Hypodermic Needle:

• The Hypodermic Needle Theory explains that mass media companies have a direct,
immediate and powerful effect on its audience.
• The theory explains that people believe everything the media tells them.
• In the 1940s and 1950s the media was seen to influence behavior change of the
population heavily.
• The fast rise of television and radio contributed to the effect of the mass media on
the population.
• An example of when the media had much control over the people was Hitler’s
control of the mass media during WWII to brainwash the public into backing the Nazi
Party

Two-Step Flow:
• The Two-Step Flow Theory explains that the mass media didn’t have the control that
was once thought, it was that an opinion leader would read the information then
share their thoughts to the people they influence, in which people would base their
thoughts, opinions and decisions on what the leader had said.
• An example of this would be politics particularly presidential elections, where the
candidates would share their views and their followers would back them

Uses and Gratifications:

• The Uses and Gratifications Theory explains that the focus is not on what the media
does to the people but on what the people do to the media. It highlights the reasons
why people use the media.
• People use the media for their own need and to satisfy themselves and they get
satisfied when their needs are met.
• The theory proposed 4 main reason to why people choose to use the texts created
by the media:
• Surveillance: The idea that people feel better when they have an idea of what is
going on around them, by watching or reading the news a person finds out about
what goes on in the world and makes them feel more secure about their own lives.
• Personal Identity: The idea that being a subject of the media lets us reaffirm who we
are and where we are in our life and within society. Characters in shows usually
come in many different forms so a person can find a character to relate to and look
up to while also finding a character to dislike.
• Personal Relationships: The idea that people use things like television as a form of
companionship. Many TV shows can be quite intimate and people may watch a lot of
a show making the person feel quite close to the characters. People also can build
relationships of TV shows as it is a common conversation starter in which people can
build their relationship on.
• Diversion: The idea that people use media for leisure to give them an escape from
their routine or problems. These activities include TV, music, video games, reading
books and reading articles. Gratification from using the media comes in lots of
different feelings and emotions dependent on what the user wanted.
 Preferred Readings:

• Preferred Reading is an audience reception theory explaining that by using codes

and conventions, a producer can create a text and choose what the audience take
from it, by influencing what they do believe and don’t believe and what they agree
on and what they don’t agree on.

Passive/Active:
• The difference between Passive Reading and Active Reading is that when a person is
reading passively, they are looking to learn about what the writer's opinion on the
subject is and not looking to form their own and is not looing to respond to the
opinion, while when a person is actively reading, they are looking to form their own
opinion on the subject of the text and may respond with their own view of the
matter.