Media Effects and the Hypodermic Needle Theory

The Mass Media has become a part of human life and it is affecting humans so strongly. The media affects our lives both positively and negatively through television and radio content mostly since they are the most frequently used channels to disseminate information to the masses. The effects analyses the behavioural, psychological and social consequences. But this looks at the negative aspect of their influence on the masses. Such exposure could be through all the various forms of giving out information. The effects could be immediate effect which could last for a long time or could vanish in no time. It could also come about as a result of the masses frequent exposure to the news. Moreover, the types of these effects could range from psychological, physiological, cognitive, attitudinal to behavioural. It could be direct or indirect as well.

The Hypodermic Needle Theory which is one of the most famous theories that analyses the relationship between the audience and the media in its simpliest description suggests that the mass media can easily influence a large group of people without any challenge and opposition from those people. This theory did not conform with the idea that the audiences use their intelligence in analysing the messages they receive." It views audience as the passive receptors of virulent viruses produced by the media"-(Starker;Crusades against the Mass Media). However, similar theories keep springing up[ every now and then but this is the most often debated one.