Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id JAA17090 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Tue, 16 Apr 2002 09:07:41 +0100 Message-ID: <570E2BEE7BC5A34684EE5914FCFC368C10FC2E@fillan.stir.ac.uk> From: Vincent Campbell <v.p.campbell@stir.ac.uk> To: "'memetics@mmu.ac.uk'" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Subject: RE: media violence Date: Tue, 16 Apr 2002 09:00:46 +0100 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1" X-Filter-Info: UoS MailScan 0.1 [D 1] X-MailScanner: Found to be clean Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Hi Steve,
<Now, how many on this list dispute that ideas and advertising have
an
> effect on people?>
>
You have to distinguish between kinds of effects- emotional,
psychological, attitudinal, behavioural. I would certainly dispute the
behavioural impact of advertising on people. It's more complicated than
monkey see, monkey do.
<How many parents in the West dread the the annual Xmas advertising
for kids
> toys etc. Never watched a film that doesn't make you laugh or cry? The
> saddest film I ever saw was Highlander.
>
> So we can laugh at the tv, be sad, be disgusted (A porno film on while
> your
> kids are able to watch?), be happy, be transported to a fantasy dream
> world?
> All of these can affect your emotional state except violence on tv?>
>
But the claim is that exposure to media violence makes you behave
violently. I don't dispute the emotional impact of the media- we can all
laugh, cry and indeed get angry at things we see in the media- the question
is about behavioural influence, and the evidence for that is a lot weaker
than many claim.
<May not be science but as far as I am concerned the boot is on the
other
> foot, unless of course we move to a system of drugs testing that assumes
> the
> drugs are safe until proven different. Any one want to volunteer on that
> basis?>
>
Well of course for many drugs we do exactly that- when people do bad
things under the influence of alcohol (aren't most murder committed with
alcohol involved?) we persistently blame the individual not the legal drug.
If it's crack or some other illegal drug, then the drug is blamed. Besides,
drugs have demonstrable detrimental physiological effects on people, apart
from eye-strain I'm not sure there's similar evidence of physiological
effects of watching TV.
<Advertising does influence people, including me. If advertising
influences
> others the same way as me then so too should tv in general, and I consider
> that I have built up an immunity to it to some extent.>
>
It depends on what you mean by influence. I do think media
literacy, the ability to recognise efforts at persuasion whether from
advertisers, politicians or whoever, is key to undermining the simple
effects model.
<My thoughts on this are that tv and visual media do have some
influence or
> would people on the list explain why fans of star trek have constructed a
> klingon language if the program had no influence. It is no good saying
> they
> are ill btw, as that is still influence.>
>
Good example to show the complexity of the problem, as it's possible
to view things like this as fans appropriating and using media content
actively, able to take what they want from media texts to serve their
purposes. This is not the same as the 'monkey see, monkey do' model of the
pro-violence effects model.
<I think the effects of the media are real, but the level of
influence could
> be too difficult to measure at the moment, particularly as the effects are
> going to differ from person to person according to there life history.>
>
Exactly- a bigger behavioural determinant is not what TV show
someone watched that day, but who that individual is, what things have they
experienced in their life etc. etc. This not only affects our behaviour,
but also our interaction with media content, so it's quite a complex
process.
Vincent
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