What are the possible effects of watching television

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What are the possible effects of watching
television?

• Lets watchThe Simpsons
• Your question
• Can watching violent content in the media cause
  real-life aggression? Why or why not?
• Placing the debate in context
• Media violence is ONE factor that contributes to
  aggression violence in society.
• What are others?

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Placing the debate in context

• Media violence is not the only factor, nor is it
  most influentialhowever
• The impact is cumulative.
• We have control over it (e.g., NTVS).
• Change in mass media content has the potential to
  influence mass audiences.

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Control over content

• Can we change media content?

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National Television Violence Study1996, 1997,
1998

• Foundations
• TV violence has harmful effects.
• Three effects can occur
• Learning attitudes behaviors
• Desensitization
• Increased fear
• Not all violence poses same degree of risk.
• Not all viewers are affected by violence in the
  same way.
• Method
• Content Analysis Amount, Nature, Context

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Contextual Features

• Attractive Perpetrator
• Attractive Victim
• Justified Violence
• Unjustified Violence
• Conventional Weapons
• Extensive/Graphic Violence
• Realistic Violence
• Punishments
• Pain/Harm Cues
• Humor

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Theoretical PerspectivesWhy do we think TV has
these effects?

• Social Learning Theory
• Schema or Script Theory
• Cultivation Theory
• Priming Effects Theory
• Desensitization