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The hypodermic needle model (known as the hypodermic-syringe model, transmission-belt model, or magic bullet theory) is claimed to have been a model of communication in which media consumers were "uniformly controlled by their biologically based 'instincts' and that they react more or less uniformly to whatever 'stimuli' came along".
People were assumed to be "uniformly controlled by their biologically based 'instincts' and that they react more or less uniformly to whatever 'stimuli' came along". [1] The "Magic Bullet" theory graphically assumes that the media's message is a bullet fired from the "media gun" into the viewer's "head". [2] Similarly, the "Hypodermic Needle Model" uses the same idea of the "shooting" paradigm. It suggests that the media injects its messages straight into the passive audience. [3] This passive audience is immediately affected by these messages. The public essentially cannot escape from the media's influence, and is therefore considered a "sitting duck". [3] Both models suggest that the public is vulnerable to the messages shot at them because of the limited communication tools and the studies of the media's effects on the masses at the time. [4] It means the media explores information in such a way that it injects in the mind of audiences as bullets.
Though the "magic bullet" and "hypodermic needle" models are often credited to Harold Lasswell's 1927 book, Propaganda Technique in the World War, [5] neither term appear in his writing. Rather, Lasswell argued that the rise of political movements across Europe was "an almost inevitable outcomes of the isolation of the individual in an atomized society." [6] Recent work in the history of communication studies have documented how the two models may have served as strawman theory or fallacy [7] or even a "myth". [8] Others have documented the possible medical origins of the metaphor of the magic bullet model. [9]
The phrasing "hypodermic needle" is meant to give a mental image of the direct, strategic, and planned infusion of a message into an individual. But as research methodology became more highly developed, it became apparent that the media had selective influences on people.
The most famous incident often cited as an example for the hypodermic needle model was the 1938 broadcast of The War of the Worlds and the subsequent reaction of widespread panic among its American mass audience. However, this incident actually sparked the research movement, led by Paul Lazarsfeld and Herta Herzog, that would disprove the magic bullet or hypodermic needle theory, as Hadley Cantril managed to show that reactions to the broadcast were, in fact, diverse, and were largely determined by situational and attitudinal attributes of the listeners.
In the 1940s, Lazarsfeld disproved the "magic bullet" theory and "hypodermic needle model theory" through elections studies in "The People's Choice". [10] Lazarsfeld and colleagues executed the study by gathering research during the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940. The study was conducted to determine voting patterns and the relationship between the media and political power. Lazarsfeld discovered that the majority of the public remained unfazed by propaganda surrounding Roosevelt's campaign. Instead, interpersonal outlets proved more influential than the media. Therefore, Lazarsfeld concluded that the effects of the campaign were not all powerful to the point where they completely persuaded "helpless audiences", a claim that the Magic Bullet, Hypodermic Needle Model, and Lasswell asserted. These new findings also suggested that the public can select which messages affect and don't affect them.
Lazarsfeld's debunking of these models of communication provided the way for new ideas regarding the media's effects on the public. Lazarsfeld introduced the idea of the two-step flow of communication [11] in 1944. Elihu Katz contributed to the model in 1955 through studies and publications. [12] The model of the two-step flow of communication assumes that ideas flow from the mass media to opinion leaders and then to the greater public. They believed the message of the media to be transferred to the masses via this opinion leadership. Opinion leaders are categorized as individuals with the best understanding of media content and the most accessibility to the media as well. These leaders essentially take in the media's information, and explain and spread the media's messages to others. [13]
Disagreements about the hypodermic needle theory may be based on how audiences are classified. For example, the pro-hypodermic perspective suggests that despite differing types of audiences, the theory remains valid if a direct effect occurs. [14] However, many anti-hypodermic views instead note that the theory can only be applied if the effect works on a similar, mass group of people. Other interpretation differences depend on whether researchers involve mediating and intervening variables in case studies. This may include the influence of an audience’s prior knowledge and background. [14]
Thus, the two step flow model and other communication theories suggest that the media does not directly have an influence on viewers anymore. Instead, interpersonal connections and even selective exposure play a larger role in influencing the public in the modern age. [15] Contemporary research suggests that individuals are more likely to form opinions through the two step flow process, and through the role of influencers and opinion leaders on social media outlets. Social media has become an increasingly individualized experience and process, thus users are likely to form opinions based on the content they are exposed to and interact with. [16]
More recently, the use of big data analytics to identify user preferences and to send tailor-made messages to individuals led back to the idea of a "one-step flow of communication", which is in principle similar to the hypodermic needle model. [17] The difference is that today's massive databases allow for the mass customization of messages. So it is not one generic mass media message, but many individualized messages, coordinated by a massive algorithm. For example, empirical studies have found that in Twitter networks, traditional mass media outlets receive 80–90% of their Twitter mentions directly through a direct one-step flow from average Twitter users. [18] However, these same studies also argue that there is a multitude of step-flow models at work in today's digital communication landscape. [18] [19] [20]
Although the hypodermic needle theory was studied more in depth in the early half of the 20th century, the integration of social media platforms further tests the theory’s application. The invention of the internet and popularity of social media channels makes social interaction a two-way street. Through this, influencers, leaders, politicians, brands and individuals can communicate with one another. This social relationship has led to behavior changes in the digital age, some of which align with characteristics of the hypodermic needle theory.
The hypodermic needle theory is based purely on assumptions about human behaviors. But, contemporary research adds that these behaviors and methods are always evolving and changing. In the field of science and information technology, researchers suggest using social media literacy as a tool for combating passive media consumption. [21] They suggest increasing critical thinking use, and questioning the validity and credibility of what is on social media platforms. Similarly, contemporary research considers libraries and information centers as a form of media because of their influence over knowledge and source selection. [21]
With the many different types of mass media that have appeared over the past 20 years, a question arises relating to the relevance of the Hypodermic Needle Model. Does the theory still hold true now that anyone can participate in mass communication, not just major media outlets?
Many of today’s communication scholars tend to argue that the Hypodermic Needle Theory does not hold much value with the evolution of mass media for one major reason: we are not a passive audience. A key part of the theory is that the audience receiving the message from the media is passive, simply letting media outlets “inject” their messages into the heads of their viewers as a doctor would with an actual needle, hence the name of the theory. However, as time has gone on, audiences have grown less and less passive, becoming more active in their participation and interaction with the media. We are more inclined to pick and choose what messages to interact with; ignoring certain posts or live streams while paying attention to others and absorbing that information.
An example of this is extremist messages on social media linked to terrorist groups. Since the attacks on 9/11, social media and technology has made it easier for attackers to spread their ideologies and recruit new members across the globe. Terrorists will utilize these platforms to spread a particular narrative that attempts to persuade viewers to agree with their particular side, proving that there is a strong link between communication and terrorism. In response to these messages, the current government strategy is to simply remove the extremist messages from social media, assuming that by taking away the “bad” will result in the “good.” But, does it truly stop these attackers from spreading their messages or does it fuel their anger and will to keep going? The argument against the theory goes on to say that by taking their posts down, it only perpetuates the issue (Archetti, 2015). With this argument, another question arises: if the Hypodermic Needle Theory does not hold relevance here, what theory would apply to the extremists' tactics? Researchers have yet to find the answer to this question because of the constant changes that happen in the world of mass communication.
Even though there are scholars that dispute the Hypodermic Needle Theory, there are still some individuals who feel that the theory does still hold relevance in modern media and mass communication. In particular, Bruce Finklea uses the example of Orson Welles's War of the Worlds broadcast to explain how there are still people in the world who are more vulnerable to manipulation tactics that can be used by mass media outlets. By comparing the 1938 broadcast to social media hoaxes and fake news, Finklea makes the argument that the Hypodermic Needle Theory still holds relevance. Even though we may not be a passive audience, there are people who can be considered more passive rather than active (Finklea, 2017).
In regards to the question of relevance of the Hypodermic Needle Theory, the answer is not conclusive. Communication scholars do not agree on an answer as the media is constantly changing and not every communication theory can apply to every situation. While the use of the Hypodermic Needle Theory may be becoming less common, there are still situations where the theory does apply.
Harold Dwight Lasswell was an American political scientist and communications theorist. He earned his bachelor's degree in philosophy and economics and his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. He was a professor of law at Yale University. He served as president of the American Political Science Association, American Society of International Law, and World Academy of Art and Science.
The two-step flow of communication model says that most people form their opinions under the influence of opinion leaders, who in turn are influenced by the mass media. In contrast to the one-step flow of the hypodermic needle model or magic bullet theory, which holds that people are directly influenced by mass media, according to the two-step flow model, ideas flow from mass media to opinion leaders, and from them to a wider population. Opinion leaders pass on their own interpretation of information in addition to the actual media content.
Paul Felix Lazarsfeld was an Austrian-American sociologist and mathematician. The founder of Columbia University's Bureau of Applied Social Research, he exerted influence over the techniques and the organization of social research. "It is not so much that he was an American sociologist," one colleague said of him after his death, "as it was that he determined what American sociology would be." Lazarsfeld said that his goal was "to produce Paul Lazarsfelds". He was a founding figure in 20th-century empirical sociology.
Agenda-setting theory suggests that the communications media, through their ability to identify and publicize issues, play a pivotal role in shaping the problems that attract attention from governments and international organizations, and direct public opinion towards specific issues. The theory suggests that the media can shape public opinion by determining what issues are given the most attention, and has been widely studied and applied to various forms of media. The way news stories and topics that impact public opinion are presented is influenced by the media. It is predicated on the idea that most individuals only have access to one source of information on most issues: the news media. Since they establish the agenda, they may affect how important some things are seen to be.
Cultivation theory is a sociological and communications framework designed to unravel the enduring impacts of media consumption, with a primary focus on television. At its core, the theory posits a compelling hypothesis: individuals who invest more time in watching television are prone to perceive the real world through a lens aligning with the prevalent depictions in television messages, in contrast to their counterparts with lower television viewership but comparable demographic profiles.
Uses and gratifications theory is a communication theory that describes the reasons and means by which people seek out media to meet specific needs. The theory postulates that media is a highly available product, that audiences are the consumers of the product, and that audiences choose media to satisfy given needs as well as social and psychological uses, such as knowledge, relaxation, social relationships, and diversion.
Mass communication is the process of imparting and exchanging information through mass media to large population segments. It utilizes various forms of media as technology has made the dissemination of information more efficient. Primary examples of platforms utilized and examined include journalism and advertising. Mass communication, unlike interpersonal communication and organizational communication, focuses on particular resources transmitting information to numerous receivers. The study of mass communication is chiefly concerned with how the content and information that is being mass communicated persuades or affects the behavior, attitude, opinion, or emotion of people receiving the information.
In media studies, mass communication, media psychology, communication theory, and sociology, media influence and themedia effect are topics relating to mass media and media culture's effects on individuals' or audiences' thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors. Through written, televised, or spoken channels, mass media reach large audiences. Mass media's role in shaping modern culture is a central issue for the study of culture.
Audience theory offers explanations of how people encounter media, how they use it, and how it affects them. Although the concept of an audience predates media, most audience theory is concerned with people’s relationship to various forms of media. There is no single theory of audience, but a range of explanatory frameworks. These can be rooted in the social sciences, rhetoric, literary theory, cultural studies, communication studies and network science depending on the phenomena they seek to explain. Audience theories can also be pitched at different levels of analysis ranging from individuals to large masses or networks of people.
Media studies encompasses the academic investigation of the mass media from perspectives such as sociology, psychology, history, semiotics, and critical discourse analysis. The purpose of media studies is to determine how media affects society.
Communicology is the scholarly and academic study of how people create and use messages to affect the social environment. Communicology is an academic discipline that distinguishes itself from the broader field of human communication with its exclusive use of scientific methods to study communicative phenomena. The goals of these scientific methods are to create and extend theory-based knowledge about the processes and outcomes of communication. Practitioners in the communicology discipline employ empirical and deductive research methods, such as cross-sectional and longitudinal surveys, experiments, meta-analyses, and content analyses, to test theoretically-derived hypotheses. Correlational and causal relationships between communication variables are tested in these studies.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to communication:
Also known as reception analysis, audience reception theory has come to be widely used as a way of characterizing the wave of audience research which occurred within communications and cultural studies during the 1980s and 1990s. On the whole, this work has adopted a "culturalist" perspective, has tended to use qualitative methods of research and has tended to be concerned, one way or another, with exploring the active choices, uses and interpretations made of media materials, by their consumers. Can also be known as reception theory, in which producers encode with a desired response, then the audience decode.
Active Audience Theory argues that media audiences do not just receive information passively but are actively involved, often unconsciously, in making sense of the message within their personal and social contexts. Decoding of a media message may therefore be influenced by such things as family background, beliefs, values, culture, interests, education and experiences. Decoding of a message means how well a person is able to effectively receive and understand a message. Active Audience Theory is particularly associated with mass-media usage and is a branch of Stuart Hall's Encoding and Decoding Model.
In social psychology, the Yale attitude change approach is the study of the conditions under which people are most likely to change their attitudes in response to persuasive messages. This approach to persuasive communications was first studied by Carl Hovland and his colleagues at Yale University during World War II. The basic model of this approach can be described as "who said what to whom": the source of the communication, the nature of the communication and the nature of the audience. According to this approach, many factors affect each component of a persuasive communication. The credibility and attractiveness of the communicator (source), the quality and sincerity of the message, and the attention, intelligence and age of the audience can influence an audience's attitude change with a persuasive communication. Independent variables include the source, message, medium and audience, with the dependent variable the effect of the persuasion.
The multi-step flow theory assumes ideas flow from mass media to opinion leaders before being disseminated to a wider population. This theory was first introduced by sociologist Paul Lazarsfeld et al. in 1944 and elaborated by Elihu Katz and Lazarsfeld in 1955.
Models of communication are simplified representations of the process of communication. Most models try to describe both verbal and non-verbal communication and often understand it as an exchange of messages. Their function is to give a compact overview of the complex process of communication. This helps researchers formulate hypotheses, apply communication-related concepts to real-world cases, and test predictions. Despite their usefulness, many models are criticized based on the claim that they are too simple because they leave out essential aspects. The components and their interactions are usually presented in the form of a diagram. Some basic components and interactions reappear in many of the models. They include the idea that a sender encodes information in the form of a message and sends it to a receiver through a channel. The receiver needs to decode the message to understand the initial idea and provides some form of feedback. In both cases, noise may interfere and distort the message.
Various aspects of communication have been the subject of study since ancient times, and the approach eventually developed into the academic discipline known today as communication studies.
Lasswell's model of communication is one of the first and most influential models of communication. It was initially published by Harold Lasswell in 1948 and analyzes communication in terms of five basic questions: "Who?", "Says What?", "In What Channel?", "To Whom?", and "With What Effect?". These questions pick out the five fundamental components of the communicative process: the sender, the message, the channel, the receiver, and the effect. Some theorists have raised doubts that the widely used characterization as a model of communication is correct and refer to it instead as "Lasswell's formula", "Lasswell's definition", or "Lasswell's construct". In the beginning, it was conceived specifically for the analysis of mass communication like radio, television, and newspapers. However, it has been applied to various other fields and many theorists understand it as a general model of communication.
Suggestion theory is a theory used in the early part of the 20th century to describe how persuasion worked as a phenomenon of human collective behavior. Because a distinctive function of public communication is to advance social consensus, many scholars of the 19th and 20th century sought to understand the role of human communication in the process of social influence. Writing in 1904, Roy Park recognized suggestion theory as the "suggestive influence exerted by people on each other." To understand suggestion, Park focused on studies of collective behavior like rallies and crowds. noting that "when two or more people come in contact... a 'circular process' of mutual suggestibility gets triggered" However, scholars used different terms, including imitation, sympathy, reciprocal suggestion and prestige suggestion to describe the role of human communication in consensus formation. During the 1920s and 1930s, rising interest in the nature of propaganda accelerated interest in suggestion theory, which drew upon ideas from the emerging field of psychoanalysis. Yet, by the 1960s, suggestion theory had become a "lost doctrine" as it was effectively marginalized by scholars aiming to establish communication scholarship as a new discipline. Instead of emphasizing how humans engage in reciprocal suggestion to influence each other's attitudes and behavior, communication scholars critiqued studies of propaganda and persuasion, and emphasized the idea that media had only limited effects on individuals in society. Focus on rational argumentation replaced examination of popular suggestibility, propaganda, and persuasion.