Key theories
Hypodermic needle theory: Theorises that audiences are essentially passive, they will readily absorb messages relayed to them by the media. This means that, after watching a violent horror film, or playing a violent POV shooter, audience members will be negatively influenced. This presupposes that audiences are passive (unable to reject media messages) rather than active (they make sense of media messages through personal and social contexts). ======================================================================== Moral panic: In 1972, Stanley Cohen developed the moral panic theory. This encompassed ideas of folks tales in society. Moral panic happens when "a condition, episode, person or group of people emerge to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests". His research was based on the mods and rockers of the 1960's, but have since been applied to the media. The stages of moral panic: Someone, something or a group are defined as a threat t...