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While opinion polls measure public attitudes, social psychology studies measure the behavior, attitudes, and cognition of individuals. The most influential early social psychology media studies efforts, the Payne Fund Studies, comprised thirteen research projects conducted by social psychologists between 1929 and 1932. Named after the private philanthropic organization that funded the research, the Payne Fund Studies were a response to a growing national concern about the effects of motion pictures on young people. The studies, which some politicians later used to attack the movie industry, linked frequent movie attendance to juvenile delinquency, promiscuity, and other problematic behaviors, arguing that movies took “emotional possession” of young filmgoers.⁸

The conclusions of this and other Payne Fund Studies contributed to the establishment of the film industry’s production code, which tamed movie content from the 1930s through the 1950s. (See Chapter 14.) As forerunners of today’s research into TV violence and aggression, the Payne Fund Studies became the model for media research, although social psychology is also used to study the mass media’s relationship to body image, gender norms, political participation, and a wide range of other topics. (See Figure 16.1 for one example of a contemporary policy that has developed from media research. Also see “Media Literacy Case Study: What to Do about Television Violence?”)