This document discusses models of how audiences engage with media. It begins by describing the shift from seeing audiences as masses to recognizing them as individuals with varied approaches. It then summarizes the effects/hypodermic model which viewed audiences as passive recipients of media messages. This model is now outdated but still influences debates around censorship. The document discusses criticisms of the effects model for seeing audiences as too passive and not accounting for other influences on behavior besides media. It notes politicians and commentators still cite this model during moral panics around new media despite its flaws.

1. In covering this topic we need to be aware of a broad shift from a perception of mass
audience to one which recognizes that, whatever the size of audience, it is made up
of individuals. Along with this altered view is a shift in emphasis from what the media
do to the audience to an acceptance that audiences bring many different approaches
to the media with which they engage.
The Effects/Hypodermic Model
The original model for audience was the effects/hypodermic model which stressed
the effects of the mass media on their audiences. This model owes much to the
supposed power of the mass media - in particular film – to inject their audiences with
ideas and meanings. Such was the thinking behind much of the Nazi propaganda
that was evident in Triumph of the Will and similar films. It is worth noting that
totalitarian states and dictatorships are similar in their desire to have complete
control over the media, usually in the belief that strict regulation of the media will help
in controlling entire populations.
The effects model has several variants and despite the fact that it is an outdated
model it continues to exert influence in present debates about censorship and control
in the media.
The example of this are, In October 1983, CBS Radio broadcasted an special
episode of the American radio drama “The War of the Worlds” which exposed and
suggested in the viewer actually believing that alien invasion is actually happening.
This caused chaos and mayhem among the North American residents.
The Frankfurt School
The Frankfurt School developed concerns about the power which modern mass
media had to propagandise on behalf of fascism. The founders of this school of
thought were left-wing and clearly under threat in the context of pre-war Nazi
Germany. They moved to America and refined their model in an era of expanding
media output in post-war America. They articulated criticisms of a capitalist system
which controlled media output, creating a stupefying mass culture that eliminated or
marginalized opposition or alternatives
A less theoretical variant of the effects model was developed in response to the
violent content of certain TV programmes. Some the moral watchdogs, or the ‘moral
majority’ as they styled themselves, took issue with TV output that was deemed to be
explicitly sexual, too violent or in other ways offensive. Their concerns were for
those vulnerable members of the population who could be corrupted as a result of
such material. Perhaps the best known of these groups in the UK was the National
Viewers and Listeners Association (Mary Whitehouse) which argued that TV was a
direct cause of deviant behaviour, especially among the young.
The problems with the effects model, in whatever form, have to do with its roots in
behaviourist psychology. The behaviourist explanation of human behaviour (Skinner
and Pavlov) is looking increasingly hard to justify as we have come to develop a
fuller understanding of the complexities of human behaviour, which is not predictable

2. nor is it controllable. There are also the difficulties of linking cause and effect in
terms of how we engage with media texts. The large number of studies that have
been done do not prove the case conclusively either way. These range from the
Walters and Bandura experiments to studies that count incidents of violence on TV.
Other criticisms of this model centre on the stress that it places on the audience as
passive, whereas newer models suggest that the audience is much more active than
was initially supposed.
This model, it seems, is something of an anachronism but it is constantly revived by
politicians and social commentators when moral panics are generated around issues
such as ‘video nasties’ and their influence on children (eg the Bulger case) or
computer games allegedly damaging literacy skills or contributing to violent
behaviour (eg the DoomComputer game). Such concerns often try to scapegoat
parts of media output as if these were the sole relevant factor in anti-social
behaviour. This approach ignores the other factors that work as a mix to influence
behaviour i.e. home, school, peers and social interaction.
Perhaps the kindest interpretation of this model is to note that the media, especially
TV, can influence general perceptions about public events and social trends. (Note
some of the terms that have entered the language as a result of media exposure:
‘Winter of Discontent’, ‘double whammy’, ‘Sinn Fein/IRA’).
What & who are moral watchdogs? – Provide examples and some case evidence.
Moral watchdogs that began the campaign against publication of media that they
considered as dangerous and harmful to the viewers as it showcased pornographic
graphics and offended religious views. Ofcom and NVLA are the main common
examples in the UK due to violent content which was previously labelled as a family
friendly.
Ofcom investigated a racism scandal in the beginning of 2008 enclosing
ShiphaSheey and Jade Goody on celebrity Big brother. This resulted as the show
getting shout down and suspending it forever.
In 2008 the NVLA supported the British Board of Film Classification to ban and
disclose the MadWorld from the market. The reason behind it was simple. The game
was too violent and once again was aimed at kids. It was also labeled as a family
friendly game which was an understatement.
What does NVLA stand for?
The NVLA stands for National Viewers and Listeners Association. NVLA is a group
in the United Kingdom, which campaigns against the publication and broadcast
of media content that it views as harmful and offensive, such
as violence, profanity, sex,homosexuality and blasphemy.
What kind of psychology are the effects model based on?
It’s simply based on behavioral psychology. It's about understanding the complexities
of human behaviour.

3. What problems exist with this model being applied to human behavior?
Behaviour psychology is pretty much based on the study and examination of human
psychological patterns and what is the most obvious and likely outcome. This
situation however doesn’t apply to each and every situation or individual person. For
instance, if someone were to play a violent game and went on a killing spree or mass
murder rampage, it cannot be terminated that the main reason for that event to have
place.
What is the basic problem with the effects model as a way of explaining anti-social or
deviant behaviour?
There could be many reasons for anti-social and aggressive behaviour. These
behaviours are mainly associated with bullying, watching a specific film based on
brutality or simply playing a games that involve that involve a lot of blood. The real
effects of this can be witnessed when the potential user doesn’t socialize, doesn’t go
out and spends all his time playing and watching brutal films and games.
Who still makes use of the effect model?
Mainly people in power and beyond boundaries. Politicians and newspapers use it
when an event of tragedy happens and then they cause a chaos and mayhem in
media. For example: (see below)
What recent cases have citied the model?
In July of 2012 the Aurora shooting massacre happened during a screening of the
new Batman movie. The casualties were 12 people being killed and over 70 were
injured. James Eagan Holmes was the shooter, although at the time there were two
shooters potentially reported. James suffered from mental illness and claimed many
times his suicidal statements but no one took him serious. Ironically he was also a
fan of Batman, his apartment that he lived in contained many Batman figures and
other Batman related props.
What kind of general perceptions are attributed to the effects model?
Maslow stated that people are motivated to achieve certain needs and things. When
one is fulfilled a person seeks to fulfill the next one, and so on. One must satisfy
lower level basic needs before progressing on to meet higher level growth needs.
Once these needs have been reasonably satisfied, one may be able to reach the
highest-level called self-actualization.

4. What four areas are identified in this model?
The four following areas are labeled as, the requirement and demand to be informed
and up to date. News and newspapers are great example. These following four
areas are:
 Constant need of information about world.
 Constant need of identifying with characters to define the impression of public
and social expression and behaviour with films.
 Constant need for interaction and communication with society through
experiencing the relationships and mimicking others in TV shows or films.
 Constant need for aberration by persuading media for purposes of play or
enjoyment, with game shows etc.
What does Morley have to say about the way we read texts?
Morley's perspective of how we read content perceives the significance of the
investigation of signs, especially visual signs that shape such an extensive amount
of present day media. In which the audience allows or agrees with the encoded
meanings of the context, they accept and refine the dominant meaning but reject and
disagree with it for mainly cultural and political reasons.
Explain 'mode of address' with examples.
Method of location alludes to the way a content addresses its group of audience and
viewers in a style that we can relate to. For instance:
• Pretty Little Liars addresses a more youthful group of viewers of adolescent young
girls due to the function of life events that happens on the TV show, with the young
audience all keeping secrets facts from their parents as to not get in a bad position.
• American Horror Story addresses to horror audience and fans with the each
season presenting another startling storyline and including new and scarier
characters. Horror fans identify with this as it may be "their" sort of content and it
interests them.
Method of location does not imply that different groups of audience are excluded,
just that the predominant method of location is focused at the youthful or a specific
group of individuals.
What is meant by the ethnographic study of audience?
Ethnographic study implies that the analyst goes into the way of life of the group and
uses inquiries and interviews to attempt and comprehend media engagement from
the viewpoint of the group.
What do we mean by the 'domestic context of reception of media texts'?
The residential setting of reception of media writings focuses on the way that
engagement with the media is regularly structure by the local environment simply
because of the domestication of entertainment and relaxation.

5. How can we describe some text as female and others as male? Refer to soaps and
news.
• Romantic comedies are regularly seen as having an extremely solid female review
inclination. With the smoothness of connections and the ideal man perspective
lighthearted comedies tend to advance more to the female crowd instead of a male
audience.
• Action movies then again are seen as having a more male audience. This is
because of the high action sequences, raids, heists and shoot outs, which tend to
engage the male group of viewers as opposed to the female viewers.
Is technological expertise a relevant factor in our consideration of the way we
understand audiences in relation to certain texts?
Innovation has immense influence in the way we comprehend certain texts,
particularly as having a sex isolate, with PCs complex innovation fitting into the term
'Boys Toys'. This is the reason schools, TV and the media need to show a more
positive sex representations and great practice that supports females and
technological expertise.
What is the main shift in emphasis from the effects model to more modern views of
audience?
The fundamental shift in emphasis from the impacts model and modern viewers is
that the effects model sees the viewers as passive and that the come under the
'copycat' theory,. Perspectives is that the impacts model sees the gathering of
people as uninvolved and that they gone under the "copycat" hypothesis, though
advanced perspectives of the audience propose that the viewers is dynamic and can
comprehend that TV and film should be used for entertainment and relaxation
purposes and certain necessities.