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Media and audiences: Effects of violent media on audiences - Coggle Diagram
Media and audiences: Effects of violent media on audiences
Newson (1994): you can become 'desensitised to violence - of you see it enough you no longer find it shocking'
Bandaura et al (1963): played children film of man hitting doll
then left children to play with the same doll
Children who saw the film hit the doll - those who didn't played with the doll in a non-violent way
The Glasgow Media Group and media effects:
Research into the effects of news and current affairs reporting
Media has strong effects on audiences' beliefs & attitudes
Studied reactions to reports of miners strikes of 1984-5
Their audience sample believed that the picket lines were mostly violent and the police and people at the picket line said there was not as much violence as the media suggests
The audience based their beliefs on what the media told them
David Gauntlett (marxist):
criticises some of the methods used in research
he criticises the experimental methods used by Bandura et al using a laboratory environment
He thinks it makes the results artificial and doesn’t reflect the way children would act in real life - away from the lab children would be influenced by their parents and peers
He argues most of the effects research is based on the idea that children are powerless puppets - other research suggests that children can recognise from an early age that it’s not acceptable to imitate fictional violence
Criticisms of media effects studies:
Some studies don’t make it clear what they mean by violence - don’t consider how audiences react to different types of violence
HDS model using this research doesn’t take into account age or maturity
Morrison (1999): context is key - some research ignores the fact that violent media are presented in different contexts e.g viewing violence that's meant to be funny (Tom & Jerry) or appears in comic context may have different effect to that of brutal violence in real life
Cumberbatch (2004): still no clear evidence to suggest that violent media influences the behaviour of children or adults - he reviewed 3500+ research studies about the effects of violent media - according to him none of these studies prove a certain link exists
Young (fits in with functionalist) (1981): violent media may have positive effect on attitudes towards violence - may result in ‘sensitisation’ to violent crimes and their effects as it increases awareness of the consequences - people can learn from fictional examples
feminist: Dworkin (1988) strong relationship between the consumption of pornography and sexual crime.