Audience Theory: Direct Media Effects

Inoculation Theory:

This theory suggests that we become desensitised to violence the more we are exposed to it and so causes people to seek out more violent content.

For example horror films are becoming more and more graphic in what they choose to produce as each time a new film comes out it needs to be better than the last.

Hypodermic Syringe Model:

This suggests that information from a media text is transmitted and then picked up by audiences. The information links directly to our behaviour and attitudes and so can manipulate our way of thinking as audiences are not prepared.

It also suggests that there is a passive audience and they interact with the message to create a meaning. 

The theory is used to explain why certain groups in society should not be exposed to certain media texts, in fear that they may recreate the behaviour being shown 

Cultivation Theory:

This theory suggests that media effects can be culminate and build up slowly over a long period of time. There are beliefs and ideologies that are built up throughout our life/passed on from previous generations. The prolonged exposure to certain ideas can result in changed behaviour. The focus is more on vulnerable audiences (children, uneducated, socially outcast,, and downtrodden). The media only reinforces our own set of beliefs and ideologies.

Disadvantages:

• doesn't account for a person's personality and how they feel about the world 
• focused on television in general 
• doesn't mention specific shows that might be the causes the influences on viewer opinions
• never asked viewers how they felt before television