TEORI KOMUNIKASI

Dr. Ali S. MENTION, FSSK Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

Uses and Gratification Theory

Overview

Media theorists find audience interaction with the media fascinating.

One of the key theories that has evolved to explain audience behaviour is called the Uses and Gratifications theory.

ContAccording to U&G, we all have different uses for the media and we make choices over what we want to watch. In other words, when we encounter a media text, it is not just some kind of mindless entertainment we are expecting to get something from it: some kind of gratification.

Uses and Gratifications Research: A Brief History1940sStudies to identify peoples motives for listening to Series of certain radio programs1970sResearchers began to categorize the various motives for media use.Others developed their own typology for gratifications.Rosengren and Windahl suggest that media uses and effects should be linked.

Assumptions of Uses and Gratifications

Assumes that differences among audience members cause each person to:

Seek out different messagesUse those messages differentlyRespond to them differently

ContViewers are active participants.Media is used for gratifications.Social and psychological factors mediate peoples communication behavior.Viewers must pay attention to be influenced or affected by the media.

What is satisfied by the mediaMedia researchers have identified four central human needs that are satisfied (gratified) by the media.

1. Information We want to find out about society and the world we want to satisfy our curiosity.

Cont 2. Personal Identity We may watch the television in order to look for models for our behaviour. So, for example, we may identify with characters that we see in a drama. The characters help us to decide what we feel about ourselves and if we agree with their actions and they succeed we feel better about ourselves think of the warm feeling you get when you favourite character triumphs at the end of a programme.

ContSitcom can sometimes address challenging issues or personal situations in a way that allow the audience to a) relate and b) draw reassurance from. For example:

ContDiscomfort over racial integration (Love Thy Neighbour) The difficult onset of puberty (Darlene in Roseanne)or even stress-induced bed-wetting (Lucy in My Parents Are Aliens).

Cont3. Integration and Social InteractionWe use the media in order to find out more about the circumstances of other people. Watching a show helps us to empathise and sympathise with the lives of others so that we may even end up thinking of the characters. At the same time television may help us to get on with our real friends as we are able to talk about the media with them.

Cont4. Entertainment Sometimes we simply use the media for enjoyment, relaxation or just to fill time.

Criticisms of Uses and GratificationsToo individualisticSynthesized research findingsLack of clarity among key conceptsDifferences in the meaning of key conceptsThe active audience and use of self-reporting

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