Media entertainment lectures
Lecture 1 introduction to media entertainment
Why do we care about the scientific study of media entertainment?
1. People spend a significant part of their day with consuming media for entertainment
2. Media entertainment has a strong influence on self, relation to others and the world
3. There is a lot of content available for media entertainment
You cannot define media entertainment by the medium or the content or by the pleasantness of let
emotions
Enjoyment:
According to Anne Bartsch, enjoyment is a meta-emotion. Meta-emotion is the reflection on the
experience we have during media entertainment. We experience many different positive and
negative emotions, that we evaluate as enjoyable when we reflect on the experience. E.g. it was
enjoyable to feel sadness
The same content can be experienced differently depending on the circumstances. Entertainment is
constantly variable, changing based on who we are and with and what we are doing
Media entertainment has psychological functions in our lives
Media entertainment: media content designed to be consumed for purposes of leisure (rather than
specifically for information gain, learning, or persuasion)
Media entertainment is:
- A form of playing, i.e., a form of coping with reality
- An activity that is most often characterized by different forms of pleasure, but in certain
situations also by unpleasant aspects
- An intrinsically motivated action that usually leads to a temporary change in perceived reality
and that is repeated quite often by people who, during this process, less intellectually vivid
and attentive than they could be
Lecture 2 media selection: uses and gratification
People don’t consume all the content that is available. They make a selection
Media selection: a goal-oriented decision process through which people (consciously or
subconsciously) select from the available mediated messages or avoid certain mediated messages
,Human-media interaction
What determines media selection? Theories of understanding media selection behavior:
User-centered theories: what is it in the user that influences what media type the user consumes?
- Uses and gratification
- Mood management
- Habit models
- Cognitive decision models
Media-centered theories: what is it in the medium that influences what media type the user
consumes?
- Certain features in the media attract audiences
Phases of media selection
Before media use:
- Selection of a media-driven (or non-media driven) activity
- Selection of a medium (TV, mobile, tablet) and a platform (Netflix, YouTube)
- Selection of a mediated message provided by the medium
,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?
1950-60’s theories:
- TV in households
- Audience is lacking agency, a passive receptor of mediated messages
- Primary question: what are 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 the 1940’s started to
show that audience members were:
- Active, not passive
- Selective, not a captive audience (= niet een gevangen publiek)
- Obstinate, not gullible (=koppig, niet goedgelovig)
Lazarsfeld & Katz (1940): the importance of selection and use
- People’s predispositions affect their media choices
- People make strategic use of media to meet their needs
- Media are primarily influential via interpersonal talk
Lazarsfeld & Katz (1940): worries about escapism
- Focus on one particular need: escapism
- “people are deprived and alienated, it is suggested, and so they turn to the dreamlike world
of the mass media for substitute gratifications, the consequence of which is still further
withdrawal from the arena of social and political action”
Katz & 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:
1. Social, political affairs
- Symbolic dimension (media content): a housewife is assured in a soap opera that there is
perfect justice in the world and, as a result, is socially unconcerned and politically apathetic
, - Spatial-temporal dimension (media exposure or content): a man watches TV continually in his
spare time and, simply as a result of the time he spends in this behavior, has no time for
social causes or political participation
2. Interpersonal relations (in the family)
- Symbolic dimension: a daytime TV “persona” becomes a husband substitute on account of
greater thoughtfulness than the real husband, and there is a consequent impairment in
husband-wife relations
- Spatial-temporal dimension: an adolescent goes to movies, whatever is playing, to get away
from his parent, and there is a resulting strain in the child-parent relationship
3. Intrapsychic
- Symbolic dimension: through identification with a drama character, a person’s own impulses
are negated or denies, impairing personality integration
- Spatial-temporal dimension: a person carries a transistor radio with him all the time, playing
it continually whatever program is on, since its constant distraction means he does not have
to think about his inner impulses and thoughts
Katz & Foulkes (1962)
- Yes, some media use is escapist, where people “forget about troubles” or “lose themselves”
- But, there is a great variation in type of needs, and linkages cannot be taken for granted
- Escapism (or similar experiences) can be functional
Katz, Blumler & Gurevitch (1973): uses and gratification theory
- One of the most prolific mass communication theories
- Based on a functional model: media use serves a psychological function to gratify a need
The model of uses and gratification theory:
Assumptions uses and gratification theory:
- Media selection is goal-oriented and motivated
- People are active participants who select media that best fulfill their needs
- Media compete with “functional alternatives” to satisfy a need
- People are more influential than the media in the effects process (social factors play a role in
media effects)
- But the gratifications obtained don’t always matched the gratifications sought
- People are able to report what media they use, and why (conscious process)
Lecture 1 introduction to media entertainment
Why do we care about the scientific study of media entertainment?
1. People spend a significant part of their day with consuming media for entertainment
2. Media entertainment has a strong influence on self, relation to others and the world
3. There is a lot of content available for media entertainment
You cannot define media entertainment by the medium or the content or by the pleasantness of let
emotions
Enjoyment:
According to Anne Bartsch, enjoyment is a meta-emotion. Meta-emotion is the reflection on the
experience we have during media entertainment. We experience many different positive and
negative emotions, that we evaluate as enjoyable when we reflect on the experience. E.g. it was
enjoyable to feel sadness
The same content can be experienced differently depending on the circumstances. Entertainment is
constantly variable, changing based on who we are and with and what we are doing
Media entertainment has psychological functions in our lives
Media entertainment: media content designed to be consumed for purposes of leisure (rather than
specifically for information gain, learning, or persuasion)
Media entertainment is:
- A form of playing, i.e., a form of coping with reality
- An activity that is most often characterized by different forms of pleasure, but in certain
situations also by unpleasant aspects
- An intrinsically motivated action that usually leads to a temporary change in perceived reality
and that is repeated quite often by people who, during this process, less intellectually vivid
and attentive than they could be
Lecture 2 media selection: uses and gratification
People don’t consume all the content that is available. They make a selection
Media selection: a goal-oriented decision process through which people (consciously or
subconsciously) select from the available mediated messages or avoid certain mediated messages
,Human-media interaction
What determines media selection? Theories of understanding media selection behavior:
User-centered theories: what is it in the user that influences what media type the user consumes?
- Uses and gratification
- Mood management
- Habit models
- Cognitive decision models
Media-centered theories: what is it in the medium that influences what media type the user
consumes?
- Certain features in the media attract audiences
Phases of media selection
Before media use:
- Selection of a media-driven (or non-media driven) activity
- Selection of a medium (TV, mobile, tablet) and a platform (Netflix, YouTube)
- Selection of a mediated message provided by the medium
,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?
1950-60’s theories:
- TV in households
- Audience is lacking agency, a passive receptor of mediated messages
- Primary question: what are 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 the 1940’s started to
show that audience members were:
- Active, not passive
- Selective, not a captive audience (= niet een gevangen publiek)
- Obstinate, not gullible (=koppig, niet goedgelovig)
Lazarsfeld & Katz (1940): the importance of selection and use
- People’s predispositions affect their media choices
- People make strategic use of media to meet their needs
- Media are primarily influential via interpersonal talk
Lazarsfeld & Katz (1940): worries about escapism
- Focus on one particular need: escapism
- “people are deprived and alienated, it is suggested, and so they turn to the dreamlike world
of the mass media for substitute gratifications, the consequence of which is still further
withdrawal from the arena of social and political action”
Katz & 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:
1. Social, political affairs
- Symbolic dimension (media content): a housewife is assured in a soap opera that there is
perfect justice in the world and, as a result, is socially unconcerned and politically apathetic
, - Spatial-temporal dimension (media exposure or content): a man watches TV continually in his
spare time and, simply as a result of the time he spends in this behavior, has no time for
social causes or political participation
2. Interpersonal relations (in the family)
- Symbolic dimension: a daytime TV “persona” becomes a husband substitute on account of
greater thoughtfulness than the real husband, and there is a consequent impairment in
husband-wife relations
- Spatial-temporal dimension: an adolescent goes to movies, whatever is playing, to get away
from his parent, and there is a resulting strain in the child-parent relationship
3. Intrapsychic
- Symbolic dimension: through identification with a drama character, a person’s own impulses
are negated or denies, impairing personality integration
- Spatial-temporal dimension: a person carries a transistor radio with him all the time, playing
it continually whatever program is on, since its constant distraction means he does not have
to think about his inner impulses and thoughts
Katz & Foulkes (1962)
- Yes, some media use is escapist, where people “forget about troubles” or “lose themselves”
- But, there is a great variation in type of needs, and linkages cannot be taken for granted
- Escapism (or similar experiences) can be functional
Katz, Blumler & Gurevitch (1973): uses and gratification theory
- One of the most prolific mass communication theories
- Based on a functional model: media use serves a psychological function to gratify a need
The model of uses and gratification theory:
Assumptions uses and gratification theory:
- Media selection is goal-oriented and motivated
- People are active participants who select media that best fulfill their needs
- Media compete with “functional alternatives” to satisfy a need
- People are more influential than the media in the effects process (social factors play a role in
media effects)
- But the gratifications obtained don’t always matched the gratifications sought
- People are able to report what media they use, and why (conscious process)
