This document discusses media effects and violence, covering several areas of study on the topic. It examines empirical data which has both proved and disproved links between media violence and real-life aggression. Social psychology experiments like the Bobo doll experiments are mentioned. Neuropsychology research shows how viewing violent images activates threat-related brain areas. Quantitative data on violence in media is still important. The psychological effects discussed include potential increases in aggression, desensitization, and the "mean world syndrome." Two cases of real-life murders apparently inspired by the TV show Dexter are provided as examples of moral panics around media effects.

1. Media
Effects

2. “Violence is one of the most fun things to
watch.”―Quentin Tarantino

4. Over the past fifty years
various studies have both
proved and disproved the
links between violence in
the media and aggression
in real life.

5. But the same questions keep coming up:
Violent entertainment is as old as entertainment
itself: why do we enjoy watching scenes of
pain, suffering and destruction?
What effect does watching violence have on
our attitudes towards violence? Does it make
our behaviour more violent?
Should there be rules about how much violence
is incorporated into entertainment? Should
there be restrictions on the availability of violent
entertainment?
Who is responsible for the violent content in

7. MORAL PANIC

9. Areas of Study
Empirical Data
Social Psychology
Neuropsychology
Quantitative Data

10. Empirical Data
Empirical evidence is a source of knowledge acquired
by means of observation or experimentation.
Empirical evidence is information that justifies a belief
in the truth or falsity of an empirical claim.
PROBLEMATIC!
You would need a comparative group of people
who had never seen violence in the media.
Impossible to test the impact of just a few images
under experimental conditions.

11. Social Psychology
Albert Bandura's Bobo Doll experiments

12. Social Psychology
The Bobo Doll Experiment was performed in 1961 by
Albert Bandura, to try and add credence to his belief that
all human behavior was learned, through social imitation
and copying, rather than inherited through genetic
factors.
The findings of the Bobo Doll Experiment proved to be a
little inconclusive with most of the predictions not being
fully proved.
There was a follow up experiment, in 1963, which used the
same methodology but showed the subjects violence via
video; this had a much less defined response than the
initial experiment.

13. Neuropsychology

14. Neuropsychology
The fMRI scan shows which areas of the brain are high
activity when looking at certain images, and which are
low activity, or dormant.
Viewing violent images activates areas of the brain
related to threat detection and response (fight or
flight).
There is evidence to suggest that viewing violent media
or playing video games actually inhibits the more
logical areas of the brain.
Debate still surrounds how long the effects of
experiencing violence last, and whether the long term
memory storage has a significant influence on future
behaviour.

15. Quantitative Data
There is a perception that the number of
violence incidents in the media is steadily
increasing, therefore quantitative data is
still important to researchers.

16. Quantitative Data

17. What Are the
Psychological Effects
of Media Violence?

18. Direct
Watching a lot of violence via the media may
mean children & adults may demonstrate more
aggressive behaviour themselves, or they may
have more approving attitudes towards the use
of violence to resolve conflicts

19. De-sensitisation
Exposure to media violence may mean children in
particular become less sensitive to violence, and
less sensitive to the suffering that violence causes
to others. They also have less sensitive views on
"acceptable" levels of violence in society - i.e. they
are prepared to tolerate more.

20. Mean World Syndrome
Watching large amounts of violence on TV may
lead children and adults to believe that the real
world contains this amount of pain and violence,
and therefore they begin to view their environment
as a mean and dangerous place.

21. Catharsis
A potentially POSITIVE effect, where exposure to
media violence may result in reduced aggression
in viewers, as it's a way of working through
aggressive tendencies in a harmless manner.

22. Effects on Children
Children are considered to be the group most 'at risk'
from media violence, because they do not have filters
in place which differentiate between violence seen via
a media channel, and violence in real life. A lot of
work has been done on the effects of violence on
television on children, as this is the medium they are
most exposed to.

24. Dexter: The Sympathetic
Psychopath

25. DEXTER
Showtime’s top-rated and award-winning TV show
about a Miami forensic technician leading a
double life as a serial killer, ran for eight
seasons between 2006 and 2013.

26. DEXTER
Dexter works for the Miami Police Department by
day as a lowly forensic analyst. In both halves
of his personality he's a hunter, following clues,
solving problems, seeking a target.

27. DEXTER
By night, he gives his dark side free rein and
hunts murderers, rapists, pedophiles and any
other violent criminals he believes have
escaped more conventional justice.

28. DEXTER
Self-aware, controlled and secretive, Dexter
has no guilt, no regrets. Whereas other
fictional psychopaths struggle with their
murderous side, Dexter owns his, even
giving it a name: Dark Passenger.

29. DEXTER
His modus operandi is simple. He stalks his prey,
captures them, drugs them, then takes them to
a kill room where he has one final conversation
about their past misdeeds (often confronting
them with photographs of their victims) before
stabbing them in the heart.

30. Dexter Copycat Murder #1: Mark Twitchell
“I'm a huge fan of the Showtime
series Dexter” – Mark Twitchell

31. Dexter Copycat Murder #1: Mark Twitchell
His plan was to pose as an attractive woman
on the dating website plentyoffish, and lure
potential victims to a lock-up garage. Once
inside the victim would be faced by a
masked Twitchell wielding a taser. After
regaining consciousness, the victim would
find themselves in a special “kill room”,
where they would be quizzed about key
items of personal information, before being
stabbed in the heart.

32. Dexter Copycat Murder #1: Mark Twitchell
Canadian Mark Twitchell
was convicted of firstdegree murder in 2011.
A lifelong fanboy,
obsessed with pop culture,
he fancied himself as a
supervillain.
Dexter gave Twitchell form

33. Dexter Copycat Murder #2: Andrew Conley
"I don't know if you've heard of it, but it's called
'Dexter', and it's on Showtime. And I feel like
him because he's a serial killer of bad people…
but I just feel like him." – Andrew Conley

34. Dexter Copycat Murder #2: Andrew Conley
On November 28, 2009, seventeen year-old
Andrew Conley turned himself in to police
in Rising Sun, Indiana, telling them he had
strangled his ten year old brother, Conner,
with his bare hands, then disposed of the
body in the woods the previous evening.
That morning, he contemplated killing his
sleeping father with a knife, but didn’t act
on his impulse.

35. Dexter Copycat Murder #2: Andrew Conley
Conley was clearly a
troubled individual with a
history of psychiatric
illness and neglect.
An admitted self-harmer,
he battled depression and
had attempted suicide
more than once.

36. Moral Panics
Media outlets pounced on the stories
especially comments about their favorite
TV show.
Rather than blaming behavior on a complex
set of reasons ranging from genetics to
social or psychological causes.
It was much easier to point the finger at the
violent character they identified with on TV.

37. Media Effects
Can you differentiate
between violence on TV and
in the real world?

38. Media Effects
Adapted from information found on:
http://www.mediaknowall.com/