Berkovic L. Ime ihe ike na mgbasa ozi

Philadelphia, July 17th. The alarming rise in the number of homicides recorded last year continues this year. Observers attribute this rise to the spread of drugs, weapons and the tendency among young people to start a career with a gun in their hand … The statistics are alarming for the police and prosecutors, some representatives of law enforcement agencies describe the situation in the country in gloomy colors. “The homicide rate has peaked,” said Philadelphia District Attorney Ronald D. Castille. “Three weeks ago, 48 people were killed in just 11 hours.”

“The main reason for the increase in violence,” he says, “is the easy availability of weapons and the effects of drugs.”

… In 1988, there were 660 murders in Chicago. In the past, 1989, their number had risen to 742, including 29 child murders, 7 manslaughters and 2 cases of euthanasia. According to the police, 22% of murders are connected with domestic quarrels, 24% — with drugs.

M. D. Hinds, New York Times, July 18, 1990.

This sad testimony to the wave of violent crime that has swept through the modern United States was published on the front page of the New York Times. The next three chapters of the book are devoted to the social influence of society on aggression in general and violent crimes in particular. In Chapter 7, we look at the likely impact of cinema and television, trying to answer the question of whether watching people fighting and killing each other on film and television screens can cause viewers to become more aggressive. Chapter 8 explores the causes of violent crime, starting with the study of domestic violence (beating women and child abuse), and finally, in chapter 9, discusses the main causes of murders both in the family and outside it.

Entertaining, instructive, informative and… dangerous?

Every year, advertisers spend billions of dollars believing that television can influence human behavior. Representatives of the television industry enthusiastically agree with them, while arguing that programs containing scenes of violence in no way have such an impact. But the research that has been done clearly shows that violence in television programs can and does have an adverse effect on the audience. See →

Violence on screens and printed pages

The John Hinckley case is a clear example of how the media can subtly and profoundly influence the level of aggressiveness of modern society. Not only was his attempt to assassinate President Reagan clearly provoked by the movie, but the assassination itself, which was widely reported in the press, on radio and television, probably encouraged other people to copy his aggression. According to a spokesman for the Secret Service (the government’s presidential protection service), in the first days after the assassination attempt, the threat to the president’s life increased dramatically. See →

Experimental studies of short-term exposure to violent scenes in mass media

The image of people fighting and killing each other can increase their aggressive tendencies in the audience. However, many psychologists doubt the existence of such an influence. For example, Jonathan Freedman insists that the available «evidence does not support the idea that watching violent films causes aggression.» Other skeptics argue that watching movie characters act aggressively has, at best, only a minor effect on the behavior of the observer. See →

Violence in the media under the microscope

Most researchers are no longer faced with the question of whether media reports containing information about violence increase the likelihood that levels of aggression will increase in the future. But another question arises: when and why does this effect take place. We will turn to him. You will see that not all «aggressive» films are the same and that only certain aggressive scenes are capable of having an aftereffect. In fact, some depictions of violence may even dampen viewers’ urge to attack their enemies. See →

Meaning of observed violence

People watching scenes of violence will not develop aggressive thoughts and tendencies unless they interpret the actions they see as aggressive. In other words, aggression is activated if viewers initially think they are seeing people intentionally trying to hurt or kill each other. See →

Preserving the Impact of Violence Information

aggressive thoughts and tendencies, activated by images of violence in the media, usually subside rather quickly. According to Phillips, as you will remember, the flurry of fake crimes usually stops about four days after the first widespread reports of violent crime. One of my laboratory experiments also showed that the increased aggressiveness caused by watching a movie with violent, bloody scenes practically disappears within an hour. See →

Disinhibition and desensitization of the effects of observed aggression

The theoretical analysis I have presented emphasizes the provoking (or instigating) influence of violence depicted in the media: observed aggression or information about aggression activates (or generates) aggressive thoughts and desires to act. Other authors, such as Bandura, prefer a slightly different interpretation, arguing that the aggression generated by the cinema arises as a result of disinhibition — the weakening of the audience’s prohibitions on aggression. That is, in his opinion, the sight of people fighting induces — at least for a short time — predisposed to aggression spectators to attack those who annoy them. See →

Violence in the Media: Long-term Effects with Repeated Exposure

There are always those among children who internalize socially unacceptable values ​​and anti-social behaviors by watching «crazy shooters, violent psychopaths, mentally ill sadists … and the like» that flood television programs. «Massive exposure to aggression on television» can form in young minds a firm view of the world and beliefs about how to act towards other people. See →

Understand «Why?»: Shaping Social Scenarios

Frequent and massive exposure to violence shown on television is not a public good and may even contribute to the formation of anti-social patterns of behavior. However, as I have repeatedly noted, observed aggression does not always stimulate aggressive behavior. In addition, since the relationship between TV viewing and aggressiveness is far from absolute, it can be said that frequent viewing of people fighting on the screen does not necessarily lead to the development of a highly aggressive character in any person. See →

Summary

According to the general public and even some media professionals, the depiction of violence on film and television, in newspapers and magazines has very little impact on viewers and readers. There is also an opinion that only children and mentally ill people are subject to this harmless influence. However, most scientists who have studied media effects, and those who have carefully read the specialized scientific literature, are sure of the opposite. See →

Chapter 8

Explanation of cases of domestic violence. Views on the problem of domestic violence. Factors that may induce the use of domestic violence. Links to research results. See →