ABSTRACT
Some 40 years have passed since Noelle-Neumann first articulated her spiral of silence theory (1974), which has inspired a considerable amount of research and is regarded as one of the most influential theories in public opinion and mass communication. Since then, the field of media effects has experienced significant changes. Bryant and Miron (2004) surveyed the state of mass communication theory and research using a content analysis of the major journals in the field. Their findings identified framing theory as a model that is rapidly gaining ground and receiving more and more scholarly attention in the field. The growing body of research on framing signifies a paradigm shift in media effect research from a powerful effect model, which is exemplified by Noelle-Neumann's spiral of silence theory, to a negotiated effects model, which is represented—among other theories—by framing. Although the spiral of silence and framing effect theories fall under different research paradigms, both share the idea that socially negotiated norms or schemas are critical for explaining the influence of socio-cultural environments on individual responses to opinion disagreement and on mediated message interpretation. That is, we argue that the micro-level variations in opinion disagreement, in the spiral of silence, and in mediated messages interpretation, in framing effect theory, across groups are accounted by the same macro-level, social norm variable. In this sense, both models attribute an important role to social norms, as a contextual factor, in shaping our behavior at the aggregate level.
