David and others: This is an interesting thread and, like Chuck, I'm a late comer to this discussion. Are you suggesting that there is no research to support the popular notion that watching violent television shows causes children to become more violent? Is there any research to suggest that watching sexually-explicit media programming has any influence on children's behavior?
Social learning theory would suggest that if such aggressive or sexually-explicit were reinforced, then observing that behavior might result in someone changing his or her own behavior (of course, I recognize that other variables may also play a role in this process). Not only would this make sense theoretically, but it would also seem to make intuitive sense. I remember when Madonna first became popular it became very trendy for young girls to dress like her and imitate her. I also remember going to see all of the Rocky movies and watching all of the guys air-boxing as they left the theater. I was thinking about this the other day when I was talking to my students about spring break programming on MTV, which shows kids binge drinking, stripping off their clothes in public, engaging in sexual behavior with strangers, etc. I can't imagine that this does not serve as a model for our students who are watching this kind of programming. Other programming on MTV seems to be designed to encourage voting, decrease racism, promote acceptance of gays and lesbians, etc. If we argue that kids are not influenced by watching binge drinking and sexual promiscuity on television, wouldn't it be consistent to also argue that they are not influenced by programming designed to decrease racism or homophobia? On a related note, but looking at a different medium, doesn't research show that viewing pornography on a consistent basis has an impact on relationship behavior? Or does this all come down to a question of causation versus correlation? Again, this would make sense to me anecdotally and theoretically. Let me go back to my original question: Is there any research to support the idea that the behavior of children is influenced by what they watch on television or movies? Rod ______________________________________________ Roderick D. Hetzel, Ph.D. Department of Psychology LeTourneau University Post Office Box 7001 2100 South Mobberly Avenue Longview, Texas 75607-7001 Office: Heath-Hardwick Hall 115 Phone: 903-233-3312 Fax: 903-233-3476 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage: http://www.letu.edu/people/rodhetzel -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, April 10, 2002 7:29 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences Subject: Re: Media and TV And let's not forget that classic (European) fairy tales are quite bloody and gorey, and I believe that is quite true of most cultures' mythological stories. Annette Quoting David Epstein <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > On Wed, 10 Apr 2002, Richard Pisacreta, Ph.D. went: > > > If the latest research is 30 years old, its time some people got to > work. > > I agree with that! > > > The latest playstation kickboxing games, and others, look real as > > hell to me. When students tell me that the movie "Ghandi" was > > boring except for the massacre scene, and my 15 year old comes home > > a few months ago and tells me that a few of her classmates thought > > that the images of 9/11 were "cool", an alarm bell goes off. Women > > fainted when they saw the original Frankenstein with Karloff in the > > 1930's. Today people watch mass murders, rapes, decapitations, > > buckets of blood exploding, and eat popcorn at the same time. Don't > > tell me we're more "sophisticated" today. > > I won't. Instead, I'll present some literary evidence that children's > fondness for images of gore was very much apparent in the 1930s (the > decade you cite). Here's an excerpt from a poem published by Ogden > Nash in 1935. The title is "Don't Cry, Darling, It's Blood All > Right." > > ...Hardboiled, sophisticated adults like me and you > May enjoy ourselves thoroughly with Little Women and > Winnie-the-Pooh, > But innocent infants these titles from their reading course > eliminate > As soon as they discover that it was honey and nuts and mashed > potatoes instead of human flesh that Winnie-the-Pooh and > Little Women ate. > Innocent infants have no use for fables about rabbits or donkeys > or tortoises or porpoises, > What they want is something with plenty of well-mutilated > corpoises. > Not on legends of how the rose came to be a rose instead of a > petunia is their fancy fed, > But on the inside story of how somebody's bones got ground up > to make somebody else's bread. > They'll go to sleep listening to the story of the little > beggarmaid who got to be queen by being kind to the bees and > the birds, > But they're all eyes and ears the minute they suspect a wolf > or a giant is going to tear some poor woodcutter into > quarters or thirds. [...] > > I'm not sure that the children of 1935, as described by Nash, were > very different from the students you're describing now. Might they > not have perked up during the massacre scene in _Gandhi_? Might they > not have described the images (not the events, but the images) of > September 11 as "cool" (or the contemporary equivalent)? > > Someone show me evidence that there's been a change. > > --David Epstein > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To > unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Annette Taylor, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Psychology University of San Diego [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Incoming mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.325 / Virus Database: 182 - Release Date: 2/19/2002 --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. 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