Earlier media effects research assumes that media messages have limited effects on people.

Magic bullet model assumes that people are actively consuming media messages, media has limited effects and communication could only affect people’s behavior to a certain extent.

The hypodermic needle theory assumes that media messages have profound, direct and uniform impact because the audience is passive.

The Payne Studies discovered that the media effects are uniform on the audience, as age, sex, life experience and social environment do not influence behavior.

The two-step flow theory is categorised as powerful effects theory.

Studies on the influence of radio indicated that media effects could be dramatic but did not produce uniform effects on people.

Limited effects theories explain that social institutions have more influence on people’s behavior rather than the mass media.

George Gerbner’s cultivation study unfolds that people have heightened fear about violence in their environment due to constant exposure to violence on tv.

Cumulative effects of viewing thousands of murders is to see the world as a more dangerous place. This is called the mainstreaming syndrome.

People are more influential socialisation agents rather than the media. This is the outcome of the two-step flow theory.

An opinion leader is the journalist and the editor.

People may be unwilling to express publicly their opinions when they believe they are a minority. This is a hypothesis by Elizabeth Noelle-Neumann under the Two Step Flow Theory.

Audience studies is useful to political communication experts, PR and ad agencies and content producing media companies because they probe into the impact of media persuasion on the audience.

Under uses and gratifications, it is assumed that the mass media compete with other sources of satisfaction.

Blogging and posting on Facebook and MySpace are examples of self-expression.

Viewers who develop a sense of friendship with Oprah Winfrey can be said to have conversational currency with her.

The encoding and decoding theory by Stuart Hall explains that producers encode messages with certain meanings but audiences may decode the messages differently.

Reception analysis usually studies women’s interpretation of their favourite media texts whether it is a novel, book or film.

Kahneman and Tversky (1984): For social marketing campaigns, if messages are framed to have a “gain or loss,” people will choose safer option to a risky behavior or habit if the ad campaigns promote fear appeals.