Callum Deighton

HA9 TASK 1 – RESPONSE THEORIES

THE HYPODERMIC NEEDLE THEORYThe Hypodermic Needle Theory is the theory that whatever content the media presents to the audience such as by Radio, TV etc. the audience takes as being 100% real and actually happening, no matter how unrealistic the content is. This happens by the content in question “injecting” the people in attendance with specific messages to trigger a reaction from them. Eventually, with the information “injected” into the audience they will eventually believe that what they are listening/watching is real. A popular example of this was the original 1938 radio broadcast of The War Of The Worlds in which narrator Orson Wells reads a story about how Martians invade the planet. This caused the whole population to become panicked and it caused mass panic around America as people genuinely thought that aliens were attacking.

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THE INOCULATION MODELThe Inoculation Model is a passive theory that if an audience is exposed to media messages such as violence then eventually they will become numb to what they are seeing and will desensitize from what they're watching as they will no longer take the content they are watching as serious as it is presented to be ,since they will know what to expect for future occurences. A popular example of this are people playing games such as Grand Theft Auto because although at first the violence might shock the player, over time they will get used to what they are doing and eventually it will no longer affect them, and if they watch violent content on television afterwards they would have a different reaction from someone who watches the same content and has never played a violent game at all.

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THE TWO-STEP FLOW MODELThe Two-Step Flow Model was introduced in 1944 by Paul Lazersfield, Bernard Berelson and Hazel Gaudet. They created the theory after examining and analysing the upcoming presidential campaign in which they found out that there are certain “Opinion leaders” which are public celebrities that people look up to. They listen to what happens from the mass media and form their own opinions from it, and the followers that have direct contact with them will take on their opinions, which will then spread further and further. An example of this is the Scottish Vote for Independence, in which it was estimated that 50% of the population that would vote would be from influence from Opinion Leaders whilst the other 50% would be from their own choices.

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USES & GRATIFICATIONS THEORYThe Uses & Gratifications theory is a theory which focuses on what an audience actually does with a media instead of just taking the intended message. The audience taking the content isn’t seen as passive, but they would take the media and integrate into their life. Models of this include: Identify, where the audience simply recognises and know what the content is, Educate, where the audience are able to understand the information they are receiving, Entertain, where the audience find personal enjoyment from the content they are watching and Social Interaction, where the audience get the ability to create a conversation about the content in question within a group and possibly spark a debate.

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An example of this would be a fighting game such as Street Fighter IV, as the game revolves around competition between two people so this can cause social interaction as well as entertainment between the two players. The game can also educate the player as there are various tutorials within the game that teaches the player on the mechanics of the game and if needs be, the players can find further information and tutorials online on websites such as YouTube where they can gain further knowledge.

RECEPTION THEORYThe Reception theory is the theory that the audience viewing and understanding the content is a needed component of understanding the content’s further meaning.

“This approach, the Encoding/Decoding Model of Communication is a textual analysis that focuses on the scope for "negotiation" and "opposition" on the part of the audience. This means that a "text"—be it a book, movie, or other creative work—is not simply passively accepted by the audience, but that the reader / viewer interprets the meanings of the text based on their individual cultural background and life experiences. In essence, the meaning of a text is not inherent within the text itself, but is created within the relationship between the text and the reader.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reception_theory)

An example of the reception theory would be PlayStation Magazine. As the magazine is directed towards gamers and teenagers/young adults are the biggest audiences, younger audiences will probably find the magazine entertaining as they play games a lot of the time whilst older audiences would probably react different and seeing content such as games like

Mortal Kombat and Call of Duty might disgust them due to the graphic nature and

violence the game portrays.http://www.littlebigjourney.net/uploads/1/0/6/1/10618558/8930809.png?775