I S T H E R E T O O M U C H V I O L E N C E I N T H E M E D I A ?

VIOLENCE AND THE MEDIA

INTRODUCTION

• Topic: Violence in the media• Issue: Is there too much violence in the media?• What is considered violence in the media?

o Violence is defined as, “Behavior involving physical force intended to hurt, damage, or kill someone or something.”

o Examples of violence in media: Television: The Soprano’s, Criminal Minds, Oz, Dexter Games: Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty, Mortal Kombat Movies: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Saw franchise, Kill Bill, 300

IMPORTANCE OF DEBATE

• In 2006, almost 180,000 youth were implicated in a violation of the Criminal Code (excluding traffic), bringing the youth crime rate to 6,885 per 100,000 youth (Statistics Canada

• There are three types of violent crimes: homicide, sexual assault, and assault

• Violence is an issue in our society• Is the media contributing to this problem?

ANALYSISP S Y C H O L O G I C A L , A N T H R O P O L O G I C A L , A N D

S O C I O L O G I C A L V I E W S

PSYCHOLOGY

• - Observational Learningo The Bobo Doll Experiment (Bandura, 1961) showed that people

(specially young children) are influenced to become more violent when they observe other people being violent

o Therefore, watching violence makes people more violento However, the experiment had criticisms (Ferguson, 2010)

Experiment was done with an actor, not through a media outlet such as a TV

Children might have been motivated by a sense of reward for being violent, instead of actually becoming more violent

PSYCHOLOGY

• Id drives people to become violent (Freud)o The Id controls primal instincts, which encompasses

violence. (Whipps)o "Whatever it takes, to get whatever we want" 

(Whipps) Physically harming the competitor is a good way to

get what you want We explore alternatives to fighting due to our

superego.• Other factors: (Media Awareness)

o Amount of exposure o Watcher's state of mindo Age (Bandura)

ANTHROPOLOGY

• Media may not be responsible for violence – in terms of evolution, violence was necessary for survival

• “Aggressive behaviour has evolved in species in which it increases an individual's survival or reproduction and this depends on the specific environmental, social, reproductive, and historical circumstances of a species. Humans certainly rank among the most violent of species.” – David Carrier (biologist)

ANTHROPOLOGY

• Research indicates that media may also have an influence• UNESCO Global Media Violence Study

o “93% of the students who attend school and live in electrified urban or rural areas have regular access to television and watch it for an average of three hours a day”

o Average of 5-10 aggressive acts per hour of television in some countries

• media plays a major role in the development of cultural orientations, world views and beliefs

• Media is extremely pervasive across cultureso 88% of children surveyed from various countries knew who the

Terminator was (a character in violent action movies)

ANTHROPOLOGY

• A study done by Gary Granzberg and Jack Steinbring indicated that violence on television was at least partly responsible for violence

• They studied three Cree communities in northern Manitoba (1970s to early 1980s)

• Results:o four years after television was introduced into the community,

evidence of violence among children (black eyes and fist fights) had risen “significantly”

o Children in the community created rival gangs after watching an episode of Happy Days – the Red Demons and Green Demons Conflict between them disrupted the local school

SOCIOLOGY

• Watching violent TV leads to violent behaviour and heightened aggression which turns them back to TV

• Poor academic performance may drive teenagers into more TV, which isolates them from their peers so they keep watching violence in media

• Research suggests that aggressive kids watch more aggressive TV and their level of satisfaction is correlated with the amount of violent TV they watch

SOCIOLOGY

• However, violence can also be the result of peer pressure/a learned behaviour from another source

• Crowds have been known to act violently due to the phenomenon of mob mentality, in which case, media may not have a sizeable influence

SOCIOLOGY

• Two studies by Karen E. Dill, Ph.D. & Craig A. Anderson, Ph.D., indicated that “violent video games were considered to be more harmful in increasing aggression than violent movies or television shows due to their interactive and engrossing nature”

• First study was done by surveying 227 college students with aggressive behaviour records and measured trait of aggressivenesso Aggressive young males are vulnerable to violent gameso Brief exposure to violence can result in heightened aggression in

participantso Students with a history of playing violent video games exhibited more

aggressive behaviour This was also associated with lower grades in college

SOCIOLOGY

• Second study was done by allowing 210 college students to play a violent game or a non-violent gameo Students who played the violent game punished an opponent for

a longer period of timeo “Violent video games provide a forum for learning and practicing

aggressive solutions to conflict situations. It the short run, playing a violent video game appears to affect aggression by priming aggressive thoughts.“ – Dr. Andersen

DEBATEIS THERE TOO MUCH VIOLENCE IN THE MEDIA?

AFFIRMATIVE

• Violence in the media is learned and later applied by childreno In a 1956 study, researchers compared the behaviour of 24

children after watching TVo 12 watched Woody Woodpecker and other 12 watched The Little

Red Hen (non-violent)o Children were afterwards observed playingo Conclusion: Children who watched the violent cartoon were “much

more likely to hit other children and break toys”

AFFIRMATIVE

o In a 1963 study, professors A. Bandura, D. Ross and S.A. Ross studied what effect television violence, among other kinds, had

o 100 preschool children were divided into 4 groups, one of which watched an incident of a real person on television shouting insults and assaulting a doll, and a second group watched the cartoon version of this

o Children who watched TV version were later observed to be equally as aggressive as those who saw it in real life, but more aggressive than the children who saw the incident in cartoon form

AFFIRMATIVE

• Violence in the media has physiological effects which may lead to violenceo Exposure to violent imagery is linked to: faster respiration, higher

blood pressure, and increased heart rateo This results in instances such as violent threats being made over

media such as XBOX Live and other interactive player games

AFFIRMATIVE

• Violence in the media frightens children/causes general anxietyo 1999 survey of 500 Rhode Island parents (led by Prof. Judith

Owens) showed that: A child is more likely to suffer from sleep disturbances if they have a

TV in their bedroom 9% of the parents surveyed said that, at least once a week, their

child had nightmares as a result of a television show

AFFIRMATIVE

• George Gerbner’s research indicates that heavy TV viewers develop what he calls “Mean World Syndrome”

• Heavy TV viewers, according to Gerbner, can:o Overestimate the risk of being a crime victimo View their neighbourhoods as unsafeo Believe "fear of crime is a very serious personal problem“o Even if it is not, they believe the crime rate is increasing

AFFIRMATIVE

• Violence in the media may skew perception of real violence.o A 1986 study done by Tom Van der Voort in which 314 children

(aged 9-12) took part came to the conclusion that children may confuse realistic programs with the real world

o They cannot understand the violence shown in the program and thus become anxious

o Children equate these programs with fun and excitemento Jacques de Guise reported (2002) that the age of a child affects

how easily they can identify violent content as what it is: violence

NEGATIVE

• Little proven long-term effect on human behaviouro "this scientific evidence simply does not show that

watching violence either produces violence in people, or desensitizes them to it" (Freedman)

o Even studies such as the Bobo doll experiment do not show definitive proof that violence in the media translates to real-world violence.

o US surgeon generals only report short-term effects of exposure to violence "No concrete evidence that exposure deals to long

term effects" (Ivory, 2001)

NEGATIVE

• Self control (Ivory, 2001)o  Parents should be responsible for controlling what

their children should be able to see in the Media There are already many tools to help parents

ERSB rating system (for video games) Movie rating system

o Problem isn't that there is violence in the media, is that parents allow children to be exposed to the large amount of violence. Parents should monitor their kids, instead of

restricting the media.

CONCLUSION

• Therefore, there is too much violence in mediao 99% of homes have televisions.o over half of the children have a television set in their   

     bedrooms, which gives a greater oppurtunity for children to view programs without parental supervision.

• a typical American child will view more than 200,000 acts of violence before the age of 18.

• television programs display 812 violent acts per hour.• DD15% of music videos contains interpersonal violence.

QUIZ

1. Media plays a major role in the development of ____ ______, world views and _______

2. What is an argument that supports the idea that there is too much violence in the media?

3. What is an argument that refutes the idea that there is too much violence in the media? 

4. Why are violent video games considered more effective in increasing aggression than other forms of media, such as television and movies? (interactive and engrossing nature)

5. Which experiment indicates that violence may be a learned behaviour? 

Cultural orientations, world views, and beliefs

Learned and applied by children, physiological effects which may lead to violence, frightens children/causes general anxiety, skews perception of real violence

Little proven long-term effect on human behaviour, parents should monitor their kids’ development and TV habits

Their interactive and engrossing nature

A. Bandura’s Bobo Doll Experiment

BIBLIOGRAPHY

"Research on the Effects of Media Violence." Media Awareness Network | Réseau éducation médias. N.p., n.d. Web. 9               Jan. 2012. http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/violence/effects_media_violence.cfm.

 The Evolution of Human Aggression | LiveScience . (n.d.). Science News – Science Articles and Current Events | LiveScience . Retrieved January 15, 2012, from http://www.livescience.com/5333-evolution-human-aggression.html

Media Violence. (n.d.). Media Violence. Retrieved January 15, 2012, from http://www.lionlamb.org/media_violence.htm

Video Games and Violence. (n.d.).McMaster University - This Site has Moved.. Retrieved January 15, 2012, from http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/soc/courses/stpp4C03/ClassEssay/videogames.htm

The Impact of Media Violence on Children and Adolescents: Opportunities for Clinical Interventions | American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. (n.d.).American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. Retrieved January 15, 2012, from http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/developmentor/the_impact_of_media_violence_on_children_and_adolescents_opportunities_for_clinical_interventions

Video Games: A Cause of Violence and Aggression | Serendip's Exchange.Serendip Home | Serendip's Exchange. Retrieved January 15, 2012, from http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1723