Deck 23: Uses and Gratifications Theory

Question 1

The main idea behind Uses and Gratifications Theory (UGT) is that

A) people cannot articulate the reasons or gratifications underlying their media consumption
B) people do not realize they are being influenced by the media
C) people's social reality is affected over the long term by media content and portrayals
D) people actively seek out specific media and content to obtain specific gratifications

Answer 1

people actively seek out specific media and content to obtain specific gratifications

Question 2

Limited effects theories argue that the influence of media is minimized by

A) audience members' associations and group affiliations
B) audience members' particular selections of media content
C) the amount of time an audience member spends consuming media
D) all of these

Answer 2

audience members' associations and group affiliations

Question 3

Dan and Mona want to install a new window in their bathroom. They go to the video store and rent "How to Install Windows in 30 Minutes or Less." Dan and Mona are satisfying which of the following needs?

A) affective
B) cognitive
C) personal integrative
D) tension release

Answer 3

cognitive

Question 4

Louie's partner left him several months ago. Now when he arrives home, he turns on the television for companionship. This is an example of using media as

A) diversion
B) surveillance
C) personal relationships
D) none of these

Question 5

Which of the following is NOT an assumption associated with Uses and Gratifications Theory?

A) The audience is active, and its media use is goal directed.
B) Value judgments of media content can only be made by researchers and theorists.
C) The media compete with other sources to provide need satisfaction.
D) People are aware enough of their own media use, interests, and motives to be able to provide researchers with accurate data.

Question 6

The idea that the media compete with other sources for need satisfaction is related to which of the following statements about media effects, within the Uses and Gratifications perspective?

A) Audience members are not always totally free in their uses of media.
B) Social situations can create an awareness of problems that demand attention, information about which may be sought through the media.
C) The media and their audiences are part of the larger society, and are influenced by that society.
D) Social situations can impoverish real-life opportunities to satisfy certain needs.

Question 7

Blumler offered several suggestions as to the kinds of audience activity in which consumers could engage. These include

A) utility
B) intentionality
C) selectivity
D) all of these

Question 8

Whereas activity refers to what individuals do with media, _________ refers to an individual's freedom and autonomy in the mass communication process.

A) cultivation
B) congruence
C) activeness
D) activation

Question 9

Uses and gratifications theorists argue that activeness

A) is relative
B) relates only to latent-level effects
C) often varies by time of day and type of content
D) is relative AND often varies by time of day and type of content

Question 10

Which of the following statements can be used to support the assumption that people's use of media and the gratifications they seek from it are intertwined with the world in which they live?

A) Social situations can produce tensions and conflicts that people seek to divert through media consumption.
B) The world we live in contains information that makes us aware of things that are of interest to us, and we can find out more about those things through the media.
C) Sometimes the situations individuals find themselves in make the media the best source to turn to.
D) all of these

Question 11

McQuail, Blumler, and Brown (1972) and Katz, Gurevitch, and Hass (1973) discovered that people use media to fulfill a need to either ____________ or ____________ other people.

A) get to know/befriend
B) teach/learn from
C) influence/persuade
D) connect with/disconnect from

Question 12

Which of the following categories of audience gratifications refers to using the media to reinforce individual values?

A) personal identity
B) surveillance
C) personal knowledge
D) individual values

Question 13

The argument that UGT does not address ethical concerns about journalism (such as reporters inventing quotes) relates to which criterion for evaluating theory?

A) utility
B) heurism
C) parsimony
D) logical consistency

Question 14

Uses and Gratifications Theory has been criticized

A) because it has strayed too far from the limited effects paradigm
B) for its emphasis on the use of symbols, not on how people use information from the media
C) for its notion of the active audience
D) because its assumptions focus on producers of media content and not on audience members

Question 15

Schramm's fraction of selection is calculated by

A) multiplying the effort required by the expectation of reward
B) dividing the expectation of reward by the effort required
C) adding the effort required to the expected reward
D) subtracting the effort required from the expectation of reward

Question 16

The approach to knowing that characterizes the research undertaken using UGT is

A) positivistic/empirical
B) critical
C) interpretive/hermeneutic
D) semiotic

Question 17

According to Uses and Gratifications theorists, using e-mail or instant messenger satisfies which need?

A) social integrative
B) cognitive
C) tension release
D) aesthetic

Question 18

The communication tradition most closely associated with UGT is

A) socio-cultural
B) phenomenological
C) socio-psychological
D) critical

Question 19

The form of audience activity in which consumers may actively avoid certain types of media influence is called

A) Utility
B) selectivity
C) intentionality
D) imperviousness to influence

Question 20

Uses and Gratifications Theory views the audience as passive.

Question 21

The initiative in linking need gratification to a specific medium choice rests with the audience member.

Question 22

Vincent listens to the traffic report on his car radio when he is stuck in rush hour traffic. This is an example of activeness.

Question 23

Uses and Gratifications Theory counters the limited effects paradigm.

Question 24

New research has found that although the Internet is a new medium, people seek out its content in much the same way that they previously used other forms of media for that same need.

Question 25

Uses and Gratifications theorists believe that audiences frequently are duped and unaware of the influence of the media.

Question 26

Uses and Gratifications Theory has had little application outside of television.

Question 27

LaRose and Eastin suggest that UGT can explain Internet use, but can be enhanced by the addition of some new variable, such as expected activity outcomes.

Question 28

Compare and contrast audience activity and audience activeness.

Question 29

Provide an example of how the media can fulfill the following needs: cognitive, affective, and social integrative.

Question 30

How is Uses and Gratifications Theory related to the limited effects paradigm?

Question 31

How can social situations generate media use? Provide examples to illustrate.

Question 32

Do you agree that Uses and Gratifications Theory is heuristic? Why or why not?

Question 33

Apply Uses and Gratifications to instant messaging. What concepts and principles of the theory relate? Which are not relevant?

Question 34

Describe Schramm's Fraction of Selection and apply it to cell phone text messaging. Discuss what kinds of expected gratifications might make it more attractive than other forms of mediated communication.