Hyperdermic Needle Theory

  Hyperdermic Needle Model

  This is a model of communications suggests that an intended message is directly received and wholly accepted by the receiver. The model is rooted in 1930s behaviourism. This theory is not based on empirical findings from research but rather assumptions of the time about human nature. People were assumed to be uniformly controlled by their biologically based instincts. This theory is also known as the Magic Bullet this assumes that the media's message is a bullet fired from the "media gun" into the viewer's "head" (Berger 1995). This suggests that the media injects its message straight into the passive audience, and then the audience is directly affected by the message. This suggests a powerful and direct flow of information from the sender to the receiver.

   It suggests that media messages are injected straight into a passive audience which is immediately influenced by the message, because of the limited communication tools and the studies of the media’s effect on the masses at the time. There is no escape from the effect of the message in this model. People are seen as passive and end up thinking what they are told because there is no other source of information.

   Factors which contribute:

• Speedy increase of popular media
• Industries Persuasion by advertising or public opinion
• Impact of motion pictures on children (The Payne Fund)
• Hitler’s monopolization of the mass media in world war two.