Expectation of reward
Effort
According to Schramm (some dude who came up with communication models) there is a reason to the choices we make when we select the media. He came up with this 'formula' to explain why we do what we do, called the 'Fraction of Selection'.
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In simple words, the choices you make are based on two things. What you gain from the choice (reward) and what it takes to achieve it (effort). You search for the highest incentive and the least effort and then make a choice based on these two criterias.
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Reward over effort.
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But, does it make sense in real life?
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Mother gives young boy a choice between two options: clean up his room and earn himself an icecream, or play and laze around and lose his reward. By Schamm's logic, assuming the young boy really enjoys icecream, the 'reward' would take the form of the icecream and the 'effort' would be his cleaning up. Obviously then, he would choose the former option. But lets say the reward of an icecream does not out-weigh the effort involved to earn it- the young boy is lazy and doesnt mind not having an icecream, then lazing around would be his choice.
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If Schramm is right, we are essentially reward-oriented creatures.
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But what about those altruistic ppl? Those moral, kind, caring type of people, who make choices against their will and even to their own disadvantage for the 'rewards' of other people who, while in most cases are close to them, are sometimes STRANGERS to them? And what about the man who sacrifices his 'rewards' for the reward of another, and almost stupidly endures the 'big effort' part of the equation for his brother's gain?
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Then, 'reward' is a very broad term.
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It just boils down to how you see your 'reward', or whether you consider something a 'reward', because the EFFORT's gonna always be the same, but the REWARD can be altered to how you perceive it.
