In today’s modern world of technology, we humans are consumed by mass amounts of media consumption and we feel a range of emotions based on how we perceive this type of information. According to Dolf Zillmann, the Mood Management Theory also “hypothesizes that the state of mind of an individual uses the influence of media and the available choices to optimize the mood. There are also numbers of theoretical inferences that suggest and support the exposure to the selective media content that affects the result.” Originally, Leon Festinger proposed the Cognitive Dissonance Theory, where it is mentioned that humans try to establish communication with others based on attitude, skills, belief, knowledge etc.
The Mood Management Theory is divided into 4 categories:
Excitatory Potential – Based on the individual’s arousal level based on the media.
Absorption Potential – The character of altering moods of media messages and the influence in the individual’s attention span.
Semantic Affinity – If there is any same level of relativity between the individual and the media content then the level of absorption is relatively low. For example, a person who is depressed or sad will go for low semantic content which interferes with the mood improvement.
Hedonic valence – Where the individual exposed to the media content can have either a good or a bad valence. In simple terms, a person who is happy has a positive effect on the content whereas the person with negative emotion consumes positive media content.
How I have learned to recognize the effects of the Mood Management Theory is from my feelings. Whenever I am sad or upset by something, I would watch videos on YouTube to help cheer me up. I have also learned that many people have different preferences and tactics on how to lessen mood swings, which I find interesting as it applies to the influence of media on me.
Communication Theory 