The link between the media and aggression

Rebecca Childs

Introduction

We are doing a study on the link between the media and aggression. I am studying whether or not; aggression in the media has an effect on children today. Also I am going to go into great detail of aggression and then media, and then I am going to go in to detail the link between the two.

There are many different types of aggression and different ways of expressing aggression. Here is the dictionary definition of aggression- the act for an instance of commencing an attack, invasion or quarrel; an assault. In this dictionary there is also a psychology definition saying; hostile action or behaviors. Aggression is very common but most people find it hard to define.

Psychologists have split aggression into two simple groups. The first group is called instrumental aggression; it’s to do with competition and is used to achieve goals. Also it can be about protecting your self e.g. a victim of a fight or maybe to get your own way like a child may ask another child for a toy and when they are refused they might show aggression towards the other child. This type of aggression isn’t necessarily accompanied by anger. The second type of aggression is hostile aggression. Hostile aggression is aimed to damage someone e.g. in a fight if you are the one who starts the fight then you purposely do to harm that person. This type of aggression is usually accompanied by anger.

Media is viewed by the public it is a way of communicating with a large number of people. Media is the T.V, magazines, radio, videos; films etc. media is watched read and listened to by all ages including children. The dictionary definition of media is: mass communication, the word derived form medium.

Media affects every one and every one is affected by the media. It’s a huge way of communicating. You can use it as a source of information e.g. the news. Media creates role models, e.g. superman or children’s cartoon hero’s.

The link between media and aggression is the fact that media creates role models. Role models are linked with the social learning theory. If children have a role model according to the social learning theory the child will imitate the role models actions. Here’s an example, David Beckham is seen to some people as a role model. He is promoted through the media. When David Beckham got his ears pierced many people including children copied him. This was an affect of the media. Would it be the same if David Beckham’s actions weren’t getting his ears pierced but perhaps using ...

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You may have noticed that I used the word social learning theory. This is a theory often used by psychologists and is very important the study that we are doing. Social learning theory suggests that we don’t only learn by reinforcement, whether it’s positive or negative, but we learn by observing and imitating other people. Different people have different length to which they would copy. A role model is the person that we would imitate. The people who children may imitate are role models. So who is a role model? A role model id more likely to be the following:

Some one similar to the child: some one of the same sex e.g. a farther, someone of the same age e.g. a friend, some one in the child’s family e.g. a brother.
The role model may also be someone who is more powerful then the child: a parent, a teacher, a pop star, someone who plays sport, a cartoon character.
Also a child may imitate some one who cares for them.

Here is an example of a child copying a role model, in this situation the role model is a friend. There’s a boy called Joey who has a best friend called Tom. Tom end up starting a fight at school and Joey is stood there watching the fight. Tom ends up winning the fight and every one else in the play ground cheer tom. After seeing this Joey decides it would be a good idea to have a fight as well because then he may get the same reaction from his friends as Tom. Here’s the social learning theory on this situation. First you have the role model Tom, and then you have observation of the aggressive behavior taking place, then you have the reinforcement (the children cheering Tom on), and then you have the imitation (Joey wanting to have a fight). This show that the behavior has been learnt,

This theory has been tested on children. Psychologist Bandura did several studies. He used adults behaving aggressively because adults to children are seen as role models. Bandra sat children in a room with an adult whilst the adult was being aggressive to a booboo doll, whilst the adult was showing aggressive behavior towards the inflatable. After, Bandura gave the children a number of toys to play with including the booboo doll, whilst the adult was still in the room.

Bandura used experimental conditions. He had a child who watched a film where an adult was being aggressive towards the booboo doll and with another he made them watch w film with no violence in. he then put the children in a room that had a two way mirror n and the children were observed. The observers took notes on signs of aggression the child showed towards the booboo doll.

The results were:

If the child had watched an adult of the same sex being aggressive the levels if aggression were higher.
If the child was a boy then they were more aggressive then the girls.
The children gave evidence that they were aware what was appropriate by what they said, “Ladies shouldn’t do things like that.”
Children that had seen the adult (the role model) being punished for there aggressive behavior showed lower levels of aggression.
Even if the child did not imitate they had the choice to, after they were asked to imitate the adult’s behavior exactly and the majority of them were able to do so accurately. This means the children did learn the behavior even if they didn’t imitate.

Bandura’s work was very useful and did arouse questions about the role media has to play in aggression. Although, there were questions asked about the ethics involved in this investigation. The children where intentionally taught to be aggressive and then where told to be. Did the adults giving permission to the child, make the child think it is acceptable to be aggressive and violent like that?

It’s not only bandaura that has done investigations to look into the link between media and aggression. Some psychologists say that it may not be the direct blame of the media. Dolf Zillman and other psychologists agree with bandura’s theory. Although they say that people get aroused when they see violence on the T.V. Arousal researchers say that people also get excited when watching suspense, comedy, or sex scenes. They say that if people turn the T.V on and feel some what angry, the violence in the T.V can fuel and enhance the anger which may turn into a physical aggression. The instigation theorists say that it’s the arousal in the violent programs that stimulates the aggression, not the imitation process Bandra emphasized. Even though this theory sounds a good explanation, it doesn’t explain how viewers learn new types of aggressions.

So what do the media have to say about this? Of course there going to try and prove Banduras theory wrong. Liebert and sprafkin said, in the media’s defense- that aggression in the media may reduce aggression because of the depiction of the physical force. This theory maintains what Dolf Zillmann said that viewers are filled with anger like excess steam from a boiler, but this pressure is safely released through the exposure to fantasy violence. This is called the catharsis theory. The problem with the catharsis theory is that there’s no evidence to support it. Psychologists have tried to prove this theory but every time they do they end up with the opposite results. People may feel better after watching violence but they end up with the knowledge and the learning of violence.

Daniel Cumberbatch (1987) did an experiment studying violence on TV he analysed the out put of four channels over four separate weeks. He found:

30% of programs had violence
There was an average of 1.4 act of violence per program

-He included wrestling and boxing

-He didn’t include verbal threats. If he did the violent acts per program would increase.

The experiment was done a year later the study found that on satellite there was twice as much violent acts per hour. Although the violence acts in society was greater.

The aim of us doing this experiment is for us to find how much aggression is in a child’s TV program. We will watch the Simpson’s.

We are doing this investigation because a lot of psychologists investigate how aggression on TV affects child aggression. We wanted to find out how much aggression was actually on TV.

The Hypothesis for our experiment is- there will be a greater significant amount of aggression in the children’s TV program “the Simpson’s”

The Null Hypothesis is- there will be no significant amount of aggression in the children’s TV program “the Simpson’s”