Audience Theory

HYPODERMIC NEEDLE

The "hypodermic needle theory" implied mass media had a direct, immediate and powerful effect on its audiences. the mass media in the 1940's and 1950's were perceived as a powerful influence on behaviour change.

several factors contributed to this "strong effects" theory of communication, including:
-The fast raise and popularization of radio and television
-The emerge of the persuasion industries, such as advertising and propaganda
-The Payne Fund studies of the 1930's, which focuses on the impact of motion pictures on children.

The Theory suggests that the mass media could influence a very large group of people directly and uniformly by 'shooting' or 'injecting' them with appropriate messages designed to trigger a desired response.

 

USES AND GRATIFICATIONS

 

Originated in the 1970's as a reaction to traditional mass communication research emphasizing the sender and the message. Stressing the active audience and user instead. Psychological orientation taking needs, motives and gratifications of media users as the main point of departure.

 

Uses and Gratifications theory attempts to explain the uses and functions of the media for individuals, groups, and society in general. There are three objectives in developing uses and gratifications theory:

 

1. To explain how individuals use mass communication to gratify their needs. "What do people do with the media?"
2. To discover underlying motives for individuals' media use.
3. To identify the positive and the negative consequences of individual media use. At the core of uses and gratifications theory lies the assumption that audience members actively seek out the mass media to satisfy individual needs.