The Hypodermic Needle Model
The "hypodermic needle theory"
implied mass media had a direct, immediate and powerful effect on its
audiences. The mass media in the 1940s and 1950s were perceived as a powerful
influence on behavioural change.
Several factors contributed to this "strong
effects" theory of communication, including the fast rise and
popularization of radio and television, the emergence of the persuasion
industries, such as advertising and propaganda, the Payne Fund studies of the
1930s, which focused on the impact of motion pictures on children, and Hitler's
monopolization of the mass media during WWII to unify the German public behind
the Nazi party
http://www.utwente.nl/cw/theorieenoverzicht/Theory%20clusters/Mass%20Media/Hypodermic_Needle_Theory/
The Inoculation Model
Inoculation is a theory developed to strengthen existing
attitudes and beliefs and build resistance to future counterarguments. For
inoculation to be successful it is critical that a threat, motivation for
resistance, is imposed upon these existing ideas and refutational pre-emption, ability to cognitively build defences to potential counterarguments, takes
place after the inoculation.
The argument that is presented through inoculation must be
strong enough to initiate motivation to maintain current attitudes and beliefs,
but weak enough that the receiver will refute the counterargument. Inoculation
has been proven successful through many different trials and research. This
article attempts to highlight all vital parts of the theory, however, there is
a large amount of quality research on the theory that was not mentioned. Also,
while numerous studies have tested the theory, there continues to be a need for
improvement and new hypotheses.
Two Step Flow Model
This theory asserts that information from the media moves in
two distinct stages. First, individuals (opinion leaders) who pay close
attention to the mass media and its messages receive the information. Opinion
leaders pass on their own interpretations in addition to the actual media
content. The term ‘personal influence’ was coined to refer to the process
intervening between the media’s direct message and the audience’s ultimate
reaction to that message.
Opinion leaders are quite influential in getting people to
change their attitudes and behaviours and are quite similar to those they
influence. The two-step flow theory has improved our understanding of how the
mass media influence decision making. The theory refined the ability to predict
the influence of media messages on audience behaviours, and it helped explain
why certain media campaigns may have failed to alter audience attitudes and behaviour.
The two-step flow theory gave way to the multi-step flow theory of mass
communication or diffusion of innovation theory.
The Uses & Gratifications
Theory
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?”
For example, someone that needs information on an upcoming,
or current, game; they might look up said info in the internet.
The Reception Theory
Reception theory provides a means of understanding media
texts by understanding how these texts are read by audiences. Theorists who
analyze media through reception studies are concerned with the experience of
cinema and television viewing for spectators, and how meaning is created
through that experience.
An important concept of reception theory is that the media
text—the individual movie or television program—has no inherent meaning in and
of itself. Instead, meaning is created in the interaction between spectator and
text; in other words, meaning is created as the viewer watches and processes
the film. Reception theory argues that contextual factors, more than textual
ones, influence the way the spectator views the film or television program.
Contextual factors include elements of the viewer's identity
as well as circumstances of exhibition, the spectator's preconceived notions
concerning the film or television program's genre and production, and even
broad social, historical, and political issues. In short, reception theory
places the viewer in context, taking into account all of the various factors
that might influence how she or he will read and create meaning from the text.
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