Dictionary of Media and Communication Studies, 8th edition

MP3

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See also topic guide under communication

theory.

Motivation research (MR) The key question

in MR is – what motivates people to buy, or in

media terms, what motivates them to tune in,

to read, to watch; in short, to respond; and how

might that motivation be infl uenced in order for

them to continue responding? MR’s traditional

mechanisms of questionnaires, interviews and

focus groups have long been supplemented by

electronic devices such as the pupilometer to

measure respondents’ eye movements and the

degree of ‘stopping power’ of, for example, an

audience member’s response to a TV advertise-

ment.

Th ere are machines which off er voice-pitch

analysis; machines to tabulate brain waves.

Not only is psychology wheeled into action in

the service of MR, but so are the findings of

psycholinguists, who study the mental processes

governing the learning and use of language. MR

is involved in an ever-restless process of seeking

more and more sophisticated ways of ‘reading’

consumption, but it is seen by some commenta-

tors as being more and more into the business

of shaping or manipulating responses, not the

least in the arena of politics. Th e arrival of the

internet presented MR with new challenges,

in particular with regard to social networking

(see networking: social networking). By

2011, online advertising in many consumerist

areas was showing traditional ad locations a

clean pair of heels. See advertising: internet

advertising; amazon.com; blogosphere;

digital optimism; facebook; hot buttons;

google; mobilization; twitter; youtube.

See also topic guide under advertising/

marketing.

▶Vance Packard, Th e Hidden Persuaders (Ig Publish-

ing, 2007 edn with introduction by Mark Crispin

Miller); Martin Evans, Ahmed Jamal and Gordon

Foxall, Consumer Behaviour (John Wiley & Sons,

2009).

MP3 Digitized music file with the potential to

revolutionize the music industry, and in the

words of David Edwards in a UK Daily Mirror

article, ‘CD R.I.P. Why your shiny new album

collection is being made obsolete by the March

of MP3’, promises to change for ever ‘the way

people buy and listen to music’. The initial

reaction by the music industry to the MP3 fi le,

which allows for music to be downloaded from

the internet, free of charge, was to resist it.

Napster, a company off ering free music on the

Net, was shut down following legal action by

the Recording Industry Association of the US. It

regarded as an important element of Pakistani-
British identity. The mothers felt they had a
responsibility to ensure that their children had
competency in the ‘mother tongue’ as well as in
English. Th e ‘mother tongue’ was widely used
within the family – indeed it was crucial for
communicating with the older generation and
relatives in Pakistan – and the local community.
Motion capture See animation.
Motivation Th e concept of motivation is relevant
to several areas of communication and media
studies. As Richard Dimbleby and Graeme
Burton remind us in More Than Words: An
Introduction to Communication (Routledge,
2007), ‘People must have a reason for commu-
nicating. It is worth remembering that when
people communicate, they may be fulfi lling more
than one purpose at the same time.’ Motivation
theories can then help to provide a range of ideas
about why people want to communicate.
In Psychology: The Science of Mind and
Behaviour (Hodder Arnold, 2005) Richard Gross
notes that essentially, ‘motivation is concerned
with why people act and think the way they do’
and that ‘motivated behaviour is goal-directed,
purposeful behaviour’. Numerous theories seek
to explore the mysteries of human motivation.
Whilst the sources of motivation are varied and
complex, there is general agreement that motiva-
tion arises from a desire to satify needs. A range
of research has sought to defi ne these needs and
the relative importance that individuals attach to
them (see maslow’s hierarchy of needs).
Of relevance here is William Schutz’s theory
of interpersonal needs. Schutz, in The Inter-
personal World (Science and Behaviour Books,
1966), identifi es three basic interpersonal needs
which he argues underlie most interpersonal
behaviour: the need for inclusion, the need for
control and the need for aff ection. Th ese then
are the needs one might wish to have satisfi ed in
interpersonal communication. Situations
in which others satisfy one or more of your needs
are likely to be valued; those situations in which
your needs are not met may well be avoided.
Another example of the use made of the
concept of motivation is in the consideration
of why and how people might be influenced
or persuaded to act in certain ways, by certain
messages. Much eff ort is expended in the adver-
tising and public relations (pr) industries
trying to devise strategies for selling products,
services or people, by appealing to what are
thought to be the motivations of the general
public. See hidden needs; hot buttons;
motivation research (mr); vals typology.