The
historical roots of the study of communication are often traced to Classical
Greece, where such philosophers as Aristotle articulated principles of rhetoric
and effective persuasive discourse. The social-scientific study of communication
is the focus of the program, emerged during the early decades of the 20th
century. At that time, communication research was not conducted within a single
institutional entity rather, researchers from the then emerging disciplines of
sociology, psychology, political science, marketing and advertising sought to
understand the role print, film and radio might play in producing a variety of
effects in their audiences.
The journalist
Walter hippman wrote extensively about media, public opinion and democracy and
the Chicago School of sociology initiated a number of media effect studies,
including the ways in which newly arrived immigrants used the press to orient
themselves in American society. The voluminous Payne Fund Study, of the late
1920s and early 1930s examined the effects of movie attendance on youth. The political
scientist Harold Lasswell’s extensive work on propaganda during this period was
also influential in shaping the development of communication research.
During Second
World War, several social scientist with interest in communication worked in
government agencies conducting research in areas related to morale and propaganda.
The addition, beyond the war effort, research aimed at understanding the impact
of political information disseminated by
the mass behavior was initiated in 1940 by the influential sociologist Paul
Lazarfeld.
Inspired by
psychologist Kurt Lewin’s innovative studies studies of group decision making
during Second World War, research began to study face-to-face communication in
groups under the rubric of group dynamic.
Researchers
came to realize that face-to-face interaction serves an important function in
altering the effects of media-disseminated message thus suggesting the
important of understanding social influence process in groups. Although several
communication researches of this period explicit embraced the idea that
communication theory could be bootstrapped out of their applied research
projects, little theory was actually generated.
At the end
of Second World War, many communication researchers who had worked in the government
returned to academic institution and established communication research
program. Carl Hovland initiated a highly productive research program me devoted
to the study of communication and persuasion at Yale University. Instituted for
the study of communication were established at university of Illinois and Stanford
University and the Anneberg School for communication was instituted at the
University of Pennsylvania.
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