Outline and critique experimental media effects research.

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Outline and critique experimental media effects research.

Over the past 50 years there has been a surge of research by social psychologists regarding the development of mass communication, with over 3500 research studies (Harris 2004) investigating media effects. Whilst others forms of media have been discussed, the growth of research seems to parallel the expansion of one particular form of media; television, as a result the majority of research has focused on the effects of TV. However critics of such research, such as McQuail (1994) are quick to note that, “the entire study of mass communication is based on the premise that the media has significant effects… yet there is little agreement on the nature and extent of these assumed effects.” In short, whilst there is mounting concern and “moral panic” regarding the media and its effects, studies intended to investigate this relationship have yielded little consistent evidence or have key flaws, which question any conclusions drawn.

The majority of concern about media effects relates to; television, children and acts of violence, with the intention of forming some type of relationship between them. Given this approach, this essay will focus on two examples of experimental research, which have attempted to support this, and focus primarily on the negative impact of the media.

First, the classical studies by Bandura (1961) will be outlined, to demonstrate where this belief about the negative effects of the media may have originated, next a critique of Bandura’s work will be offered with reference to methodological and theoretical flaws. Then more recent studies of media effects conducted by Anderson and Dill (2000) will be outlined, to demonstrate that current anxieties regarding media effects relate to others forms of media and that approaches to media effects research has changed. It will then be argued that whilst Anderson and Dill provide a good theoretical framework with GAAM, and a better approach to the study of media effects, there are key problems with the conclusions that they make, which also extent to the majority of effects research more generally. These flaws concern the direction which researchers are investigating from, the cultural background which may have contributed to the perceived effects of the media and the theory that media effects is grounded in.  

In Bandura’s classic experiment (1961) seventy-two 3-5 year olds are exposed to a model and an inflatable doll, “Bobo”. The model either behaves in an aggressive or non-aggressive manner towards the doll, and afterwards the model is rewarded by the experimenter, the child is then given a brief task designed to induce mild frustration and then left alone in the company of Bobo. Observational measures of the child’s behaviour were taken and results supported a social learning theory. Some specific behaviours were copied (e.g. the mallet was used to attack Bobo and verbal utterances were mimicked, “sock him”) by the children, and it was found that the gender of the model had greatest effect on incidences of aggressive behaviour. However, whilst behaviour very generally may have been more aggressive, some of it was not direct imitation of the violence they had seen (e.g. there was no punching), and the behaviour was restricted to Bobo, and no other toy/ character. This would suggest that whilst some form of imitation may have occurred, it is clearly restricted to specific circumstances, and shouldn’t necessarily be generalised to other. Given that the results of this study were highly specified and couldn’t be generalised, especially in relation to the effects of television, a second major study was carried out.

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Banduras’ second experiment attempted to address the previous problems, by having children observe videos of other children as opposed to observing live adult models.  The videos depicted either 2 children playing together, 1 child fighting with another and a) winning all the toys or b) loosing all the toys or, in a third condition; no film at all. In the condition where the aggressive child wins all the toys, the child observing the film, behaved more aggressively and imitated what they saw. However this behaviour was restricted to imitating only what they had seen. The findings from this study ...

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