Learning Outcome 3 - How Audiences Respond to Media Products

The Hypodermic Needle Model

The hypodermic needle model also known as the hypodermic syringe model. It was out 1930's - 1940's and it suggested that media was being injected into our brains it also tells us that we are all the same. it would influence a large group of people and would directly inject them with messages.

This image shows a direct flow of messages from the receiver to the sender.

The Inoculation Model

The inoculation model is a theory that was in the 1960's that was developed by William J 

McGuire. McGuire made a persuasive message attacking a cultural truism such as, “An apple a day, keeps the doctor away.” he would then tell them that eating too many apple would problems with your digestive system. The inoculation model was used to change people attitudes and beliefs and to most importantly keep the original beliefs and attitudes.

The Two-Step Flow Model

This theory was conducted in 1940 when three people Paul Lazarsfeld, Bernard Berelson and Hazel Gaudet did a study during the presidential election. They found that 50% of the voters had already made up their mind who they were going to vote for and were not influenced by the mass media coverage. This theory asserts that the media moves in two distinct directions. First the opinion leaders who scrutinise every piece of media they may see and watch and then pass on that information in a different interpretation mixing their opinion with the actual media content. This influences individuals towards a certain opinion leaders views or to an opinion leader they look up to or hold with high regard.

The Uses & Gratifications Theory
In the 1960's, as the first generation to grow up with television became older, it became apparent to media theorists that the audience chose what they did when consuming media texts. The theory Uses and Gratifications concentrates more on what people do with the media text, this allowed many varieties of responses and interpretations. Far from the passive mass that the Hypodermic and Inoculation theory suggested, this theory suggests that the mass audience is made up entirely of individuals who actively consume media text. It suggests that audiences may consume media for these following purposes;
information, personal identity, Integration and Social Interaction and entertainment.

Information

• finding out about relevant events and conditions in immediate surroundings, society and the world
• seeking advice on practical matters or opinion and decision choices
• satisfying curiosity and general interest
• learning; self-education
• gaining a sense of security through knowledge

Personal Identity

• finding reinforcement for personal values
• finding models of behaviour
• identifying with valued other (in the media) 
• gaining insight into one's self

Integration and Social Interaction

• gaining insight into circumstances of others; social empathy
• identifying with others and gaining a sense of belonging
• finding a basis for conversation and social interaction
• having a substitute for real-life companionship
• helping to carry out social roles
• enabling one to connect with family, friends and society

Entertainment

• escaping, or being diverted, from problems
• relaxing
• getting intrinsic cultural or aesthetic enjoyment
• filling time
• emotional release
• sexual arousal

The Reception Theory 
This is the most recent theory of audience responses to media texts. It points out that the meaning of any text is created by the audience and not the media-maker. Meaning is encoded into the media but it depends how the audience decode the text from the signs they see. They usually interpret it in three ways;

1. The Preferred Reading - Audience understands and accepts the ideology offered.

2. The Negotiated Reading - Audience understands the ideology offered, accepts some aspects of it but rejects other aspects.

3. The Oppositional Reading - Audience interprets the ideology offered in the opposite way than it is intended.
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