DLSA-ASMEDIA-2015: Audience Responses

Learning objective: To recognise the reasons why audiences respond differently to media texts.

Key words: Psychographics. Demographics. Niche. Mass.Active . Passive.

The Effects Model: The consumption of media texts has an effect or influence upon the audience This effect is considered negative o Audiences are passive and powerless to prevent the influence o The power lies with the message of the text
Also known as… The Hypodermic Model:This theory suggests that messages are injected into the audience by the powerful syringe-like media. o Again, the audience are powerless o The theory suggests that the media works like a drug, and the audience of particular media texts are drugged and addicted.
Evidence of the Effects Model • The Frankfurt School theorised in the 1920’s that the mass media acted to restrict and control audiences to the benefit of corporate capitalism and governments
• The Bobo Doll experiment This is controversial research that apparently proves that children copy violent behaviour
The experiment was conducted in 1961 by Albert Bandura. During the experiment, children watched a video where an adult violently attacked a clown called a Bobo Doll. They were then taken to a room with attractive toys that they were not permitted to touch. The children were then led to another room with Bobo Dolls. Statistics show that 88% of the children imitated the violent behaviour they had viewed. 8 months later 40% of the children reproduced the same violent behaviour.

Further reading on the experiment can be found here.

http://www.simplypsychology.org/bobo-doll.html

In March 1972, at trial, the prosecutor accused a fourteen-year-old male defendant of manslaughter of a classmate, referred to A Clockwork Orange, telling the judge that the case had a macabre relevance to the film. The attacker, a boy of sixteen, pleaded guilty after telling police that friends had told him of the film "and the beating up of an old boy like this one"; defence counsel told the trial "the link between this crime and sensational literature, particularly A Clockwork Orange, is established beyond reasonable doubt"

Task 1: To a certain extent, the media has an impact on how young people behave?
Consider, video games, horror films, news stories. Discuss, 200 words, orange books.

Uses and Gratification Theory. Blulmer and Katz.

Uses and gratifications theory (UGT) is an approach to understanding why and how people actively seek out specific media to satisfy specific needs. UGT is an audience-centered approach to understanding mass communication. Diverging from other media effect theories that question "what does media do to people?", UGT focuses on "what do people do with media?"

• Diversion (escape from everyday problems - emotional release, relaxing, filling time etc.)

• Personal relationships (using the media for emotional and other interactions e.g. substitution soap opera for family life OR using the cinema as a social event).

• Personal identity (constructing their own identity from characters in media texts, and learning behavior and values – useful if trying to fit into a new country/culture)

• Surveillance (information gathering e.g. news, educational programming, weather reports, financial news, holiday bargains etc).

Task 2: Homework

Which of these needs are primarily satisfied by the texts below? State how.
Indicate how are other needs satisfied by the texts.

1: New Musical Express