Violence/Anti-Social Effects:

Social Cognitive Theory (Social Learning Theory),

Copycat Effect, Desensitization, Priming,
and even Catharsis

COM 226, Summer 2011

PPT #7
Includes chapters 16 & 20 of
DeFleur textbook
 Four Major Claims about Media
Violence
Pt. #1 -- There is a LOT of violence in the
media.
Pt. #2 -- Exposure increases risk of harm.
Pt. #3 -- Not all portrayals pose same degree
of risk.
Pt. #4 -- Not all viewers are similarly
impacted.
 Four Major Claims about Media
Violence
Pt. #1 -- There is a LOT of violence in the
media.
 Established through content analyses.
 National Television Violence Study (NTVS): 61%
of TV shows contain violence.
Pt. #2 -- Exposure increases risk of harm.
Pt. #3 -- Not all portrayals pose same degree
of risk.
Pt. #4 -- Not all viewers are similarly
impacted.
 Four Major Claims about Media
Violence
Pt. #1 -- There is a LOT of violence in the
media.
Pt. #2 -- Exposure increases risk of harm.
Pt. #3 -- Not all portrayals pose same degree
of risk.
Pt. #4 -- Not all viewers are similarly
impacted.
Pt. #2: Theories of Media Violence—
Does it affect viewer aggression?
Four primary explanations:
 A) No effects (Klapper, 1960-on)
 B) Catharsis Theory (Feshbach, 1960s)
 C) Social Cognitive/Social Learning Theory
(Bandura, 1950s-on)
Including Copycat Effect, Desensitization,
Cultivation
 D) Priming (Berkowitz, 1960s)
 A) No Effects Perspective
Really, the only person who found substantial
support for this was Joseph Klapper, who
maintained that television only reinforces
attitudes and behaviors that already existed
(1960-on)
 B) Catharsis Theory
From Aristotle, Feshbach (1960s).
Says exposure to TV violence stimulates fantasy
aggression, defusing aggressive impulses,
thereby decreasing aggression in viewers.
Empirical evidence?
 NO—evidence does NOT support catharsis! (at least
with media and violence)
Under what conditions might catharsis occur?
 individual differences (i.e., occurs for some, under some
circumstances)?
 video game violence?
 C) Social Cognitive Theory
From Albert Bandura (1960s)
First called Social Learning Theory
Says children and others learn through observation
May imitate what they see vicariously (e.g., on
television)
Empirical evidence: Bobo doll studies, others—
generally support basic premise plus additional
assumptions, e.g.,
 Rewarded and unpunished violence more likely to be
imitated.
 Punished violence less likely to be imitated.
Bobo Doll Studies
Bobo Doll Studies—thoughts??
 More on Social Cognitive
Theory
ALSO SEE NOTES from Bandura’s Social
Cognitive Theory: An Introduction (video)
for more details!
Social Cognitive Theory: The
Triadic Model summary
The Triadic Model within the theory
suggests that learning of behaviors is
governed by three bi-directionally linked
systems:
 Personal determinants
 Behavioral determinants
 Environmental determinants
Personal examples???
 Social Cognitive Theory:
Observational Learning summary
Attention
Retention/Symbolic representation
Reproduction/Transformation to action
Motivation to reproduce behavior
 External incentives
 Vicarious incentives
 Self incentives
 Observer attributes (internal standards, social
comparison)
 EXAMPLES OF THESE INCENTIVES???
Therefore social cognitive theory…
Sees learning as being a largely cognitive
process
And behavior is only the very end state

Watch Primetime Violence video for a

review of the concerns of the 1990s and
what we knew about violence effects by
that point
 The Copycat Effect?
Some researchers have identified simple
imitative effects, without specifying the cognitive
or other mechanisms at work (e.g., Loren
Coleman’s book on The Copycat Effect)
“Suicide clusters” have appeared since ancient
times
 The writer/historian Plutarch’s account of the imitative
hangings of young women in Miletus in the 4th century
BCE. . . News spread through word of mouth and
songs of poets
 Romans, Vikings, early Christians, Jews of the Middle
Ages, modern teens have been the focus of study
 The Copycat Effect?
Other copycat violence has included:
 Murders (e.g., Jack the Ripper, covered by
newspapers)
 Murder/suicides (e.g., “going postal,” school
shootings)
The role of mass media has increased
over time
 The Copycat Effect?
Sociologist David P. Phillips has devoted his career to
the study of societal trends in violent and hazardous
activities, including how media-covered events can result
in imitation, using “archival” survey-type data:
 First to conduct empirical studies to confirm the “Werther Effect”
(from Goethe’s 1774 novel The Sorrows of Young Werther)
 1962—Death of Marilyn Monroe. . .U.S. suicide rate increase
12% in following month
 1973—Airline hijackings
 1979—Found increase in rate of automobile fatalities following
publicized suicides. . . Also sig. by geographic region and age
cohort
 1983—Impact of U.S. TV network coverage of championship
boxing matches on homicide rates
 The Copycat Effect?
Sociologist Steven Stack has also
examined imitative effects
 1977 suicide of actor Freddie Prinze produced higher suicide
rates among individuals of similar age (22), ethnicity, gender

Importantly, some of these studies have

identified an impact of non-news, fictional
content:
 Phillips (1982) identified increase in auto fatalities after soap
opera suicides
 Phillips & Paight (1987) found increase in suicides after TV
movies about suicide
 Desensitization
Bandura sees this as part of Social Cognitive Theory
Others have studied it separately, e.g., DeFleur’s
Creeping Cycle of Desensitization (textbook):
 All media, news or entertainment, have a profit motive
 Attractive media products emphasize the controversial—sex,
violence, vulgarity
 In the U.S., there are few legal restraints on this; rather, cultural
norms define what is tolerable
 Young audiences rule!
 Thus, the “cutting edge” must become more extreme, more
sensational
 [We can assume that people become accustomed (i.e.,
desensitized) to this “extreme” violence, sex, etc.]
 Cultivation?
Although George Gerbner coined the term
“Cultivation Theory” (recall—Gerbner’s
“Mean World Syndrome”), such cognitive
or perceptual effects were named as part
of Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory
Remember that Bandura noted that TV
violence “shapes viewers’ images of
reality”
 D) Priming Theory
From Berkowitz and colleagues (late 60s)
Understood in terms of cognitive associations (recall—
cognitive schema)
Says violent content “primes” related thoughts, placing
hostile cognitions at the forefront of the mind.
Empirical evidence generally supports the theory, e.g.,
 Anderson & Ford (1987)—experiment linked video game
violence to hostility and anxiety
 Bushman & Geen (1990)—experiment in which those who
viewed a more violent movie listed more aggressive thoughts
 Bushman (1998)—experiment finding video violence related to
aggressive word choice
Pt. #2: In summary, then: Does media
violence affect viewers?
Answer: YES!
Surveys, experiments, longitudinal field
studies, and meta analyses all point to a
TV violence  aggression link.
Overall effect size larger than:
 Condom use and HIV (-.18)
 Passive smoking and lung cancer (.16)
 Four Major Claims about Media
Violence
Pt. #1 -- There is a LOT of violence in the
media.
Pt. #2 -- Exposure increases risk of harm.
Pt. #3 -- Not all portrayals pose same degree
of risk.
Pt. #4 -- Not all viewers are similarly
impacted.
Pt. #3: Aggressive responses are
MORE likely to occur when
violence is:
Realistic.
Sanitized.
Justified.
Committed by attractive or similar others.
Rewarded.
Humorous.
Realistic Violence (vs. fantasy)

.vs

???
Sanitized Violence (vs.
consequences)

.vs
Justified Violence (vs.
unjustified)

.vs
Rewarded Violence (vs.
punished)

.vs
Committed by Attractive or Similar
Others
Humorous violence
 Four Major Claims about Media
Violence
Pt. #1 -- There is a LOT of violence in the
media.
Pt. #2 -- Exposure increases risk of harm.
Pt. #3 -- Not all portrayals pose same degree
of risk.
Pt. #4 -- Not all viewers are similarly
impacted.
Pt. #4: “High-risk” media violence
consumers include…
1. Younger/less cognitively developed individuals
2. Those with certain traits/personality
predispositions
 Trait aggression

 Irritability

 Psychoticism

3. Those with social or emotional problems

 Bullies and Victims

 Lack of parental influence

4. Those who consume a lot of media

5. Those without alternative models