Television, Motivations for Viewing of

In its early years, the study of mass communication focused on media content as a prime cause of media effects. Research, however, failed to provide evidence of strong and uniform effects. Scholars began to speculate that the media might have no effects on those who have no use for it. The uses and gratifications perspective of media research is an audience-centered approach. Instead of focusing on what media do to people, it focuses on what people do with media. According to uses and gratifications, people's reasons for using television, or television viewing motivations, are important because they directly influence how [Page 814]much television people watch as well as the content that they select.

Research to identify the motivations behind television viewing began in the 1970s. Greenberg (1974) asked British schoolchildren to write essays about why they liked to watch television. These essays revealed eight general reasons for watching television: to pass time, to forget, to learn about things, to learn about myself, for arousal, for relaxation, for companionship, and as a habit. Rubin (1977) continued this line of research with U.S. schoolchildren. Based on his research, as well as other explorations with a variety of adult samples, nine general reasons for watching television emerge: for relaxation (e.g., to unwind), for companionship (e.g., to overcome feelings of loneliness), out of habit (e.g., a customary, regular activity), to pass time (e.g., to occupy empty time), for entertainment (e.g., enjoyment), to facilitate social interaction (e.g., for conversational topics), for information (e.g., to learn things), for arousal (e.g., excitement), and to escape (e.g., to get away from daily pressures). Typically, passing time and entertainment motives are children's strongest reasons for watching television; watching to learn and to escape are the motives children rate lowest.

Research on children and adolescents confirms that television viewing motivations are linked to television viewing levels and program choices. In general, the more motivated children and adolescents are to watch television for any reason, the more they watch television. Different types of motives, however, are associated with watching different types of programs. Watching television to learn is correlated with watching children's programming; watching to pass time is linked to watching comedies, but not news. Watching for escape is connected to watching more comedy and less children's educational programming and news.

Another central tenet of uses and gratifications theory is that people's personal characteristics and social situations influence the reasons that they have for watching television. There are few gender differences in children's television viewing motives. Evidence suggests that girls are more likely to watch for companionship reasons than boys. Age, however, has a significant impact on motives. In general, younger children are more motivated to watch television. This finding probably reflects the expanding range of experiences that opens up as children become older. An interesting study by Zohoori (1988) compared the television viewing motives of native-born and immigrant U.S. children. The researchers found that immigrant children are significantly more likely to watch television for information reasons: to learn about others and themselves. Immigrant children might see television as a tool to help them learn about their new country and culture.

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