Effects of Effects of Violence/AggressionViolence/Aggression

There’s an assumption that violence affects the audience

Research should be done to see if the assumption is true

Why is there violence in the media?It’s excitingIt attracts attentionIt’s one way to fulfill a dramatic

necessity

storytellingA problem upsets the balance of

the story’s universeProtagonist tries to solve the

problem, antagonist tries to prevent the problem being solved

Protagonist finally does or says something that solves the problem

The story is over

Characters in storytellingEach character wants somethingEach character wants something

differentThis causes conflict

So why violence?Quickest and easiest way to show

the conflict and solve it

What Does Media Violence What Does Media Violence Look Like?Look Like?

Has the amount of violence Has the amount of violence on television increased or on television increased or decreased over time?decreased over time?

NTVS Results: ContextNTVS Results: Context24-28% of perpetrators are “good”

characters37-40% of perpetrators are

“attractive”~15% of violent scenes show blood &

gore71-75% of violent scenes do not have

punishment of perpetrator51-58% of violent incidents show no

pain or harm to victim39-43% of violent scenes involve

humor

Is there a relationship Is there a relationship between violence on between violence on television and real-life television and real-life violent behavior?violent behavior?

Meta-analysisMeta-analysis

Basic assumption about human behaviorMuch of it is learnedLearning --the process of

acquiring, through experience including observation, new and relatively enduring information or behaviors

Cognitionthoughts, perspectives, and

expectations -- remembering the past (whether the past is real or not), relating it to the present, and making predictions about the future.

Solving problemsTrial and errorAlgorithms

◦Step by step procedures to solve problems

Heuristically◦Mental shortcuts to solve problems

Classical conditioninglearning is about conditioning

and association Effects of conditioning increased

or decreased by reward or punishment

an involuntary response that links stimuli and anticipates future events

Reward versus punishment

Albert Bandura

Social Learning TheorySocial Learning Theory How many of you are familiar

with the Bobo doll study? Social Learning Theory

(Bandura) Observational/Social Learning

Vicarious reinforcement Bobo doll study

PrimingPrimingMake pieces of your memory

temporarily more accessible (Leonard Berkowitz 1984)

Cats

Grass

Knife

Dogs

Blood

Guns

Cheeseviolence

Violence and priming Violence and priming studystudyWatch violent OR non-violent clipNext, watch a cartoon

◦Fuzzy vs clearNext, students were interviewed

by researcher. ◦Microphone vs walkie-talkie

ResultsResultsFinally, everyone played hockeyConditional effect- Primed boys with

high trait aggression ◦Showed higher levels of aggression

on the field i.e. more hitting, insulting other

players, etc.

The effect was greater when….◦Students were frustrated by fuzzy

cartoon◦And when they used a walkie-talkie

in the interview

Modeling Modeling Bandura’s Social

Learning/Cognitive Theory (1977/1986)◦Attention- pay attention to media◦Retention- retain the story◦Production- able to reproduce actions◦Reinforcement – positive

reinforcement present

ResultsResultsKids imitated the people they saw

on TV◦i.e. they performed similar acts of

aggression toward the bobo dollKids were more likely to perform

similar acts of violence when model in the short film was rewarded

Less likely to imitate when model was reprimanded

Cultivation Cultivation The more time you spend with

media, the more you think it is an accurate representation of the real world

George Gerbner (1976)

Mean WorldMean WorldNot that exposure to violence

makes you violent, but it makes you afraid◦TV world is mean and violent◦Real world must be mean and violent

makes heavy viewers afraid (Mean World Syndrome)

Evidence of Cultivation Evidence of Cultivation EffectsEffects

Desensitization Desensitization Decreases arousal Indifferent to real-life violenceLess willing to helpHow does it work?

◦Classical conditioningOutcome: Fear, lack of trust, less

reaction to violenceNo one person associated with this

theory, often credited to Gerbner 1976

Explanation Explanation If I were to ask you

◦What percent of crime is violent? ◦What’s the percent of violent crime

consisting of murder?

CatharsisCatharsis Viewing of violent media content

helps to purge violent impulses Exposure to violent television should

reduce aggression Almost all evidence is inconsistent

with this theory

No one technique or theory has all the answersAll hypotheses start with

assumptions◦Scientific hypotheses start with

assumptions about the world that can be empirically checked and falsified

◦Social science hypotheses start with assumptions about people that usually can’t be empirically studied and are taken as axiomatic (they’re true because I think they’re true and can’t prove it one way or the other)

All are ways to examine the media; none are the final answer