HMN 2025: 9 ways the media shapes norms and behavior

Building on our post looking at the times when media influenced real-world behavior, we will reflect below on why this might happen through a series of theories.

1. Social learning theory. Albert Bandura’s theories provided scientific support for what was known through common sense and everyday experience. This theory conceptualizes the known effect in simple terms: “See a monkey, see a monkey.” The crux of the idea is that humans, especially children, imitate the behavior they see in their environment. Media content has grown to be one of the main reference points for many people today, especially young people. Some of the other factors listed here detail how consumption of media content can affect behavior.

2. Transitional journey. Bandura devoted his energies to the field of media that influences behavior. One of the concepts he utilized was the positive, negative, and transitional models. About the latter he said: “These dramatic works are not fanciful stories. They depict people’s everyday lives and help them see a better future. Provide strategies and incentives. It allows us to take steps to make that happen.”

3. Cognitive script. Cristina Bicchieri explains how the field of using media to change and shape norms can be effective by providing viewers with new scripts, i.e. cognitive models on which they rely to decide how to act in certain situations. She mentions three ways the media can update the script.

• New actions show the way into previously unknown worlds.
• Modify an existing script by indicating alternative paths.
• This can be done by integrating new norms or behaviors into existing moral structures and (re)organizing those behaviors to fit those structures.

Witnessing a character engage in such a journey can help others see the action in a new light and encourage them to do the same.

4. Social norms, normative and empirical expectations. Biccheiri explains two important factors that influence what we do. normative Expectations refer to what we expect and what others believe we do. zero While doing what needs to be done in a situation, empirical Expectations indicate what we think others will do. actually do. Which of the two is more influential? “We found that what others have done masks normative messages (what others say you should do) in shaping individuals’ expectations and directing their choices.”(Beacheri, 2016). When certain behaviors appear in the media, this can contribute to changing perceptions of experiential (and normative) expectations. Research has shown that simply knowing what others are doing influences a variety of behaviors, including: electricity usage and voting behavior.

5. Messenger effects and representative characters. The messenger effect describes the impact of the messenger on information absorption rather than the actual message itself. If humans are driven solely by rationality, it would be fair to assume that messages carry the most weight. However, we appear to be influenced by a number of factors that obscure our relationship to the message, such as how similar the messenger is to us. The perceived level of authority projected by the messenger is also important. This may be seen as confirmation of the validity of the message, but studies have shown that Authority can be signaled By superficial factors such as wearing a lab coat.

Where the messenger effect can come into play in media is in the characters portrayed. In general, there is an increasing number of representations in the media that refer to the presence of similar identities to the viewer, reinforcing the messenger effect. Where things can get more personal is social media. On social media, numerous “characters” that fit different demographic profiles convey similar messages, such as advertising products.

6. General entrepreneurs and trendsetters. Cass Sunstein’s work is beneficial to characters, real or fictional, who are leading the way in changing norms and behavior. These characters can be representative and evoke a messenger effect, but they don’t have to be. What’s more important here is that the character is seen breaking certain norms. By leveraging elements of social learning theory and updating scripts, when characters break norms, media consumers are more likely to do the same.

Sunstein writes that norm entrepreneurs “draw attention to what they see as the absurdity, unnaturalness, intrusiveness, or ugliness of current norms…”Sunstein, 2019).

Referring to media trendsetters, Bicchieri wrote: “The protagonist of a story about education or child marriage may be a girl from a very typical family with whom people can identify. What’s novel is that the girl has different aspirations. For example, she wants to marry for love.” (Bicchieri, 2016)

This exemplifies Bandura’s transition model concept.

7. Availability cascade. Timur Kuran and Sunstein describe it as “a self-reinforcing process of collective belief formation in which expressed perceptions trigger a chain reaction, providing perceptions of increased validity through increased availability in public discourse.” do.Curran and Sunstein, 1999). That is, the more an idea spreads in public discourse, the more it gathers steam and becomes more popular. Media can play an important role in this cascade.

Where this can become more powerful is when these messages come from multiple levels. A heartbreaking moment in a movie where a star character engages in a new action; Instagram influencers use these actions to talk about their journey. Or, someone in a person’s “reference network” (Bichierri’s term for “important” people in our social circle) may also take on a new behavior. This also leads to an update of empirical expectations.

The impact of the availability cascade affects the fundamental reality of human behavior. That is, we are much more implicit than rational models allow. While behavioral science arrived at this conclusion relatively recently, Freud and his predecessors discovered this fact more than a century ago when they determined that most humans were “gullible.”

8. Media and emotions. Emotions play a pivotal role in shaping behavior. Among the many functions of emotions is to prepare us to respond behaviorally to stimuli, but they also help us reflect on and analyze our own behavior and the behavior of others we witness. Emotions tend to be given more weight in action when discussion and cognitive reflection can also serve this purpose.

Think of that scene in your favorite movie. The characters and their predicaments captivate you as the narrative reaches key moments, while the scenes are set on fire by the moving soundtrack and the filmmaker’s masterful production. The emotional power of such moments can move us, and their impact reverberates through our being long after the film has ended.

9. Narratives and stories

Finally, and perhaps at the most basic level, humans are creatures that have always relied on narratives to shape norms and behavior. There seems to be something in our makeup that is exploited by them. The media is one of the most effective ways to spread this.