Graduate Students of Kasetsart University

The basic assumption of the Uses and Gratifications Theory is that audience members
more or less actively seek the content that seems to be the most gratifying. The degree of
perceived gratification depends on the needs (and interests) of the individual Blumler (1985). The
more individuals perceive that the content is need – fulfilling, the greater the chance that they will
choose it. Based on a presentation of the approach by Blumler et al. (1974), the model is shown in
the following figure.
It is noteworthy that the most uses and gratification models exclude the sender element of
the mass communication process. Typically the start with the factors that contribute to the
selection of media content by audience members (Orrawan, 1990).
There are
social and
psychological
origins of
Needs,
which
generate
Figure 1A model of the Uses and Gratification approach
Source: Blumler et al. (1974)
Windahl, et al. (1992) also mentioned about the elements of the uses and gratifications
model as following:
Gratification
Expectation
of the mass
media or
other
sources,
which lead
to
Differential
patterns of
media
exposure
Resulting in need
gratification
And other (often
unintended)
consequences
Receivers are guided by their perception of what may be the outcome of
consuming a certain message. Ideally the act of receiving should be gratifying. The gratification,
the need-fulfillment, may be immediate or delayed.
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