EOTC Terms and Concepts | Blog Post 7 | Third Person Effect

Image of W. Phillips
Davidson
studying at Princeton
University in 1939.

Over forty years ago in 1983, a theory begun by W. Phillips Davidson came to life called the "Third Person Effect". The theory spoke about the idea that one person believes mass media is impacting someone's political views but isn't impacting their own opinion on it. In other words, it's like saying that your friend's republican point of view is originating from biased information from Fox News. Meanwhile, they watch only CNN and believe that it's not affecting their own views at all. 

Before we get more into the current-day problems that relate to the Third-Person Effect we first need to understand the history behind how W. Phillips Davidson came up with this theory. After World War II Davidson was a historian who graduated at Princeton University and was working on research in 1949. While researching, he came across documents from World War II which had ended just four years before the beginning of his investigation.

The document spoke about a historic event where a service unit consisting of black troops was stationed on the island of Iwo Jima being led by white officers in the Pacific.  Japan had received word of the location of this unit and sent planes to the location where they stressed to the troops it was a white man's war and colored people had no involvement in it. The Japanese told them to un-involve themselves or withdraw and the next day the unit had been withdrawn. This struck curiosity towards Davidson and he began to interview those who may be involved. Through a series of interviews with German Press Davidson found that the journalists believed mass media did not have an effect on people like themselves however would most likely sway those of little intelligence. This made Davidson question why they believed they were so special and led him to come up with the idea of the "Third Person Effect".

So how does this affect people nowadays?

If you look at today's current state of the country and how it was building up to the election, it is clear to see how strong people's political opinions have become. In the early 2000s, it felt as if the country
respected each other's opinions and beliefs, however, in the last 2010 politics has become the most controversial and emotional topic to be discussed. Part of this problem can be credited to the Mass Media in the country and the way they word things to swing people to one side or the other. however, the other half of the problem is on us.

It is on us as the people of the country to make sure we are not downgrading another political view for the news sources they have been choosing to watch but rather educate each other in a manner of using facts and statistics over just opinion-based headlines found on media.

Propaganda and media bias will always be mass-produced by the big media sources in the country but it is important to keep a humble and open mind to everyone's opinions and sources to ensure you avoid falling to the third-person effect and continue to grow the intelligence within the country.