ABSTRACT

This chapter provides an overview of how media effects are studied. The uses and gratifications approach is important in understanding how audiences use the mass media and their reasons for doing so. The theory connects media use to the audience’s psychological needs and attitudes toward the media, and it also explains how personal factors influence media use. Various perspectives are offered to explain the effects of media content individually, socially, and culturally. Those perspectives include the strong-effects model and magic bullet theory; the limited-effects model and the research that stemmed from the broadcast of The War of the Worlds; the moderate-effects model; and the powerful-effects model, which takes many factors into consideration when examining media influence. Radio was an especially powerful tool for spreading propaganda and persuasive messages. The two-step flow theory supports limited effects by demonstrating that opinion leaders are often more influential than the media.