2. Hypodermic Needle Model
• This is the idea that, subtle/not so subtle messages are put in to
media products to get a desired reaction from the audience.
• This message is received, understood and accepted.
• This theory suggests a passive audience.
• As televisions and radio‟s became increasingly popular throughout
the 1940‟s and 1950‟s – it influenced behaviour changes in the
viewers.
• The theory is largely disproved – such things have been published
to prove this theory wrong: “The People‟s Choice” written by
Lazarsfeld, Berelson and Gaudet.
• http://www.utwente.nl/cw/theorieenoverzicht/Theory%20Clust
ers/Mass%20Media/Hypodermic_Needle_Theory/
3. Uses and Gratifications Theory
• This focuses on why the audience uses specific media
sources by looking at things such as:
• The idea that people consume different types of media
– what do they get from it?
• How audiences spend their time/energy finding the
required media source?
• This theory suggests an active audience.
4. Uses and Gratification Theory
• The theory began in 1944 with Herta Herzog – she
interviewed soap opera fans and identified three types
of gratifications: Emotional, wishful thinking and
learning.
• 1970 Abraham Maslow – Argued people looked to
satisfy their needs based on hierarchy, hence the
pyramid hierarchy theory. From bottom to top,
Biological/physical, security/Safety, social/Belonging,
Ego/Self-respect and Self-actualisation.
• 1969 – Jay Blumler and Denis McQuail – Studied
why people watched political programmes, 1972 4
groups were created: Diversion, personal relationships,
personal identity and surveillance.
5. Uses and Gratification Theory
The theorists each came up with their own categories gratifications:
Harold Lasswell
• Surveillance
• Correlation
• Entertainment
• Cultural Transmission
Bulmer and Katz
• Diversion
• Personal Relationships
• Personal Identity
• Surveillance
Denis McQuail
• Information
• Personal Identity
• Integration and Social
Interaction
6. Denis McQuail (1987) Why
People use Media?
• His gratifications explained:
• Information:
• Relevant events and conditions in immediate surroundings, society and the world – e.g. the
news.
• Seeking advice on practical matters, opinions and decision choices – e.g. Looking up the
symptoms of an illness.
• Satisfying curiosity and general interest – e.g. Googling something
• Learning: Self-educating – e.g. learning a foreign language
• Personal Identity
• Finding reinforcement for personal values – e.g. personally specific media need – a gossip
magazine (OK!).
• Finding models of behaviour – e.g. changing your personality – being more
aggressive/confident online etc.
• Identifying with valued other - e.g. having the same interest as someone else, adopting
their interest etc.
7. Denis McQuail Why People
Use Media?
• Integration and Social Interaction:
• Gaining insight into circumstances of others: social empathy e.g. putting yourself in other
people‟s shoes and seeing the benefit/disadvantages of your life.
• Identifying with others and gaining a sense of belonging – e.g. having the same interests as
a large group of people, feel safe, like you belong etc.
• Finding a basis for conversation and social interaction – e.g. Finding something in
common with someone else i.e. liking Doctor Who.
• Having a substitute for real-life companionship – e.g. having a friend online/games/social
networks etc.
• Entertainment
• Escaping, or being diverted from problems – e.g. Using media to distract yourself –
reading a magazine during a panic attack/ watching TV when you‟re ill etc.
• Relaxing – e.g. Playing games, reading, scrolling through Facebook, tumblr etc.
• Getting intrinsic cultural or aesthetic enjoyment – e.g. from a particular country/culture
e.g. Navaho, finding something to relate to.
8. Why I Personally Interact with
Media
• I use a range of media, from television to magazines:
• Information
• I use tumblr religiously. I go on it to find out the latest news, information and spoilers
for upcoming TV series/films that I enjoy.
• I also give advice and receive advice from other users who are having the same issues as
me.
• I can‟t usually control what I see, but if I‟m curious about something, it‟s easy to find
relevant information/pictures.
• I learn a lot from tumblr. Whether it‟s about something I‟m interested in – or
something I‟ve never even heard of before e.g. The Devil‟s Tramping Ground.
• Personal Identity
• I am a regular consumer of Kerrang! Magazine. I buy it because it‟s a magazine that
applies to my personal needs – I want to find out what‟s happening in the rock music
world and this magazine enables me to do that.
• Online, media such as Facebook, I am a lot more confident than usual, I‟ll talk to
people I don‟t really know and I‟ll express my opinions freely.
9. Why I Personally Interact with
Media
• Integration and Social Interaction
• Facebook and Quotev (a creative, story publishing website where I can express my opinion
on other peoples stories and receive feedback on my own ideas.) are key media sources I
use that make me use social empathy, whether that‟s putting myself in the shoes of
less/more fortunate people – people who can‟t afford expensive, items such as iPhone‟s etc.
and people who can.
• On Quotev, there are forums and blogs that I can follow and relate to – giving my
opinions on certain stories/peoples ideas, it enables me to also help and receive help from
other users – as I focus solely on a particular few genres I can join forums and groups that
relate to me.
• I substitute real-life companions a lot, the majority of my „friends‟ are online and spread
out across the country and in other countries as my social life is practically lifeless.
• Entertainment
• I use YouTube, tumblr, Facebook, Quotev, Quizilla, DeviantArt and other books to
distract myself from a lot of problems such as: interacting socially, family arguments etc.
10. Reception Theory
• This is looking at how audiences receive and interpret media.
• The theory was developed by Stuart Hall, there are two parts:
Encoding and Decoding:
Encoding: A media products producer fills it with a particular
message. Celebrity gossip magazines are very good at this, they
produce false accusations aiming it at celebrities wanting a desired
reaction from their audience, usually shock or anger. An example of
this is the Darryl Hunt case – Darryl Hunt is an African-American
citizen born in North Carolina – he was convicted of the rape and
murder of a white woman, Deborah Skyes despite the gruelling fact
that there was no actual evidence – even with no evidence, Hunt was
sentenced by an all-white jury to life in prison – the media industry
fully supported this and produced articles in favour of the victim.
Decoding: This is where the audience receive the producers
message and interprets the message: for example in the celebrity
gossip magazine, if the anchoring captions are bad, the audience will
unravel a truth and will learn that the problem is being emphasized
by the publisher.
11. Hall’s Idea
• The second part of the theory concentrates on how
the audience understands a media product:
• Hall‟s idea is that the audience can interpret media
text in different ways:
• Preferred: The reader receives, understands and
agrees with the message in the product. For
example: if a magazine tells the reader that there is a
diet that 100%, 10/10 works, the reader will
believe it and use it.
• Negotiated: The reader understands, somewhat
accepts and then applies the products message to
their own life. Using the same example, if a
magazine offered a diet that they said 100%,
10/10 worked, the reader would consider and
probably end up trying it.
• Oppositional: The reader understands the products
message but rejects it, finding an alternative view.
Still using the same example, if the magazine
offered an effective diet, the reader would straight
up decline trying it – refusing to accept that the diet
can be that effective.
• How they read and apply their
ideas depends on their values,
experiences and backgrounds –
everyone is different and
everyone has different ideas
about the messages they
receive.
12. Passive or Active Consumption
• There are two different ways of interpreting a type of audience/consumer and they are
Passive or Active.
• Passive – They don‟t apply their own ideas, they follow whatever the message tells them –
the Hypodermic theory suggests passive audience.
• For example, when the original War of the World‟s came out on the radio on October 30th
1938 – the audience heard that Martian‟s had begun an invasion on Earth in a place called
Grover‟s Mill, New Jersey.
• The audience took this literally as an alien attack and fled from New Jersey, finding „safety‟
in more rural areas, riots broke free and people raided stores.
• Active – They apply their own ideas, they hear what the message tells them and then they
apply their own ideas to it. The Gratification and Reception theory suggests an active
audience.
• For example: Kerrang magazine captions suggest something else is going on in the picture,
they usually use humour to do this – making it out that what‟s happening in the picture is
funny, almost mocking the rock stars.
• Fans take this in to their own hands to interpret just what‟s happening in the picture, if it‟s
a gig picture it‟s pretty self explanatory etc.
