The impact of mass media on people's consciousness is often achieved through stereotypes and images. Despite the abundance of scientific works devoted to the problem of the formation of stereotypes, it remains one of the most poorly studied in the psychology of journalism.
The concept of "stereotype" was first introduced into circulation by the famous American journalist Walter Lippmann in 1922 in the book "Public Opinion", where he defines a stereotype as a simplified, pre-accepted concept that does not follow from a person's own experience. It arises on the basis of an indirect perception of an object: "We are told about the world before we know it through experience." Stereotypes, according to W. Lippmann, initially arise spontaneously, due to the "inevitable need to save attention." They contribute to the formation of traditions and habits. "They are a fortress that guards our own traditions, and under their cover we can feel secure in the position we occupy." Stereotypes have an impact on the formation of new empirical experience:"They fill a fresh vision with old images and superimpose on the world that we perceive in our memory." Although the degree of their adequacy is extremely labile, stereotypes are predominantly inadequate images of objective reality based on "the mistake of a person who habitually takes a preconceived vision for a vision." “The stereotype is unambiguous; he divides the world into two categories - "familiar" and "unfamiliar." The familiar becomes synonymous with good, and the unfamiliar becomes synonymous with bad.and the unfamiliar is synonymous with bad. "and the unfamiliar is synonymous with bad."
The stereotype contains an evaluative element. Lippmann believed that the stereotype was neutral. The evaluative element appears in the form of an attitude, emotional communication. Stereotype isn't just a simplification. He is "highly charged with feelings." The evaluative element of the stereotype (attitude) is always deliberately determined, since the stereotype, expressing the feelings of a person, his system of values, is always correlated with group feelings and group actions. This led to the conclusion about the possible unity of stereotypes in certain social institutions and social systems. The stereotype, U. Lippmann thought further, is inadequate. Stereotypes ("prejudices") effectively control the entire process of perception, being the benchmark for assessing and, accordingly, protecting a person belonging to this group. Ultimately, stereotypes contribute to the process of interpreting the socio-political unity of the group.
In the initial period of the research, following U. Lippmann, the problems of stereotype were considered as false, illogical and imperfect formations or preconceived opinions: “pictures in the head”, “emotional symbol”, “fixed image”. Later, stereotyping began to be viewed as a necessary and most important cognitive process that mediates human behavior, helping to orientate. The stereotype began to be considered an attribute of the real human psyche, and “stereotyped” concepts, assessments, categories - as “clots” of social experience fixed in the public consciousness, as repeating properties and phenomena. “Most researchers agree that stereotypes can be 'imposed' through the media. In this case, the formation of a stereotype goes through three stages,as a result of which a complex object is reduced to a schema and well-known features. In The Remedy for Millions, R. O'Hara calls these three stages: the first is “leveling”, the second is “sparpening”, and the third is “assimilation”. At first, a complex differentiated object is reduced to several ready-made, well-known forms (features), and then the selected characteristics of the object are given special significance in comparison with what they had as constituent elements of the whole. Finally, “aligned” and “enhanced” features of the object are selected to build an image that is close and significant for a given individual. A person accustomed to a situation reacts automatically. "The intensity of the reaction," according to O'Hara, "will depend on the intensity of the emotional impact, on the art of manipulating stereotypes."In The Remedy for Millions, R. O'Hara calls these three stages: the first is “leveling”, the second is “sparpening”, and the third is “assimilation”. At first, a complex differentiated object is reduced to several ready-made, well-known forms (features), and then the selected characteristics of the object are given special significance in comparison with what they had as constituent elements of the whole. Finally, “aligned” and “enhanced” features of the object are selected to build an image that is close and significant for a given individual. A person accustomed to a situation reacts automatically. "The intensity of the reaction," according to O'Hara, "will depend on the intensity of the emotional impact, on the art of manipulating stereotypes."In The Remedy for Millions, R. O'Hara calls these three stages: the first is “leveling”, the second is “sparpening”, and the third is “assimilation”. At first, a complex differentiated object is reduced to several ready-made, well-known forms (features), and then the selected characteristics of the object are given special significance in comparison with what they had as constituent elements of the whole. Finally, “aligned” and “enhanced” features of the object are selected to build an image that is close and significant for a given individual. A person accustomed to a situation reacts automatically. "The intensity of the reaction," according to O'Hara, "will depend on the intensity of the emotional impact, on the art of manipulating stereotypes."the first is "leveling", the second is "sparpening", the third is "assimilation". At first, a complex differentiated object is reduced to several ready-made, well-known forms (features), and then the selected characteristics of the object are given special significance in comparison with what they had as constituent elements of the whole. Finally, “aligned” and “enhanced” features of the object are selected to build an image that is close and significant for a given individual. A person accustomed to a situation reacts automatically. "The intensity of the reaction," according to O'Hara, "will depend on the intensity of the emotional impact, on the art of manipulating stereotypes."the first is "leveling", the second is "sparpening", the third is "assimilation". At first, a complex differentiated object is reduced to several ready-made, well-known forms (features), and then the selected characteristics of the object are given special significance in comparison with what they had as constituent elements of the whole. Finally, “aligned” and “enhanced” features of the object are selected to build an image that is close and significant for a given individual. A person accustomed to a situation reacts automatically. "The intensity of the reaction," according to O'Hara, "will depend on the intensity of the emotional impact, on the art of manipulating stereotypes."At first, a complex differentiated object is reduced to several ready-made, well-known forms (features), and then the selected characteristics of the object are given special significance in comparison with what they had as constituent elements of the whole. Finally, “aligned” and “enhanced” features of the object are selected to build an image that is close and significant for a given individual. A person accustomed to a situation reacts automatically. "The intensity of the reaction," according to O'Hara, "will depend on the intensity of the emotional impact, on the art of manipulating stereotypes."At first, a complex differentiated object is reduced to several ready-made, well-known forms (features), and then the selected characteristics of the object are given special significance in comparison with what they had as constituent elements of the whole. Finally, “aligned” and “enhanced” features of the object are selected to build an image that is close and significant for a given individual. A person accustomed to a situation reacts automatically. "The intensity of the reaction," according to O'Hara, "will depend on the intensity of the emotional impact, on the art of manipulating stereotypes."“aligned” and “enhanced” features of the object are selected to build an image that is close and significant for a given individual. A person accustomed to a situation reacts automatically. "The intensity of the reaction," according to O'Hara, "will depend on the intensity of the emotional impact, on the art of manipulating stereotypes."“aligned” and “enhanced” features of the object are selected to build an image that is close and significant for a given individual. A person accustomed to a situation reacts automatically. "The intensity of the reaction," according to O'Hara, "will depend on the intensity of the emotional impact, on the art of manipulating stereotypes."
In the early 60s, in the context of a new research wave, new problems of studying the stereotype were formed. The influence of individual psychological characteristics, personal characteristics on the mechanisms of stereotyping is studied; the main structural and dynamic features of stereotypes of social objects and situations are analyzed; ways of forming stereotypes.
Researchers do not have an unambiguous view of the nature and essence of a stereotype. Some find that the stereotype of public consciousness is always specially organized and functions on the basis of a certain social order. It depends on the tasks of socialization, and not on the elements of the sensory nature of perception. Others in the formation of a stereotype attach importance to sensory experience. Still others, agreeing that stereotypical thinking was formed spontaneously, emphasize that stereotypes are supported deliberately, with the help of a priori judgments that are specially and historically introduced into the everyday consciousness, gradually penetrating all areas of life, including politics and art, and ultimately acquiring the force of a moral law or the rules of the hostel that are of historical importance. The last opinion of the French sociologist P. Ricoera seems to us the most promising in the study of the phenomena of stereotype.
One of the main aspects of studying the stereotype is the problem of the relationship between stability and variability. A number of researchers (K. McCauley, K. Stith, M. Segal), paying attention to the stability of stereotypes, note that the refuting information is considered as an exception that confirms the rule. However, practice shows that stereotypes react to new information, especially to dramatic events. A change in the stereotype occurs when a large amount of refuting information is accumulated. The history of the development of our country contains many examples of the change and disappearance of social stereotypes. This was due to a change in external factors: economic, political, social conditions of human life. So, for example, there were slogans and stereotypes that served as an ideological basis for the socialist system:"Socialism is the most progressive system in the world", "The highest forms of democracy have been realized in our country", "Marxism-Leninism is an eternally living revolutionary teaching", "Lenin's cause lives and wins."
The new era brought a nihilistic understanding of the past, some stereotypes were replaced by others: “The West will save us”, “Capitalism is the best of the worlds”, “The farmer will feed us”, etc. Later, such stereotypes as “Russia is sold in parts” came into use., "Russia is turning into a colonial country", "All members of the government have an account in a Swiss bank, and in Greece - a villa", "All the police work for the mafia", "All deputies are bribe-takers."
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The results of polls conducted by sociological institutes in Russia show that the prevailing stereotypes of the problems of distribution, provision, welfare prevail in the mass consciousness. New standards in assessments and approaches to emerging situations, contradictions in various strata of society are fixed in different ways. Less educated and urbanized segments of the population are less critical of new events and information. On the contrary, there are signs of radicalization, politicization, activation of the consciousness of the most educated people. The old generation is an adherent of a "firm hand" that will bring order to the country. This part of the population retains the stereotypes of "defensive consciousness" - refusal to focus on other people's experience.
More zones of consensus and less disagreement are shown by different groups of the population regarding internal problems. The acute problems of the financial situation of families - relatively small incomes, inflation - affect almost all social groups, therefore stereotypes are often common to everyone. This confirms the conclusion of the researcher E. Orlova: “A social stereotype exists where there is agreement of various people regarding the stereotyped objects and situations. The higher the degree of agreement between the assessments of different people, the more pronounced the social stereotype is considered.
In the minds of the inhabitants of our country, the "philosophy of hope", an orientation towards ideal models, has been preserved as a stereotype. The results of a sociological study (Moskovskie Novosti. 1990, No. 4) show that absurdity, chaos, and disorder are assessed in the public mind as random, temporary, inauthentic phenomena, explained by specific circumstances of a social or psychological order. Bad king or minister. These circumstances must be removed and paradise will come.
Americans have their own stereotypes. People in the United States are brought up in such a way that they do not believe in the hopelessness of the situation: they believe that with the appropriate skill and effort, any task can be solved. The Americans have "optimism to the last." In their minds, the manifestation of weakness is a personal catastrophe. Therefore, hypertrophied claims are not uncommon, which in the future can lead to severe neurotic conditions. The article “In America, Communicating with a Psychiatrist is Simply Regarded as a Hygienic Procedure” (Rush Hour 1994, Dec. 7) describes how you can get rid of this stereotypical attitude towards yourself. Psychologists advise patients: “You don't have to work well. Work badly. You will still work well. You don't know how to work badly. " This "permission" of psychiatrists relieves stress in a person.
Despite the "vitality", the stereotype is not eternal. It is formed under the influence of two factors: unconscious collective processing and individual sociocultural environment, as well as with targeted ideological influence through the media. Among the conditions of the first order, the level of education, intelligence, personal experience, as well as norms, habits, social roles, and habitat are distinguished.
Considering the social functions of the stereotype, D. Tejfel notes a number of points.
1. People readily show a willingness to give large human groups (or social categories) undifferentiated, crude and biased assessments.
2. These characteristics are stable for a long time.
3. Social stereotypes change depending on social, political changes, but this process is extremely slow.
4. The social stereotype becomes more pronounced and hostile when hostility arises between groups.
5. Social stereotypes are established very early and are used by children long before the emergence of clear ideas about the groups to which they belong.
Social psychology focuses on the complex interaction of an object and a subject, considered at the level of social perception, the model of which is the traditional scheme "stimulus" - "reaction" (physical, chemical, biological, natural basis); on a hierarchical chain of associative links established between human perception and other social levels of consciousness, including memory, intuition, imagination. The adaptive functions of each of the associative connections that arise in the human body are studied (act - stimulus - set of sensory signs - synthesis of laws - study of their connection - decision - report).
The stereotype is viewed as a mechanism of interaction, the simplest form of communication, the result of mutual attraction and cultural tension, which at the same time characterizes the degree of socialization of people. The power of stereotypes, according to A. A. Tertychny, lies in the fact that they automate our thinking, help to assess without any difficulty the phenomena that stereotyped judgments relate to. He gives the following example: the stereotypical judgment "rotten capitalism" made it possible to take a clear position in relation to capitalism in general. But this stereotype "worked" and applied to any concepts that were born in the capitalist world ("rotten capitalism", "rotten liberalism", "ostentatious mercy", "ostentatious help").
Most researchers point to the connection between stereotypes in the minds of people with the gigantic influence of the media, which shape attitudes towards the world; behavior that reproduces the actions of the "heroes" of the press, radio, television; on the binding of certain principles of behavior to those places of human life, to which the means of communication indicate.
Having studied the experience of Western propaganda and advertising, V. L. Artyomov discovered effective methods of influencing people's consciousness, helping to form stereotypes. This is the use of coincidence of interests, the external resemblance of an event to a suggestion, linking new stereotypes with old ones; reception of stereotypes substitution; shifting focus of attention; protrusion of feelings of certain groups, stimulation of collisions.
On the whole, the task of specialists in the field of propaganda is not reduced to creating new needs and requirements in the audience, but to adapting the mood of the masses to their goals. Some researchers believe that the media should simplify reality. Due to the limited time and space, the communicator must reduce most of the information to its simplest elements. The audience also does not have enough time and energy to "digest" everything in detail, so it requires a simplified version (R. Hiebert, D. Angarait, I. Born). A simple solution to a daily problem consists of a routinely executed action constructed with some "key" derived from social learning, especially through the media system.
However, there are other factors to consider. A person (reader, listener, viewer) wants to be respected, trusted in his intellect, given the opportunity to draw conclusions from the reported facts himself. Therefore, consciously or unconsciously, he resists the attempt to impose on him a ready, finally formulated point of view. On the one hand, a person perceives straightforward statements as an attempt on his right to choose from several options. Specialists in the field of propaganda should always leave the illusion of choice to the target. On the other hand, there is one more psychological circumstance. The real world is complex and diverse. A flat, one-dimensional interpretation of events and phenomena comes into conflict with the human feeling of the complexity and multidimensionality of the world, causing him to resist and distrust.
This is not entirely consistent with the concept of U. Lippmann and his followers, who view public opinion as stereotyped, full of prejudices and cliched notions, which allegedly casts doubt on the ability of an individual to resist the influence of the media. However, in our deep conviction, the task of the media is not only to transmit information, assess it and form the desired emotional attitude to this information, but also to involve a person in activities. If a society is interested in active participants in social movements, it is beneficial for it to form an adequate consciousness and create a real picture of the world.
Lack of time, other organizational constraints, as well as the need to ensure efficiency and maximum impact on the audience lead to the fact that journalists give preference to spectacular or sensational events, "pulling" them out of the broader context. People who receive messages are forced to interpret them taking into account the usual mechanisms of political decisions. Thus, they, according to T. Thompson, get "a ready-made way of packaging the consumption of spiritual food." “The spectacle that is played out by the mass media subtly brings the individual to passive perception of the hidden system of ideological domination. Problems are often viewed schematically and ahistorically, with the same emphasis on stereotypes. Often, when constructing information, the dichotomy is used: "legal" - "illegal". Such a simplified system does not facilitate the development of more subtle positions.
So, for example, if earlier in the official press the stereotype of the paternalistic state was implanted as a guarantor of the material situation of people and the stereotypes of the political system were circulating as the idea of totalitarian equality and the inviolability of the ideological formula “socialist choice” "," Socialist market "," democrats are the culprits of economic devastation ", etc.), then today the stereotype" there is no alternative to capitalism "," private property is the guarantor of the prosperity of society "," collective farms are a socialist rudiment "is being implanted.
For political and other purposes, the media use implicit forms of influence. Specific methods of such influence include the method of replacing one problem with another. So, for example, in the period preceding the separation of the Baltic States from the USSR, the problem of seizing political power was transferred to another - confrontation, national conflict: Russians - Lithuanians. In propaganda materials, the main meaning was transferred to a secondary one. Thus, victims and malefactors were placed on the same level. In the interpretation of the Baltic events, private topics also prevailed: who gave the criminal order to start military repressions against the civilian population, did the tank really crushed a man or did he himself lie under the military machine in order to stage a run over?
The same techniques are used in covering contemporary political and military events, for example, in Chechnya. For a long time, official information passed over in silence the fact of the introduction of large Russian formations into the territory of Chechnya (until large-scale military actions began, and this could no longer be hidden). A big problem was initially transferred to a private one - the discussion of the amount that Russian “mercenary” officers received for “voluntary” participation in hostilities on the territory of Chechnya.
Western propaganda uses the same techniques, for example, in the coverage of military events in Yugoslavia: a secondary feature (not specific, but generic) is chosen, the expressions “defensive reaction”, “limited air strike” are used, false designations are used: “moral duty” of the United States, "The program of the united forces of democracy". Often, for propaganda purposes, they resort to the effect of semantic scissors, when a name is used in a message, but the meaning is not indicated. The recipient himself gives him an emotional coloring. It uses sociolinguistic techniques. When qualifying the actions of the enemy, the following expressions are used: "gangs of mercenaries", "militants", "extremists", "rebels", "violence", "excitement". The opposition is associated with the concept of "illegal". Various types of appeals to public needs, norms, ideals are used. Any actions are explained by the desire of the people: “everything on behalf of the people”, “everything for the people”. Thus, at a meeting of the Baltic Assembly, on behalf of the people, a resolution was adopted "On demilitarization and further development of the Kaliningrad region", which contained a proposal to restore the former German and Old Lithuanian names in this zone. Information about this was published in all major Baltic newspapers.
By introducing stereotypes from the field of economics (bankruptcy is a stimulant, revitalizer of economic processes; change of ownership is a blessing, a guarantor of the prosperity of an enterprise, etc.), the media create a sense of danger and discomfort. People become hostages to political decisions. The official press continues to implement the function of maintaining social structures using stereotypes.
It is fair to say that today "information" has turned into an instrument of power that is used as a commodity, and recent advances in technology make it a structural element of the strategy of the imperial state, designed to rotate the structure of bureaucratic life, that is, the administrative apparatus of the state. That is why information comes to the consumer in a truncated form. The media impose certain rules for reading social relationships that serve the existing order.
G. S. Miller. Mass-Media: Psychological processes and effects, - SPb, 1996