Tuesday, 6 November 2012

Audience Theory


The Hypodermic Syringe Theory

The hypodermic syringe model dates dack to the early 1920's when there was an attempt to explain how audiences may be affected by mass media. The diagram shows that the audience give the incoming information (from the media) no challenge, so everything gets taken in. This theory suggests that the audience are passive, and that they will asume everything that they see is they way it is.











The Two Step Flow Theory

Is a theory which was thought up by Paul Lazarsfeld, Bernard Berelson, and Hazel Gaudet  in 1944 and suggested that the information does not flow directly from the text into the minds of its audience unmediated but is filtered through "opinion leaders" who then communicate it to their less active associates, over whom they have influence.

The diagram shows that before the information reaches us, we have filters which judge our opinion of it. An example of this is when we watch our favourite TV programmes and filter out all of its flaws, as we overlook them.

No comments:

Post a Comment