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Preferred term

need for orientation  

Definition

  • The concept of a “need for orientation” (a combination of relevance and uncertainty) was first created and described by Maxwell McCombs and David Weaver in an April 1973 paper titled “Voters' Need for Orientation and Use of Mass Communication,” presented at the annual conference of the International Communication Association in Montreal, Canada. In this paper, they reasoned that every individual feels some need to be familiar with his or her surroundings, to fill in enough detail to orient himself or herself. [Source: Encyclopedia of Political Communication; Orientation, Need For]

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https://concepts.sagepub.com/social-science/concept/need_for_orientation

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