The human biological predisposition to seek social contact reacts to radio more than TV according to Cramer from Psychology Today. He suggests that the greater ambiguity in radio allows for more personal interpretation and hence, more personal connection. Does that ambiguity imply that talk-radio host is perceived as talking directly to you because you are not seeing the other audience? One could also argue that it is the sustained one-on-one relationship between the listener and the host.
Jul
19
Dr. Pamela Rutledge is available to reporters for comments on the psychological and social impact of media and technology on individuals, society, organizations and brands.
Makes sense, to a certain degree. There is a portion of the brain that doesn’t understand radio, TV, print, etc. It only responds to stimulus, devoid of source. That helps to explain why we have emotional attachments to fictitious characters – a part of the brain “believes” them to be real. As for the radio – TV part, it may be , as noted, that the direct connection perceived between listener and source reinforces brain associations related to bonding. However, I would suspect that if a study was done between radio talk shows and TV talk shows, TV would elicit a stronger connection. We love being part of a community and having a visible audience could make the whole experience stronger for us (so long as the audience relates in the same way we do to the material, images, etc).