Melvin Defleur
Encyclopedia
Melvin Lawrence DeFleur (born April 27, 1923 in Portland, Oregon
) is a professor and scholar in the field of communications
. His initial field of study was social sciences
.
in social psychology
from the University of Washington
in 1954. His thesis, Experimental studies of stimulus response relationships in leaflet communication, drew from sociology, psychology, and communication, to study how information
diffused through |American communities.
He has taught at Indiana University (1954–1963), the University of Kentucky
(1963–1967), Washington State University
(1967–1976), the University of New Mexico
(1976–1980), the University of Miami
(1981–1985), Syracuse University
(1987–1994) and the University of Washington
before taking his current position as professor of communication at Boston University's
Department of Mass Communication, Advertising and Public Relations. In addition, he was a Fulbright Professor to Argentina
twice: and was affiliated with the Argentine Sociological Society and the Ibero-Interamerican Sociological Society, for which he served as Secretary General.
DeFleur is married to Margaret DeFleur, Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research,
and George A. Lundberg
, sociologists and psychologists. This group applied quantitative measure, statistical data analyses, and descriptive mathematical models used in the physical sciences to the development of sociology (DeFleur & Larsen, 1987).
Another force affected his work: He began his career when the memories of World War II
were fresh, and entered into the academic world when the Cold War
played a critical role in shaping the United States' political, economic and social atmosphere. Social psychology research added to the knowledge that the United States government and military felt they needed for operating in a new world dynamic (East v. West). For example, the leafleting processes studied by Project Revere were an obvious way to communicate information to a displaced, captive, or isolated population.
He maintained a sociological focus during the early 1970s, co-writing an introductory sociology textbook that went into several editions. He co-authored a study of discrimination
in university
hiring practices, particularly in sociology departments (Wolfe et al., 1973), again with a strong emphasis on statistics
and survey methods. However, his focus shifted. With the spread of television
, he began to study the mass media
. Specifically, he researched the effect of television on children's knowledge of occupational roles, and on the factors that influence the content and output of the American broadcasting systems. He and others established a formal definition of social expectations theory, applied to a model to predict that watching television attunes a viewer to social organization patterns of various groups, even if they "have never been members or never will be" (DeFleur & Ball-Rokeach, 1989). Other works examined the potential relationships forged by mass media between the perception of social problems and their portrayal by the media (Hubbard et al., 1975). He wrote of his suggestion of a cultural norms theory in 1970, an idea that, in his estimation, "provided the foundation for the more comprehensive social expectations theory" (DeFleur & Ball-Rokeach, 1989).
In the 1970s and 1980s he continued studies on news diffusion. In reviewing some major studies (DeFleur, 1988), he found that despite emerging technology, word of mouth
is still important, and major events that concern a broader population will travel further and faster.
DeFleur cites his idea (formed with Timothy Plax) of the language
-shaping function of the media as one of four theories on how media shape messages, and what that means for social conduct (DeFleur & Ball-Rokeach, 1989). The other three are the meaning-construction function of the press (Lippmann, 1920s); cultivation theory
(Gerbner); the agenda setting function of the press (Shaw and McCombs). His transition from "pure" social psychology to mass communication mirrors the growth of this field. His theories, are widely cited in mass communication studies and in general theoretical surveys.
He is on the Executive Board of the Center for Global Media Studies at Washington State University
, an organization whose motto, "Global Media Cover the World ... We Cover Global Media," connects with the focus of his recent work studying the accuracy of audience recall of news media in a cross-cultural vein (Faccoro & DeFleur, 1993).
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
) is a professor and scholar in the field of communications
Communication studies
Communication Studies is an academic field that deals with processes of communication, commonly defined as the sharing of symbols over distances in space and time. Hence, communication studies encompasses a wide range of topics and contexts ranging from face-to-face conversation to speeches to mass...
. His initial field of study was social sciences
Social sciences
Social science is the field of study concerned with society. "Social science" is commonly used as an umbrella term to refer to a plurality of fields outside of the natural sciences usually exclusive of the administrative or managerial sciences...
.
Biography
DeFleur received his Ph.D.Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
in social psychology
Social psychology
Social psychology is the scientific study of how people's thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. By this definition, scientific refers to the empirical method of investigation. The terms thoughts, feelings, and behaviors include all...
from the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
in 1954. His thesis, Experimental studies of stimulus response relationships in leaflet communication, drew from sociology, psychology, and communication, to study how information
Information
Information in its most restricted technical sense is a message or collection of messages that consists of an ordered sequence of symbols, or it is the meaning that can be interpreted from such a message or collection of messages. Information can be recorded or transmitted. It can be recorded as...
diffused through |American communities.
He has taught at Indiana University (1954–1963), the University of Kentucky
University of Kentucky
The University of Kentucky, also known as UK, is a public co-educational university and is one of the state's two land-grant universities, located in Lexington, Kentucky...
(1963–1967), Washington State University
Washington State University
Washington State University is a public research university based in Pullman, Washington, in the Palouse region of the Pacific Northwest. Founded in 1890, WSU is the state's original and largest land-grant university...
(1967–1976), the University of New Mexico
University of New Mexico
The University of New Mexico at Albuquerque is a public research university located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the United States. It is the state's flagship research institution...
(1976–1980), the University of Miami
University of Miami
The University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12...
(1981–1985), Syracuse University
Syracuse University
Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...
(1987–1994) and the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
before taking his current position as professor of communication at Boston University's
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
Department of Mass Communication, Advertising and Public Relations. In addition, he was a Fulbright Professor to Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
twice: and was affiliated with the Argentine Sociological Society and the Ibero-Interamerican Sociological Society, for which he served as Secretary General.
DeFleur is married to Margaret DeFleur, Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research,
Academic work
His early work owes a debt to Stuart C. DoddStuart C. Dodd
Stuart Carter Dodd was an American sociologist and an educator, who published research on the Middle East and on mathematical sociology, and was a pioneer in scientific polling.- Biography :Stuart Dodd graduated from Princeton University in 1926...
and George A. Lundberg
George A. Lundberg
George Andrew Lundberg was an American sociologist.-Biography:...
, sociologists and psychologists. This group applied quantitative measure, statistical data analyses, and descriptive mathematical models used in the physical sciences to the development of sociology (DeFleur & Larsen, 1987).
Another force affected his work: He began his career when the memories of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
were fresh, and entered into the academic world when the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
played a critical role in shaping the United States' political, economic and social atmosphere. Social psychology research added to the knowledge that the United States government and military felt they needed for operating in a new world dynamic (East v. West). For example, the leafleting processes studied by Project Revere were an obvious way to communicate information to a displaced, captive, or isolated population.
He maintained a sociological focus during the early 1970s, co-writing an introductory sociology textbook that went into several editions. He co-authored a study of discrimination
Discrimination
Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category. It involves the actual behaviors towards groups such as excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to another group. The term began to be...
in university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
hiring practices, particularly in sociology departments (Wolfe et al., 1973), again with a strong emphasis on statistics
Statistics
Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments....
and survey methods. However, his focus shifted. With the spread of television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
, he began to study the mass media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
. Specifically, he researched the effect of television on children's knowledge of occupational roles, and on the factors that influence the content and output of the American broadcasting systems. He and others established a formal definition of social expectations theory, applied to a model to predict that watching television attunes a viewer to social organization patterns of various groups, even if they "have never been members or never will be" (DeFleur & Ball-Rokeach, 1989). Other works examined the potential relationships forged by mass media between the perception of social problems and their portrayal by the media (Hubbard et al., 1975). He wrote of his suggestion of a cultural norms theory in 1970, an idea that, in his estimation, "provided the foundation for the more comprehensive social expectations theory" (DeFleur & Ball-Rokeach, 1989).
In the 1970s and 1980s he continued studies on news diffusion. In reviewing some major studies (DeFleur, 1988), he found that despite emerging technology, word of mouth
Word of mouth
Word of mouth, or viva voce, is the passing of information from person to person by oral communication. Storytelling is the oldest form of word-of-mouth communication where one person tells others of something, whether a real event or something made up. Oral tradition is cultural material and...
is still important, and major events that concern a broader population will travel further and faster.
DeFleur cites his idea (formed with Timothy Plax) of the language
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
-shaping function of the media as one of four theories on how media shape messages, and what that means for social conduct (DeFleur & Ball-Rokeach, 1989). The other three are the meaning-construction function of the press (Lippmann, 1920s); cultivation theory
Cultivation theory
Cultivation theory is a social theory which examined the long-term effects of television on American audiences of all ages.Developed by George Gerbner and Larry Gross of the University of Pennsylvania, cultivation theory derived from several large-scale research projects as part of an overall...
(Gerbner); the agenda setting function of the press (Shaw and McCombs). His transition from "pure" social psychology to mass communication mirrors the growth of this field. His theories, are widely cited in mass communication studies and in general theoretical surveys.
He is on the Executive Board of the Center for Global Media Studies at Washington State University
Washington State University
Washington State University is a public research university based in Pullman, Washington, in the Palouse region of the Pacific Northwest. Founded in 1890, WSU is the state's original and largest land-grant university...
, an organization whose motto, "Global Media Cover the World ... We Cover Global Media," connects with the focus of his recent work studying the accuracy of audience recall of news media in a cross-cultural vein (Faccoro & DeFleur, 1993).