We’re All Experts on the Media…but Psychological Research Tells Us Much of

What We “Know” Is WrongRichard Jackson HarrisKansas State University

Manhattan KSPsychological and Educational Research in

Kansas/Nebraska Psychological Society

Fort Hays State University

Hays KS

November 15, 2014

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Why Care about Media?

Media are everywhereBhutan got TV and Internet 2000—last country?

Technology has radically affected lifestylesYoung adults never known life without Internet, e-mailCell phones change association of phone with person rather than placeCell phones revolutionize developing countriesMore multi-tasking by young adults and teens

Americans spend more time watching TV and online than anything else except job and sleeping

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Social Media Use Unprecedented

Over 100 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute!

More new video uploaded to YouTube each day than all US TV networks broadcast last 5 years

80% North Americans use Internet daily

1.23 billion Facebook users (1/6 of humanity)Average 55 minutes per day

Over 1 billion Google searches/day

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What Does Research Tell Us?Considerable research about media effects

Particularly effects of violencePublic ignorance about findings from research

Misunderstandings about these effects“Media-bashers”—”it’s all the media’s fault”“Media-apologists”—”it’s only make-believe”

Actual situation more complexSometimes effects strong… but not alwaysEffects of some images stronger than othersEffects on some people stronger than othersStatistical interactions more than main effectsMedia are not the only influence on us

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Types of Media EffectsBehavioral (modeling)

We see…we do

AttitudinalWe see...we believe

Cognitive (knowledge)We see…we learn

Physiological (arousal)We see…our body responds

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What I’ll Talk About Today…..

Look at some popular beliefs about media that are widely believed but not correct

Everything I say based on researchBut I won’t be talking directly about research

I am a cognitive psychologist so especially interested in knowledge acquired from media

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Belief #1: Internet degrading quality of communication

Fact: Internet changing communication but not in the ways we think (Gernsbacher, 2014)

Using Internet more to communicate shows strong preference for

Written over oral communication

Asynchronous over synchronous communication

Creating and sharing media as well as consuming it

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Belief #2: Subliminal messages are messing with our minds

Subliminal=below threshold of perceptionBy definition, you’re not aware of themEveryone’s threshold different

Types of subliminal perception1. Rapid visual stimuli2. Subaudible auditory stimuli3. Visually embedded figures airbrushed into artwork4. Secret messages if song played backwards

Need to separate existence and effectsExistence necessary but not sufficient to produce effect

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Effects of “subliminal” stimuli

Don’t even notice unless pointed outBut existence does not mean it has effect

No effects on behaviorExample: Comprehension of backward speech (Vokey & Read, 1985)

Backmasking Exwww.jeffmilner.com/backmasking

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Belief #3: Media violence only reflects the real world, which is a very violent place

60% US TV programs contain violence

5-6 violent acts/hour no prime-time TV26/hr on cartoons (94% have violence)

Die Hard 2 had 264 on-screen murders

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But, compared to real life…..Real life (FBI stats)

87% crimes nonviolent

13% crimes violent

0.2% crimes murders

Television87% crimes violent

13% nonviolent

50% crimes murders• 250% higher than life

Fact: Media are far more violent than the real world

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Nonviol.Violent

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Belief # 4: All screen violence is equally harmful

No—some types have stronger negative effectsMore realistic violenceViolence by “good guys”

• Or people like us, those we identify with• Particular concern about violence by children

Violence that is reinforced (or not punished) in story• Violence justified as necessary to fight greater evil (Myth of

Redemptive Violence)• 75% instances of media violence show no immediate

punishment or condemnation of violence

Violence that does not show suffering• 50% show no harm or pain to victim

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Belief # 4: All screen violence is equally harmful (continued)

No—some people are more affectedMales more violent than femalesYounger more violent than olderThose more prone to violence by personalityThose who are more physiologically aroused

• Especially those who are angryThose lacking positive role models….. Beware especially of violent, angry, alienated young men (those high in multiple risk factors)

But we’ve all become somewhat desensitizedScreen violence doesn’t bother us so much anymoreWe tend to think real world is like entertainment world

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Belief #5: Children today see everything and nothing scares them any more

Fact: Children’s fears differ at different agesPreschoolers—most afraid of changing forms, monsters, mutants

• clowns, Santa Claus

Elementary age—most afraid of concrete injuries, disasters• The Lion King and Bambi two of scariest movies for kids (G)

Preteens and teens—most afraid of hypothetical dangers and negative outcomes

Parents must be sensitive to child’s age and fearsAlmost everyone has childhood memory of seeing movie that scared them (Hoekstra, Harris, & Helmick, 1999)

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Belief #6: Violent crime is getting much worse in recent years

Fact: Violent crime has fallen precipitously throughout the U.S. in last 25 years

But most people believe it has risen

Number of TV news stories about murders increased over 500% in 1990s

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Belief #6: Violent crime getting much worse (continued)

Fact: We remember vivid examples of crimes as far more typical than they are

Missing children mostly runaways• Those few abducted almost always taken by non-custodial parent or other

family member• Very few stranger abductions (1.3% of all)—few end in murder

Carjacking–> murder < 1% of time • After seeing carjackingmurder story, people estimate 30-40% carjackings

murder

School or workplace shootings very rare• But those that occur are very memorable

Past “trendy” crimes (road rage, poison Halloween candy): Confirmed cases very few

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Belief # 7: People with mental illness are dangerous

Facts

11% overall population prone to violence (All)

11% diagnosed mentally ill prone to violence (M.I.)

72% mentally ill TV/film characters prone to violence (M.I. media)

No wonder people are scared of those with mental illnesses!

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Belief # 8: Sexual messages are largely limited to pornography

Thus we can dismiss if we don’t consume pornography

Not so fast…..

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Fact: There are many sexual messages in media…for example,

Sitcom father, to teen daughter: “You got a D on your report card? Oh, wait, it’s okay; it was in sex education”Soap opera plot: Man rapes woman; she then falls in love with him and marries himMovie plot: 3 high school senior boys vow to lose their virginity at any cost before they graduateSitcom man, on seeing foxily-dressed wife: “Man, if I wasn’t married to you, I’d be really turned on now.”TV Commercial Scene 1 (man to woman) “The pizza will be here in 30 minutes. What shall we do until then? Scene 2 (woman, to man in robe) “What do we do for the other 28 minutes?”

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Sexualization of food in ads

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Belief #9: Sexual permissiveness is rampant in media

Fact: Double standard: extreme permissiveness....Entertainment—much casual sex

• Assumption of sex early in adult relationships Only a moral issue for teens (if then)

• Most of it between people not married to each other 97% in R-rated movies, 83% in TV overall

• Assumption that being a virgin is odd• Little talk of abstinence before marriage

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Fact: Double standard: extreme permissiveness....Entertainment—much casual sex

• Assumption of sex early in adult relationships Only a moral issue for teens (if then)

• Most of it between people not married to each other 97% in R-rated movies, 83% in TV overall

• Assumption that being a virgin is odd• Little talk of abstinence before marriage

…And extreme conservatism/puritanismLittle advertising for birth control, concern for STDs< 1% cases talk about use of protection before sex

Thus, media sex largely amoral behavior without consequences

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Belief #10: At least we don’t have to worry about sex and violence occurring together

Fact: Sadly, not always the caseYes, there is violent pornography

• Which is highly arousing to naturally violent men

But there is also much suggestion of violence toward women in a sexual context

• Horror movies Desensitizes men toward violence against women

especially if woman shown as sexually around by violence

• Advertising

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PG-13 and R-rated movies

Goldeneye Example PG-13

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVmHgf3u1PQ

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Belief #11: It’s healthy to watch violence or sex to achieve catharsis

Catharsis, an idea from Freud’s psychologyPeople have natural violent and sexual instincts

Instincts need to be expressed• Directly—acting violently or sexually

• Indirectly—watching violence or sex

Emotional release, purging after expressing

Media can assist in achieving catharsis

Idea very widely believed

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Fact: Catharsis is wrong!

Watching violent TV or moviesLeads to more violent behavior, not less

Desensitizes us to violence

Watching sexArouses us sexually, doesn’t calm us down

Makes us more likely to feel unfulfilled and behave sexually, not less

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Belief #12: The media are full of negative antisocial values

Fact: Sort of true…but in some ways media are surprisingly conservativeFamily -- strong messages of family solidarity

Even dysfunctional families (The Simpsons, Family Guy, Arrested Development)Sometime de facto family is coworkers or friends (Friends, How I Met Your Mother, The Office, 30 Rock)

Sometimes much raunchiness on the way to very traditional moral message

American Pie, Superbad, Mean Girls, Knocked UpUnclear whether final positive moral or sexual humiliations along the way have more influence

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Belief #13: Media only reflect societal values

Not always…..Little presence of religion

5% TV characters have identifiable religious affiliation• Over 90% Americans believe in God; over 40% worship weekly

Religion considered too controversialVery non-specific spirituality when presentThe Simpsons as interesting exception

• Why more acceptable for animated characters to be religious?

Americans do have spiritual hungerCalling God by phone after Bruce Almighty

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What surprises international students most in USStudents here are so religious

Students here worry about money, not all rich

Where do they get these ideas?

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Belief #14: Only the old shows and movies are safe

Or are they?……

1950s sitcom: husband shakes fist in wife’s face, saying, “One of these days, Alice, POW, right in the kisser!”According to modern legal definition of rape, Rhett Butler probably raped Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939)1940s cartoons with racist images still around

Bugs Bunny handing bombs in ice cream cones to Asians, saying “Here you go, Slanteyes”

Many characters in old TV, film smoke heavily

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Song lyrics “Young Girl” (1968)Young Girl www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJFVPxBpezk

“Young girl, get out of my mind, my love for you is wait out of line. Better run, girl.You led me to believe you’re old enough to give me love and now it hurts to know the truthAnd though you know that it’s wrong to be alone with me, that come-on look is in your eyesGet out of here, before I have the time to change my mind, ‘Cause I’m afraid we’ll go too far”

Values change, not always in the more permissive direction

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ConclusionMedia not inherently good or bad

Not monolithic—many media messagesSome negative effects that should concern usAlso tremendous positive potential

All better off if we understand how media workBe smart media consumers! (Media literacy)Talk with children about media (Parental mediation)Negative effects less when processed with parentsModel reading, watching PBS, alternative TV

Children learn negotiation and cooperation skills from sharing TV/computer

Parents have more control if devices in public room

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Thank you!

Have further questions?Ask them nowOr e-mail me at rjharris@ksu.edu

Want more information or copies of these slides?

E-mail me at rjharris@ksu.edu Read R.J. Harris and F.W. Sanborn, A Cognitive Psychology of Mass Communication, (6th ed.) New York: Taylor & Francis, 2014.

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