ME lecture summary
Lecture 1: what is media entertainment
Why do we care about the scientific study of media entertainment?
1. People spend a significant amount 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 lots of content available for media entertainment.
How to define media entertainment?
Is it a certain type of content, a feeling or a specific behaviour?
Enjoyment
According to Anne Bartsch, enjoyment is a meta-emotion, meaning that during media
entertainment we experience many different positive and negative emotions, that we can
evaluate as enjoyable when we reflect on the experience.
Media entertainment
“Media content designed to be consumed for purposes of leisure (rather than specifically for
information gain, learning or persuasion). – Oliver (2009)
Media entertainment
A form of playing, 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. It is an
intrinsically motivated action that leads to a temporary change in perceived reality and that is
repeated quite often by people who are during this process, less intellectually vivid and
attentive than they could be. – Vorderer (2001)
Media entertainment
- Can be described from the perspective of the intention of design, behaviour and
experience.
- As a behaviour/intention: interaction with media for leisure.
- As an experience: interaction is evaluated as being enjoyable.
Exam example question
In the reading by Oliver (2009) for lecture 1 she identifies 3 important aspects of new
technology that are changing the media entertainment experience. They are selectivity,
interactivity and ___
- Serendipity
- Technological development
- Mobility
- Meaningfulness
(new technology, you can take your phone anywhere with you, always access to media
entertainment)
,Lecture 2: uses and gratifications
Media selection
People don’t consume all the content that is available, they make a selection.
“Media selection is 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 – Hartmann (2006)
1. Media selection behaviour (before)
2. Psychological processes in users (during)
3. Media effects (after)
What determines media selection?
User-centred theories:
What is it in the user that influences what media type she consumes?
- Uses and gratifications
- Mood management
Media-centred theories:
What is it in the medium that influences what media type the user consumes?
- Certain features in media attract audiences (e.g. interactivity)
Phases of media selection
Before media use
1. Selection of a media-driven (or non-media-driven) activity
2. Selection of the medium (TV, mobile, tablet) and platform (Netflix, YouTube)
3. Selection of the mediated message provided by the medium
Agency of the audience
Do audiences passively receive mediated messages, or do they have active participants at all
stages of the interaction?
Early understanding of mass media audience
1950-1960s: audience is lacking agency, a passive receptor of mediated messages
Primary question: what are the media doing to us?
Researched focused on
- The success of campaigns
- Could the new mass media produce dramatic effects on mass society?
Empirical studies from 1940s show that audience members are
- Active, not passive
- Selective, not a captive audience
- Obstinate (=koppig), not gullible (=goedgelovig)
,Lazarsfeld & Katz (1940) The importance of media 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.
Worries about 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 do we mean by consuming escapist media? A process..
- Of consuming a distracting content
- Driven by a motivation or “drive”
- Psychological escapism
- Comes with higher levels of exposure
- Social context of exposure is important
- Dysfunctional consequences
o Social, political affairs – escaping from social/political affairs
o Interpersonal relations (within the family) – escaping from your family
o Intrapsychic – distracting one selves of inner impulses and thoughts.
Some media use is escapist, where people forget about troubles or lose themselves.
But there is great variation in types of needs and linkages cannot be taken for granted.
Escapism can be functional.
Katz, Blumler & Gurevitch (1973) Uses and Gratifications Theory
One of the most prolific mass communication theories.
Based on a functional model: media use serves as a psychological function to gratify a need.
Assumptions Uses and Gratifications Theory
1. Media-selection is goal-oriented and motivated
2. People are active participants who select media that best fulfil their needs
3. Media compete with “functional alternatives” to satisfy a need
4. People are more influential than the media in the effects process (social factors play a
role in media effects)
5. Gratifications obtained do not always match the gratifications sought
6. People are able to report what media they use and why (conscious process)
There are several different typologies of needs by different authors. See Krcmar on typologies
and criticism.
Krcmar, motives:
Relaxation, companionship, habit, passing time, entertainment, social interaction, information,
arousal, escape.
, Uses and Gratifications Theory - Types of needs, motivations
Cognitive needs
Need for knowledge, information, orientation, curiosity,
Affective needs
Mood management, recreation, entertainment, escapism, stress release.
Social interaction needs
Sense of belonging, social contact, connectedness, parasocial relationship.
Integrative, habitual needs
Need for regularity, stability, security, habits.
Rubin (2009)
Uses and Gratifications can compare usage of media, channels, and content.
Limitations Uses and Gratifications Theory
- Media use is often not a conscious choice and rationale decision
- People are not always purposive and active
Ritualized (habitual) vs. instrumental media use
- “Typologies” are often inductive and very specific to the particular medium, time
period and study.
- Studies often rely on cross-sectional surveys, no causal evidence
- Surveys typically can’t dig deep into particular message features or psychological
processes
- Many studies don’t distinguish between: motives, selections, uses, responses, effects.
Exam example question
Which of the following is NOT part of the assumptions of the Uses and Gratifications
Theory?
- People are active and selective
- Media selection is motivated to meet a need
- Interpersonal influence is weaker than the effect of the media
- People are aware of their media selection decisions.
(people are more effective in the influence process than the media)
Lecture 1: what is media entertainment
Why do we care about the scientific study of media entertainment?
1. People spend a significant amount 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 lots of content available for media entertainment.
How to define media entertainment?
Is it a certain type of content, a feeling or a specific behaviour?
Enjoyment
According to Anne Bartsch, enjoyment is a meta-emotion, meaning that during media
entertainment we experience many different positive and negative emotions, that we can
evaluate as enjoyable when we reflect on the experience.
Media entertainment
“Media content designed to be consumed for purposes of leisure (rather than specifically for
information gain, learning or persuasion). – Oliver (2009)
Media entertainment
A form of playing, 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. It is an
intrinsically motivated action that leads to a temporary change in perceived reality and that is
repeated quite often by people who are during this process, less intellectually vivid and
attentive than they could be. – Vorderer (2001)
Media entertainment
- Can be described from the perspective of the intention of design, behaviour and
experience.
- As a behaviour/intention: interaction with media for leisure.
- As an experience: interaction is evaluated as being enjoyable.
Exam example question
In the reading by Oliver (2009) for lecture 1 she identifies 3 important aspects of new
technology that are changing the media entertainment experience. They are selectivity,
interactivity and ___
- Serendipity
- Technological development
- Mobility
- Meaningfulness
(new technology, you can take your phone anywhere with you, always access to media
entertainment)
,Lecture 2: uses and gratifications
Media selection
People don’t consume all the content that is available, they make a selection.
“Media selection is 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 – Hartmann (2006)
1. Media selection behaviour (before)
2. Psychological processes in users (during)
3. Media effects (after)
What determines media selection?
User-centred theories:
What is it in the user that influences what media type she consumes?
- Uses and gratifications
- Mood management
Media-centred theories:
What is it in the medium that influences what media type the user consumes?
- Certain features in media attract audiences (e.g. interactivity)
Phases of media selection
Before media use
1. Selection of a media-driven (or non-media-driven) activity
2. Selection of the medium (TV, mobile, tablet) and platform (Netflix, YouTube)
3. Selection of the mediated message provided by the medium
Agency of the audience
Do audiences passively receive mediated messages, or do they have active participants at all
stages of the interaction?
Early understanding of mass media audience
1950-1960s: audience is lacking agency, a passive receptor of mediated messages
Primary question: what are the media doing to us?
Researched focused on
- The success of campaigns
- Could the new mass media produce dramatic effects on mass society?
Empirical studies from 1940s show that audience members are
- Active, not passive
- Selective, not a captive audience
- Obstinate (=koppig), not gullible (=goedgelovig)
,Lazarsfeld & Katz (1940) The importance of media 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.
Worries about 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 do we mean by consuming escapist media? A process..
- Of consuming a distracting content
- Driven by a motivation or “drive”
- Psychological escapism
- Comes with higher levels of exposure
- Social context of exposure is important
- Dysfunctional consequences
o Social, political affairs – escaping from social/political affairs
o Interpersonal relations (within the family) – escaping from your family
o Intrapsychic – distracting one selves of inner impulses and thoughts.
Some media use is escapist, where people forget about troubles or lose themselves.
But there is great variation in types of needs and linkages cannot be taken for granted.
Escapism can be functional.
Katz, Blumler & Gurevitch (1973) Uses and Gratifications Theory
One of the most prolific mass communication theories.
Based on a functional model: media use serves as a psychological function to gratify a need.
Assumptions Uses and Gratifications Theory
1. Media-selection is goal-oriented and motivated
2. People are active participants who select media that best fulfil their needs
3. Media compete with “functional alternatives” to satisfy a need
4. People are more influential than the media in the effects process (social factors play a
role in media effects)
5. Gratifications obtained do not always match the gratifications sought
6. People are able to report what media they use and why (conscious process)
There are several different typologies of needs by different authors. See Krcmar on typologies
and criticism.
Krcmar, motives:
Relaxation, companionship, habit, passing time, entertainment, social interaction, information,
arousal, escape.
, Uses and Gratifications Theory - Types of needs, motivations
Cognitive needs
Need for knowledge, information, orientation, curiosity,
Affective needs
Mood management, recreation, entertainment, escapism, stress release.
Social interaction needs
Sense of belonging, social contact, connectedness, parasocial relationship.
Integrative, habitual needs
Need for regularity, stability, security, habits.
Rubin (2009)
Uses and Gratifications can compare usage of media, channels, and content.
Limitations Uses and Gratifications Theory
- Media use is often not a conscious choice and rationale decision
- People are not always purposive and active
Ritualized (habitual) vs. instrumental media use
- “Typologies” are often inductive and very specific to the particular medium, time
period and study.
- Studies often rely on cross-sectional surveys, no causal evidence
- Surveys typically can’t dig deep into particular message features or psychological
processes
- Many studies don’t distinguish between: motives, selections, uses, responses, effects.
Exam example question
Which of the following is NOT part of the assumptions of the Uses and Gratifications
Theory?
- People are active and selective
- Media selection is motivated to meet a need
- Interpersonal influence is weaker than the effect of the media
- People are aware of their media selection decisions.
(people are more effective in the influence process than the media)
