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The hypodermic needle theory is an approach to studying the effects of the media on behavior. It believed that the media ‘injected’ its content into the audience’s lives directly, subsequently influencing their behavior. The theory views the audience as passive, homogeneous, and impressionable.
Key Takeaways
diagram of a hypodermic needle pointing towards a stick figure. labels coming off the needle saying ‘developed in the 1920s and 1930s’, ‘linear communication theory’, ‘passive audience’ and ‘no individual difference’
History and Development
Sometime later, Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno, who had fled Germany and arrived in the United States, began noting similarities between the Nazis’ propaganda industry and Hollywood, or what they termed the ‘Culture Industry’ of America.
They likened American popular culture to a manufacturer of standardized messages employed to manipulate people. Horkheimer and Adorno further noted that such content fabricated psychological needs which only the products ofcapitalismcould meet.
Thus, according to this view, the culture industry’s chief objective was to turn the recipients of media into avid consumers who would sustain capitalism.
Examples
The most notable incident that is cited as evidence for the hypodermic needle theory comprises The War of the Worlds broadcast in 1938 and the widespread panic it created.
This was a fictional account of Martians invading the earth and massacring many people. The show resembled a typical evening radio programming format containing periodic news bulletins.
The relationship between viewing violence in media and acting violently in real life is a topic that never ceases to elicit attention.
Three groups of children were shown real, cartoon and film examples of someone beating abobo-dollwith a mallet. Another group saw no violence at all. All the children were then brought to a room brimming with toys.
However, they were informed that they could not play with them. Thus, the conditions were made conducive to their being frustrated.
Afterwards, the children were brought to a room which had a bobo-doll and a mallet.
She noted that the impact of violence portrayed in the media upon children is gradual and subtle. According to her, ongoing exposure to such content over a long period of time could desensitize youngsters to violence.
Such children would consequently come to see brutality as the norm and a way of resolving issues.
She further contended that violence on television was more likely to encourage its viewers to identify with the perpetrators of brutality rather than with the victims.
Criticism
The hypodermic model, despite its seeming popularity, has not failed to elicit immense criticism.
In the 1940s, Paul Felix Lazarsfeld, Hazel Gaudet and Bernard Berelson mounted a serious challenge to this theory through their research study of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s election in 1940 (Lazarsfeld, Berelson & Gaudet, 1948).
They analyzed the relationship between political power and media, and discovered thatinterpersonal outletswere more potent than Roosevelt’s media propaganda.
While the messages on the media were not without effect, the results of the study indicated that the voters were not helpless and gullible consumers of campaign propaganda.
Today’s realities, far different from those of the mid/early 20th century, seem to have further abated the hypodermic theory’s explanatory power.
Moreover, today’s audiences are more literate overall, than those of the 1930s, and therefore, it is reasonable to expect that they would more critically engage in various media content than their predecessors did nearly a century ago.
Further Information
References
Bandura, A.; Ross, D.; Ross, S. A. (1961). “Transmission of aggression through the imitation of aggressive models”.Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 63(3), 575–582. doi:10.1037/h0045925
Ball-Rokeach, S. J. (1985). The origins of individual media-system dependency: A sociological framework.Communication Research, 12(4), 485-510.
Berger, Arthur (1995).Essentials of Mass Communication Theory. doi:10.4135/9781483345420. ISBN 9780803973572.
Croteau, D. & Hoynes, W. (1997).Media/society: industries, images, and audiences. Pine Forge Press. ISBN 9780803990654.
Lasswell, H. (1927).Propaganda Technique in the World War. New York, P. Smith.
Lasswell, H.D. (1970).Propaganda technique in world war I. Cambridge: The M.I.T. Press.
Lazarsfeld, P.F., Berleson, B., & Gaudet, H. (1944).The people’s choice. New York: Columbia University Press.
Lowery, Shearon (1995).Milestones in Mass Communication Research: Media Effects (en inglés). USA: Longman Publishers. ISBN 9780801314377.
Newson, Elizabeth (1994). Video violence and the protection of children,Journal of Mental Health, 3(2), 221-227, DOI: 10.3109/09638239409003802
Paul Felix Lazarsfeld, Bernard Berelson, Hazel Gaudet (1948).The People”s Choice: How the Voter Makes Up His Mind in a Presidential Campaign. Columbia University Press.
Saul McLeod, PhD
BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester
Saul McLeod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.
Olivia Guy-Evans, MSc
BSc (Hons) Psychology, MSc Psychology of Education
Olivia Guy-Evans is a writer and associate editor for Simply Psychology. She has previously worked in healthcare and educational sectors.
Ayesh PereraResearcherB.A, MTS, Harvard UniversityAyesh Perera, a Harvard graduate, has worked as a researcher in psychology and neuroscience under Dr. Kevin Majeres at Harvard Medical School.
Ayesh PereraResearcherB.A, MTS, Harvard University
Ayesh Perera
Researcher
B.A, MTS, Harvard University
Ayesh Perera, a Harvard graduate, has worked as a researcher in psychology and neuroscience under Dr. Kevin Majeres at Harvard Medical School.
