2. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow's Hierarchy of needs is a theory in psychology proposed by
Abraham Maslow in his 1943 paper "A theory of Human Motivation"
in Psychological Review.
Needs lower down in the hierarchy must be satisfied before
individuals can attend to needs higher up. From the bottom of the
hierarchy upwards, the needs are: physiological, safety, love and
belonging, esteem, and self-actualization.
Maslow (1943) initially stated that individuals must satisfy lower
level deficit needs before progressing on to meet higher level growth
needs. However, he later clarified that satisfaction of a needs is not
an “all-or-none” phenomenon, admitting that his earlier statements
may have given “the false impression that a need must be satisfied
100 percent before the next need emerges”
3. Passive audiences
A passive audience is an audience that merely observes and event rather
than actively responding it. There's been a few studies done on what is
called the 'audience effect'.
Those studies seem to show that a passive audience works well for some
performers that don't require a whole lot of skill.
The audience accepts and believes all messages in any media text that they
receive. This is the passive audience model. They accept the preferred
reading and don't question it. In this model the media is seen as powerful
and able to inject ideas into an audience who are seen as weak and
passive.
The Hypodermic Syringe model
- Developed in 1930s
- All audience members react in the same way
- All passively receive messages
-The media affects thoughts and behavior.
4. Two-step flow of communication
The two-step flow of communication model says that
most people form their opinions under the influence of
opinion leaders, who in turn are influenced by the mass
media.
What is the major weakness behind the two-step flow
theory of communication?
It assumes that all audiences are relatively
homogenous.
5. Reception Analysis
Reception analysis is a form of audience research which
explores the meanings and experiences people produce as a
result of their contextualized encounters with media products
conceptualized as verbal and visual texts, or discourses.
It suggests that social and daily experiences can affect the way
an audience reads a media text and reacts to it.
This theory was put forward by Professor Stuart Hall in ‘The
television discourse – encoding/decoding’ in 1974 with later
research by David Morley in 1980 and Charlotte Brunsden.
6. Uses and Gratification Theory
Uses and gratifications theory 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.
People choose from their own choices and moods. The
needs of the particular person are met through the media
used.
Some people might watch news for information, some for
entertainment, and some for self-reassurance. Some
watch according to their moods.
7. Media Studies 2.0
Gauntlett published ‘Media Studies 2.0’ online in 2007,
which argues that classic media studies fails to define
when the categories of ‘audiences’ and ‘producers’ unite,
and the new, altered teaching methods are needed.
He states that because of web 2.0, we as audiences can
become our own producers thanks to websites such as
YouTube. Through this we can create our own identity
and even influence other peoples.
