Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id MAA13922 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Thu, 22 Mar 2001 12:57:36 GMT Message-ID: <2D1C159B783DD211808A006008062D3101745D03@inchna.stir.ac.uk> From: Vincent Campbell <v.p.campbell@stir.ac.uk> To: "'memetics@mmu.ac.uk'" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Subject: RE: Survey connects graphic TV fare, child behavior Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2001 12:54:30 -0000 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
It really annoys me that this kind of crap is constantly in the US media.
Ignore gun availability, ignore CIA initiated large scale drugs problems,
just blame the media. Except it doesn't work. The US is woefully out of
step with other developed nations that are equally media saturated (Japan is
a good example) but have far lower levels of crime- particularly murder
rates.
It annoys me more that journalists continually peddle this rubbish, since
they should no better by now, but no it's an easy story, it feeds on public
prejudices and fits "common sense" notions of the role of the media.
The media of course have socio-cultural effects, but not in this simplistic
way. The research evidence, if examined correctly simply doesn't bear it
out, and researchers like these should have a bit of moral decency and
acknolwedge that rather than peddling untruths whose only long term
consequence can be censorship.
Sorry, I'll get off my hobby-horse now.
Vincent
> ----------
> From: Wade T.Smith
> Reply To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2001 11:52 pm
> To: Memetics Discussion List
> Subject: Fwd: Survey connects graphic TV fare, child behavior
>
> Survey connects graphic TV fare, child behavior
>
> By Richard Saltus, Globe Staff, 3/21/2001
>
> Just as MTV said it would censor the new music video by Madonna, a
> sweeping new survey of research on media violence, sex, and risky
> behavior over the last 10 years concludes that what children watch can
> directly influence their behavior.
>
> The survey by a Johns Hopkins University psychiatrist, published
> yesterday, reflects the growing concern of mental health specialists
> about the impact on youngsters of the sexually suggestive, violent, and
> aggressive content that frequently permeates television today.
>
> The classic studies linking TV violence and aggression and youth behavior
> were done in the 1970s and '80s, ''with material that wasn't very
> violent'' by today's standards, said Dr. Susan Villani.
>
> But now, ''it's more violent and more graphic and more sexual,'' she
> said. ''Children are being exposed to more graphic content at younger and
> younger ages.''
>
> Villani proposes that health care professionals treating disturbed
> children compile a ''media history'' of what they've watched, as well as
> the traditional medical history.
>
> Concerns about television sex and violence have led to a fierce debate
> about the government's role in regulating content, a voluntary ratings
> system to warn viewers about subject matter, and increasing sensitivity
> about content among some networks and producers. But for the most part,
> networks have been reluctant to concede that their shows can influence
> behavior.
>
> Yesterday, however, the popular music network MTV, which was embroiled in
> controversy over its animated series ''Beavis and Butt-head'' when
> several young viewers allegedly mimicked risky behavior depicted on the
> show, said it would broadcast the new music video by pop star Madonna
> only once, late at night, and would include a warning about its content.
> The video for ''What it Feels Like For a Girl'' shows the singer in a
> fantasy as an angry woman on a violent crime spree.
>
> Though anecdotal evidence abounds, the real link between televised sex
> and violence and actual behavior has been difficult to prove. Villani
> said the research in the past decade has strengthened previously reported
> links between television violence and increased aggressive behavior in
> preschoolers. Risky behavior depicted in entertainment media has been
> associated with increases in sexual activity, drinking, smoking, and drug
> use, she said.
>
> One major study cited by Villani showed that viewers of violent TV
> content learned aggressive behaviors and attitudes, became desensitized
> to violence, and became fearful of being victimized.
>
> Villani's review of a decade's worth of research on the media's impact on
> children and adolescence is published in the April issue of the Journal
> of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
>
> A number of researchers in the 1990s probed the impact of rock music and
> music videos, she finds. In one study, patients in a hospital for
> mentally ill offenders became less likely to get embroiled in assaults
> after a television showing MTV music videos was removed.
>
> Other research linked a preference for heavy metal music in the 1990s to
> reckless behaviors like stealing, driving fast, using drugs, and being
> sexually promiscuous, in adolescents. Again, cause and effect could not
> be proved.
>
> Even children's cartoons are becoming violent, said Kimberly Thompson of
> the Harvard School of Public Health. She studied G-rated animated films
> from 1937 to the recent past, and found that depictions of violence
> increased steadily - to the point that, Thompson says, children could be
> disturbed.
>
> Thompson said she is studying the content of video games. Villani, in her
> survey, said there's been little research on the impact of the games, but
> she did mention studies in Japan that found little support for the theory
> that video games cause aggressive behavior.
>
> Harvard researcher Jay Winsten, who heads the Center for Health
> Communication at the School of Public Health, cautioned that media
> exposure is only one factor shaping behavior, and that some children are
> more vulnerable because they live in an abusive or unsupportive family.
>
> ''We have to be cautious in interpreting these studies,'' he said.
>
> Winsten said his concerns are not so much about prime-time network
> television shows as about feature films shown on cable TV that contain a
> lot of violence. Winsten's center has developed ways to use the media to
> shape behavior positively.
>
> Villani believes parents should spend more time monitoring what children
> are watching.
>
> One trend she applauds is the development of ''media literacy'' programs
> in schools. Teachers highlight the messages that are being conveyed in
> movies and TV shows and music videos.
>
> In a study published in the journal Pediatrics this year and cited by
> Villani, researchers gave one group of California schoolchildren
> instruction in media literacy, and saw their violent behaviors decrease
> in comparison to a similar group that didn't receive the instruction.
>
> This story ran on page A01 of the Boston Globe on 3/21/2001. © Copyright
> 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.
>
> ==============================================================This was
> distributed via the memetics list associated with the
> Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
> For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
> see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
>
===============================================================
This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Mar 22 2001 - 13:00:05 GMT