The following clip is a compilation of violent scenes in cartoons! Cartoons are very attractive to children, and less likely to be detected for their unsuitable content by parents than are blatantly violent movies. Have a look at the clip and see how bad some of the messages they are sending are! All comments welcome!
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Position paper on media violence effects on children
hello all, this is a position paper from the APS i found that gives me a good foundation for my blog 2 topic!
The Effects of Violent Media on Children
This fact sheet is extracted from an Australian Psychological Society Position Paper entitled Media Representations and Responsibilities, which can be found on the website: www.psychology.org.au.
Introduction
• Research consistently reports very high levels of exposure to violence through electronic media;
• persistent viewing of violence on television is linked to an increased likelihood of behaving aggressively in the long-term; and
• television is only one of a number of factors which contribute to the tendency to violence and aggression, each of which makes a small but significant contribution.
What does the research tell us about its effects upon children?
• Exposure to violent television can and does influence children’s feelings, attitudes and behaviour;
• it is generally agreed that prolonged exposure to television violence is one of a number of factors which lead to children being more likely to display aggressive behaviour in both the short-term and the long-term;
• some children enjoy, and develop an appetite for, viewing violent material;
• viewing violence on television leads to immediate distress and fear in many children;
• many children retain longer-term recurrent disturbing memories from viewed violence;
• exposure to media violence can contribute to beliefs that aggression is an acceptable and effective behaviour, can induce fear and anxiety and the belief that the world is “a mean and scary place”;
• continual exposure to media violence increases the likelihood that children will be desensitised to real violence;
• age and gender are important influences on the nature of the effects, with younger children likely to be more susceptible to learning from TV; and
• the social context of viewing is important in determining the effects of exposure to violent television; e.g. if an adult helps the child interpret and critique the viewed material, the negative effects are lessened.
What does the community want?
• There is widespread community concern, particularly amongst parents and teachers, about the level of violence in television programs and videogames;
• consumers, including children, tend to dislike the amount of violence on TV; and
• most children’s preferences are for exciting and humorous programs, and violence is generally unwelcome except when it is associated with high levels of action.
What can parents do?
• Parents can know what their children are watching;
• set and enforce clear rules about the amount and type of programs watched;
• watch with their children whenever possible, and help their children interpret and critique the viewed material by means of family discussions; and
• encourage their children to engage in more active and creative pursuits, including activities with parents and other family members.
What can educators do?
• Media education curricula should be developed and widely disseminated in schools. A key element should be the provision of skills in monitoring and analysing media content;
• professional development seminars should be made widely available for teachers to enable them to increase their own media literacy skills;
• teachers can use their influence by drawing the attention of children and parents to exciting, non-violent media, and expressing their own enthusiasm over them; and
• media education should be made widely available for parents as well as for children.
What can journalists and journalism educators do?
• Recognise the complexity of the issues and avoid simplistic global assertions;
• include best-practice examples in journalism education; and
• make professional development courses available for currently practising journalists.
What can psychologists do?
• Be alert to recognising the influence of media in the ideation and emotionality of clients, particularly children and adolescents; and
• stay abreast of current research and conduct research in neglected areas.
In conclusion
It is recommended that media producers respond to the community’s concern about TV violence, hear the preferences expressed by children, and use their resources to produce exciting media material that does not rely on violence. In turn, media policy makers and regulators need to ensure that classification systems are based on the research evidence and are effectively applied, monitored and enforced.
Consumers can undertake a range of activities to influence the type and quality of media viewed by children:
• complain to appropriate bodies about material or policies of which they disapprove;
• praise programs they admire to organisations such as those listed below;
• boycott certain programs or media outlets; and
• join and support lobby groups.
The Effects of Violent Media on Children
This fact sheet is extracted from an Australian Psychological Society Position Paper entitled Media Representations and Responsibilities, which can be found on the website: www.psychology.org.au.
Introduction
• Research consistently reports very high levels of exposure to violence through electronic media;
• persistent viewing of violence on television is linked to an increased likelihood of behaving aggressively in the long-term; and
• television is only one of a number of factors which contribute to the tendency to violence and aggression, each of which makes a small but significant contribution.
What does the research tell us about its effects upon children?
• Exposure to violent television can and does influence children’s feelings, attitudes and behaviour;
• it is generally agreed that prolonged exposure to television violence is one of a number of factors which lead to children being more likely to display aggressive behaviour in both the short-term and the long-term;
• some children enjoy, and develop an appetite for, viewing violent material;
• viewing violence on television leads to immediate distress and fear in many children;
• many children retain longer-term recurrent disturbing memories from viewed violence;
• exposure to media violence can contribute to beliefs that aggression is an acceptable and effective behaviour, can induce fear and anxiety and the belief that the world is “a mean and scary place”;
• continual exposure to media violence increases the likelihood that children will be desensitised to real violence;
• age and gender are important influences on the nature of the effects, with younger children likely to be more susceptible to learning from TV; and
• the social context of viewing is important in determining the effects of exposure to violent television; e.g. if an adult helps the child interpret and critique the viewed material, the negative effects are lessened.
What does the community want?
• There is widespread community concern, particularly amongst parents and teachers, about the level of violence in television programs and videogames;
• consumers, including children, tend to dislike the amount of violence on TV; and
• most children’s preferences are for exciting and humorous programs, and violence is generally unwelcome except when it is associated with high levels of action.
What can parents do?
• Parents can know what their children are watching;
• set and enforce clear rules about the amount and type of programs watched;
• watch with their children whenever possible, and help their children interpret and critique the viewed material by means of family discussions; and
• encourage their children to engage in more active and creative pursuits, including activities with parents and other family members.
What can educators do?
• Media education curricula should be developed and widely disseminated in schools. A key element should be the provision of skills in monitoring and analysing media content;
• professional development seminars should be made widely available for teachers to enable them to increase their own media literacy skills;
• teachers can use their influence by drawing the attention of children and parents to exciting, non-violent media, and expressing their own enthusiasm over them; and
• media education should be made widely available for parents as well as for children.
What can journalists and journalism educators do?
• Recognise the complexity of the issues and avoid simplistic global assertions;
• include best-practice examples in journalism education; and
• make professional development courses available for currently practising journalists.
What can psychologists do?
• Be alert to recognising the influence of media in the ideation and emotionality of clients, particularly children and adolescents; and
• stay abreast of current research and conduct research in neglected areas.
In conclusion
It is recommended that media producers respond to the community’s concern about TV violence, hear the preferences expressed by children, and use their resources to produce exciting media material that does not rely on violence. In turn, media policy makers and regulators need to ensure that classification systems are based on the research evidence and are effectively applied, monitored and enforced.
Consumers can undertake a range of activities to influence the type and quality of media viewed by children:
• complain to appropriate bodies about material or policies of which they disapprove;
• praise programs they admire to organisations such as those listed below;
• boycott certain programs or media outlets; and
• join and support lobby groups.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Queen Bees, and Wannabes!
Hi Kara,
I will be diligently watching the progress you make with this topic! I think its quite a difficult one really, and one that has not been researched enough. At my (all girls catholic) highschool we definitely had cliques despite a lack of boys to impress! It was interesting to see how popularity changed as we progressed through the grades though! In younger years, the popular girls were those with more 'sexual' experience, who wore makeup and the right clothes. We wore a uniform so they had to make do with wearing knee high socks and jewellery. However, as we progressed into senior school, the bitchy, boycrazy girls stopped being perceived as popular and instead received more negative labels. The popular girls were the ones who were smart, nice to everyone, and had a good sense of humour. Granted, they were always still pretty! I read a great book on this a few years ago which i think you'll find useful- its what mean girls was based on. Its called 'Queen Bees and Wannabes' by Rosalind Wiseman. Have a look and let me know what you think. Ive got a copy you can borrow if you would like!
Lauren
Oprah Website- Queen Bees and Wannabes
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Does violence in the media lead to real-life aggression?
Media violence has been a topic of debate without definitive answers for many years. The primary question of focus seems to be whether or not media violence actually causes real-life violence
Of course, many factors could contribute to this, such as personality traits, the perception of 'reality' of media violence and so on. Increasingly the debate is focusing on the "culture of violence," and on the normalization of aggression and lack of empathy in our society. Indeed it seems that the more violence we view, the more desensitised we become. I myself being a romantic comedy and drama movie lover, find it quite hard to witness gruesome shooting scenes in action movies and thrillers, and i avoid horror films all together!
However the fact remains that frequent exposure to any variety of originally offensive material such as drug use, sex scenes, course language etc seems to reduce the shock factor of the content. Any comments on this phenomenon?
Food for thought:
Of course, many factors could contribute to this, such as personality traits, the perception of 'reality' of media violence and so on. Increasingly the debate is focusing on the "culture of violence," and on the normalization of aggression and lack of empathy in our society. Indeed it seems that the more violence we view, the more desensitised we become. I myself being a romantic comedy and drama movie lover, find it quite hard to witness gruesome shooting scenes in action movies and thrillers, and i avoid horror films all together!
However the fact remains that frequent exposure to any variety of originally offensive material such as drug use, sex scenes, course language etc seems to reduce the shock factor of the content. Any comments on this phenomenon?
Food for thought:
On Attractiveness....
This is a reply for Beck :)
My first thought when i looked at the celebrity pictures you posted was 'Oh dear, Patrick Dempsy is so McDreamy!' :P In fact, i managed to 'procrastinate' our procrastination essay today by watching two taped episodes of Grey's Anatomy! I think your topic is fascinating too Beck, however i would be interested to see how people rate the attractiveness of 'normal' people without all the hair, makeup and airbrushing that celebrities are priviledged with. I have read in a few places that racial mixing makes an individual more attractive (which is good news for me being half Australian and half Indian!) So I did a search and found a great article and some pictures for you.
http://majorityrights.com/index.php/weblog/comments/893/
My first thought when i looked at the celebrity pictures you posted was 'Oh dear, Patrick Dempsy is so McDreamy!' :P In fact, i managed to 'procrastinate' our procrastination essay today by watching two taped episodes of Grey's Anatomy! I think your topic is fascinating too Beck, however i would be interested to see how people rate the attractiveness of 'normal' people without all the hair, makeup and airbrushing that celebrities are priviledged with. I have read in a few places that racial mixing makes an individual more attractive (which is good news for me being half Australian and half Indian!) So I did a search and found a great article and some pictures for you.
http://majorityrights.com/index.php/weblog/comments/893/
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Children See, Children Do
In light of my new social psychology topic 'violence in the media and its impact upon children', i thought i'd start by posting a few videos which highlight the effect of social learning theory, whereby children acquire behaviours by watching them being performed. This first video is a powerful commercial on television warning parents about the impact their behaviour has on their children. It shows children copying behaviours ranging from smoking, to vomiting, to racism, to physical violence. Quite a powerful ad!
This second video is of Bandura's famous (1965) bo bo doll experiment where children are seen to be copying violent behaviours modelled by adults towards a bo bo clown doll. The other important component of this experiment was that children witnessed one of two outcomes of such aggressive behaviour- either they saw the model being rewarded for the behaviour, or punished for the behaviour. Children who saw the model being rewarded for the behaviour were far more likely to replicate the aggressive behaviour towards the bobo doll.
This second video is of Bandura's famous (1965) bo bo doll experiment where children are seen to be copying violent behaviours modelled by adults towards a bo bo clown doll. The other important component of this experiment was that children witnessed one of two outcomes of such aggressive behaviour- either they saw the model being rewarded for the behaviour, or punished for the behaviour. Children who saw the model being rewarded for the behaviour were far more likely to replicate the aggressive behaviour towards the bobo doll.
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