Audience Theory

Question 1

What is Desensitisation Theory?

Answer 1

This theory argues that audiences over time become accepting of violence, sex and death.

Question 2

What is Hypodermic Syringe Theory?

Answer 2

Harold Laswell (1920s) said that the media “injects attitudes, beliefs and ideas” into the audience.

Question 3

What is Power and Responsibility?

Answer 3

Curran and Seaton suggest that the media is controlled by a small number of companies driven by the need for profit and power.

Question 4

What is Uses and Gratification?

Answer 4

Blumler and Katz believed that audiences prefer texts based on four main needs, these include: Information, Companionship, Identity and Entertainment.

Question 5

What is Two-Step Flow?

Answer 5

A development of the Hypodermic Syringe Theory, Lazarasfeld and Katz argue that audiences are still passive, but through influence from others.

Question 6

What is the Media Affects Theory?

Answer 6

Albert Banduras idea is linked to the Hypodermic Theory in that ideas can be implanted into the audience directly.

Question 7

What is the Utopian Theory?

Answer 7

Richard Dyer argues that audiences simply choose texts because they wish to escape into that world.

Question 8

What is the Cultivation Theory?

Answer 8

George Gerbner claims that exposure to repeated patterns of representation over long periods of time can shape and influence the way people view the world.

Question 9

What is the Identity Theory?

Answer 9

David Gauntlett argues that audiences are active and “pick and mix” what the media provides them to create their identities and meet their needs.