Theories of Communication
Lecture# 15
Diffusion of Innovation Theory
Diffusion of Innovation Theory
Pattern of S
When a new media technology or other
innovation is adopted rapidly by a great
number of people, it is said to EXPLODE
into being.
Historical Perspective
In 1960s, US stood as the undisputed
technological leader of the world. American
technological know-how had helped win
World War II and now provided the public
with the most comfortable and efficient life
ever known. They saw changing world.
Media, especially television seemed to be in
the middle of that change.
Limited to Powerful Effect of Mass
Media
Psychologist, unfettered by mass
communication theory’s adherence to the
dominant limited effects paradigm, thought
they could explain some of the social turmoil
in microscopic that is individual, terms.
They turned their attention to how people and
especially children learned through mass
media particularly from Television.
Concept of Catharsis
Social Learning Theory
Social Cognitive Theory
The federal government itself tried to locate
new answers to this problem by establishing
the Surgeon General’s Scientific Advisory
Committee on Television and Social
Behavior in 1969.
It reported to a U.S. senate subcommittee:
“While the report is carefully phrased and
qualified in language acceptable to social
scientists, it is clear to me that the causal
relationship between televised violence and
antisocial behavior is sufficient to warrant
appropriate and immediate remedial action.
cont….
…..The data on social phenomena such as
television and violence and or aggressive
behavior will never be clear enough for all
social scientists to agree on the formulation
of a succinct statement of causality. But there
comes a time when the data are sufficient to
justify action, that time has come.”
President Johnson established a National Commission
of the Cause and Prevention of Violence in 1968.
Commission’s report in its preface stated that:
‘If, as the media claim, no objective correlation exists
between media portrayals of violence and violent
behavior, if, in other words, the one has no impact upon
the other then how can the media claim an impact in
product selection and consumption, as they obviously
affect the viewers commercial attitudes and behavior?
Can they do one and not the other?’
The accumulated research clearly demonstrated
a correlation between viewing violence and
aggressive behavior that is, heavy viewers
behave more aggressively than light viewer.
Both experimental and longitudinal studies
supported the hypothesis that viewing violence
is causally associated with aggression.
Catharsis
Catharsis
The idea that viewing violence is sufficient to
purge or at least satisfy a person’s
aggressive drive and therefore, reduce the
likelihood of aggressive behavior.
Social Learning Theory
Social Learning Theory
Social learning theory encompasses both
imitation and identification to explain how
people learn through observation of other in
their environments.
Imitation
Identification
Imitation
Imitation is the direct, mechanical
reproduction of behavior.
Identification
Identification is a “particular form of imitation,
in which copying a model, generalized
beyond specific acts, springs from wanting to
be and trying to be like the model with
respect to some broader quality”.
The first serious look at learning through
observation was offered by psychologists Neal
Miller and John Dollard in 1941.
They argued that imitative learning occurred
when observers were motivated to learn, when
the cues or elements of the behaviors to be
learned were present, when observers
performed the given behaviors, and when
observers were positively reinforced for imitating
those behaviors.
People could imitate behavior that they saw;
those behaviors would be reinforced and
therefore learned.
Stimulus-Response learning concept.
Social scientists assumed that individuals
behaved in certain ways and then shaped
their behavior according to the reinforcement
they actually received.
Imitation simply made it easier for an
individual to choose a behavior to reinforce.
Social Learning Theory
Traditional learning theory asserts that
people learn new behavior when they are
presented with stimuli (something in their
environment), make a response to those
stimuli, and have those responses reinforced
either positively (rewarded) or negatively
(punished). In this way new behaviors are
learned, or added to people’s behavioral
repertoire - the individual’s available
behaviors in a given circumstance.
Limitation of Social Learning Theory
The theory’s inability to account for people’s
apparent skill at learning new responses
through observation rather than actually
receiving reinforcement limited its
applicability to media impact.
Social Cognitive Theory
According to Albert Bandura, “social cognitive
theory explains psycho-social functioning in
terms of triadic reciprocal causation, in this
model of reciprocal determinism; behavior,
cognitive, biological and other personal factors
and environmental events all operate as
interaction determinants that influence each
other bio-directionally.”
Social cognitive theory emphasizes the
importance of these uniquely human
characteristics known as:
Symbolizing capacity
Self-regulatory capacity
Self-reflective capacity
Vicarious capacity (Bandura, 1994)
