Hypodermic Needle Theory

HYPODERMIC NEEDLE THEORY Jaskirat Saluja, Sonia Sachdev, Koshika, Malvika Hada M.B.A. Freshmen, Whistling Woods International Film City, Goregaon East-400065,Maharashtra(India) [email protected], [email protected] [email protected]

Abstract—Mass media has become a part of human life and it is also strongly affecting it. Therefore, there are many theories and approaches done by researchers and philosophers to understand and describe these effects. The hypodermic needle theory of media influence is one of these theories. This theory suggests simple concepts about media and audiences.

INTRODUCTION Communication is a vast concept which has been naturally founded with human. With the technological development, many media inventions have been founded and then it pushed the media researchers and specialists to find another term for this process which is mass media. Mass communication is the process of transforming a message created by a person is a group to large audience or market through a transforming device which it is the medium. There are many theories and approaches done by researchers and philosophers to understand and describe these effects. The hypodermic needle theory or Magic Bullet Theory is one of the most famous theories that analyzed the relationship between audience and media. This theory has been developed in the early 1920s with the beginning of mass media, radio and cinema. In its simple description, this theory suggests that mass media can easily influence a large group of people without any challenge and opposition from those people. It views audience as the passive receptors of virulent viruses produce by the media. Actually, it suggests that mass media inject massages and information directly and uniformly into audiences’ minds who immediately will be influenced. Several factors contributed to this "strong effects" theory of communication, including: - the fast rise and popularization of radio and television - the emergence of the persuasion industries, such as advertising and propaganda - the Payne Fund studies of the 1930s, which focused on the impact of motion pictures on children, and

- Hitler's monopolization of the mass media during WWII to unify the German public behind the Nazi party CORE ASSUMPTIONS AND STATEMENTS The theory suggests that the mass media could influence a very large group of people directly and uniformly by ‘shooting’ or ‘injecting’ them with appropriate messages designed to trigger a desired response. The bullet theory suggests that the message is a bullet, fired from the "media gun" into the viewer's "head". With similarly emotive imagery the hypodermic needle model suggests that media messages are injected straight into a passive audience which is immediately influenced by the message. They express the view that the media is a dangerous means of communicating an idea because the receiver or audience is powerless to resist the impact of the message. There is no escape from the effect of the message in these models. The population is seen as a sitting duck. People are seen as passive and are seen as having a lot media material "shot" at them. People end up thinking what they are told because there is no other source of information. Furthermore, the Hypodermic Needle theory was not based on empirical findings. It rather employed assumptions of the time about human nature.

New assessments that the Magic Bullet Theory was not accurate came out of election studies in "The People's Choice," (Lazarsfeld, Berelson and Gaudet, 1944/1968). The project was conducted during the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940 to determine voting patterns and the relationship between the media and political behavior. The majority of people remained untouched by the propaganda; interpersonal outlets brought more influence than the media. The effects

of the campaign were not all-powerful to where they persuaded helpless audiences uniformly and directly, which is the very definition of what the magic bullet theory does. As focus group testing, questionnaires, and other methods of marketing effectiveness testing came into widespread use; and as more interactive forms of media (e.g.: internet, radio call-in shows, etc.) became available, the magic bullet theory was replaced by a variety of other, more instrumental models, like the two step of flow theory and diffusion of innovations theory.

theory in this new world where the audience have become sophisticated.

CONCEPTUAL MODEL

The media effects are the consequences or results that humans experience to varieties of media content and it is important to note that many researches are particularly driven towards the negative effects. They come in the form of psychological, behaviour, physiological and cognitive effects and all of these can be positive or negative.

Furthermore, the Hypodermic Needle theory employed assumptions. People were assumed to be uniformly controlled by their biological instincts and that they react more or less uniformly to whatever ‘stimuli’ came along. EFFECTS

It was seen as an asset in mobilising people especially through radio. It also paved the way for researches to be conducted on its merits and pitfalls. Negatively, it led to a greater exposure to violence and sex on some media content and easy exposure to hate journalism. It also created exposure to false or sensational information .

Magic bullet theory model Source: Katz & Lazarsfeld (1955)

In 1938, Lazarsfeld and Herta Herzog testified the hypodermic needle theory in a radio broadcast “The War of the Worlds” (a famous comic program) by insert a news bulletin which made a widespread reaction and panic among the American Mass audience. Through this investigation he found the media messages may affect or may not affect audience. THEORY ANALYSIS The theory was deterministic and this did not allow for freedom of choice. The audience were ‘injected’ with a one way propaganda. From this light, one can confidently say that the theory undermines the right of individuals to freely choose what media material they consume. The theory is also noted for its passivity and evidenced by the fact that audience were not allowed to contribute. This undermines the core aim of media studies which is the audience. From the latter, one can argue that the audience could not use their experience, intelligence and opinion to analyse messages. It will be very difficult to operate this

Despite its pitfalls, this theory has many applications in life and proved that exposure to educative media content is of great importance. For example the education we receive on talk shows and distance learning. Also, exposure to informative media content such as news is vital and exposure to entertaining media content that serves as an escape from the stress of everyday life. EXAMPLES A good example of this is Nazi propaganda, which was one of the first notable cases in which this theory was applied. Action theory suggests that successful Nazi propaganda would be something like a poster of a Nazi soldier acting positively towards a situation. This was used a lot in English army recruitment posters where soldiers were shown doing 'the right thing'. Nazi propaganda differed in the way it followed the Hypodermic Needle Theory, as most of the posters showed a negative portrayal of the opposing army’s and Jews. For example Nazi children’s cartoons showed Jews as being 'the bad guys'. Another example is the increase in number of plastic surgeries. There are so many commercials on TV and different articles in magazines on this

topic. We hear everyday how great it is to make your face and body perfect. In mainstream films there is a sense of airbrushed reality and people follow it. People want to look, dress and behave like their favourite movie characters. Also, certain actions done by movie characters are presumed as socially acceptable and are copied by people.

Research about the negative media effects focus on the individual’s physiology, emotion, attitude and cognition. The media can create violence, fear and arouse sentiments. The content can make and unmake the decisions of people. People can kill depending on the effect. Sex can be on the rise if subject of the particular media is mostly on sex and obscenity. In short, fear, violence, sexual arousal etc. can be achieved through the kind of effect the media extends to the audience.

CONCLUSION Finally, the assumptions at the basis of the Hypodermic Needle Theory are nowadays obsolete. The theory has been widely overcome by the Two Step Flow Model and Roger’s Innovation Curve(Multi Step Flow Model)as well as many latter mass communication theories such as Lasswell’s Model, Persuation theory and others. 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 and will unknowingly believe anything they see. All in all, the hypodermic needle theory is still hotly debated while many similar theories keep showing up. All of these theories are focusing on the effects of mass media on the audiences. In addition, this theory helped people to understand the way that mass media work by and how they are affecting our minds and changing our behaviours. Also more, this theory is getting more attention with the development of media and its applications.

REFERENCES

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Davis, D.K. & Baron, S.J. (1981). A History of Our Understanding of Mass Communication. In: Davis, D.K. & Baron, S.J. (Eds.). Mass Communication and Everyday Life: A Perspective on Theory and Effects (19-52). Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing.

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