1. My interest in this book. In fact, when I first learned about this book, its Chinese translation was called "14 Milestones in the Study of Mass Communication Effects". Because the 14 numbers were very specific, I was not interested in the 14 numbers.

Milestone has aroused strong interest - what kind of research can stand out in such a long history of communication research and become one of the fourteenth?

Later, when I borrowed the book, I found that the number fourteen had been removed from the title. The reason was that two new chapters had been added to the original book (more on this later), but this further aroused my interest in reading.

Due to limited spare time, I have only read the first seven chapters, understood the research of the six milestones, and expressed some superficial thoughts on it.

2. Reflection Chapter 1 of the first seven chapters describes six milestone studies, namely: Payne Fund research, Martian Theater broadcast research, political propaganda media research, uses and gratification theory, Iowa corn hybrid research and movies

experiment.

In the early days, people's research on communication still stayed at the "magic bullet theory" view. They regarded the communication effect of the media as a guideline and believed that the media could influence the audience's thoughts. However, through people's examination of the communication effect, they concluded that the magic bullet theory was

In the first stage of communication, the main point was questioned and refuted. It was believed that it is difficult for the media to change the opinions, behaviors and attitudes of the audience, and they even believed that the media was incompetent. However, later on, people gradually looked at the communication effects objectively and believed that the communication media is

It has a huge influence, but it is not omnipotent.

Among them, people also began to transform the field of research into audience-centered.

This is a huge leap forward in the effectiveness of mass communication research.

Each of the specific cases in this book cannot be viewed in isolation.

In fact, the theories derived from each case are related. For example, in the study of Martian invasion, it was concluded that people's psychological differences will lead to the impact of media, and in the use and gratification study, people have different levels of needs.

There will be varying degrees of demand for media. These studies on communication effects support each other, leading to the theory of audience autonomy and limited effect.

In fact, in the study of the effects of communication media, we can never be separated from the study of the audience and the characteristics of the audience itself. Through the study of mass communication media, we should deeply realize that the audience, that is, we ourselves, are the decisive factor.

The key factor in the impact of media is that we should learn to use the media to speak out reasonably, instead of letting the media control our thoughts. We should be people with critical thinking and independent thinking.

From this, I couldn't help but think of a recent popular social event in a high school. The online comments and comments of the mother involved and the media fermented in a short period of time, forming a huge public opinion storm. Netizens can be led astray by any information in the media. Looking back now

Come on, Zhihu does not allow anonymity when answering an incident in a certain high school. Is this a threat to reveal the truth, or is it preventing the spread of unnecessary rumors?

Those who deliberately take advantage of people's distrust of public rights are often willing to believe in the evil nature of "anonymous answers" that cannot even guarantee their identity, in order to arouse people's anger.

The more the truth is revealed, the more it makes me shudder.

Most of the research methods in this book are quantitative research based on the empirical school. This research method has been used throughout communication research for decades.

Among them, the research samples are huge, the research time is long, and the content is complex... It tests the patience and academic level of communication researchers, which is really admirable.