Rod Hetzel wrote: > 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.
David Epstein responded: > > But do you think that the kids who choose to watch spring-break > > programming on MTV are comparable to those who don't? It might be that they are comparable. Perhaps they're not. When I taught at a large private university in New York, the majority, if not all, of my students were very familiar with MTV and watched it on a regular basis. But even here at a smaller church-affiliated school, a large number of students watch this kind of programming on a regular basis. Perhaps more college students watch this kind of programming than do other people not attending college. Regardless, your point is well-taken that there could be other variables that influence behavior other than the variable of interest. > 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? > > I hope they're influenced by the latter, but I'd want to see evidence. > > Random assignment, long-term follow-up. Why was this task abandoned > > after a decent start in 1971? It's fascinating to see how many TIPsters > > seem to be saying (almost in so many words), "There's just got to be a > > causal association. I can't imagine that there isn't. There's just got to be." Well, I think it is certainly understandable that anyone could make such assertions when one has theoretical justification and anecodotal evidence to "support" such conclusions. After all, psychological theory and anecdotal evidence can provide sufficient justification for designing appropriate experimental designs. The question is whether or not there is any *experimental* support for the hypothesis that viewing media aggression has an influence on children's behavior. Your are suggesting that there are no studies that show causation, although there are some that show correlation. It would be interesting to have random assignment and prospective research designs to further study this issue. In the absence of these kinds of studies, however, I wouldn't state to people that viewing media aggression has no influence on children's behavior. Rather, I would state that we don't have scientific evidence to support the idea that viewing media aggression *causes* children to be aggressive. Of course, the lay public generally doesn't understand the distinctions between correlation and causation. And when they hear psychologists spouting off that watching violent tv shows does not make their kids more violent, they fail to understand the subtlety of the argument and instead just discount the psychologist (and sometimes the profession)... The implications of the current state of science on this issue is also interesting. If we don't have any experimental evidence to show that watching aggressive tv shows causes children to be more aggressive, does that mean that we would recommend to parents that they should not worry about what their children watch on television because there is no evidence to support that it causes them harm? Should we advise parents that there is no reason to be concerned if their school-aged children are watching sexually-explicit programming on MTV or HBO or just about any cable channel (joke!) because there is no evidence showing that watching sexually explicit television programming will cause their children any problems. We had a discussion recently about science and values and at some point someone had mentioned that all of their positions and beliefs were based on scientific evidence alone. If there is no scientific evidence suggesting that watching aggressive or sexually-explicit television shows causes any kind of harm to children, then wouldn't that mean that as parents we shouldn't be concerned about what our kids watch? If my 8-year-old child wants to watch a racy movie on HBO or MTV Undressed, then, as long as they don't appear to be immediately distressed by what they are watching, we shouldn't be concerned. Right? These are more than just hypothetical questions. As a practicing clinical psychologist, parents will often ask me these kinds of questions. ______________________________________________ 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 --- Outgoing 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 --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
