed behavior is reproduced by the individuals in a relevant personal situation
• The reproduction behavior proves useful of effective in coping with the situation thereby rewarding the individual
• With further use, the modeled behavior becomes the person’s habitual way of handling that type of situation unless it is no longer effective and rewarding

The meaning theory

• The individual perceives a situation described or portrayed in media content
• That situation is leveled by standardizing symbol or symbols from the shared language
• The media content effectively links the label and the portrayed meaning for the individual
• By such presentation the media can establish new meanings, extend older ones to include new elements, substitute alternative meanings for older ones, or stabilize the language convention concerning the shared meaning of symbol in the language community
• Since language is a critical factor shaping perception, interpretation, and decision concerning action, the media can have powerful indirect and long-term effects.

Uses and Gratification Theory

• Audience reads/ views content only if has some ‘use’ from them
• Audience has some ‘needs’ that media helps to gratify (satisfy)
• How people use media to gratify or satisfy their needs are as follows

a) Surveillance/ Information. Gives information about our immediate environment. Helps satisfy general curiosity. Helps us solve practical problems (Kitchen Tips)

b) Personal Identity. Identifying with people in the media (Identifying with sympathetic heroine in K serials)

c) Personal Relationships. Comparing oneself with others (I am so much better looking than that hero)

d) Diversion/ Entertainment. Diverting problems temporarily. Relaxation, Passing time. Emotional release.