TEORIA DOS EFEITOS LIMITADOS: conceito, histórico e características

Hello, dear person! Do you think the media has power over what you think? Or do you think they can't influence you, as many say?

In the Hypodermic Theory video, I explained how the media was seen as something super powerful, which influences everyone in the same way. And I also explained how mass communication began to be analyzed more closely after the creation of the Lasswell Model. All these videos are from the channel's series on communication theories and I'll leave all the links here in the description for you to watch, if you want.

Now I'm going to talk about the Theory of Limited Effects. And since I'm reviewing all the theories just to explain it to you here, I think I deserve your like, right? Enjoy and subscribe to the channel too!

And since you want to know what the Theory of Limited Effects is, I'll tell you! It is also known as Empirical Field Theory and emerged in the 1940s. That's right, it emerged in the same period as Lasswell's model, but they are different studies.

Lasswell proposes a conceptual framework for analyzing the communication process. The Theory of Limited Effects is the result of quantitative and qualitative studies, which is why it is also known as Empirical Field Theory, as I just said. She broke the pattern at the time of just observing and used research methods to understand the effects of mass communication.

If you don't know what mass communication is, I already explained it in another video too. Good. Unlike other communication studies at the time, which had more psychological views, the Theory of Limited Effects was born from a sociological analysis and the conclusion was.

. . Guess what?

The media has limited effects on society. In other words, the media has no direct impact on the public. But you already knew that, right?

And how did an empirical field study discover this? It was Paul Lazarsfeld who began to question two things. He saw what everyone was saying about the all-powerful media and wanted to know first if the media acts directly and also if the media is capable of changing people's opinions and behavior.

So he did several content analyzes of radio and television programs and combined these analyzes with analyzes of the characteristics of the people who followed and watched these programs. And since the subject is influence, it's a good idea to check the political theme, don't you think? And that's what Lazarsfeld did, he analyzed the content and audiences of the United States presidential elections in the 1940s and later, in 1948.

What was the result of all this work? Lazarsfeld discovered that the media goes through several filters before reaching people. And one of the most important filters are opinion leaders, that is, people who have more power to influence other people than the media.

And these opinion leaders don't necessarily need to be famous or more intelligent, but they are people who are more involved with the issues and follow the media and the news more. The idea is that information first spreads among these opinion leaders and they are the ones who pass the information on to the rest of the population. Do you think this makes sense?

Are the influencers we follow today opinion leaders? Could it be. Why not?

So this theory is not that old-fashioned. Just look at Lazarsfeld's own conclusion about the studies he carried out. We found that certain people we call opinion leaders have a special propensity to exert personal influence.

It was then admitted that the flow of communications followed two stages: from the radio press, to opinion leaders and from there to less active members of the population. In other words, mass media has limited influence through the social filter. Attention!

And that doesn't mean that the media has no influence at all. Not even Paul said that in his conclusion. But the media does not work alone and therefore has limited effects.

Now you need to know how limited effects theory works and it has three main functions. This is very important in public competition tests. So pay attention and write it down so you don't forget.

Paul Lazarsfedl and Robert Merton were the most dedicated researchers in the Theory of Limited Effects. For them, the media has three functions. The first is the reaffirmation of social norms, which is the media reminding us of the rules and behaviors that society considers correct.

For example, when it shows how we should act in different situations, how to be kind and respect the laws and everything. The second is education, because the media teaches us many things. Don't you think that teaching facts about the world, useful skills, and even important values ​​talks about the importance of friendship or about honesty?

It has all of this. And the last one is narcotizing dysfunction. It happens when we get so involved with the media like when we watch television all day or use social media all day, we start to ignore what really matters in life, like spending time with friends or even taking care of ourselves.

same. It is narcotizing because it is addictive. It's like being hypnotized by the media.

It was clear? Comment here so I know. In short.

The Theory of Limited Effects argues that the media shows us how we should act, teaches us and sometimes distracts us too much. Does this mean that the media can never change opinions or behaviors? So I said just now that theorists have never ruled out this possibility.

They just identified the limit of this power of influence and also explained a way to be able to have more influence on people. Paul Lazarsfeld and Robert Merton also explain how it is possible to do what they call advertising with social objectives. For the media to influence society, three conditions must be met.

It needs to be a kind of monopolization, this is when an advertisement is very good and has no other criticism or competition in the media, that is, there are no other messages that contradict or question what is being said in the advertisement. It also needs to have channeling, which is when propaganda does not try to change society's main values ​​or ideas. Instead, it follows the attitudes and behaviors that already exist in that society.

And it needs supplementation. This means that an advertisement works best when it is complemented by conversations or personal interactions, that is, when people talk about the advertisement or share their opinions about it with each other. So, dear person, in this theoretical view, the media has limited effects on the audience, but it can have more influence if there is no competition, it does not try to change anyone and if it generates good conversations.

Wow, so much, right? But it's cool to learn all this, don't you think? If you want to learn more, research Joseph Klapper too.

He emphasized the limited influence of the media, defining it only as a collaborative agent. But I'm not going to explain it here otherwise this video will be very long. Research if you are interested in delving deeper into this subject.

And to continue with our studies, how about now we talk a little about the Functionalist Theory of Communication? This is the subject of the next video in this series. I'll wait for you there.

Thank you very much for watching this far. A kiss and see you in the next video!