Media effects on the audience attitudes and behavior

Abstract

This paper presents a bibliographical review of the development of the literature on media effects and it presents a nuanced history of the development of the studies on media effects. This text intends to recover the classical demarcation of literature belonging to the era of (1) unlimited effects, in which the media have complete power over its audience, to the period in which the studies (2) evoked potentially intervening variables in media effects (in determining limited effects), and to the (returning) era of (3) significant effects. The perspective taken in this study focuses on researches that approach the media influence on the attitudes and behaviors of the audience.