Chapter 11 Flashcards
V chip mandate
Telecommunications Act of 1996 made installation of v chips mandatory on new tv models.
Allows parents to block signals and prevent violent, sexual and strong language content from being received in their homes
The act also required tv industry to rate programs
Content Analysis
Must first clearly define the variable- i.e. Violent content - and then carefully watch various programs to code each instance of that variable (violence).
Sometimes content is classified according to program type, character type, weapon type, and type of physical harm/damage.
Content must be clearly defined
Three levels of psychological impact from violent media
Behavioral
Cognitive
Affective/emotional
Behavioral effects (5)
Watching tv influences a person’s behavior in 5 ways:
Catharsis
Arousal
Disinhibition
Desensitization
Imitation
Catharsis
This mechanism allows viewers to vent their aggressive impulses harmlessly through viewing televised violence or by fantasizing about violent acts.
Arousal
When a viewer watches a violent, funny, or sexual scene he or she becomes excited or emotionally aroused and this arousal can be measured physiologically.
True or false: viewers usually attribute their elevated arousal to what they are viewing.
False: they usually do not. They attribute to something else, which may be true but the tv program also plays a role
Disinhibition
This mechanism operates under the assumption that as viewers grow more accustomed to seeing violence on tv, especially justified violence, they become less inhibited by social sanctions against committing violent acts.
Imitation
This mechanism assumes that viewers learn from what they see on television and sometimes try to mimic the action themselves.
Especially true for young children
Desensitization
As viewers repeatedly view more violence they become less and less sensitized and sympathetic to the victims of violence.
Affective/emotional effects
Research has shown that everyone, regardless of age, experiences emotional reactions and these can be either long term or short term
Immediate/short term emotional effects
Fright or anxiety
Long term emotional effects examples
Persistent fear of becoming a victim of a crime
Long time fear/phobia of certain images, situations or animals/people/monsters
True or False: Desensitization can be used to reduce fright reactions in people by “flooding” these images in a non threatening atmosphere.
True
Cognitive effects
Watching tv violence influences a viewer’s beliefs about the real world.
