First, foreign major audience research theory
(A) the theory of personal differences. The theory of individual difference was first put forward by hovland, and later revised by De Fleur. The basis of "personal difference theory" is "condition theory" and "personal motivation theory" The central idea of this theory is that everyone not only has innate and acquired individual characteristics, such as age, gender, interest, intelligence, experience and values, but also has different psychological (cognitive, motivation) structures and action structures. So in the face of the same information, their reactions are different and very different. Among them, Derfler summed up "personal differences" as the following five items: (1) individual psychological structure is different; (2) Congenital endowments are different from acquired habits; (3) The attitudes, values and beliefs of learning theory are different; (4) Different views on the formation of social theory; (5) The fixed qualities formed by learning are different. The theory of personal differences makes people realize that the audience will not be led by the nose like sheep, and the audience has its own distinct personality. They have their own views on things and have different reactions to different communication contents. "Personal Difference Theory" is an important theory that bankrupts "Bullet Theory".
(2) Social category theory. Also known as "social category theory", it revises and expands the theory of individual differences from another aspect. He was an active advocate of this theory and the first American sociologist, Mr. and Mrs. Riley. They believe that although each recipient has his own personality and characteristics, careful observation reveals that they have many similarities and differences in many aspects. Corresponding, seemingly scattered audiences actually form various "lumps", that is, the so-called social "types" or "categories". People are divided into different social categories according to age, race, income, education, occupation and living area. People in the same social category generally choose the same communication tools, touch the same content and make similar reactions.
(3) Theory of social relations. Different from the perspective that individual difference theory emphasizes the particularity of each individual, social relations theory pays attention to interpersonal relationships, especially the role of the collective and the group in which individuals are included, thus effectively making up for the shortcomings of the former. The formation of this theory is mainly due to the research results of ladas Feld and others since the 1940s. According to the theory of social relations, the social relations of the recipients (such as professional guilds, education, religion, political organizations, brothels, clubs and informal groups, etc.). ) has an important influence on how they view the information of communication tools. Each of us lives in various groups and organizations, such as family, school, political party, community, work unit and so on. And we have to be influenced and bound by their norms. Generally speaking, if an individual has a positive attitude towards the group to which he belongs, he will safeguard the interests of the group everywhere, and face external attacks and different opinions, or fight back, or avoid, or misinterpret; Even if they hold a negative attitude, they are often afraid to openly accept the information of the "enemy" for fear of group sanctions. When the information of a communication tool attacks the opinions and beliefs of an organization, its members (especially the staunch members) will reject the communication tool. In less serious cases, the organization will also explain the different opinions of the communication tools in order to weaken or change its communication effect.
(4) The theory of cultural norms. The theory of cultural norms is related to the theory of "agenda setting" and McLuhan's theory of multi-sensory balance. The "agenda setting" hypothesis holds that the role and function of the media lies in attracting people's attention. As long as the mass media pay attention to some issues, concentrate on reporting, and ignore or cover up other issues, they can influence public opinion. On the other hand, people tend to pay attention to and think about the issues concerned by the mass media, and allocate attention according to the order of importance determined by the mass media for each issue. Mass communication can indirectly influence public opinion and people's views and thoughts by mobilizing the audience's attention and arranging the order of severity of problems. On the other hand, the theory of "cultural norms" also developed from this angle. According to this theory, communication tools can make the recipients generate new ideas, strengthen the original ideas and even change their current attitudes. In this way, communication tools have established cultural norms for society. When people look at things, they will be influenced by the cultural norms established by communication tools.
Second, the audience's choice behavior
The choice behavior of the audience comes from the theory of individual differences. Different audiences, faced with the same information, usually have three choices in the process of information acceptance.
1, selective attention-the audience tends to maintain and strengthen their inherent cognitive structure (views and positions). To this end, they usually take the initiative to contact information with the same or similar views, and try to avoid the opposite information. It can be seen that the information sent by any media is not contrary to the views of the recipients. Even if it is not contrary, it is impossible to attract all recipients unless its content is closely related to everyone. Therefore, in order to make information pass the "attention" barrier smoothly and enter the audience's field of vision, we must strengthen and improve the structural factors and functional factors to improve the competitiveness of information.
The so-called structural factors mainly involve the form of information, including the intensity, contrast, repetition rate and freshness of information stimulus. For example, large fonts, loud and bright colors, prominent positions, fast movements and so on all reflect the strength. Generally speaking, the greater the intensity, the easier it is for information to be noticed. At the same time, the contrast effect is also very strong. The greater the contrast, the higher the attention. Repetition is a means of combining intensity and comparative advantage, which can not only increase the total intensity of stimulation, but also overcome the influence of forgetting. Generally speaking, the more repetitions, the greater the possibility of being noticed, but there is also a limit. Once its function is exceeded, it will be reduced or even disappeared. Freshness is change, which can be regarded as a comparison in time series, such as font change, design style change, abnormal behavior and so on. This is in contrast to the usual information. The less the change, the greater the change, and the more people can notice it.
Functional factors mainly involve the content of information, which can be divided into delayed factors and immediate factors. The former refers to when the media spreads information about the receiver's beliefs, ideals, values, world outlook and so on. There is no need to rush for success, but we should pay attention to quality. The latter means that the media should also pay full attention to the current mentality and needs of the audience.
2. Selective understanding-this is the behavior of "symbol reading" or "decoding", and the information carried, that is, the meaning of the symbol, is reduced to meaning here. However, it is rare for the "meaning" of the two to be completely consistent. It is common for them to be partially consistent, and it is not uncommon for them to be completely inconsistent. In particular, it is extremely difficult for information that violates the inherent attitude of the recipient to pass this "gateway" according to the intention of the communicator.
3. Selective memory, the so-called memory, refers to the human brain's reflection and maintenance of the events and activities it has experienced. Similar to selective attention, human memory tends to choose "positive" information and reject "negative" information. These three choices can be compared to three defensive circles, in which selective attention is at the outermost layer, blocking those unwanted "intruders" (information); What is truly unstoppable depends on the middle layer's selective understanding of defense; If you still can't stop, start the innermost selective memory mechanism, that is, simply forget it.
Third, the audience research in network communication.
The above viewpoints simply summarize several classic foreign audience research theories. However, after the emergence of new things-online media, audience research is about to enter a new stage, and traditional theories can't explain the new situation, and the role and status of the audience have changed unprecedentedly.
1. The audience no longer passively accepts, but actively grasps and controls the information disseminated by the mass media. In the traditional mass communication process, the audience always passively accepts the information transmitted by the mass media: they can only read what you write; They can only listen to what you say; They can only watch what you broadcast. They can only make limited choices in the limited agenda or menu that the media "sets" for them every day, and they can't communicate with the mass media on an equal footing, let alone imagine, and they have no conditions to release information actively and conveniently. However, in the information society, new technologies and new media such as network and multimedia will fundamentally change the position and role of "audience". The "audience" will not only change from passively accepting information to actively obtaining information, but also develop into actively reporting and even publishing information. "Audience" will be able to have face-to-face video and audio conversations with media workers and media organizations at any time. The "audience" will be in a completely equal position with the media disseminators. The specific term "audience" will lose its original meaning or be completely replaced by new terms such as "net audience".
2. The audience will get the first-hand materials of news information as easily as journalists. Journalists will lose their traditional priority (monopoly) over news sources. The so-called first-hand materials are the original materials "from personal practice and investigation". In the news interview, it refers to the news facts heard and witnessed by reporters at the scene of news events, the direct interviews with the relevant opinions and attitudes of the parties (rather than the reports or paraphrases of the parties on the news events afterwards), and the original recording materials such as video recording, audio recording and photography of the news events by witnesses. In the past, due to the limitations of time, space, manpower and means of communication, it was difficult for ordinary audiences to obtain first-hand information about news events. People can only expect media workers to collect first-hand information about news events on behalf of the public and report news events. As for how media workers choose, analyze, handle and report news events after collecting first-hand or even second-hand or third-hand materials, it depends entirely on their professional standards, moral conscience and values. Therefore, in traditional mass communication, journalists enjoy the de facto exclusive right to the first-hand materials of news events. Internet, multimedia and other new technologies and new media will enable the audience to obtain the first-hand materials of news events conveniently and directly through the Internet, that is, the original recording materials such as live video, audio recording and eyewitness photography of news events through the Internet or directly interview the views and attitudes of the parties involved in news events. The acquisition, possession and interpretation of the first-hand information of news events will no longer be the exclusive patent of media workers, but will become a resource shared by the audience and media workers. This also means that any public can make their own reports, explanations and comments on news events based on the first-hand materials enjoyed by the whole society.
3. The audience will have the same ability as the mass media to publish news reports, report news events and produce news products at any time. The traditional domination and control of mass media on news circulation will gradually weaken and lose. As long as there are personal computers and modems, ordinary people have the conditions and ability to decide what is important. For example, when a major natural disaster occurs in a certain place, some "netizens" can immediately organize an "e-space" meeting or press conference on the Internet, transmit information in time, determine the scope of the disaster area and notify relatives and friends far away.
The interactivity of the network gives people the freedom to change roles. The audience does not passively accept information, but actively grasps and controls information and participates in the provision and dissemination of information. As Negroponte said in his book "Digital Survival", "The aforementioned mass media is evolving into a personalized two-way communication, and information will no longer be pushed to consumers. On the contrary, people will "extract" the information they need and participate in the activities of creating information.
It can be seen that the traditional linear communication mode can no longer reasonably explain the network media, and the Internet has created a brand-new and open nonlinear communication mode. Therefore, in this new communication environment, the role and function of the audience have undergone unprecedented changes and transformations.