JMC 1100 1st EditionLecture 8Media Uses and EffectsPublic Opinion and Mass EffectsMedia TodayI. Apple Cara. Apple is the biggest company in the worldb. Self Driving based on GPS locationII. Google’s fragrance emittera. Hand-held or attached to clothesb. Triggers perfume based on social calendarc. Re-routes you to avoid friends after workoutWhat’s Next…I. Prepare to really thinkII. Theories and examples of media influenceIII. Focus on specific content and particular effectsThe Return of Public OpinionI. General public’s attitude towards an issue or subjectII. 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 communityb. Define our own viewsi. Agree or disagree with the larger communityII. But it is an averagea. Generally, doesn’t account for extremes or “no opinion”Where we get our perceptions of public opinion?I. Interpersonal contact: what we hear seeing signs or stickers, etcII. News Mediaa. Coverage of polls and protest, news reports, person-on-the-street interviews, talk shows,etc. i. SNL- political commentary First, we seek public opinionThese 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 speaka. If we agree with the majority we will express our opinion II. If we don’t agree, we will remain silentFirst, a little history reviewI. World War 1a. 1st examples of media manipulation of public opinionII. World War II- Nazis do it bettera. Use media to manipulate an entire nation, start a war, and kill millionsb. Social scientists start to wonder how it happenedOpinion and behaviors in WWIII. Scientists found public had extreme behaviors and opinons during WWIIII. Learn about power of mass opiniona. Conformity: Why do people follow the crowd?i. Solomon Asch (1958)Conformity experimentsI. Groups were asked to say aloud which lines matcheda. If people are divided you go with your beliefb. But when everyone is in agreement you will support it…even when wrongc. Especially when they look and act like youMilgram “Shocks” the World (1960’s)II. Tests people’s response to authoritya. People recruited to act as implementers of a basic testb. If the test takers gave the wrong answer, study participants would shock them increasingwith intensityObedience (Milgram 1960’s)III. Two out of every three would shock another person to death because the authority told them todo soIV. Conclusion: it shouldn’t be surprising that (most) Germans followed Nazi ordersA German explains Nazi GermanyI. Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann (1916-2010)II. Found humans fear isolation and rejectionIII. Made them more willing to follow “perceptions” public opinion Spiral of Silence TheoryI. People who feel their opinion is not in the majority will not speak out because they fear rejection and isolationII. Mass media trigger this “spiral” because they tend to cover the majority opiniona. Causes those in minority to become even quieterb. Denies society their perspective and makes them less confident in generalIII. Problem is everyone has a different way of thinking, and we won’t offer this to the world with it. Spiral of Science TodayI. 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 sameII. 2014 PEW Study- people asked about NSA contractors leaks and US surveillance policya. People were more willing to share their views in person AND online if they thought the audience agreed with themb. People were less willing to discuss the NSA story in social media than in personc. Social media users were also less likely to share their views in face-to-face settingsSo what?III. If public opinion can have such a large effect on usa. We must closely analyze news media and its presentation of “important” and “dominant” issuesConclusionsIV. Public opinion matters more than we thinkV. Conformity and obedience are necessary at times, damaging in othersVI. Spiral of Silence behaviors limits our society