Violence in media correlates to society
From daily news reports to video games and children’s’ cartoons, violence has permeated all forms of media. This inundation has been shown to correlate with violent behavior in society.
A report released by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 1995 revealed several statistics about television violence viewing. According to the report, by the age of 18 years a person will have seen approximately 200,000 acts of violence in the media. By the time they reach the age of 70 years old they will have spent seven to 10 years of their lives watching television.
The study also found that during prime-time television viewing hours, acts of violence appear three to five times per hour but during Saturday morning children’s programming, acts of violence occur 20 to 25 times an hour.
Another study by Otto Larsen in 1968 showed that in television programs intended for children the characters achieved their goals by violence 56 percent of the time.
“There’s no question. You can’t sit down and watch TV without being offended. I’m guessing a lot of people are offended but don’t know what to do about it,” said Evan L. Olsen, executive director of Utah Family Values, and resident of Cache Valley.
Studies show the influx of violence on television and in other media has been found to have definite effects on the behavior of those who come in contact with it.
“The whole gamut deadens the senses; it [violence] becomes commonplace and we become indifferent to it,” Olsen said.
According to the study by the American Academy of Pediatrics, “Media violence may facilitate aggressive and antisocial behavior, desensitize viewers to future violence and increase viewers’ perceptions that they are living in a mean and dangerous world. American media have also succeeded in glamorizing guns in a way that endangers the public health of youngsters and adults.”
Frank R. Ascione, professor of psychology of family and human development at Utah State University, recently released a study on animal abuse and youth violence which was published by the United States Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
Ascione said many instances of animal violence can be related to violence children see on television and although the American Humane Society can claim animals were never harmed in television and films, technology can make it appear as though they were.
According to his study, 25 percent of violent, incarcerated men reported being involved in “substantial cruelty to animals” compared to 0 percent of non-incarcerated men and 36 percent of assaultive women offenders reported cruelty to animals compared to 0 percent of those who were non-assaultive.
According to the study, “Animal abuse and interpersonal violence toward humans share common characteristics: Both types of victims are living creatures, have a capacity for experiencing pain and distress, can display physical signs of their pain and distress and may die as a result of inflicted injuries.”
Susan Friedman, a psychology professor at USU, said there are vicarious learning psychological theories on why people, children in particular, commit acts of violence. She said several characteristics of both the television character and the viewer that affect the extent to which children model the characters they see.
“Observers learn more when the models are competent, attractive, likeable and prestigious than from models who lack those characteristics,” she said. “Children who are younger are also more likely to imitate than children who are older but older children tend to learn more from the model.”
The child’s learning history also affects their likeliness to imitate violent acts. Friedman said children who were previously reinforced for aggressive behavior and who see models on television being reinforced for aggressive behavior will most likely also perform aggressively.
“Generally, correlation doesn’t mean causation, but research supports that television leads to aggression,” Friedman said.
While many accept the prevalence of violence in society as an unchangeable social trend, Olsen feels there is much to be done to eradicate it. Utah Family Values has worked with several groups to fight pornography, cleanup materials in the libraries, annually honor notable families in Utah and promote family week.
Most recently, Olsen published a survey to note the values held most important to residents of Utah. Although the amount of responses was not large, they were received from Western Idaho to Paradise, Utah. Olsen said they know better which values to promote and work toward.
“It gives Utah Family Values a starting place,” he said.
The values held highest by residents of Cache Valley and surrounding areas include first – honesty and spirituality, second – free agency, third – chastity, fourth – love and morality and fifth – respect according to the survey.
Olsen said he has previously encouraged others to write to entertainment companies and film producers to promote cleaner material, but is now encouraging those interested in fighting violence in the media to contact local and national advertisers with complaints about programs or content material. And he encourages people not to cower in the face of criticism.
“If they believe in their heart that it’s [what viewers are promoting is] right, the criticism won’t matter,” Olsen said.
Ascione said he feels society needs to address the many aspects of a person’s life, including family, social and community contexts, not only what they watch on television.
“I think sometimes we see violence as something in a child, not something from the child’s interaction with the world,” he said.