Violence and the media

1
Violence and the media
2
The problem

• America is an especially violent country in terms
  of interpersonal violence
• American popular culture contains a lot of
  depictions of violence
• There is reason to think that the latter may be
  one reason for the former

3
Popular culture has been violent for a long time

• Many fables and fairy stories are quite violent
• Hansel and Gretel
• Little Red Riding Hood
• The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
• Sleeping Beauty
• Snow White
• Peter Pan

4
(No Transcript)
5
Media depictions of violence have long been a
source of concern

• Comic book scare
• Payne Fund studies
• Surgeon Generals Report
• Etc.

6
Competing views

• Violence in fiction or fantasy is recognized as
  unreal and has no effect
• Violence in fiction or fantasy provides an outlet
  for our aggressive tendencies and therefore
  reduces actual physical violence
• Violence in fiction affects different people
  differentlythe aggressive become more so and the
  non-aggressive become more so
• Violence in fiction leads to aggressive action on
  the part of people in the audience

7
Theoretical viewpoints

• Catharsis
• Aggressive cues
• Social learning
• Reinforcement

8
Catharsis

• Feshbach developed catharsis theory
• He said that violent urges are built up over time
  and can be released by vicariously engaging in
  violencethat is, by watching someone else do it
• Pent-up anger and aggression is natural
• Some have more anger than others
• Watching violent content reduces the need to
  aggress in your own personal life

9
Aggressive cues theory

• Formulated by Leonard Berkowitz (1962)
• Looks at violent content as a stimulus to
  physiological and emotional arousal, which tends
  to increase the possibility of aggressive
  behavior.
• Depictions of violence, weapons and threats
  induce arousal, and also provide cues as to how
  to release that aggressive energy.

10

• His classic design was to show subjects excerpts
  from the movie "The Champion."
• Subjects in the experimental group were less
  likely to provide reward and more likely to
  inflict aggression (electric shock) on a fellow
  subject.

11
Effects are not uniform

• An aggressive stimulus does not always elicit an
  aggressive response, nor will it be likely to
  elicit the same degree of aggressiveness in all
  audience members.
• Selective exposure to violent content
• Individual differences in inhibition levels

12
Frustration

• Frustration at the time of exposure to a violent
  television program increases likelihood and
  intensity of an aggressive response

13
Justification

• If the portrayed violence was justified, then the
  likelihood of producing aggression is increased.
  
• Retaliatory violence
• Violence to protect oneself or others
• Viewers may learn patterns of justification for
  their own violence

14
Context

• Another important factor is the similarity of the
  context of the media violence to the frustrations
  which are produced by the context of the viewer's
  everyday life.

15
Suffering

• One factor inhibits aggression. If media
  portrayals of violence show the pain and anguish
  of victims of violence, the resultant inhibitions
  inspired by guilt and sympathy would lead to less
  violence produced.

16
Observational learning theory

• The most influential theory concerning the effect
  of violent portrayals on aggressive or violent
  behavior was developed by Albert
  Banduraobservational learning theory.
• Social learning theory
• Social cognitive theory
• Bandura was trying to determine how humans could
  develop such complicated and wide-ranging
  behaviors so quickly
• Existing learning models argued that we learn by
  trial and error

17
Observational learning theory

• Bandura and Walters (1963) said that aggressive
  behavior is learned through observation and
  modeling
• Actors engaging in violence provide the viewer
  with behavioral models that they can learn and
  express under similar circumstances

18

• "The probability of audience members' exhibiting
  learned violent behavior is enhanced by such
  factors as an expectation of being rewarded by
  others for such behavior, similarity between the
  situation presented in the television portrayal
  and the social situation encountered by viewers
  after exposure, and anticipation of social
  support from a co-viewer who praises the violent
  action of the television characters."

19
The good perp

• Another feature of the depiction that will
  enhance its effect is when the perpetrator is an
  appealing character or attractive model for the
  behavior.

20
Bobo Doll research
21
Reinforcement theory

• Reinforcement theory is identified with the work
  of Joseph Klapper (1960). It is based on the
  assumption that "television portrayals of
  violence reinforce whatever established pattern
  of violent behavior that viewers bring with them
  to the television situation.
• Klapper wrote the most famous limited effects
  analysis of media studies
• He emphasized selectivity on the part of the
  audience member

22

• "Reinforcement theorists look to such factors as
  cultural norms and values, social roles,
  personality characteristics, and family or peer
  influences as the primary determinants of violent
  behavior as well as the effect of violent
  content.
• These factors guide the selective exposure,
  perception, interpretation and recall of violent
  media content.
• The violent content, then, acts merely to
  reinforce the predispositions the viewer brings
  to the screen.

23
There may be some stronger effects

• Effects may be more direct and pronounced among
  people who are unstable and lack social support
  networks. These people lack alternative forms of
  socialization and learning and thus can become
  particularly dependent on mediated contact.

24
What does this say about violent depictions?

• Recent scholarly analysis looks beyond the mere
  total of violent acts in media content. More
  subtle distinctions regarding depictions of
  violent acts and the role of violence in the
  story have come to be considered as important as
  the volume.

25
National Television Violence Study (NTVS)

• The NTVS staff found 80 experiments where some
  contextual feature of media violence was
  manipulated to see how it affected outcomes.
  Based on these studies, the NTVS staff identified
  the following contextual features in violent
  media that can affect young viewers

26
(No Transcript)
27
Amount of violence in prime time by channel type
28
Amount of violence in prime time by genre
29
Amount of violence across subgenres of childrens
programming
Source Wilson, Smith, Potter, Kunkel, Linz,
Colvin Donnerstein, 2002 Journal of
Communication
30
PTC findings
31
PTC findings
32
PTC findings
33
PTC findings
34
Source Signorielli, 2003
35
Source Signorielli, 2003
36
Source Signorielli, 2003
37
(No Transcript)
38
(No Transcript)
39
Character attributes of perpetrators
n12,959
n660
n1,019
40
Context of Violence in Childrens vs.
Nonchildrens programming Nature of perpetrator
41
Proportion of characters involved in violence
Primetime, 1993-2001
Source Signorielli, 2003
42
Proportion of characters involved in violence
Primetime, 1993-2001
Source Signorielli, 2003
43
Context of violence
44
Proportion of characters involved in violence
Primetime, 1993-2001
Source Signorielli, 2003
45
Proportion of characters involved in violence
Primetime, 1993-2001
46
Graphicness
47
Perpetrators go unpunished in 73 of all violent
scenes.

• This pattern is highly consistent across
  different types of programs and channels. The
  portrayal of rewards and punishments is probably
  the most important of all contextual factors for
  viewers as they interpret the meaning of what
  they see on television.

48
Rewards/punishments
49
Proportion of characters involved in violence
Primetime, 1993-2001
Source Signorielli, 2003
50
Reinforcements for violence
51
Consequences
52
Consequences to victim
53
Proportion of characters involved in violence
Primetime, 1993-2001
Source Signorielli, 2003
54
Only 4 of violent programs emphasize an
anti-violence theme.

• Very few violent programs place emphasis on
  condemning the use of violence or on presenting
  alternatives to using violence to solve problems.
  This pattern is consistent across different types
  of programs and channels. 

55
Humor/fantasy
56
(No Transcript)
57

• The NTVS continues to find that cartoons contain
  high rates of violence portrayed in ways that
  many existing studies agree will increase the
  probability of harmful effects. Children under 7
  years are particularly at risk because of limited
  ability to distinguish fantasy from reality.

58

• Cartoon violence is (frequently) performed by
  attractive characters, seems justified, goes
  unpunished, and results in minimal consequences
  for the victim all characteristics likely to
  promote young childrens learning of aggressive
  behaviors.