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Concerns about public opinion measurements, propaganda, and the impact of media on society intensified just as journalism and mass communication departments gained popularity in colleges and universities. As these forces dovetailed, media researchers looked increasingly to behavioral science as the basis of their work. Between 1930 and 1960, “Who says what to whom with what effect?” became the key question “defining the scope and problems of American communications research.”⁹ To address this question, researchers asked more specific questions, such as this: If children watch a lot of TV cartoons (stimulus or cause), will this influence their behavior toward their peers (response or effect)? New social scientific models arose to measure and explain such connections—which researchers referred to as media effects.