Audience Theories

The Effects Theory

         Media influence is the actual force exerted by a media message, resulting in either a change or reinforcement in audience or individual beliefs. Media effects are measurable effects that result from media influence, or a media message. Whether that media message has an effect on any of its audience members is contingent on many factors, including audience demographics and psychological characteristics. These effects can be positive or negative, abrupt or gradual, short-term or long-lasting. Not all effects result in change: some media messages reinforce an existing belief. Researchers examine an audience after media exposure for changes in cognition, belief systems, and attitudes, as well as emotional, physiological and behavioral effects.

The Hypodermic Needle Theory

            The "Magic Bullet" or "Hypodermic Needle Theory" of direct influence effects was based on early observations of the effect of mass media, as used by Nazi propaganda and the effects of Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s People were assumed to be "uniformly controlled by their biologically based 'instincts' and that they react more or less uniformly to whatever 'stimuli' came along". The "Magic Bullet" theory graphically assumes that the media's message is a bullet fired from the "media gun" into the viewer's "head". Similarly, the "Hypodermic Needle Model" uses the same idea of the "shooting" paradigm. It suggests that the media injects its messages straight into the passive audience. This passive audience is immediately affected by these messages. The public essentially cannot escape from the media's influence, and is therefore considered a "sitting duck". Both models suggest that the public is vulnerable to the messages shot at them because of the limited communication tools and the studies of the media's effects on the masses at the time. It means the media explores information in such a way that it injects in the mind of audiences as bullets.

The Bobo Doll Experiment

• Children made to watch a video of an adult violently attacking a doll that looks like clown known as a Bobo Doll.
• The same children were then taken into another room in which there were numerous amounts of colourful and playful toys. However the children were restricted from touching these toys.
• The same children were once again led into another room however this room contained one of the Bobo Dolls they had seen in the video. This time they were allowed to touch and play with the doll.
• Out of all of these children 88% of them replicated the violent behaviour on the doll that they had previously witnessed the adult doing in the video.
• 8 months on and the same children were met with the same Bobo Doll.
• This time 40% of the children showed violence towards the doll.

Dominant reading - interpreted as the institution  intended

Negotiated reading - the audience may agree with some parts of the text and disagree with others

Oppositional reading - audience member find themselves in conflict with the text and disagrees


We will look to use these audience theories in order to add to our main brief as they can help us to create a real thrill factor for our audience. For example by using rigorous hypodermic needle theory we shall look to create real fear in our horror opening for the audience.