An Investigation into the effect of media In the form of Violent and non-violent movies on perceived Levels of stress.

An Investigation into the effect of media In the form of

Violent and non-violent movies on perceived

Levels of stress

Abstract

The aim of this investigation is to research the relationship between Media in the form of violent and non-violent movies on the perceived levels of stress. The hypothesis stated that the group that viewed the violent view clip would have an increase in heart rate in comparison to that of the non-violent. The physiological effects for both the violent and non –violent movie groups was monitored to view if the violent movie would cause an increase in the physiological responses; in an empty classroom. An opportunity sample of Twenty four participants aged 16 - 17; equal men and women all students, all had resting heart rate taken. One group; equal men and women, was then shown a violent video clip. The other group was then shown a non-violent video clip. Both group’s had there pulse taken after at the immediate conclusion of their clip. The investigation showed that there was an increase mean heart rate of the violent clip group and a means heart rate decrease in the nonviolent. The conclusion drawn were that violence is a stressor and can effect physiological responses, and media can also decrease stress (non-violent).

Introduction

One of the most debated subjects in today’s world is the perceived effects of violence through media on today’s society. With the amount of violence being broadcasted increasing immensely over the last 20 years and continuing on an upward trend. In 2002 The Broadcasting Standards Commission published that there was an average of 5.2 violent scenes per hour on UK TV and that more violence was shown before the 9 o’clock watershed than after for the first time since records began. This clearly illustrates that children are at a greater risk of being exposed to violence. And it is this exposure to violence that is widely controversial, as many groups believe this exposure can shape a child’s character in later life, leading to anti-social behavior. And with this on the increase parallel to the increase in violence in media many people have researched into a connection. Many researchers and now people in general are of the belief that this increase is not a coincidence. One study which conclusion coincided with this was that of Barnett, his study involved investigating the physiological response to violent and non-violent video clips. Half of the participants in the study were shown a violent video clip and the other half was shown a non-violent clip. All of the participants physiological responses were monitored before and the after observing the video clip. These responses included heart rate and body temperature. The results showed that the group who had viewed the violent clip responses increased on average and the non-violent group’s responses decreased. From knowledge of human Biology the increase in the response of heart rate and temperature shows that a stress response has occurred because of a stressor in the from of violence. Meaning that the hypothalamus has been activated, and consequently the sympathetic branch of the ANS. The body has multiple reactions to this activation since it is preparing itself for danger in the form of the stressor (violence). One of these responses is the release of energy into blood vessels: in the from of fats, ready for a burst of activity. This stress reaction was investigated by Selye in which he use rats to test hormones but found that the rates soon became ill; with stomach ulcers, due to the stress of the injection of the hormones. He later developed the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) Model; this stated that there are three stages to a stress reaction. First there is an "alarm reaction," in which the body prepares itself for "fight or flight” (increase in heart rate) If the stressor is prolonged then it goes into the resistance stage. Finally, if the duration of the stress is sufficiently long, the body eventually enters a stage of exhaustion, a sort of aging "due to wear and tear." this then cause the suppression of the immune system and therefore stress-related illness.

Taking into account the amount of violence in media, the fact that it cause a stress reaction (Barnett) and that constant exposure to stressors can cause stress related illness (selye) there has been very little research into whether media as a stressor can cause illness through its physiological responses. With the one study by Barnett previously stated the only one into physiological responses and media.

Physiological responses to violence have yet to be studied in depth, with the one study by Barnett previously stated, one of only a few. These reactions could play the decisive role in the way a ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

Physiological responses to violence have yet to be studied in depth, with the one study by Barnett previously stated, one of only a few. These reactions could play the decisive role in the way a person deals with constant subjection to violence and their role in society. And with the majority of research into media violence being aimed towards its cognitive affects on children, there is a large aspect of this topic which has yet to be scrutinized and which consequently has a great need for it, considering the controversy surrounding the subject. Therefore, I am aiming my study toward establishing a relationship between physiological responses; in the form of heart rate and violence. I wish to use the information that will be gained from the investigation and use the results to draw conclusions on what effect media can have on a person. And make an educated conclusion on whether media as a stressor can cause illness through its physiological responses.

Aims & Hypothesis

Aim; An Investigation into the effect of media in the form of Violent and non-violent movies on perceived Levels of stress, in the form of physiological response i.e. heart rate.

Experimental Hypothesis; The group that view the violent video clip will have an increase in their heart rate in comparison to that of the group that view the non-violent clip.

The group that view the non-violent video clip will have a decrease in their heart rate

Null Hypothesis; the group that view the violent video clip will have no change in their heart rate

The group that views the non-violent video clip will have no change in heart rate. There will be no difference between the groups.

Method

Design: the method that was selected for this investigation was the experimental method with an independent groups design. The independent variable for this study was the video clip which the participant viewed either violent or non-violent, and the dependant variable was the participant’s heart rate. Multiple things had to remain constant through the experiment to enable a fair test and internal reliably. Standardized instruction where given to both groups, including debriefing (see appendix). Also the equipment used also remain constant this included the location. We use the single blind technique to enable a fair test as the participants did not know which group the were being allocated to. Thus reducing the demand effect as it makes it harder for the participants to guest what the aim of the experiment is, and change behavior. There were many ethical issues that we come across in this investigation firstly the deception involved in the single blind technique, so full consent cannot be gained. Therefore to overcome this all participants will be debriefed, this will included the reasoning for this deception and the rite to withdraw. Also the fact participants are being exposed to a mild stressor they are given the rite to withdraw at any time in the experiment. They are also inform that they are to are viewing scenes of a sensitive nature.

Participants: Twenty four participants aged from 16 – 17, 12 males and 12 females, were used in this study. They were all students of st Paul’s catholic school. Opportunity sampling was used to gather participants as we had limited people available as the research was done in lesson time. Participants were randomly place in either group with equal men and women in each. The researchers were a group of sixth former all of the age 17, two men and one woman.

Materials:

Electronic white board which is connected to a DVD player. Also has surround sound
1 min clips of both violent; 36mins and 20 seconds into it, and non-violent movie; 62 mins 50 seconds in to it. which were both taken from the movie Save the Last Dance, it was selected as the researchers believe that the violent scene was particular violent in comparison to that of other 15 certificates.
2 stop-watches to be used for timing heart rate and length of clip
Individual piece of paper for every participant to record heart rate before and after. Pens will also be required for this.
Classroom was required for research to take place.
Consent form for each participant, to cover ethical issues. (see appendix)
Copy of the standardized instruction for each of the three researchers. Also a debriefing form for one researcher to read out at conclusion of study. ( see appendix)

Procedure: The 24 participants were gathered together; 12 men and 12 women, the group was halved with 6 men and 6 women going into each group. The first group of participants (group A) was taken into the research room. The standardized instructions are conveyed to group. (See appendix) this involves the signing of the consent from ( a signed example can be seen in the appendix). Group A then follow the instructions given by the researcher; taking and recording heart rate. They then view a scene of violence out of the film Save the Last dance.Immedatly after this the standardized instructions tells the participants to again take heart rate and record it. The group is then debriefed and asked to leave.

The second group is then brought into the research room (group B). the same set of standardized instructions is given to this group with the same procedure being followed. But instead of viewing the violent clip group B views the non-violent clip.

Results

The Raw data that was gained from each group can be seen in the appendix.

The following graphs show the mean starting heart rate and the mean increase/ decrease in heart rate to show the comparison. And show the affect that it had in both conditions.

Analyzes of Results

Figure 1: Shows that there is a distinct change after the stimulus has occur, the majority of the participants heart rate increases after viewing the violent clips; 9 out of the twelve, which therefore illustrates the person is stressed by this.

Figure 2: Shows that there is another change in the heart rate after viewing the stimulus, many of the groups heart rate had decreased after viewing the video clip; 7 out of the 12, which shows that media can affect people.

Treatment of Results

After gathering my results I decide to test there significant, to do this I use the Mann Whitney U test (see appendix). The reasoning behind this choose was that this test is use in independent groups design and enables me to show the significant of the difference between the two groups.

My Mann Whitney U value =37.0

Critical Value (one tailed) = 42

Critical Value (two tailed) = 37.0

Looking at this information for my results to be significant my Mann Whitney U value must me less or equal to the two critical values. As u can observe the U value is 37 which is less than the one tailed critical value of 42. This show that my results are significant and thus I can accept my experimental hypothesis that the group that view the violent video clip will have an increase in their heart rate in comparison to that of the group that view the non-violent clip.

Discussion

The study I conducted into the physiological effects of media violence showed that violence coming in the context of media causes a significant increase in heart rate. On average the participants that view the violent clip had an increase in heart rate whereas the participants who had observed the non-violent clip on average had a decrease in heart rate. These trends can be seen in Figure 1 and 2, but on observing the raw data it can be seen that there are a few anomalies arising in both the violent and non-violent groups (e.g. Participate 9 in the violent group whose heart rate went down, this will be discussed further in this section. But taking into account the result that was gain in the Mann Whitney U test the experimental hypothesis that was first suggested can be accepted, that the group that view the violent video clip will have an increase in their heart rate in comparison to that of the group that view the non-violent clip.

As previously stated in the introduction there has been very little research into physiological responses and violence in media but the information assembled in this study and that of the study of Barnett give us a greater insight into the effects that media has on people. And with both studies concurring on results it can give a firm base for further research. With both agreeing that violence increases heart rate.

The stress which is induced by the viewing of violence could be caused by the person emphasizing with the victim. It could also be caused by the body sub-consciously believing that it’s in danger, causing a stress reaction “fight or flight” response activating the hypothalamus as stated in the introduction. This also occurs with emphasizing as it is a stress reaction.

On the contrary this response may have occur due to the background music that was played in both clips firstly in the violent clip it had very high tempo music whereas the non-violent had very slow claim music, which could have effected the responses that occurred. This point is reinforced by research into this subject done chimento & tafalla who study they effect of different music on heart rate; they concluded that high tempo music causes an increase in heart rate whereas slower claimer music cause a decrease. This could be further researched to see if it does affect the results of the experiment, e.g. using clips with no music.

One main limitation that was come across early on in this investigation was that of sampling the fact that only sixth form students of the ages 16 – 17 were used and therefore there was a bias sample. This could mean that the experiment lacks external validity as it doesn’t take into account the fact that different groups may be affected differently. But this research did improve the validity on Barnett’s as his had a bias sample of men and women, as the experiment had far more women. Where as my experiment had equal numbers of men and women making it more representative of the general population and subsequently can be further generalized.

The demand characteristic was a fault that was come across due to sampling in this study as the researchers and participants knew each other and therefore participant may have tried to behavior as they perceived desirable. But with the use of the single blind technique and the selection of physiological responses as the measurement of stress it went some way to ceasing this. As participants would find it difficult to increase there heart rate as the heart is an involuntary muscle.

Also a big flaw in this particular investigating was that participant would have to monitor there own heart rate both before and after the investigation. This was not adequate as this opens the investigation to human error. Some people may not be able to find a strong pulse and my miss beats thus lowering the accuracy of the results and therefore the reliability of the conclusion we gathered. Also the pressure of finding their pulse immediately after view the view clip may have had an adding affect on heart rate. This flaw was combated by all participants being instructed where to find they pulse in the standardized instructions and these instructions also gave the participants warning that the clips was going to finish thus preparing them. If the experiment was repeat each participate could use a heart rate monitor to eliminate the likely hood of this effect.

This investigation along with the information gathered by Barnett gives great bases for further research into the subject. If further research was to to be done a few adjustments would have to be made to ensure greater reliability. Firstly stratified sampling would be used, eliminating the sample bias and also give us results base on the wider population giving more external validity thus can be generalized to the whole population. This would also take away the fault of having demand characteristic as the there would be a wider range of participants therefore the researcher will not know the participants. Another improvement that would be made would be to use heart rate monitors to take the participant heart rate this would eradicate the chance for human error giving further reliability to my results. Finally to prevent the effect of music on the heart rate, the problem I previously mention I would use a different video clip for both violent and non-violent groups. One in which had no background music to stop this from being a factor and to see if this had an effect on my previous results. The film clip may also be change to an 18, although this would have ethical issue it would make the violence more realistic as real life violence is not judged my certificates which it was in the original study.(certificate 15) but to over come the ethical issue participates would have to be over 18.

On reflection I believe that this study has highlighted the fact that media can effect people whether in a positive way; non violent, or negative; violent. But it is this negative aspect that has caused wide spread controversy and when you consider the research that has been done to establish that violence in media cause a stress reaction; increase in heart rate. This controversy is just! With stress related illness coming to prominent’s in modern times, people are frequently coming into contact with mild stressors without being aware. Further research into this would give a greater foundation for an educated judgment to be made on this matter i.e. lower the amount of violence on television as this could decrease cases of CHD. As stated in the introduction stress causes the activation of the stress reaction thus the release of fats into the blood, and if these fats are not use through exercise they deposit in veins. With violence in the media on the continuing increase along with heart disease could this slight contributor be significant in the long run. Further research would be done under the bases to find the effect of violence on a persons immune system, and would have the hypothesis that an increase in violence will cause an increase in the likelihood of stress related illness.