Uses & Gratifications Theory

Question 1

What is the uses and gratification theory?

Answer 1

You make daily choices to consume different types of media. Raised the question of “what do people do with media?” and the theory attempts to make sense of the fact that people consume many different media messages for all sorts of reasons. The effect of a given message is going to be different for everyone.

Question 2

What are the five key assumptions that underlines the uses and gratifications theory?

Answer 2

1. People use media for their own particular purposes. (They decide which media to use and what effects they want media to have)
2. People seek to gratify needs. (The deliberate choices people make in using media are presumably based on the gratifications they seek from them)
3. Media compete for our attention and time. (They compete with each other for your time and also compete with other activities that don’t involve media exposure).
4. Media effect different people differently. (not everyone enjoys the same things)
5. People can accurately report their media use and motivation. (researchers had to find a way to uncover the media that people consumed and the reasons they consumed it. Most obvious way to collected data is to ask people directly about time spent and why)

Question 3

What is a straight-line effect?

Answer 3

A specific effect on behavior that is predicted from media content alone, with little consideration of the differences in people who consume the content

Question 4

What are some uses and potential gratifications from the use of watching TV? (hint: there are 8)

Answer 4

1. Passing time
2. Companionship
3. Escape
4. Enjoyment
5. Social interaction
6. Relaxation
7. Information
8. Excitement