Why did people believe in the Invasion from Mars

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Why did people believe in the Invasion from
Mars?

• by Herta Herzog
• (Processing by Nikolett Varga)

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• The radio broadcast was 30th of October in
  1938, at Halloween night. The Mercury Theather
  on Air made the programme on CBS radio.

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• The report is about thirty interviews, which
  have been made in Orange, New Jersey.
• The purpose was to bring out the
  psychological aspects for analysis of the event.

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• We have to considering the following questions,
  to understand why did people believe in it
• What was the past experience to made them believe
  in the broadcast?
• What in the program was especially true, to
  taking it for real?
• Which listener situations were likely to
  facilitate a misunderstanding of the program?
• How did people influence one another when they
  were listening in groups or got in contact with
  each other?

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Factors

• The permanent talk about war
• The strange developments of science
• The recent floods
• Religious beliefs
• Individual experience

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The war scare in Europe

• I was all excited and I knew that Hitler did
  not appreciate President Roosevelts telegram a
  couple of weeks ago. While the United States
  thought everything was settled, they came down
  unexpected.
• It was made up like a news flash exactly the
  way as it was made during the war crisis. I
  thought it was some sort of a disaster. One never
  knows what is going to happen these days.

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Experience with science

• I have no education. I do not know what can
  happen and what cannot. Thats up to the
  scientist, I care for the children and my family.
  And if he says happened! Well, I learned about
  the Middle Ages. And I have seen an X- ray
  machine when my boy had a broken leg.

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Recent natural catastrophes

• I hated to make myself think that the end of
  the world had come, but there were such unusual
  things happening in the world, like floods, that
  I thought it was possible.

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Religious beliefs

• I thought our Lord was punishing us for
  something we did to displease Him. I tried to not
  get panicky. You have to face things.

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Individual experience

• The first thing that came to my mind was that
  there was an uprising against the Jews.
• ( a Jewish woman)

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What made it so realistic?

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These things mentioned or used in broadcasting,
which make people believe in the story

• The authenticity of places and persons mentioned
• The technical realism of the performance
• Some special sentence mentioned
• Some more general aspects of the performance

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Regarding names

• Many people were especially impressed by the
  appearance of government officials or scientists.

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Regarding technical features

• A majority of comments said that the gasping
  voice of the announcer, and his scream when he
  was about to break down was so realistic.

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Regarding phrases

• When the narrator said- It is incredible
  but true.- psychologically quite understandable
  that people are more likely to believe a strange
  tale like that.

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General comments

• The announcer would not say it if it were not
  true. They always quit if something is a play.
• I always feel that the commentators bring the
  best possible news. Even after this I will still
  believe what I hear on the radio.

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Situational context

• When did people start to listen to the radio?
• By coincidence after the program had begun
• Family members or friends rushed in and made them
  listen
• Were urged over the telephone to listen
• Happened to enter the room when the program was
  on
• Listened from the beginning

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The role of other people

• The most of the cases the husband behaved
  critically or at least much more calmly than the
  wife.
• My husband was so calm even when he thought
  the end of the world was coming that he mad me
  mad. He did not even put his arm around me.

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Everything fits into the picture

• In some cases a strange coincidence seemed
  to corroborate that everything what they heard
  from the radio, was true.
• For example a boy telephoned to his mother
  at a party where she was supposed to be. When no
  one answered, he was sure that everybody run away
  from the apartment. Later on, it turned out that
  the party was just in an other place in the same
  building, where they could dance better.

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• In emergency, peoples behaviour change.
• As one woman tells, she and her husband were
  glued to the radio and did not turn to
  another station for check-up. They didnt want to
  miss anything.

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• Some people felt important of participating in
  such an event like that
• I urged my husband to listen and said it was a
  historical moment possibly and he would be sorry
  afterwards to have missed it.

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• After the broadcast at least one million people
  were scare, and were in panic.
• I looked in the icebox and saw some chicken
  left from Sunday dinner. I said to my nephew,
  We may as well eat this chicken- we wont be here
  in the morning.

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• In one case a man applied for a volunteer against
  the Martians.
• Just in a few cases people realised, that the
  broadcast wasnt true at all. When they turned to
  the other stations, no one spoke about the
  invasion.
• But it was not assurance for everybody

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• Then, also my husband tried to calm me and
  said, If this were really so, it would be on all
  stations and he turned to one of the other
  stations and there was music. I retorted, Nero
  was fiddled while Rome burned.

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• Thank you for your attention!