2. THE HYPODERMIC NEEDLE THEORY
The Hypodermic Needle Theory is the theory that whatever content the media presents to the
audience such as by Radio, TV etc. the audience takes as being 100% real and actually
happening, no matter how unrealistic the content is. This happens by the content in question
“injecting” the people in attendance with specific messages to trigger a reaction from them.
Eventually, with the information “injected” into the audience they will eventually believe that
what they are listening/watching is real. A popular example of this was the original 1938 radio
broadcast of The War Of The Worlds in which narrator Orson Wells reads a story about how
Martians invade the planet. This caused the whole population to become panicked and it
caused mass panic around America as people genuinely thought that aliens were attacking.
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3. THE INOCULATION MODEL
The Inoculation Model is a passive theory that if an audience is exposed to media messages
such as violence then eventually they will become numb to what they are seeing and will
desensitize from what they're watching as they will no longer take the content they are
watching as serious as it is presented to be ,since they will know what to expect for future
occurences. A popular example of this are people playing games such as Grand Theft Auto
because although at first the violence might shock the player, over time they will get used to
what they are doing and eventually it will no longer affect them, and if they watch violent
content on television afterwards they would have a different reaction from someone who
watches the same content and has never played a violent game at all.
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4. THE TWO-STEP FLOW MODEL
The Two-Step Flow Model was introduced in 1944 by Paul Lazersfield, Bernard Berelson and
Hazel Gaudet. They created the theory after examining and analysing the upcoming
presidential campaign in which they found out that there are certain “Opinion leaders” which
are public celebrities that people look up to. They listen to what happens from the mass media
and form their own opinions from it, and the followers that have direct contact with them will
take on their opinions, which will then spread further and further. An example of this is the
Scottish Vote for Independence, in which it was estimated that 50% of the population that
would vote would be from influence from Opinion Leaders whilst the other 50% would be from
their own choices.
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5. USES & GRATIFICATIONS THEORY
The Uses & Gratifications theory is a theory which focuses on what an audience actually does
with a media instead of just taking the intended message. The audience taking the content
isn’t seen as passive, but they would take the media and integrate into their life. Models of
this include: Identify, where the audience simply recognises and know what the content is,
Educate, where the audience are able to understand the information they are receiving,
Entertain, where the audience find personal enjoyment from the content they are watching
and Social Interaction, where the audience get the ability to create a conversation about the
content in question within a group and possibly spark a debate.
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An example of this would be a fighting game such
as Street Fighter IV, as the game revolves around
competition between two people so this can cause
social interaction as well as entertainment between
the two players. The game can also educate the
player as there are various tutorials within the game
that teaches the player on the mechanics of the
game and if needs be, the players can find further
information and tutorials online on websites such as
YouTube where they can gain further knowledge.
6. RECEPTION THEORY
The Reception theory is the theory that the audience viewing and understanding the content is
a needed component of understanding the content’s further meaning.
“This approach, the Encoding/Decoding Model of Communication is a textual analysis that focuses on the scope for "negotiation"
and "opposition" on the part of the audience. This means that a "text"—be it a book, movie, or other creative work—is not simply
passively accepted by the audience, but that the reader / viewer interprets the meanings of the text based on their individual
cultural background and life experiences. In essence, the meaning of a text is not inherent within the text itself, but is created
within the relationship between the text and the reader.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reception_theory)
An example of the reception theory would be PlayStation Magazine. As the magazine is
directed towards gamers and teenagers/young adults are the biggest audiences, younger
audiences will probably find the magazine entertaining as they play games a lot of the time
whilst older audiences would probably react different and seeing content such as games like
Mortal Kombat and Call of Duty might disgust them due to the graphic nature and
violence the game portrays.
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