Smith et al. (1998) NTVS

 

 

 

 

 

Communication Exam #2  Readings

 

Smith et al. (1998) NTVS

1.   FOUR FOUNDATIONS OF STUDY

a.   1- TV violence contributes to harmful effects on viewers

b.   2- Three types of harmful effects can occur from viewing TV violence

i.   Learning aggressive attitudes and behaviors
ii.   Desensitization to violence

iii.   Increased fear of being victimized by violence

c.   3- Not all violence poses the same degree of risk of these harmful effects

i.   Attractive perpetrator: increases aggression
ii.   Attractive victim: increases fear

iii.   Justified violence: increases aggression

iv.   Unjustified violence: decreases aggression, increases fear

v.   Conventional weapons: increases aggression
vi.   Extensive/graphic violence: increases aggression, fear, 

desensitization

vii.   Rewards: increases aggression, fear

viii.   Punishments: decreases aggression, fear

ix.   Pain/harm cues: decreases aggression
x.   Humor: increases aggression, desensitization

d.   4- Not all viewers are affected by violence in the same way

i.   Younger more likely to perceive fantasy/cartoon as realistic, also 

less capable of linking scenes together to make sense of events that  occur at different points in a program (below 7 is vulnerable)

2.   KNOW TABLE 1

3.   KEY ASPECTS OF DEFINITION

a.   Violence is defined as any overt depiction of a credible threat of physical 

force or the actual use of such force intended to physically harm an 

animate being or group of beings.  Violence also includes certain 

depictions of physically harmful consequences against an animate being or  group that occur as a result of unseen violent means

b.   Three Forms
i.   Credible threats

ii.   Behavioral acts

iii.   Harmful consequences of unseen violence

c.   Talk about Violence – reality TV – verbal recounting of threats, acts 

and/or harmful consequences by a person or person-like character  appearing on screen or heard from off- screen

4.   SAMPLE

a.   9 month period each year from Oct 1994 to Nov 1997

b.   23 TV channels to create a composite week of content for each source 
c.   6 am to 11 pm

d.   Five categories

 

 

 

 

i.   Broadcast networks
ii.   Independent broadcast

iii.   Public broadcast
iv.   Basic cable

v.   Premium cable

5.   MEASURES: INCIDENTS, SCENES, AND PROGRAMS

a.   Violent Incident: interaction between a perpetrator and a victim
b.   Violent Scene: instance of ongoing, uninterrupted violence

c.   Violent Program: evaluated to determine if there is an overall theme of 

violence or anti-violence
6.   FINDINGS

a.   Much of TV violence is still glamorized

i.   Perpetrators are attractive
ii.   No punishment or remorse

b.   Most violence of TV continues to be sanitized

i.   ½ no physical harm or pain

ii.   Most don’t show long-term damage of violence

c.   Much of the serious physical aggression on TV is still trivialized

i.   Physical aggression would be lethal in real life
ii.   TV includes humor

d.   Very few programs emphasize an anti-violence theme
e.   60% of TV programs contain violence

7.   HIGH-RISK DEPICTION

a.   When several plot elements that encourage aggressive attitudes and 

behaviors are all featured in one scene

i.   A perpetrator who is an attractive role model

ii.   Violence that seems justified
iii.   Violence that goes unpunished

iv.   Minimal consequences to the victims
v.   Violence that seems realistic to the viewer

b.   Most often found in cartoons

c.   High risk for average preschooler; little risk for older viewers who know 

it’s unrealistic

 

Signorelli (1990)

1.   WHAT IS MESSAGE SYSTEM ANALYSIS

a.   Examines data relating to violence in annual week-long samples of 

primetime and weekend-daytime (children’s) 

b.   Violence is defined in a simple and straightforward way as the overt 

expression of physical force against self or other on pain of being hurt or  killed, or actually hurting or killing. 

c.   Not coded: idle threats, verbal abuse, or gestures without credible violent 

consequences

d.   Accidental violence and acts of nature are recorded

e.   Observations measure the extent to which violence occurs at all the  programs sampled, the rate of violent actions per program and per hour, 

 

 

 

 

and the involvement of major characters in violence- either as characters  who commit violence, characters who are victimized, or both

2.   SIMILAR OR DIFFERENT TO NTVS?
3.   CULTIVATION ANALYSIS

a.   Hypotheses: there should be a relationship between TV viewing and  expressing views reflecting a “mean world” (interpersonal mistrust) and 

alienation and gloom

i.   Heavy viewers will espouse these views more than light ones

ii.   Tested using general social surveys
b.   Two types of analyses

i.   FIRST: relationship by calculating zero-, first-, and sixth- or  seventh order partial correlation coefficients controlling for sex, 

age, education, race, income, subjective social class, and political  orientation  

ii.   SECOND: respondents divided into two groups- those who had  high scores and those who had low scores, and those classified as 

light, medium and heavy viewers 4.      FINDINGS/DISCUSSION (on violence on TV)

a.   Basic structure has been stable
b.   Violence on TV

i.   Cartoons saturated with mostly non lethal violence

ii.   Violence is used in programming to demonstrate who can get away 

with what against whom, and who should submit to whom. It tells  us who matters and who doesn’t 

iii.   Victims: more women than men, minority and foreign highest 

price

c.   What viewers learn about violence and the world

i.   Women, young and old people, and some minorities most 

vulnerable, cultivation of real world fear

ii.   Heavy viewers more likely to live in a self-reinforcing cycle of a 

mean and gloomy world

 

Smith & Donnerstein (1998)
5.   CONTRIBUTIONS OF NTVS

a.   Two assumptions

i.   Exposure to TV violence contributes to a range of antisocial effects 

on viewers

ii.   Not all violent portrayals pose the same risk of harm to viewers

b.   Reason for key components of definition

i.   Intentionality: if excluded then many behaviors not considered 

aggressive would qualify as violence

ii.   Physical harm: center of conceptualizations, be assured the 

findings are conservative in nature

iii.   Animate being: other things don’t contribute to the learning of 

aggressive thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors
c.   Reason for multiple units of analysis

 

 

 

 

i.   Violent interaction
ii.   Violent scene

iii.   Violent program

iv.   Violent incidents occur between characters in particular scenes. 

Scenes situated in programs that may portray violence in very  different ways. Used to capture meaning of violence

d.   Limitations of NTVS

i.   Results only inform prevalence of violence

ii.   Only sampled, did not assess violence in news programs
iii.   News stories often have violence or its harmful aftermath, so 

prevalence may be higher than findings reveal
6.   CONCLUSIONS ABOUT THE EFFECT OF VIOLENCE

a.   Correlation between viewing TV violence and aggressive behavior, direct 

and causal link with behavior in child viewers

b.   Other effects include increased fear of becoming a victim and exaggerated 

perceptions of how much aggression and criminal activity in the world
c.   Heavy viewing correlated with aggressive behavior/ attitudes
d.   Stable over time, place, and demographics

e.   May emotionally desensitize

f.    Exposure can contribute to increased fear

7.   THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES

a.   Learning Aggression

i.   Social Learning Theory: individuals acquire social behaviors 

through direct experience and indirectly through the observation of  models. Learn what behaviors are socially sanctioned or rewarded  in society and those that are reprehensive or punishable; directed  toward achieving some goal or reward

ii.   Huesmann & Eron: concluded that early viewing of violence on 
TV stimulates aggression and that early aggression is a statistical 

precursor to later criminal behavior

iii.   Social Cognitive Theory: includes cognitive processes involved in 

observational framework; such as priming…

iv.   Priming Effects Perspective (Berkowitz) for short-term, transient 

effects; stimuli seen or heard in the mass media can activate or  “prime,” for a short time, related thoughts in viewers. These  thoughts, in turn can activate other semantically associated ideas,  feelings, and even tendencies

v.   Priming aggressive thoughts can alter interpretations of others and 

attitudes toward aggressive behavior; may heighten probability of  acting aggressively. 

vi.   Social Development Theory (Huesmann): long-term; social  behavior controlled by cognitive scripts that are learning early in 

the course of a child’s development; by watching a great deal of  violence, children can develop aggressive scripts or cognitive rules  for dealing with problems that arise in social situations

vii.   Realism, being able to identify with characters, same 

 

 

 

 

environmental circumstances, repeated exposure heightens the  ability of coding

b.   FEAR

i.   Can lead to unrealistic perceptions of how much violence occurs in  the world and thus a general fear of becoming a victim of crime

ii.   Cultivation theory: heavy exposure can shape or alter perceptions 

of social reality

iii.   Heavy viewers believe the world is more violent and unsafe

iv.   Criticism that all its evidence is correlational 

1.   Under controlled conditions also increases fear and anxiety

v.   Effect may be program specific

vi.   Children’s reactions may be more specific, immediate, and urgent

1.   Process similar to stimulus generalization might be 

operating

a.   Danger and injuries

b.   Distortions of human characters

c.   Situations in which others are in fear or danger

vii.   Three important factors of a fear effect

1.   The similar to real life the stronger reaction

2.   Motivations for selecting certain media

3.   Factors like physiological arousal increase fright reactions

8.   CONTEXTUAL FEATURES OF VIOLENCE

a.   Nature of the perpetrator 
b.   Nature of the target
c.   Justification of violence
d.   Presence of Weapons

e.   Extent and graphicness of violence
f.    Degree of realism of violence
g.   Rewarded or punished violence
h.   Consequences of violence
i.    Humor accompanying violence

9.   ISSUES OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

a.   Two skills make children make sense of and interpret in a different way 

than older children

i.   Difference between reality and fantasy 

ii.   Ability to draw inferences and connect scenes across a program
b.   How two skills influence reactions

i.   Understanding difference btw reality and fantasy emerges slowly; 

may be perceived as “real” and increase aggression

ii.   Older kids are better at linking scenes, integrating pieces of a story 

together, and drawing inferences from story information; important  for depicting punishments/ consequences

 

Sparks Chapter 5

10. LONG TERM STUDIES OF ERON & HUESMANN

a.   Wanted to know how much violence kids watched on TV and how 

 

 

 

 

aggressive each child was in daily life activities; through questionnaires  number assigned that indicated quantity of violence

b.   Found there was a tendency for children who watched higher levels of TV 

violence to also have higher scores on ratings of aggressive behavior

i.   No way to measure direction of correlation

c.   Children with higher numbers on TV violence also tended to be the adults 

who became involved in more serious crimes

d.   Not every child who watched large amounts ended up involved in crime

e.   We can’t be sure that childhood viewing was a causal factor
Sparks Chapter 5: Effects of Media Violence

Long-Term Studies of Eron and Huesmann

•    Study of over 800 children under 10 in 1960s

o How much violence watched and how aggressive each child is

   Conversations and questionnaires given to parents, teachers, and 

children

o Assigned 2 numbers gauging amount of TV violence and aggressiveness 

in daily situations

o Findings: tendency for children with higher levels of TV violence to have 

higher scores for aggressive behavior

o Completed again once children were 19 and then 30

   Higher number on TV violence scale results in higher involvement 

with serious crimes

11. WHAT IS CATHARSIS AND DOES RESEARCH SUPPORT?

a.   Idea that viewing TV violence could be therapeutic to purge pent up 

emotions for a person filled with anger or frustration
b.   Initial evidence = Support

i.   Used detention facility; boys who watched TV violence behaved 

less aggressively than the boys who watched no violence
c.   Results do not support

i.   Single study

ii.   People will act more violently if they can’t watch their favorite 

programs than they will if they can watch them 

Catharsis Hypothesis

•    Seymour Feshbach (1960s) believed watching TV violence could be therapeutic 

for an angry person

o Study on juvenile hall: boys allowed to watch violent TV in juvenile hall 

were less violent

   Seemed to support theory, but study was insufficient. Juveniles 

were less aggressive most likely b/c they were simply allowed to  watch TV, not because it was violent and therapeutic

No evidence to support theory: other researchers criticized Feshbach’s research

12. PRIMING/ FACILITATION EFFECT

a.   Priming is a process whereby one thing that you think about reminds you 

of other things in your mind that you associate with the first thing
b.   When people view images of media violence…

i.   Violence can prime thoughts that are related for hostility

 

 

 

 

ii.   Might prime thoughts that lead one to believe that aggressive  behavior might be warranted in certain situations and bring about 

certain benefits

iii.   Might prime action tendencies that cause people to be more 

inclined to act violently
Priming/Facilitation effect

•    Facilitating effect: when angry people are exposed to media violence, they are 

more likely to act aggressively

•    Priming: when watching media reminds you of or makes you think of something 

else associated to the subject matter. 
o prime thoughts related to hostility

o prime aggression related to thoughts

o prime action tendencies that cause people to act more violently

13. DESENSITIZATION

a.   Desensitizing effect can make us numb to violence in real life so that we 

don’t react to it was we would if we had never send it on the screen
b.   Evidence

i.   Anecdotal: sequels have more violence; attempting to satisfy 
ii.   Drabman/Thomas research: children who had watched a violent 

video were far less likely than those who didn’t to make an attempt  to notify the experiment about fight observed on the monitor

Desensitization

•    Media can make us numb to violence in real life, we don’t react to violence the 

same if we haven’t seen it already on TV

o Anecdotal evidence: sequels have much more violence than the original b/

c the audience may get bored

14. WHY DO PEOPLE LIKE MEDIA VIOLENCE?

a.   Violent entertainment is preferred form of entertainment only for a 

minority of the general audience

b.   Some literally experience sensory delight with media violence

c.   Some may experience post-viewing satisfaction from viewing events,  characters, and themes that tend to appear in violent contexts- while not 

necessarily enjoying the violence itself

d.   May contain other themes that viewers tend to enjoy

Why do people like media violence?

•    3 reasons people like viewing violence

o Some have sensory delight

o Experience post-viewing gratification through resolution, not necessarily 

the violence itself

o May be other themes they enjoy

Sparks Chapter 6: Sexual Content in the Media
Obscenity

•    not protected under first amendment…not sure why?
o very hard to restrict obscenity though

 

 

 

 

•    must go through courts and prove:

•    that message was designed to appeal to sexual interests

•    it has no redeeming artistic value

•    it violates contemporary community standards

Sparks Chapter 6

•    OBSCENITY: Is it protected speech? Why or why not?

o Not protected under the First Amendment

o Legal test is very rigorous; must establish that the media message in 

question was designed primarily to stimulate or appeal to sexual or  prurient interests, that is has no redeeming artistic value, and that it  violates contemporary community standards

Difference between pornography and erotica

•    pornography: material that features explicit sexual behavior and nudity

o usually one character exerts physical or psychological dominance over 

another

•    erotic media: material that features explicit sexual content without violence or 

power dynamics

•    DIFFERENCE BTW PORN AND EROTICA

o Pornography seems to have become associated with material that features 

explicit sexual behavior and nudity in a context frequently characterized  by depictions of one character exerting physical or psychological  dominance over another

o Erotica media seems to be associated more with material that features  explicit sexual content in the absence of violence and without the overt 

power dynamics that appear in pornography

National Commission on Obscenity and Pornography

•    created in 1967 due to concern about role of porn in crime and juvenile 

delinquency

o commission studied effects of porn on public

   studied mostly sexually explicit but not violent material
•    findings: empirical investigation shows no evidence that exposure to sexual 

material causes social or individual harm, no known harms caused by porn

o some people didn’t agree

•    trigger hypothesis: exposure to sexually explicit material will provoke viewer to 

commit a sex crime

•    safety valve theory: exposure to sexual material satisfies urges and prevent crimes

o commission studied decreased sex crime rate in Denmark after relaxation 

of legal restraints on porn which supports safety valve theory

•    Spread of pornography has different results but one fact is stable across countries

o Rape incidences do not decrease when porn is permitted to flow freely
•    COMMISSION ON OBSENITY AND PORNOGRAPHY

o Est. in 1967 by Congress because of growing concern about the role of 

 

 

 

 

pornography and juvenile delinquency; studied existing laws pertaining to  pornography and to arrive at a better understanding of the material

o Most material studied was sexual but not violent 
o Major Finding

   There is no warrant for continued government interference with the 

full freedom of adults to read, obtain or view whatever such  material they wish

   No evidence provides exposure to or use of explicit sexual 
materials play a significant role in the causation of social or 

individual harms such as crime, delinquency, sexual or nonsexual  deviancy or severe emotional disturbances

o Reexamination of Findings

   Trigger hypothesis: claims that exposure to sexually explicit 

materials will cause a response in some people that will provoke  them in a such a way that it may lead them to commit a sex crime

   Safety valve theory: claims that exposure to sexually explicit 

material will satisfy whatever urges might cause a person to 
commit a sex crime

   Inconsistent results, but incidence of rape does not decrease when 

porn is permitted to flow freely

   Research collected over a very limited time period, and could not 

study impact on children

Behavioral Consequences of Viewing

•    Researchers run into ethical issues when studying pornography as a cause for 

increased sex crimes

o Can’t do studies on children, can’t do experiments involving rape

•    Electric shock paradigm: experiments by Stanley Milgram, participants 

administer shocks on another person when they get an answer wrong
o Experiment is staged, no shock is given, receiver is part of experiment 

team

o Measures how willing the person is to shock the receiver

•    Leonard and Taylor: used electric shock paradigm to study effects of sexual 

materials

o Male and female view a slideshow of sexual material

o Female is member of the team and has 3 responses

   “no cues” script: no reaction
   Non-permissive cues: disapproving comments
   Permissive cues: positive comments

o After slideshow, test continues with electric shock paradigm

   Rigged so that female decides to administer high levels of shock 

and male discovers this

o Findings: males who watched this slideshow with a female who gave 

permissive cues delivers high levels of shock

   Males adopted to calloused perceptions of the female on the basis 

 

 

 

of the female’s earlier tolerance of sexual material
•    Ecological validity: whether the experiment applies to real world situations

•    Mundane realism: small details that don’t apply to real world

o People do not carry electric shocks machines around to use when they are 

angry

•    Experimental realism: the meaning assigned to mundane realism (small details) is 

similar to meaning assigned to events in real world
•    BEHAVIORAL CONSEQUENCES OF VIEWING

o Electric shock paradigm (Milgram) used with erotic slides

o Study with males who were in the presence of a female viewed slides that 

were either neutral or erotic

   Erotic slides: female reacted to cues

•    No cues: no reaction

•    Non-permissive cues: disapproving comments made
•    Permissive cues: variety of positive comments 

   Rigged so that males would discover that female had decided to 

administer a very high shock level 

   RESULT: permissive cues males more likely to deliver higher 

levels of shock; reasoned female would more easily tolerate shock  because she tolerated erotica

o Ecological validity: very difficult to learn about “real world” from 

experiment

o Mundane realism: if details don’t match situations encountered outside the 

lab, then we know little about how results inform our understanding of  real-world events

Experimental realism

Excitation Transfer

•    General arousal from any source can intensify an emotional experience 

immediately after exposure much more than normally
o Can intensify both positive and negative emotions

•    EXCITATION TRANSFER

o General arousal from any source can intensify an emotional experience 

and make it much more prominent than it would be ordinarily without the  arousal

o Whatever emotions they experience after viewing may be much more 

intense; can have both positive and negative emotions 

o Arousal will decay; ability to identify arousal’s source enables  you to 

keep it separate from whatever emotional reaction you might have;  sometimes with decay you think it’s returned to normal but it hasn’t. This  is when excitation transfer can occur

•    CONTROL OVER MEDIA CONTENT

o Legal

   Obscene speech is illegal; people may object to sex in the media, 

but they simultaneously defend the right to produce it. 

 

 

 

 

   Can claim that certain sexual depictures serve to deprive some 

members of society (women) of their civil rights
o Social/ Economic control

   Religious groups often launch boycotts of advertisers who try to 

sell goods on objectionable programs
o Education

   Participating in studies can help people become more sensitive to 

issues
Control over media content

•    Sex and the internet: makes sexual material more available than ever

o Should public libraries and schools use blocking software?

   Doesn’t always work

o Although there are not studies, internet porn is assumed to be harmful to 

children

•    Legal control: government attempts t restrict flow of sex material

o Censorship usually fails to gain popularity

o Some argue that sexual depictions deprive people of their civil rights 

(mainly women)

   Usually doesn’t work

•    Social or Economic control: boycotts of advertisements on objectionable 

programs, boycotts of businesses that sell sexually oriented material

o Usually ineffective over long run

•    Control through education: teach about impact of media and how to deal and 

manage it

o Donnerstain’s experiment shows that males who participate in studies are 

more sensitive to issues about rape myths than those who do not  participate

o Malamuth shows similar findings

Sparks Chapter 7

15. 75% OF KIDS SCARED BY MOVIE OR TV SHOW

16. PERCEPTUAL THOUGHT VS. ABSTRACT/ CONCEPTUAL THOUGHT

a.   Perceptual thought: stage children are in age 2 to 7; concrete, visual 

appearance of things tend to dominate child’s interpretation of and  reaction to the real world; if it looks scary it will be

b.   Conceptual/abstract thought in children over 7; if depiction could really 

happen and consequences are physically threatening, will probably  generate some fear

Sparks Chapter 7: Media That Stir Emotions
Percent of kids scared

•    75% of children have been scared by a movie or TV program
Perceptual vs. abstract thought

•    Perceptual thought: children 2 to 7; concrete, visual appearance of things 

dominate their perception of the world

o Frightened by characters that look menacing, whether or not they are 

 

 

 

 

realistic

•    Abstract/conceptual thought: children 7 up; visual appearance does not dominate 

perception

o Scared by events or characters that could be real

17. FANTASY VS. REALITY CONTENT

a.   Older children can distinguish, but younger don’t understand that it’s just 

pretend; younger may come to understand that not real should make it less  threatening but its usually not efficient

Reality vs. Fantasy

•    Parents tell their children not to be scared because it’s “not real”

o Parents believe that labeling it “not real” makes it less threatening
o This strategy works only with children over 7

•    Younger children don’t understand why they should be less afraid 18. COGNITIVE STRATEGIES

a.   Encourage children to think about things they already know and relate 

those things to the aspects of the movie that are scary
Cognitive strategies

•    Older children: encourage children to think about what they already know and 

relate that to the aspects of a movie that are scary

o Since they are afraid of things that could happen, parents attempt to 

explain the low probability that these events will actually occur
•    Younger children: prevent the child from seeing scary media in the first place

o Should not be forced to “conquer” their fear, TV should just be turned off

19. NON-COGNITIVE STRATEGIES

a.   Refrain from trying to encourage the child to think about the source of 

their fear; distract or avoid object of fear altogether
Non-cognitive strategies

•    Don’t encourage child to think about the source of their fear, distract them from it

o Avoid talking about it, “out of sight—out of mind”

20. ZILLMAN’S EXCITATION TRANSFER

a.   When people become scared watching a movie, their entire arousal system 

kicks into high gear. Arousal helps intensify fear. Arousal lingers after  movie is over, but fear is replaced with feelings of relief and even joy

b.   Remembers last feeling experienced- euphoria
Zillman’s Excitation Transfer (revisited)

•    When people become scared their arousal system is boosted

o Heart rate, blood pressure, muscle tension, and physiological indicators 

increase

•    Intensifies fear

o Arousal lingers after viewing

•    Fear replaced by relief and even joy or euphoria

•    Most people enjoy scary movies for the feeling or relief afterwards Kunkel et al. (2003) 

 

 

 

 

21. DEFINITION OF SEXUAL CONTENT

a.   Any depiction of sexual activity, sexually suggestive behavior, or talk 

about sexuality or sexual activity. Portrayals involving talk measured  separately from those that include sexual actions or behaviors

b.   Physical flirting, passionate kissing, intimate touching, sexual intercourse 

strongly implied, sexual intercourse depicted, other

c.   Talk: comments about own/others sexual actions/interests, talk about 

intercourse that has already occurred, talk toward sex, talk about sex- related crimes, expert advice, other

22. SAMPLE

a.   Composite week highly representative of the full range of content that 

appears on TV
b.   Prime- time shows

c.   Three episodes of each other the 20 most frequently viewed TV series for 

those between 12-17 years of age
23. FINDINGS (2002 only)

a.   Top 3 types of talk about sex

i.   Comments about own/other’s interests

ii.   Talk about sex-related crimes

iii.   Talk about sex that has already occurred

b.   Top 3 types of sex behavior

i.   Passionate kissing

ii.   Physical flirting/ sexual intercourse implied

iii.   Intimate touching

c.   Prevalence of risk & responsibility messages

i.   Only 6%, 2% if all scenes with sexual content

ii.   26% of programs that feature intercourse-related content include at 

least one risk or responsibility message within the show

 

 

Donnerstein et al. (1992)

24. THREE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

a.   What are the effects of exposure to indecent language?
i.   Sexual naiveté on the part of younger children found 

ii.   If children can’t comprehend basic sexual concepts, it’s unlikely 

that any indecent language will be fully understood

b.   What are the effects of exposure to song lyrics or poems that contain 

sexually explicit language or sexual references?

i.   Teens have a very limited and superficial understanding of the 

meaning of lyrics

c.   What are the effects of exposure to movies that include nudity and scenes 

depicting sexual matters?

i.   No statistically significant effects on sexual behavior result from 

early exposure

ii.   Can learn terms but no effects on beliefs and values

25. DEFINE HARMFUL EFFECT

 

 

 

 

a.   Two elements: one based on a societal judgment about what constitutes  harm, and the other based on the reliability and validity of scientific 

evidence necessary to demonstrate such harm

b.   Meager evidence of effects associated with exposure to indecency; many 

methodological limitations; correlational in nature

 

Berg (1990)

26. SOCIOLOGICAL & PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

a.   Sociological view: stereotypes are preexisting categories in culture and are 

learned in the socialization process

i.   Vicious cycle aspect: when learned stereotypes are expressed they 

are reinforced

ii.   Validation solidifies into norms that suggest how certain 

individuals and groups should be treated

iii.   Delineated depending on the power relationship btw groups

1.   Stratified: holding unequal power

2.   Oppositional: competing for same resources 
3.   Coexist peacefully: mutually beneficial relationship

b.   Psychological: trace to early development when child first makes  distinctions between self and the world; accompanied by a dawning 

awareness of loss of control over environment
i.   Object-relations theory: other and self are antitheses

ii.   Stereotypes are fluid; also society’s denial of its own negative 

tendencies by assigning them to an Other
27. PSYCHOANALYTIC & IDEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

a.   Psychoanalytical

i.   Freudian fetish; idealized object that acts as a defense mechanism 

for the individual; imaginary to symbolic; subject linked to other  and locked in search for a unified self that can’t be achieved

ii.   Lacan: unconscious is organized, subversive force, operates out of  own logic; set of signifiers in the endless chain that the subject 

moves through in its endless search for imaginary
b.   Ideological: Marxist, feminist, and gay

i.   Can read stereotype as a negative mirror of dominant values
ii.   Identify, justify and support mainstream beliefs

iii.   Stereotypes possess ethnocentrism and the belief in inborn and 

unalterable psychological characteristics
28. 6 HOLLYOOD STEREOTYPES OF THE HISPANIC

a.   El bandido: Mexican bandit; treacherous, shifty, dishonest; drug runner, 

rebel leader, dictator, inner-city gang members
b.   Half-breed Harlot: lusty, hot-tempered, slave to passion

c.   Male Buffoon

d.   Female Clown: neutralizes over sexual threat of harlot
e.   Latin Lover

f.    Dark Lady: mysterious, virginal, inscrutable, aristocratic
g.   (Wise Old Man, Fat Mama, Poor Peon)

 

 

 

 

 

Sparks Chapter 10

29. FACE-ISM

a.   Refers to the tendency to represent people in terms of their face or head as 

opposed to their body

i.   Males more likely to be represented in terms of their heads or face

ii.   Females more likely to be represented in terms of their bodies
b.   High on face perceived as more intelligent, ambitious, and better looking

c.   Perceptions of those with higher facial prominence are more positive Sparks Chapter 10: Effects of Media Stereotypes

Face-ism

•    Tendency represent people in terms of their face instead of their body

•    Study shows that face-ism index for males is 30% higher than women (.65 to .45)

o Males are more likely to be represented in terms of their face
o Females more likely to be represented in terms of their body

30. PREVELANCE OF MEN AND WOMEN ON TV

a.   Men far outnumber women

b.   Soap operas men and women are roughly equal

Prevalence of men and women on TV

•    More than twice as many males than females on TV

o When women are present, mostly in comedy or light entertainment

•    This has been constant over time

•    Only exception is soap operas where ratio is equal

•    Males three times more likely to appear in cartoons
•    Males twice as likely to be in music videos

•    Males 4-5 times more likely to be voice-over announcers
31. DEPICITONS OF WOMEN ON TV

a.   Married females are less likely to be employed than in actual population
b.   When they do hold jobs, restricted to a more narrow range than males
c.   Much more likely to be depicted as victims of crimes and violence

d.   A message that males are more powerful in our society (meta-analysis)

Depictions of women on TV

•    Married women on TV less likely to have a job than in real life

o When they do have a job it is limited to fewer occupations than males
•    Women more likely to be victims 

•    Depictions create a message that males have power over females

32. EFFECTS OF SEX ROLE STEROTYPES

a.   Media messages influence construction of social reality

b.   Heavy TV viewers have beliefs about the world that are consistent with 

messages of TV (notel, unitel, multitel study)
Effects of sex-role stereotypes

•    Construction of reality: how young people view their social world

o Media can have an effect on this

   Studies show that heavy TV users tend to have beliefs about the 

 

 

 

 

world that are consistent with messages from TV

•    One study showed that children who lived in a town with no TV had less 

stereotypical attitudes about the appropriateness of various behaviors
o Once they were exposed to TV, their sex role differentiation increased

33. EFFECTS OF MEDIA IMAGES OF THIN BODIES

a.   Females in prime time situation comedies more likely to be “below 

average” in weight

b.   The higher the weight of the female character depicted, the more likely it 

was that negative comments were made about her or to her (laugh tack)
c.   Media some role in body dissatisfaction or body-image disturbance 

because females engage in social comparison

d.   Media consumption in a study related to higher body dissatisfaction, drive 

for thinness, reports of symptoms that suggest eating disorders and males  in the study endorsed thinness and dieting for females

e.   Have negative effects on both males and females
f.    Students should engage in critical media consumption

Effects of media images of thin bodies

•    Fouts and Burggraf study shows females in prime-time situation comedies more 

likely to be “below average” in weight

o Those that are above average are more likely to receive negative 

comments followed by a laugh track

•    Images of thin bodies often internalized by young girls

o Can create body dissatisfaction or body-image disturbance
o Young girls have a natural tendency to engage in social comparison

•    Stice and Shaw study among college females

o Shown magazines with thin models, average models, no models

o Students who viewed thin models more likely to have negative emotions 

like stress, shame, guilt, depression, or insecurity

o Students with higher levels of body dissatisfaction more likely to report 

symptoms associated with bulimia
•    What can we do?

o Teach students to engage in critical media consumption

   Students should become more sensitive to media stereotypes and 

the effects of media on attitudes and behavior

34. REPRESEENTATION OF AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE NEWS
a.   Interreality comparison: most revealing because it shows how media 

depictions may distort reality

i.   While blacks account for the lowest % of arrests in the real crime 

statistics, they made up the highest % of perpetrators on the news
ii.   Latinos underrepresented as criminals

Representation of African Americans in the news

•    Dixon and Linz, random sampling over 20 weeks of news broadcasts in LA

o Intergroup comparison: compare percentage of one group to another

 

 

 

 

   69 black perpetrators to 40 white (1.72 to 1)
   Felony crime ratio even higher (2.46 to 1)

o Interrole comparison: compare distribution of same group of people 

according to particular roles

   Of 87 blacks, 69 perpetrators to 18 officers 

   Of 133 whites, 40 perpetrators to 93 officers

o Interreality comparison: compare percentages of groups portrayed on TV 

to real life statistics

   Actual crime data: Blacks (21%), Whites (28%), Latinos (47%)

   TV data: Blacks (37%), Whites (21%), Latinos (29%)

Thompson & Zerbinos (1995)  35. REASON FOR STUDY

a.   H1: Male and female cartoon characters will be portrayed in significantly 

different and gender-role stereotypic ways

b.   H2: Post 1980 cartoons will have more females than Pre 1980 cartoons

c.   H3: Pre 1980 will have more gender-role stereotype than Post 1980
d.   RQ: Are there significant differences in gender representation among 

different types of cartoons (continuing adventures, chase-and-pratfall, and  teachy-preachy)?

36. METHOD

a.   Sample: 92 on-going children’s cartoon series on both network and cable 

channels during February 1993 from TV Guide; 31 coders assigned a  cartoon, some two, watched two hours 

b.   Coded 

i.   Demographic information about the show and leads 

ii.   Frequency with which 21 behaviors occurred for male, female
iii.   Frequencies of communicative acts for male, female

iv.   How long leads talked 

v.   Occupations 

37. RESULTS

a.   More male leads/minors than female leads/minors

b.   H1: males more independent, assertive, stereotypical, athletic,  important, 

attractive, technical, and responsible than females. Females more  emotional, warm, romantic, affectionate, sensitive, frail, mature, and  domestic than males

c.   Since 1980 more male and female leads, minor, and gender neutral 

characters; a lot more female characters

d.   Since 1980 less stereotypical

e.   Children who view these are most likely to see negative presentations of 

both male and females in chase-and-pratfall cartoons, and fairly positive, 
if nonstereotypical, in teachy-preachy. Continuing adventure see  stereotypical males and nonstereotypical, if rare, representations of  females