Zainab Somji

9 weeks exam

Content Analysis

12th January 2009

Aim of the study

        The aim of this study is to observe the different signs and behaviors of aggression in specific news shows. These news shows included: Fox News Sunday, CBS Evening News, and The Situation Room. Thus, each news show was observed for any signs of aggressive behavior. The categories that were observed in each of these shows were those of verbal aggression such as threatening, hitting, cursing, yelling, throwing, pushing, and stabbing. Thus, each category was evaluated by the amount of aggression in each show, and analyzed.  

Introduction/literature review

Aggression, by definition, is behavior that intentionally acquires to cause harm (psychological or physical), pain or any personal injury. It is also known as the cause of pain between two entities of the same species. Thus, the essential aspect of determining aggression is the intention of the doer. Sometimes, accidents occur, such as trying to walking down a narrow aisle and bumping into a person. This is not determined as aggression because the intention was never there.         However, although intention is the most important factor, it is extremely hard to determine the intentions of individuals. Thus, the key is to examine and observe the behavior and look for types of behavior that cause harm or pain, by physical or verbal means. Physical acts of aggression can be hitting, throwing, pushing, stabbing, shooting ect. Verbal aggression on the other hand can be observed through threats, name calling, cursing or even simply yelling. Agression is prevalent in TV shows, and can be learned by anyone who is watching them through means of imitation. Studies show that violence on television increases the violence and aggressive behavior in a person’s life. These people include those who already have violent lives, or go through violent behavior, and is increased more when they watch such shows. It impacts all types of people of all ages. This study will undertake the observation of aggressive behavior, physical or verbal, in these different news shows. The main categories will be physical and verbal, followed by subcategories under each of these, with the purpose of seeing how much violence is actually on television each and every day.

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Method:

Design

The design of this research was an uncontrolled experiment, also known as an observational study. By watching the different new shows, the group members inferred on what looked like aggressive behavior for both the physical and verbal categories. This experiment was purely by means of observation, as other ways (such as having a controlled study) were by far not tangible to execute. Observation of news shows did not require a controlled experiment. The group members watched the same number and type of shows, in order to compare data and check inter-rater reliability and accuracy.

Partcipants:

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