hypodermic syringe model

direct effect theories

• based on the view that media ahs an immediate and direct effect onto the audience

• such theories see audiences as being virtually unable to resist the messages that come from the media

• concerns are being raised with respect tot he effect of the media on vulnerable audiences such as those in early stage of socialisation (young people)

hypodermic syringe model

• hypodermic syringe is associated with Packard also known as the magic bullet theory 

• he argued that the media is like a syringe that injected messages into the audience or in other words, penetrates like a bullet

• many newspapers would to influence their readers directly to influence the audience into voting for a particular political power 

• audience is regarded as passive and unable to resist the messages put out

• audience are seen as homogenous

violence in the media - Elizabeth Newson

• children’s exposure to violence in the media has a desensitising effect and they are more likely to commit violent acts in reality if they have been exposed to violence in the media 

• for example, Jamie bulger, a 2 year old was killed by two ten year old children and it was said that they were influenced by violent media films such as child’s play 3 

• media campaign - a significant media campaign was launched to have a so called ‘video nasties’ banned because of their immediate and powerful effect in this tragic event

Packard and Bandura

• their research mirrors wider concerns about the effect of media violence on vulnerable members of society

• more recently, scenes from films like natural born killers, Rambo and Childs play 3 have been associated with violent acts in society

• similar concerns have been expresses with video games such as grand theft auto and manhunt

children’s imitation of violence - bandura

• he believed that his research demonstrated that children imitated violence shows on tv

• his bobo doll experiment showed children witnessing the bobo dolls being violently hit by an adult from a film clip

• the children were led to a laboratory where they were shown attractive toys one of them being a bobo doll - their behaviours were observed through one way mirrors

• the children who ah seen the clip acted aggressively towards the bobo doll

• therefore media effects were direct and immediate