The document discusses several theories related to audiences and media studies: 1) Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs proposes that humans have physiological, safety, love, esteem, and self-actualization needs that must be met. 2) Passive audience theory suggests that media can directly "inject" ideas and beliefs into audiences who passively accept messages. 3) Cultivation theory argues that prolonged TV watching can shape viewers' perceptions of social reality through repetitive exposure to certain ideas. 4) Two-step flow theory posits that media messages pass from media to opinion leaders and then to the general public rather than directly to audiences.

1. AUDIENCE THEORY
BY JESS FOSTER

2. MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS
Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a
psychological theory composed of a 5 tier model
of human needs. It is often presented as a
pyramid.
The 5 stage model is split into deficiency needs
and growth needs. The deficiency needs refers to
the bottom 4 tiers whilst the top tier represents
the growth needs.
Maslow believes that in order to reach the growth
needs, the deficiency needs must have already
been fulfilled. The 5 tiers are as follows:
Physiological: food, water, warmth and rest
Safety: comfort, feeling safe
Love and Belonging: friendships, family and
intimacy
Esteem: Confidence, sense of achievement
Self-Actualization: creativity, spontaneity, maturity,
morals and interests (varies from person to
person)

3. PASSIVE AUDIENCES
The hypodermic needle theory originated from Harrold Lasswell. It covers the concept that the mass
media injects thoughts and beliefs into the audiences who are passive and inactive.
According to the hypodermic model, the media ‘injects’
ideas into an passive audience who are likely to be
influenced to believe in a certain message being
delivered.
It suggests that the media has the power to choose the
message and can get the audience to believe in it, which
can be seen in some cases, as very dangerous as it creates
a false image in their heads.
In modern day, TV adverts are affecting viewers by
subconsciously manipulating them into believing a
certain idea that will make them want to buy that
companies product.
An example is when adverts use attractive models to
model their clothes. Subconsciously, audiences aspire to
be as attractive as them and they believe that the way to
achieve this is to buy the clothes they are wearing. This is
the Aspiration Model.

4. CULTIVATION THEORY
The Cultivation Theory suggests that the
mass media can re-shape the viewers
conception of social reality by repetitive
exposure to the same message. A similar
idea is known as desensitization, which
suggests that long-term exposure to
violent media makes the audience less
shocked at violence. This can effect the
audience in a negative way as they are
more likely to act violently themselves.
The criticisms of this theory is that
screen violence is not the same as real
violence. There is no evidence to show
that people who have been exposed to
on-screen violence have been less
shocked by real violence.
Proposed by Professor George Gerbner
and Larry Gross from the University of
Pennsylvania the 1970s.
The theory studies the long-term effects
of watching television for a long period
of time.

5. TWO STEP FLOW THEORY
This theory was first introduced by Paul Lazarsfeld. His
theory suggests that audiences are more active and that
there are two ways in which audiences absorb media
messages.
First are the opinion leaders (such as radio stations or
comedians) who have received messages directly from
the media. These leaders then pass on the media
content to the masses but also pass on their own
interpretations. This means that the masses do not
receive a direct flow of information from the media,
instead it is filtered through opinion leaders who pass it
on to a more passive audience.
The audience then mediate the information from the
opinion leaders. The masses are not being influenced by
a direct process, but by a two-step flow.

6. RECEPTION ANALYSIS
Theorist Professor Stuart Hall in ‘The Television Discourse - Encoding/Decoding’ in 1947 suggested that
reception analysis is an active audience theory that studies how audiences interact with media texts, taking
into account their ‘situated culture’ (daily life).
His theory suggests that daily social experiences can have an effect on the way an audience reacts to a media
text. Hall concluded that an audience can decide how to absorb media content in 3 different ways:
Dominant/Preferred Reading: The audience accepts and adopts
the meaning as intended by the producers
Negotiated Reading: A compromise where the audience partly
accepts parts of the producer’s view, but has their own views
on parts too which are influenced by their own experiences
Oppositional Reading: The audience understands the preferred
meaning but rejects the text’s codes and creates their own
meaning for the text. This can be called a radical reading that
may be viewed as Marxist, feminist or right wing.

7. USES AND GRATIFICATIONS MODEL
Blumler and Katz’s The Gratification Model originates from the theory that audiences are a complex and
unique group of individuals who select media texts that best suits their needs. This relates to Maslow’s
Hierarchy of Needs and suggests that the audiences are active and use media to fulfil their needs, using their
social and cultural setting to make decisions as to what they want to consume. They choose which programs
to watch (gratifications) in order to get what they want out of it. For example, comedies if they want to
laugh or the news and informative shows if they want to know about the world around them.
They identified 4 main uses:
Surveillance – Our need to know what is going on in the world (this relates to Maslow’s need for security).
By keeping up-to-date with news about local and international events, we feel we have the knowledge to
avoid or deal with dangers.
Personal Relationships – Our need to interact with people. This is provided by forming virtual relationships
with the characters in media texts as well as the pleasure that audiences have when sharing texts with
others.
Personal Identity – Our need to define our identities which is affected by the judgments and decisions we
make on everything around us. Expressions of our identity are our choice of music, the shows we watch, the
celebrities we like. One aspect of this type of gratification is known as value reinforcement. This is where we
choose TV shows or newspapers that share our beliefs.
Diversion – The need to escape, relax and be entertained. All types of television programmes can be ‘used’ to
wind down and offer diversion, as well as satisfying some of the other needs at the same time.

8. AUDIENCES AND MEDIA STUDIES 2.0
David Gauntlett published ‘Media Studies 2.0’ online in 2007. He argues that classic media studies cannot
define where audiences and producers unite, so altered teaching methods are needed.
He says that because of Web 2.0 , audiences can become their own producers and create their own identities
and even influence other people.
A prosumer is a person who both consumes and producers media. In modern day, there are distribution systems such as
YouTube, Instagram and Blogs that allow for the opportunity to create media and generate our own audiences. Audiences
can create their own distribution systems without mediation from institutions or companies.