Correlating a Motivation-Activation Measure With Media Preference

This study investigates the relationship between individual differences in motivational system responsiveness and preferences for media genres and programming types. The Motivation Activation Measure (MAM) indexed the trait appetitive and aversive motivation system activation of 206 college-aged participants who subsequently responded to self-report scales designed to measure likelihood to use specific genres of television programming, radio formats, and video games. Predictions were made for the correlation between genre preferences and MAM scores based on a dual-activation model of motivational systems. Results suggest that initial media-selection behaviors may be predicted by conceptualizing genres according to their appeal from motivationally based attributes.