III. Violence Research

There is research evidence to support all three types of effects -- Direct, Desensitisation, and Mean World -- and each may operate independently of the other. For example, one study, conducted by Aletha Huston-Stein and her colleagues (Stein & Friedrich, 1972), assessed the effects of viewing either violent or prosocial (non-violent) television programming. In this study, about one hundred pre-school-aged children enrolled in a special nursery school at Pennsylvania State University were divided into three groups and were assigned to watch a particular diet of programming. The children watched either a diet of Batman and Superman cartoons, a diet of Mister Rogers' Neighbourhood, or a diet of neutral programming (programs designed for pre-schoolers that contained neither violence nor prosocial messages). Huston-Stein and her colleagues observed the youngsters on the playground and in the classroom for two weeks to assess the level of aggressive and helpful behaviour displayed by these children. Then, the children viewed the program diet one half hour a day, three days a week, for four weeks. They watched 12 half-hour episodes of the diet to which they were assigned.

The researchers found that the youngsters who watched the Batman and Superman cartoons were more physically active, both in the classroom and on the playground. Also, they were more likely to get into fights and scrapes with each other, play roughly with toys, break toys, snatch toys from others, and get into little altercations. No mass murders broke out, but, they were simply more aggressive and had more aggressive encounters. The other group, the group that had watched Mister Rogers' Neighbourhood, was much more likely to play co-operatively with their toys, spontaneously offer to help the teacher, and engage in what might be called "positive peer counselling." In this latter instance, the focus of the Mister Rogers' sessions was similar to "peer counselling" -- being kind, being sensitive to others needs, and being concerned about others feelings. For example, Fred Rogers might suggest that if someone looks sad, you could say, "Gee, you look sad today, are you feeling okay? Do you want to go play or do something." The group that watched the neutral programming was neither more aggressive nor more helpful. However, what is interesting about this study is that it shows both sides of the coin: What children watch does affect how they behave, both positively and negatively.

There is a wide range of studies (see Murray, 1973; 1980; 1994; Paik & Comstock, 1994), similar in scope to the Huston-Stein project, that addresses the short-term effects of viewing violence. However, one of the longer-term studies -- indeed, one of the longest-term studies -- is the work of Leonard Eron (1982; Eron & Slaby, 1995), who, in 1963, began his study by assessing the development of aggression in third graders, eight year olds, in a small upstate New York town. In the course of the study, he asked children to report on their television viewing and other things they liked to do, as well as their ratings of the aggression of other children. He also interviewed teachers and asked them to indicate who in the classroom was more aggressive or less aggressive, and he obtained information from parents about children's television viewing and the parent's home discipline and family values. He conducted that study when these youngsters were eight years old and wrote a report about the aggressive behaviour of the eight year olds, noting in passing that there was a relationship between children's level of aggressive behaviour and their television viewing. Children who reported, or whose parents reported, that the youngsters preferred and often viewed more violent programs were more likely to be the ones nominated by their peers and teachers as more aggressive in school. He followed up on these youngsters 10 years later, when they were 18 years old, and again found a relationship between TV viewing and aggression. However, the most interesting, and strongest, relationship was between early television viewing at age 8 and aggressive behaviour at age 18. He concluded that there were some long-term effects of early television viewing on later aggressive behaviour. In the 1980's, Eron again followed up on these children as young adults, at age 30. Now, he found that there was a relationship between early television viewing and arrest and conviction for violent interpersonal crimes; spouse abuse, child abuse, murder, and aggravated assault. This study is not without controversy, but there is sufficient evidence to convince some researchers that there is a long-term effect of early violence viewing on later aggressive behaviour.

With regard to the issue of the Mean World Syndrome, there have been numerous studies conducted by a research group at the University of Pennsylvania, led by George Gerbner (Gerbner & Signorielli, 1990; Gerbner, Morgan, & Signorielli, 1993). For more than 25 years, this group has studied the content of prime time and Saturday morning television. In the fall of each year, they videotape all prime time and Saturday morning television for one week and then provide a detailed analysis of the content of that programming. With regard to violence, the findings indicate that, over the years, there are about 5 violent acts committed during every hour of prime time television and 20 to 25 violent acts committed every hour of Saturday morning children's programming. Of course, the levels of violence have varied somewhat over the 20 years of monitoring, particularly in the area of children's television programming. However, it should be noted that violence in children's programming dropped to its lowest level, 13 acts per hour, in 1973 -- the year following the release of the 1972 Surgeon General's report that identified a link between TV violence and children's aggression. Also, violence on children's television reached its highest level in 20 years, about 32 acts per hour, in 1980-81 when the Federal Communications Commission was discussing the "deregulation" of children's television.

In later studies, Gerbner and his colleagues began to explore the relationship of the amount of television viewing and viewers' perceptions of the world. For example, the researchers would ask questions about viewers' perception of risk in the world: How likely is it that you are going to be the victim of a violent crime in the next six months? How far from your home would you be willing to walk alone at night? Have you done anything recently to your home to increase it's security -- added burglar alarms, changed locks -- in the past six months? What percentage of the workforce do you think is involved in law enforcement activities? The researchers found that the amount of television viewed predicted fearfulness -- heavy television viewers (those who watch four hours or more each day), as opposed to light viewers (those who watched an hour or less per day), were much more fearful of the world around them, much more likely to over estimate their level of risk, to over estimate the number of persons involved in law enforcement. There are obviously different risk levels in different areas of the country, but those who watched more television were more fearful than those who watched less television. Also, there are special sub-groups, such as the elderly, that were more fearful who also tend to watch more television. And so, the research team began to develop the notion of the Mean World Syndrome: Watching a lot of television determines your perceptions of the risks of the world because there is so much violence on television. Also, it was interesting that this viewing and fearfulness relationship held across education levels, across income levels, across gender -- rarely do you find research results in the social sciences that play out in the same way across education, gender, or income levels.

One other finding from the analysis of television content is that there are certain groups that are more likely to be victims on TV. The typical perpetrator is a white male in his 20's or 30's, described as in the prime of life, with a lot of money but no visible means of support. The principal victims have tended to be female, non-white, foreign born, and elderly. That pattern has changed somewhat over the years (Berry, 1988), and it's changing still, but often it is the case that there is a heavy victimisation of non-white, foreign born, elderly, and female individuals on television.