paper 6

1

SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY

CM 534, Introduction to Graduate Research in Communication, Spring 2021

Individualism, Collectivism, and Attention to Advertisements by Americans

Jamie James

One of the relationships between society and mass communication is in the “correlation

perspective” (Simonson, 2016). It states the culture of a society will be reflected in attributes of

(mass) communication that its members originate or consume (Simonson, 2016). One common

type of content of mass communication that should reflect the culture of a society is advertising.

It seems that is the case, as for the advertising to be effective, according to Rachelson (2011) it

would have to draw the audience by reflecting its characteristics. Thus one way to test the per-

spective would be to see how much advertising that appeals to one group does not appeal to an-

other group, and how much advertising that appeals to the second does not appeal to the first.

Focus/Interest/Objective

Since the United States has what experts agree (see Thompson, 1997; Arrowhead, 1999;

Granderson, 2008) is an advanced advertising industry, it seems wise to compare advertising in

groups in there. The study therefore will determine how much culturally different groups in the

country react to advertising differently. It specifically will determine how much ethnic groups

give attention to advertising differently. In addition, it will assess how much any difference in

attention is explained by the cultural differences between them.

Rationale/Justification

There seem to be two ways in which the results will have value: to scholarship, and to the

industry. The results will show how well supported is the “correlation perspective.” They also

2

will provide indications of how writers, directors and producers may produce ads for different

groups. These indications will arise from the review of differences between the two groups.

Theoretical Development

In the study of the relationship between society and mass communication, there are four

paradigms. The powerful effects paradigm sees communication as the cause of immediate and

strong effects (Greaves, 1975). The moderate effects paradigm sees communication as causing

effects over time (Graves, 1975). The minimal effects paradigm sees communication as causing

effects with the help of other factors (see Graves, 1975). The correlation paradigm is different

from the others, as seems to focus on relationship, rather than on power. It says the culture of a

society will be reflected in the system of mass communication among its members (Simonson,

2016). Some interpretations see the societal attribute as reflected in the content of the mass

communication (Frith and Wesson, 2001). Others see it as reflected in the organization of the

mass communication system (Martin, 1968). And yet others see it as reflected in the ownership,

objectives, directing or regulation of the system (Krasnow and Longley, 1795).

One major theory related to this paradigm is the theory of the segmentation of audiences

of the media (Richardson, 1965). It is a normative theory that seems to start with an assumption

about the nature of the “audience.” It seems to see that audience as not monolithic but made up

of people with different attributes. It says that the attributes may be on the basis of demographic

criteria and/or on the basis of psychographic criteria (Richardson, 1965). It seems to say that the

media have not just an audience, but diverse audiences who bring their attributes to the media.

For example, it proposes that the attributes off audiences are related to their selective attention,

retention, perception of messages in the media (See McGuire, 1974) and even that the attributes

are related to the effects or outcomes or consequences of media in audiences (McGuire, 1974)

3

The idea of “segmentation” says that to “synch with” specific audiences, the mass media

should reflect, and incorporate, the attributes of them. The attributes may be demographic or

psychographic; may be habits in the use of the mass media; and may be habits in following up on

use of the mass media (a detailed examination of these issues is in McGuire and Aaronson, 1984).

One arena for testing this theory is the United States, with a very diverse population that

includes people in such ethnic groups as African, Hispanic, Indo-European, East Asian, or other,

descent, and who belong in the lower, middle, or higher classes. Sociologists report substantial

differences between African Americans and Indo-European Americans. For example, they report

that that African Americans tend to be more collectivistic, and Indo-European Americans more

individualistic (Riverson, 1962; Gregson, 1937). On the one hand, the African Americans tend to

stress the group, collective, or relationship, as important. But on the other hand, Indo-European

Americans who tend to be individualistic and to stress the self, or individual, as important (see

Riverson, 1962; Gregson, 1937; and Raveneau, 1895).

The paradigm of “correlation” says that messages that appeal to Americans will reflect

attributes of them. But the theory of segmentation says the messages must reflect the attributes of

specific groups in the population. And African Americans tend to be more collectivistic and In-

do-European Americans more individualistic. Thus the objective of the study is to determine

whether the attributes of these groups are reflected in media choices they make: whether African

Americans tend to pay greater attention to messages that reflect collectivism, and whether Indo-

European Americans tend to pay greater attention to messages that reflect individualism.

The idea of attention may have different meanings that depend on the medium or content

of interest. For the print media, it is the fixing of the eyes on the headline, text, photo or graphic

in a “story” (see Gregson, 1972). For audio media, it is the focused listening to any part of the

4

sound (Gregson, 1972). And for visual media, it is the focused viewing of any part of the image

(Gregson, 1972). The study will focus on attention in the fixing of the eyes on a print media item.

The idea of attention also may involve focusing at different times on the medium or the

content. One instance is focusing at the time of first exposure to the medium or content (Gregson,

1972). One is focusing by returning to the medium or content after initial exposure (Gregson,

1972). For the study, the “attention” will be focused viewing at the time of first exposure.

To the writer, “attention” may involve the “fixing” of the eyes and/or ears over time, so

the greater that length of time, the greater the attention. For this study, the researcher also will

use as a measure of attention the length of the time of the fixing of the eyes or ears.

As Frith and Wesson (1981) say, individualism and collectivism may be reflected in the

number of persons who send a message: individualism with one person sending the message; and

collectivism with more than one person sending the message (Frith and Wesson, 1981).

One common content of mass media is the advertisement. Campaigns use this content to

draw the eyes and ears of readers to the products they promote, such as with cars; the services

they promote, such as grocery delivery; and the candidates they promote, such as in politics. For

this study, the interest is in advertisements that seek to draw readers to products they promote.

Of the different categories of products, several receive attention from African Americans

and Indo-European Americans. They include food, clothing, automobiles, footwear, grooming

products, and those for health care. This study focuses on advertisements for toothpaste.

The elaborations and specifications above lead to a number of questions the research will

attempt to answer. One idea is that African Americans tend to be more collectivistic than Indo-

European Americans. This leads to the following question:

5

Q1: on first seeing a message that uses more than one person to promote toothpaste, will African Americans say they are inclined to view the message later more than Indo-European Americans will say they are inclined to do so;

Among the elaborations, one other idea is that Indo-European Americans tend to be more

individualistic than African Americans. A related idea is that Indo-European Americans will be

more inclined to pay attention to messages with only one person promoting the product. Hence:

Q2: on first seeing a message that uses one person to promote toothpaste, will Indo- European Americans say they are inclined to pay attention to the message later more than African Americans will say they are inclined to do so.

Anticipated Results, and Pertinent Ethical Issues

The researcher is able to anticipate the likely results of the study by considering matters

in theory, the nature of the subject of the study, and the findings of previous research about the

subject. The researcher also is able to anticipate, or to propose, ethical issues that the researcher

and others who conduct similar studies should bear in mind.

The researcher anticipates that for the inclination to view the advertisements with more

than one person, the mean or average for African Americans will be higher and the mean or the

average for Indo-European Americans will be lower. The researcher also anticipates that the dif-

ference between these two means or averages will be significant (with the p value below 0.05).

The researcher also anticipates that for the inclination to view the advertisements with only one

person, the mean or average for African Americans will be lower and the mean or average for

Indo-European Americans will be higher. In addition, the researcher anticipates that the differ-

ence between these two means or averages will be significant (with the p value below 0.05).

One implication of these findings is that African Americans indeed are different from

Ando-European Americans in their attraction to the group or the collective: African Americans

have a greater attraction than Indo-European Americans to messages that feature the group or the

6

collective, and Indo-European Americans have a greater attraction than African Americans to

messages that feature the single individual. This has implications for the producers of messages

and the directors of campaigns. They need to anticipate the likely audiences for their messages,

and to use groups in those they aim at African Americans and individuals in those they aim at

Indo-European Americans. In persuasive messages, they also need to have groups making the

“pitch” to African Americans, and have single individuals making the “pitch” to Indo-European

Americans. In addition, when they expect their audiences will include both African Americans

and Indo-European Americans, they need to determine which appeals about which issues they

will aim at African Americans and require the use of the group, and which appeals about which

issues they will aim at Indo-European Americans and require the use of the single individual. So,

the implications reinforce the theory of segmentation of audiences (Richardson, 1965): the idea

that the audience includes groups that have their own attributes and so require specific appeals.

The results have implications for ethics in communication – including one “principle” or

“interpretation” from the philosophy of MAAT from Nile Valley Africans and African peoples

in general (elaborated by Karenga, 1993). The philosophy spells out ideals for human living, in-

teraction, and relationships that many call “principles” but experts call “interpretations.” They

include Truth, Justice, Propriety, Harmony, Reciprocity, Balance, and Order (Karenga, 1993).

The findings bring to mind the need for Balance – for interacting entities to give emphasis to the

needs and attributes one, and equivalent or comparable emphasis to the needs and attributes of

the other: in other words, for the producer or director to give emphasis to the characteristics of

African Americans, and similar emphasis to the characteristics of Indo-European Americans.

One ethical principle in the textbook is the notion of “treating research participants with

respect” (Zhou and Sloan, 2015, pp. 46-49). That spirit needs to be present in the proposed study,

7

as it may involve the discovery of differences in cultural characteristics between the researcher

and the subjects of the study. The researcher must maintain a certain discipline that results in the

researcher not composing questions or administering the questionnaire in ways that make people

of a group different from his group feel uncomfortable or seem inferior or appear unusual.

References

8

QUESTIONNAIRE ON ADVERTISEMENTS

For one of our projects in one of our courses, we ask you to respond to the questions on this ques- tionnaire (in about 7 minutes). After you have done that, return the questionnaire to the person who gave it to you. We thank you, and look forward to the results of this survey – a part of our education.

Answer each question by circling the appropriate number, which may be 0, or may be 10. Or, it may be 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9. The extremely important thing is that the number must match your real answer.

Here is an advertisement just as it appeared before the eyes of readers:

(original ad for toothpaste appears on the questionnaire here) (this display and related question below make up an example) (there will be one such display and question for each of 10 ads)

If you were to see this ad in one week, how likely would you be to take a close look at it (circle your answer):

not at all very much 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

9

To analyze the results, we need some information about you. For these last questions, check your answer: What is your gender: ___ male ___ female

What is your age range: ___ less than 20 years old ___ at least 20 but less than 40 years old ___ at least 40 but less than 60 years old ___ at least 60 but less than 80 years old ___ at least 80 years old What is your highest level of education (the one at which you are now): ___ some school ___ finished high school ___ freshman ___ sophomore ___ junior ___ senior ___ bachelors degree ___ masters degree ___ professional degree ___ doctoral degree

What is the total income of you, plus those you support financially, plus those who support you financially: ___ less than $20,000 per year ___ at least $20,000 but less than $50,000 per year ___ at least $50,000 but less than $100,000 per year ___ at least $100,000 but less than $250,000 per year ___ at least than $250,000 per year What is your ethnic group: ___ Black ___ Hispanic ___ White ___ Other: ___________________________ Do you affiliate with any religion? ___ no ___ yes If you do affiliate with any religion, please write its name here: ___________________________________________________________

This is the end of the questionnaire. Please return in to the person who gave it to you. THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

10

SECTION ON MEASUREMENT AND STATISTICS SAMPLE STATISTICS RELATED TO STUDY OF INTEREST HERE: VARIABLE OF INTEREST MIN MAX RANGE MEAN A. likelihood that African Americans will pay attention to the advertisement with a group promoting the product

4.0

9.0

5.0

7.25

B. likelihood that Ind-Eur Americans will pay attention to the advertisement with a group promoting the product

3.0

7.0

4.0

5.12

C. likelihood that African Americans will pay attention to the advertisement with one person promoting product

2.0

6.0

4.0

4.75

D. likelihood that Ind-Eur Americans will pay attention to the advertisement with one person promoting product

5.0

9.0

4.0

7.47

Is score A greater than Score B? The t-text will help us determine whether that difference is significant. The difference must have significant p value (the p value must be equal to or less than 0.05). Is score C less than Score D? The t-text will help us determine whether that difference is significant. The difference must have significant p value (the p value must be equal to or less than 0.05).

11

SECTION ON MEASUREMENT AND STATISTICS SAMPLE CORRELATIONS BETWEEN AGE AND HEIGHT: VARIABLE OF INTEREST Levels or Values or Magnitudes A. Age from birth through adolescence

1 Year 5 Years

10 Years

15 Years

B. Height from birth through adolescence 18 inches

36 inches

54 inches

72 inches

C. Age from 60 to 90 years

60 Years

70 Years

80 Years

90 Years

D. Height from 60 to 90 years old

72 inches

70 Inches

68 inches

66 inches

Does score A go up as score B goes up? Does Score A go down as score B go down? If they are so perfectly in synch, we have a perfect positive correlation, and therefore, the correlation coefficient, r, is +1.00. Does score C go up as score D goes down? Does Score C go down as score D goes up? If they are so per- fectly in synch, we have a perfect negative correlation, and therefore, the correlation coefficient, r, is -1.00. If a correlation coefficient is small, it may be not significant, and it will have a P value higher than 0.05. If a correlation coefficient is large, it may be very significant, and it will have a P value greater than 0.05.