Section Three

1. Section Three Key Areas of Research

2. Chapter 11 Effects of Media Violence

3. Media Violence Research Methods • Laboratory experiments • Field Experiments • Correlational surveys • Longitudinal panel studies • Natural experiments • Intervention studies

4. Laboratory Experiments • Strictly controlled experiments • Designed to show a causal relationships

5. Field Experiments • Take place among children in an institutional setting • Avoid the problem of unnaturalness

6. Correlational Surveys • Survey conducted to find a correlation between consumption of violent media and aggressive behavior: • Viewers asked to read a list of program titles and select what they watch regularly • Amount of violent programming per viewer and aggressiveness or hostility is measured. • Two measures are correlated to ascertain any relationship between the two variables. • These studies ultimately cannot demonstrate a causal relationship with certainty.

7. Longitudinal Panel Studies • Identify relationships between consumption of violent fare and antisocial attitudes and behaviors that develop over time • Take into account that exposure to media violence has a cumulative effect over time

8. Natural Experiments • A longitudinal assessment is conducted in a natural setting where television is being introduced into the community for the first time.

9. Intervention Studies • Designed to inoculate viewers against the harmful effects of TV violence • Attempt to alleviate the negative effects • Increased television literacy may reduce negative effects

10. Measuring Violent Content • Content analysis • A research method used to determine the amount of violent content in TV programs • Message system analysis • Used to measure the amount of violence in the media

11. Measuring Violent Content (Cont’d) • Violence • “the overt expression of physical force against self or other compelling action against one’s will” • Violence profiles are developed for each television program based on the amount of violent content.

12. Measuring Viewer’s Perceptions • 5 key elements that make people susceptible to negative effects: • A perpetrator who is an attractive role model • Violence that seems justified • Violence that goes unpunished • Minimal consequences to the victims • Violence that seems realistic to the viewer

13. Meta-Analyses • when researchers examine a vast body of research studies and use statistical methods to combine their findings and look for an overall indication of effects as well as general trends • Have shown effects such as imitative behavior, fear and desensitization

14. The Psychological Impact of Media Violence • 3 levels of impact: • Behavioral • Affective • Cognitive

15. Behavioral Effects • 5 major mechanisms through which behavioral effects may occur: • Catharsis • Arousal • Disinhibition • Imitation • Desensitization

16. Behavioral Effects (Cont’d) • Catharsis • Viewers vent their aggressive impulses harmlessly through viewing televised violence. • Arousal • Viewing violent content may enhance aggression and anger due to excitement or emotional arousal. • Disinhibition • Viewers grow more accustomed to seeing violence on television and become less inhibited by social sanctions against committing violent acts.

17. Behavioral Effects (Cont’d) • Imitation • Viewers learn from what they see on television and try to mimic actions themselves. • Desensitization • Viewers repeatedly watch violent acts on TV and become less sensitive to seeing violence and more likely to accept real-life violence.

18. Affective or Emotional Effects • Effects may be short or long term • Fright reactions • Young children are more likely to be frightened by threatening characters and situations • Older children are more frightened by threats of either realistic or abstract stimuli

19. Coping Strategies • Help children reduce their fears • Cognitive strategy: • Change the child’s mental conceptions of the frightening content. • Non-cognitive strategy: • Desensitization- repeated exposure to the frightening matter in a secure atmosphere

20. Cognitive Effects Research: George Gerbner and Associates (1970s) • Regular exposure to mediated violence made viewers develop an exaggerated view of real-life dangers in society.

21. Cognitive Effects Research: Wober and Gunter (1982) • A person’s perception of the world can be mitigated by levels of judgment: • Program specificity • Viewer perceptions or interpretations • Personal judgments about crime • Situation specificity

22. Media Violence Research and Public Policy: History • Violence on Television (1996) • The Payne Fund Studies (1920s and 30s) • The Seduction of the Innocent (1954) • 1950s and 1960s, researchers found a connection between viewing televised violence and aggressive behavior among youngsters.

23. Media Violence Research and Public Policy: History (Cont’d) • National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence (1960s) • Television is not the primary cause of violence. • Scientific Advisory Committee on Television and Social Behavior (1960s) • Viewing violence on television increased viewers’ tendencies to behave aggressively. • Children’s Television Act of 1990 • The Telecommunications Act of 1996

24. Media Violence Research and Public Policy: Future • Recent research has focused on reducing the negative consequences of viewing mediated violence. • As research continues, changes in public policy are inevitable. • Increased public awareness should make public policy makers more inclined to make positive changes.