Audience Theory

In this post, I'll be discussing Audience theories.

The Effects Model/Hypodermic Model

 In the Effects Model, the Media text has an Influence or Effect on the audience when consumed, an influence usually considered Negative, which the audience is powerless to avoid. The power lies with the message of the text. This theory is also named the Hypodermic Theory because the message is Injected into the audience by the media, and the audience is powerless to resist it, like a drug- The audience becomes addicted, doped, duped.

 This was apparently proved through the Bobo Doll Experiment in 1961, where Children were made to watch a video of an adult violently attacking a toy clown, a Bobo Doll. The Children were taken to a room full of nice, attractive toys, but where told not to touch them. They were then taken to a room with toys, and a Bobo Doll. A video of the experiment can be found below.

 Most the children imitated the behaviour they had seen in the video. 

 The effects model is still a dominant theory with politicians, and some religious organisations in attributing violence  to the consumption of media.

Two-Step Flow

 This Theory suggests that a media source will pass information to an Opinion Leader. The Opinion leaders are influential, and similar to those they influence. They also pay close attention to the media and its messages. All groups have opinion leaders, whether it be a social group, a community, an occupational group, etc. There are Two types of Opinion Leaders- Monomorphic, meaning they are influential in a single topic, or Polymorphic, meaning they have an influence on a wider range of topics. The opinion leaders will pass the information they gain from the media, along with their own interpretation, to others who look up to the Opinion Leader, and who aren't so informed by the Media.

Uses and Gratifications

 This theory is basically the opposite of the Effects theory- Instead of the audience being Passive and Powerless, the Audience is Active and uses the text, rather than the text using them. It shifts the emphasis from what the media does to people, to what people do with the media. The text is used for the audiences Gratification, and Pleasure. The Power lies with the audience, not the producers, and they can use, reject or Play with the media text's message as they please. The theory suggests that, rather than encouraging violence, the Media can help the audience act out their violent impulses through the consumption of the media, making them less likely to commit violent acts in real life.
 Audiences seek to use the media to gratify for Diversion, Escapism, pleasure, Information, Comparing lifestyles and relationships with their own, and for Sexual stimulation.

Reception Theory

 This theory suggests that when a producer creates a text, the encode it with an intended message. The audience sometimes decodes the message correctly, and gets what the producer is trying to say. In other cases, the message will be incorrectly decoded, and the consumer will get the wrong message, or the message will simply be rejected. The meaning is interpreted based on their own individual cultural background and life experiences, 

There are considered to be Three types of audience readings of the text;

-Dominant/Preferred- The audience decodes the message correctly, and broadly agrees with it. 

-Negotiated- The audience accepts, rejects or refines elements of the text in light of previously held views.

-Oppositional- The dominant meaning of the text is recognised, yet rejected due to cultural, political or ideological reasons.