The problem America is an especially violent country in terms of interpersonal violence American popular culture contains a lot of depictions of violence

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

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

Media depictions of violence have long been a source of concern Comic book scare Payne Fund studies Surgeon General’s Report Etc.

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 differently—the 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

Theoretical viewpoints

Catharsis Aggressive cues Social learning Reinforcement

Catharsis

Feshbach developed catharsis theory He said that violent urges are built up

over time and can be released by vicariously engaging in violence—that 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

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.

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.

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

Frustration

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

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

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.

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.

Observational learning theory The most influential theory concerning

the effect of violent portrayals on aggressive or violent behavior was developed by Albert Bandura—observational 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

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

"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."

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.

Bobo Doll research

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

"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.

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.

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.

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:

Amount of violence in prime time by channel type Broadcast

network

(90 hrs)

Independent broadcast

(31 hrs)

Public broadcast

(17 hrs)

Basic cable

(232 hrs)

Premium cable

(48 hrs)

Programs with violence 67% 77% 23% 65% 88%

# of violent interactions 434 235 4 1,296 1,123

Rate of violent interactions/hour 5.16 12.05 0.14 5.32 12.40

Programs w/ saturated violence

31% 43% 0 21% 73%

Amount of violence in prime time by genre

Drama

(66 hrs)

Comedy

(49.5 hrs)

Children’s (29.5 hrs)

Movies

(215.5 hrs)

Videos

(32 hrs)

Reality

(74 hrs)

Programs with violence 82% 43% 80% 93% 50% 46%

# of violent interactions 384 87 365 1,916 121 219

Rate of violent interactions/hour 5.81 1.75 12.37 8.89 3.78 2.95

Programs w/ saturated violence

34% 3% 16% 68% 0% 17%

Amount of violence across subgenres of children’s programming

Source: Wilson, Smith, Potter, Kunkel, Linz, Colvin & Donnerstein, 2002Journal of Communication

Slapstick Superhero Adventure/mystery

Social relationship

Magazine

% of programs with violence

100 97 89 48 17

Number of violent PATs per hour

29.1 28.1 14.3 4.2 1.6

Number of violent scenes per hour

14.9 11.9 7.9 3.0 .9

% of time devoted to violence

28.7 24.4 12.9 3.1 1.2

PTC findings

PTC findings

PTC findings

PTC findings

Source: Signorielli, 2003



Character attributes of perpetrators

0

20

40

60

80

100

Child Perp Teen Perp Adult Perp

% male % human% anthro % heroes% good % whose targets are children% whose targets are teensn=660

n=1,019

n=12,959

Context of Violence in Children’s vs. Nonchildren’s programming: Nature of perpetrator

0

20

40

60

80

100

Attractive Hero Human Anthro Male

Children's Nonchildren's

Proportion of characters involved in violence [Primetime, 1993-2001]




Context of violence

0

20

40

60

80

100

Child Teen Adult

% to protect life % for personal gain % engaging in justified violence




Graphicness

0

20

40

60

80

100


% blood & gore % humor% animated program % fantasy context

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.

Rewards/punishments

0102030405060708090


Immediate reward No immediate punishmentBad perps never punished Good perps never punished



Reinforcements for violence

0102030405060708090

100


% with immediate rewards% with no immediate remorse, criticism or penalty% never punished in program

Consequences

0102030405060708090

100


Victim shows no pain Victim shows no harmUnrealistically low levels of harm Depicts long-term suffering

Consequences to victim

0

20

40

60

80

100


% no immediate harm % unrealistically low harm% long-term consequences



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.

Humor/fantasy

0102030405060708090

100


Humor Fantasy context Animated format

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.

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 children’s learning of aggressive behaviors.

Documents

The problem America is an especially violent country in terms of interpersonal violence American popular culture contains a lot of depictions of violence