Theories of Uniform Influence

The theory of uniform influence first emerged in the mid- and late 1930s, when researchers were examining World War I propaganda and Nazi Germany's use of the mass media. The theory argues that individuals in a mass society perceive messages from media in the same fashion and react to them strongly and very similarly.

This theory is also known as the "magic bullet" theory because media messages are magic bullets piercing the mind of the populace.


Magic Bullet Theory

This view had some influence in studies of propaganda popular in the so-called "hypodermic needle" model of the 1920s, whereby media were thought to inject us with their venom.

The media present messages to the members of the mass society who perceive them more or less uniformly.

Such messages are stimuli that influence individuals' emotions and sentiments strongly.

The stimuli lead individuals to respond in a somewhat uniform manner, creating changes in thought and action that are like those changes in other people.

A great example that this theory provides happened on October 30, 1938, when The Mercury Theater on the Air broadcast a radio program by Orson Welles (shown below).

The combination of the news bulletin form of the performance with the between-breaks dial spinning habits of listeners from the rival and far more popular Edgar Bergen/Charlie McCarthy program, was later reported in the media to have created widespread confusion among listeners who failed to hear the introduction.  Panic was reported to have spread among many listeners who believed the news reports of the Martian invasion was real.


Orson Welles

 CRITICISM:

As media studies became more complex, researches began to believe that human behavior related to media in more complex ways than passive acceptance. Studies (such as one of the 1940 U.S. election) showed that people often resisted the influences of media propaganda and made contradictory choices.

Though the Magic Bullet Theory is no longer considered valid, it was a building-block in media theory and contributed to the development of more complex ideas.