Media Execs Always Insist Their Content Only Reflects Existing Attitudes, and Does Not Create Them

New studies of social media influence on political polarization, published in Science and another in Nature, suggest that Facebook does not, in fact, create attitudes.

Skeptics are likely to remain unmoved, as decades of research on media impact on attitudes has proven inconclusive, either way. One can count on media executives insisting that their media only reflects attitudes, and does not create them. 

But lots of people are likely to find such claims disingenuous and unbelievable. 

But there is no clear consensus on the matter. Some studies suggest that media only reflects attitudes, but does not cause them:

• Ball-Rokeach, S. J., & DeFleur, M. L. (1976). A dependency model of mass media effects. Communication Research, 3(2), 197-213.

• Chaffee, S. H., & Mutz, D. C. (1990). Comparing mediated and interpersonal communication as sources of political information. Communication Research, 17(5), 555-577.

• Morgan, M., & Shanahan, J. (1997). Television and the cultivation of values: What messages do children learn? Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

But studies also exist suggesting that media might actually create attitudes:

• Bandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

• Gerbner, G., Gross, L., Morgan, M., & Signorielli, N. (1986). Living with television: The dynamics of the cultivation process. In J. Bryant & D. Zillmann (Eds.), Perspectives on media effects (pp. 17-40). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

• Hoffner, C., & Cantor, J. (1985). Parental mediation and children's television viewing: A critical review of research. Developmental Review, 5(1), 1-36.