ABSTRACT
What effect do the media have on you? Does news change your mind about issues? Do political commercials influence your beliefs? Does television violence make you more aggressive? Not really, you say. You make up your own mind, you form your own ideas about politics and products, and you’re not much fazed by TV crime shows, though goodness knows, you’ve watched your share of them over the years. Okay-do me this favor, estimate the impact that news, commercials, and television violence have on other people. That is, guess how they influence other individuals who tune them in. Say what? You think that news, advertising, and TV violence have a strong effect on other people? That others buy into what they see in the newspaper, on television, and their computer screens?
