JMC 1100 1st Edition Lecture 8 Media Uses and Effects Public Opinion and Mass Effects Media Today I Apple Car a Apple is the biggest company in the world b Self Driving based on GPS location II Google s fragrance emitter a Hand held or attached to clothes b Triggers perfume based on social calendar c Re routes you to avoid friends after workout What s Next I Prepare to really think II Theories and examples of media influence III Focus on specific content and particular effects The Return of Public Opinion I General public s attitude towards an issue or subject II The Will of the People as measured through polls surveys voters etc Why does it matter I Public opinions help us a Understand the view of the larger community b Define our own views i Agree or disagree with the larger community II But it is an average a Generally doesn t account for extremes or no opinion Where we get our perceptions of public opinion I II Interpersonal contact what we hear seeing signs or stickers etc News Media a Coverage of polls and protest news reports person on the street interviews talk shows etc i SNL political commentary First we seek public opinion These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute I Then we decide whether to speak a If we agree with the majority we will express our opinion II If we don t agree we will remain silent First a little history review I World War 1 a 1st examples of media manipulation of public opinion II World War II Nazis do it better a Use media to manipulate an entire nation start a war and kill millions b Social scientists start to wonder how it happened Opinion and behaviors in WWII I II Scientists found public had extreme behaviors and opinons during WWII Learn about power of mass opinion a Conformity Why do people follow the crowd i Solomon Asch 1958 Conformity experiments I Groups were asked to say aloud which lines matched a If people are divided you go with your belief b But when everyone is in agreement you will support it even when wrong c Especially when they look and act like you Milgram Shocks the World 1960 s II Tests people s response to authority a People recruited to act as implementers of a basic test b If the test takers gave the wrong answer study participants would shock them increasing with intensity Obedience Milgram 1960 s III IV Two out of every three would shock another person to death because the authority told them to do so Conclusion it shouldn t be surprising that most Germans followed Nazi orders A German explains Nazi Germany I Elisabeth Noelle Neumann 1916 2010 II Found humans fear isolation and rejection III Made them more willing to follow perceptions public opinion Spiral of Silence Theory I People who feel their opinion is not in the majority will not speak out because they fear rejection and isolation II Mass media trigger this spiral because they tend to cover the majority opinion a Causes those in minority to become even quieter b Denies society their perspective and makes them less confident in general III Problem is everyone has a different way of thinking and we won t offer this to the world with it Spiral of Science Today I Do you break rank from the popular opinions on your social media a Do we like things just to get seen Social media Spirals just the same II 2014 PEW Study people asked about NSA contractors leaks and US surveillance policy a People were more willing to share their views in person AND online if they thought the audience agreed with them b People were less willing to discuss the NSA story in social media than in person c Social media users were also less likely to share their views in face to face settings So what III If public opinion can have such a large effect on us a We must closely analyze news media and its presentation of important and dominant issues Conclusions IV V VI Public opinion matters more than we think Conformity and obedience are necessary at times damaging in others Spiral of Silence behaviors limits our society growth