mass-communication-theory

Chapter 9 Audience Theories: Uses, Reception, and Effects 271
effects are intended by users, but many are not. For example, research finds that
there may be a health benefit when we laugh, so viewing situation comedies could
make us healthier. Regular viewing of television programs featuring sexual content
was linked to phenomena such as ambivalence toward marriage, perceived frequency
of sexual activity by others, and attitudes toward homosexuality. It’s not
likely that most viewers would have intended these effects or been aware of them.
A recent edited collection (Bryant and Vorderer, 2006) has chapters devoted to
a large number of psychological processes thought to be involved in or associated
with entertainment, including selective exposure, motivation, attention, comprehension,
information processing, attribution, disposition, empathy, identification with
characters, involvement, mood management, social identity, and parasocial interaction
(“interaction” between audience members and characters in media content; for
example, talking to the television set). Each can be studied individually or several
can be combined and used to study one or more forms of entertainment content.
Some processes are more likely to be involved with certain forms of content. One
way that research can advance in the future is to assess which processes are most
centrally involved with which forms of entertainment.
As entertainment theory evolved, “subtheories” were created that focused on
the various psychological processes listed here. One of the most interesting of
these is mood management theory. We’ll take a closer look at this idea because
you might find it useful in analyzing your own use of media. It argues that a predominant
motivation for using entertainment media is to moderate or control our
moods. It articulates some of our commonsense notions about what we are doing
when we seek out entertainment. If we’re in a “bad mood,” we turn on our iPod
and listen to music. When we’re “stressing out” from studying, we can take a
break and surf the net or turn on a televised comedy. Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick
(2006) provides a description of mood management theory: “The core prediction
of mood management theory claims that individuals seek out media content that
they expect to improve their mood. Mood optimization in this sense relates to
levels of arousal—plausibly, individuals are likely to avoid unpleasant degrees of
arousal, namely boredom and stress. By selecting media content, media users can
regulate their own mood with regard to arousal levels” (p. 240).
According to Knobloch-Westerwick, there are four types of media content
attributes relevant to mood management: excitatory potential, absorption potential,
semantic affinity, and hedonic valence. Excitatory potential involves the ability
of content to arouse or calm emotion—to get us excited or to reduce stress.
Absorption potential involves the ability of content to direct our thoughts away
from things that induce a negative mood and toward other things that induce positive
feelings. Semantic affinity concerns the degree to which entertaining content
involves things that are similar to (mean the same as) the things that are inducing
a bad mood. Hedonic valence refers specifically to the potential that content has
to induce positive feelings.
It should be possible for you to think about your recent use of entertainment
content and assess the extent to which mood management theory can explain
what you did and what happened to you. First, did use of the content change your
mood in the way you desired? If your mood did change, why do you think this
happened? Did the content get you excited? Did it divert your thoughts from things
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