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Chapter 7
Social Effects
• TV violence
• Pornography
• Stereotyping
TV Violence/Aggression
• Gerbner defines violence as an overt expression of
physical force (with or without weapon) against
oneself or another or compelling action against
one’s will under threat or actuality of being hurt or
killed. He notes “intent” must be present.
• Content analysis 1953 showed 3,421violent acts or
threats in one week (remember 1953 and number
of programs)
• Prime Time remains consistent with 5 acts per
hour on average
Objections
• Menand criticizes how we categorize
violent acts;cites Laugh In study
• Jeffries writes “violence occurs in contexts
that tend to encourage imitation (as when
violence is committed by attractive role
models) reinforces the possibility that
television violence may promote anti-social
effects.
Some Standards
• Most research shows most violence is directed
toward:
– Women of all ages
– Non-whites
– Foreigners
• Greenberg: much more verbal aggression than
physical acts; especially sit coms
• Police shows are unrealistic by high rate of
solving crimes and the high number of
investigations that end in violence
The Big Task
• Jeffries “we must prove violence causes or
leads to aggressive behavior or aggressive
personality traits. At least three conditions
must be met: 1)television must offer
consistently violent portrayals of society;
2)viewers must be exposed to and pay
attention to this programming; 3)these
shows must exert strong psychological
effects on viewers’ attitudes and behaviors.”
More
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First two have been met.
We have proof: ratings and other studies
Third condition is the thrust of the research.
Question—is there a direct link between
television violence and aggressive behavior.
• Two types of research attempt to answer
that question: lab experiment and field
studies
Social Learning Theory
• Bandura argued children can learn behaviors
simply by watching live or symbolic models.
• Individuals can acquire a great deal of information
simply by watching others and without being
directly reinforced.
• Their decision to perform what they learned
depends to a considerable degree on reinforcement
contingencies, that is rewards and punishments.
Social Learning Theory
• Bandura’s Bobo Doll
• Bandura refines theory
• Its utility to communication scholars is that
it provides a framework for understanding
the impact of media on cognitions and
behaviors.
Aggressive Cues Theory
• Aristotle’s Catharsis notion suggests, when
applied to aggressive media, exposure could
stimulate aggression, therefore draining off
feelings of anger or hostility. (Feshbach and
Singer)
• Berkowitz TV violence would signal angry
individuals to behave aggressively because the
viewer would increasingly associate the violent
portrayals with the object of his or her anger.
Aggressive Cues Theory
• Berkowitz says “of particular importance is the
individual’s interpretation of the mediated
aggressive act. …aggression is in the mind of the
beholder, and a movie will not activate aggressionassociated thoughts unless the viewer regards what
is seen as aggression.”
• Priming suggests that exposure to media violence
calls up aggressive ideas, which in turn prime
other associated thoughts.
Aggressive Cues Theory
• Priming says television violence provides
cues that put individuals in touch with angry
thoughts and feelings they previously
experienced, calling up angry associations
and making it more likely that individuals
will translate anger into aggressive
behavior.
Surveys and Field Experiments
• Revealed that Social Learning Theory and
Aggressive Cues Theory are problematic
since correlations show only association,
not causation, and are subject to at least
three interpretations:
– Television viewing leads to aggression
– Aggressive individuals prefer violent television
– The correlation is due to a third variable such as
education, income, intelligence
Pornography
• Definitions Justice Potter Stewart could not define
it but knew it when he saw it
• What is your definition?
• 1986 Attorney General Report
– Sexually violent materials
– Nonviolent materials that involved degradation or
domination of women
– Nonviolent and nondegrading materials
– Nudity
– Child pornography
Arousal/Aggression
• Most agree pornography induces arousal
• Arousal rate is higher in men than in
women
• Malamuth has reported evidence that sexual
arousal in response to imagining that one
has forced a woman to act against her will is
associated with a greater acceptance of
aggression in nonsexual contexts.
Arousal/Aggression
• Zillmann, Bryant, Comisky, Medoff proposed that
the impact of erotica on aggression depends on the
level or arousal and the emotions produced by
exposure to sexual materials.
• Sum up:
– Experiments on pornography and male aggression
indicate that nonaggressive pornography will increase
aggression only if the viewer is angry and the content is
highly displeasing
Arousal/Aggression
• Sum up:
– The results of the studies probing the impact of
nonaggressive pornography on aggression
toward women are inconsistent.
– There is solid evidence that violent
pornography can increase male aggression
against women, perhaps through a priming
mechanism.
Effects Research
• Research shows significant correlation between
rape rates and availability of pornography in all 50
states; the higher the circulation of sex-oriented
magazines, the higher the rape rates. (Baron)
• Prolonged exposure to nonaggressive
pornographic materials can desensitize viewers on
the subjects of sex and sex roles and can lead them
to develop more calloused attitudes toward
women.
Policy Perspectives
• Conservative Moralist Theory argues that
strong prescriptions against pornography
are consistent with religious and secular
values such as marriage and the
preservation of heterosexual fidelity.
• Liberal Theory derived from Libertarian
thought, takes the diametrically opposite
point of view.
Policy Perspectives
• Liberal Theory views people as intelligent
and rational beings able to distinguish truth
from falsehood. As such, it argues for a free
flow of information in society and contends
society benefits by allowing its citizens to
select from among a wide spectrum of
materials on sex.
Policy Perspectives
• Feminist/Social Responsibility Theory is
characterized by a concern for community
and a belief that individual rights (such as
freedom to see whatever one wants) are
secondary to society’s need to protect
women (and men) from problems that are
cause by pornographic films.
Stereotypes
• Gerbner 1993 found in 1991-1992
Television season African Americans
comprised 11 percent of the characters on
prime time, 9 percent on daytime dramas,
and less than 3 percent on Saturday morning
shows.
• Hispanic, Asian, and other minorities
appeared even less
Stereotypes
• Clark developed stages through which
groups progress through over the years
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Invisibility
Ridicule
Law and order enforcer
Respect
• Let’s take African Americans; then gays and
lesbians through these stages
Gender
• Gender roles are largely defined by television
portrayals.
• Reflect changes in society in programming.
• Let’s take women through the stages.
• Attractiveness and image: Kenrick and Gutierres
demonstrated that exposure to an episode of
Charlie’s Angels led men to devalue the
attractiveness of average looking women.
Gender
• Gerbners’ Cultivation Theory has argued that
television cultivates stereotyped sex-role attitudes.
The theory sees media images molding society by
the long-term presentation of relatively uniform
versions of social reality.
• Morgan contended that television exposure should
help to mainstream or homogenize sex-role
attitudes. Example: more TV watched the more
high school students said they wanted to get
married/have children