Sociology · May / June 2018 · Paper 13 · Question 1

Source A There was a radio broadcast in 1938 called ‘‘The War of the Worlds’’. The story is about an alien invasion. Whilst it was not real the broadcast became famous for causing mass panic in parts of the USA. Many people believed that Earth was being invaded by aliens. The first part of the broadcast was in the style of news bulletins, which made some people believe that the alien invasion was real. In 1940 Hadley Cantril researched the effect this broadcast had on the audience. He interviewed 135 people and found 74 per cent had believed the broadcast was real. However another piece of research, a large national survey, found different results. In this study only 12 per cent believed the alien invasion was real.

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