L1: Introduction
Why do we care about the scientific study of media entertainment?
1) people spend a significant part of their day consuming media entertainment.
2) ME consumption has a strong influence on the self, relation to others, and the
world.
3) There is a lot of content available for ME
Heart of media entertainment experience: Enjoyment, as a meta-emotion (Anne
Bartsch)
Media Entertainment: “media content designed to be consumed for purposes of
leisure, rather than specifically for information gain, learning, or persuasion.” “... a
form of coping with reality.
L2: Media Selection: Uses and Gratification
1. What is media selection
“a goal-oriented decision process through which people consciously or
subconsciously select from available mediated messages or avoid certain mediated
messages.”
People don’t consume all the content that is available. They make a selection.
Human-Media interaction
(before) Media selection behavior → (during) psychological process in users →
(after) media effects
Understanding Media Selection
What determines media selection? → in the media or in the user?,
→ Theories of understanding media selection
User-centered theories
- uses and gratification + L1
- mood management
- habit models
- cognitive decision models
,what is in the user that influences what media type the user consumes?
Media-centered theories
- Certain features in the (new) media attract audiences (ex: interactivity)
what is in the media that influences what media type the user consumes?
Phases of Media Selection
Before media use
- 1. selection of a media driven (or non-media driven) activity
- 2. selection of a medium (TV, mobile…) and a platform (netflix…)
- 3. selection of a mediated message provided by the medium
Before
- Selection from the available mediated messages
During
- Selective processing of the mediate message itself
After
- Selective remembering of the mediated message
2. Early understanding: agency, escapism
Agency of the Audience
Do audiences passively receive mediated messages or do they active participants at
all stages of the interaction?
Early understanding of mass media audience
1950-60 theories
- TV in households
- Audience is lacking agency, a passive receptor of mediated messages
- Primary question: What are the media doing to us?
Media selection, media effects
● Early media research focused on the success of “campaigns”
● Could the new “mass media” produce dramatic effects on “mass society”?
In contrast to assumptions about powerful media effects, empirical studies from 1940
started to show that audience members were:
- active, not passive
, - selective, not captive audience
- obstinate (inatçı), not gullible
Lazarfeld & Katz (1940): Importance of selection and use
- People’s predispositions affect their media choice
- People make strategic use of the media to meet their needs.
- Media are primarily influential via interpersonal talk
Lazarfeld & Katz (1940): Worries about escapism
- Focus on particular need: ESCAPISM
“ People are deprived and alienated, and so they turn to the dreamlike world of mass
media for substitute gratifications (ruhsal rahatlama), the consequence of which is
still further withdrawal from the arena of social and political action”
Worries about escapism
“... further withdrawal from the arena of social and political action.”
Katz and Foulkes (1962)
What exactly do we mean by consuming “escapist” media? A process…
- of consuming a distracting content
- driven by a motivation or drive
- psychological escapism
- comes with high levels of exposure
- social context of exposure is important
- dysfunctional consequences
, Dysfunctional consequences of escapism:
Katz and Foulkes (1962):
- Yes, some media use is escapist, where people “forget about troubles” or
“lose themselves”
- But, there is great variation in the type of needs, and “linkages cannot be
taken for granted”
- Escapism (or similar experiences) can be functional
3. Uses and Gratifications Theory
Katz, Blumer and Gurevitch, 1973
- One of the most prolific mass communication theories
- Based on the functional model: media use serves a psychological function to
gratify a need.
Why do we care about the scientific study of media entertainment?
1) people spend a significant part of their day consuming media entertainment.
2) ME consumption has a strong influence on the self, relation to others, and the
world.
3) There is a lot of content available for ME
Heart of media entertainment experience: Enjoyment, as a meta-emotion (Anne
Bartsch)
Media Entertainment: “media content designed to be consumed for purposes of
leisure, rather than specifically for information gain, learning, or persuasion.” “... a
form of coping with reality.
L2: Media Selection: Uses and Gratification
1. What is media selection
“a goal-oriented decision process through which people consciously or
subconsciously select from available mediated messages or avoid certain mediated
messages.”
People don’t consume all the content that is available. They make a selection.
Human-Media interaction
(before) Media selection behavior → (during) psychological process in users →
(after) media effects
Understanding Media Selection
What determines media selection? → in the media or in the user?,
→ Theories of understanding media selection
User-centered theories
- uses and gratification + L1
- mood management
- habit models
- cognitive decision models
,what is in the user that influences what media type the user consumes?
Media-centered theories
- Certain features in the (new) media attract audiences (ex: interactivity)
what is in the media that influences what media type the user consumes?
Phases of Media Selection
Before media use
- 1. selection of a media driven (or non-media driven) activity
- 2. selection of a medium (TV, mobile…) and a platform (netflix…)
- 3. selection of a mediated message provided by the medium
Before
- Selection from the available mediated messages
During
- Selective processing of the mediate message itself
After
- Selective remembering of the mediated message
2. Early understanding: agency, escapism
Agency of the Audience
Do audiences passively receive mediated messages or do they active participants at
all stages of the interaction?
Early understanding of mass media audience
1950-60 theories
- TV in households
- Audience is lacking agency, a passive receptor of mediated messages
- Primary question: What are the media doing to us?
Media selection, media effects
● Early media research focused on the success of “campaigns”
● Could the new “mass media” produce dramatic effects on “mass society”?
In contrast to assumptions about powerful media effects, empirical studies from 1940
started to show that audience members were:
- active, not passive
, - selective, not captive audience
- obstinate (inatçı), not gullible
Lazarfeld & Katz (1940): Importance of selection and use
- People’s predispositions affect their media choice
- People make strategic use of the media to meet their needs.
- Media are primarily influential via interpersonal talk
Lazarfeld & Katz (1940): Worries about escapism
- Focus on particular need: ESCAPISM
“ People are deprived and alienated, and so they turn to the dreamlike world of mass
media for substitute gratifications (ruhsal rahatlama), the consequence of which is
still further withdrawal from the arena of social and political action”
Worries about escapism
“... further withdrawal from the arena of social and political action.”
Katz and Foulkes (1962)
What exactly do we mean by consuming “escapist” media? A process…
- of consuming a distracting content
- driven by a motivation or drive
- psychological escapism
- comes with high levels of exposure
- social context of exposure is important
- dysfunctional consequences
, Dysfunctional consequences of escapism:
Katz and Foulkes (1962):
- Yes, some media use is escapist, where people “forget about troubles” or
“lose themselves”
- But, there is great variation in the type of needs, and “linkages cannot be
taken for granted”
- Escapism (or similar experiences) can be functional
3. Uses and Gratifications Theory
Katz, Blumer and Gurevitch, 1973
- One of the most prolific mass communication theories
- Based on the functional model: media use serves a psychological function to
gratify a need.
