Abstract:

We have made an effort in this survey to examine the possibilities for establishing and describing the influence exerted on individuals by a large anonymous group with the aid of its communication media. The object of analysis are Illustrated Periodicals. The aim of the analysis is to isolate the factors within a certain sphere of communication, which can produce a change in attitudes or forms of behaviour (in the broadest sense) in the reader; it is not the aim of the analysis to investigate the changes in the forms of behaviour, but the stimuli which can bring about such changes.