The Third Parent

As you walk out of a movie theatre, you notice a young woman with a broken ankle struggling to pick up her crutches. Would you help her? This question seems heavily dependent on the individual being asked this question, but recent evidence shows that it may actually depend on the type of movie that the individual just watched in the theatre. However, the discussion of media should not remain within just the realm of film. Television also affects people significantly. Although the role of media in our lives may seem minimal, it changes us in a variety of ways.

Forms of media possibly responsible for altering behavior are television and film. Before discussing the effects of violence in television and film sources, it is important to analyze how the violence is portrayed. With regards to violence, a couple of trends illustrate the potential problems. Data shows that over half of television programs (58%-61%) feature violence while almost 90% of movies depict violence.[1] In addition, this violence is likely to become glamorized. Attractive perpetrators make up over a third of all violent confrontations and around 55% of all violence results in no pain to the victim. Having an attractive perpetrator is significant because it could possibly lead to a role-model situation for children. Also, with most of violent scenes being painless, the illusion of a “clean” and painless altercation forms in the viewers’ minds. This characterization of violence is dangerous due to the harsh reality of violence. Shooting someone with a gun will be painful and it will be bloody. When media removes this gruesome side of violence, the deterrent for violence removes itself from the equation. Another detrimental trend is that around 75% of violent scenes show no remorse, criticism, or penalty. With no repercussions for characters committing acts of violence, children may conclude that violence is okay. This is especially problematic because around 40% of violent scenes include humor with the aggressive actions. If violence has no negative consequences and other people see it as funny, then it is hard to see why violence is so bad. The trends with how violence is portrayed play a considerable role in how violence in media affects us.

The effect of violence in media is fairly obvious—exposure to violence contributes to aggressive behavior. This has been the conclusion of many professional organizations such as the American Psychological Association, American Medical Association, and the US Surgeon General’s Scientific Advisory Committee. However, increased aggressive behavior is not the only harmful effect. Increased exposure to violence also creates another harmful effect called desensitization. This refers to a decreased emotional response from repeated exposure to a negative stimulus. In this case, the stimulus is violence. Studies reveal that men that were shown a short violent film clip were less aroused by a video of real life violence than men that were shown a short sports clip. This shows that desensitization can occur even in a short amount of time. Another study demonstrated that not only are people desensitized to violence, but their attitudes for violence also change. In this instance, people have a decreased emotional response to violence, but they are also more likely to believe that violence was an acceptable response to the situation. This finding indicates that exposure to violence in media transform our attitudes and behaviors in the real world.

The earlier scenario depicting a young woman with a hurt ankle tested the time it took for the moviegoers to help her. There were four cases tested for this experiment. The first two consisted of introducing the woman before and after watching a nonviolent movie. The last two introduced the woman before and after watching a violent movie. Out of all four cases, the people that had just watched a violent movie took the longest time to help the woman.[2] These findings indicate that violent media make people “numb to the pain and suffering of others.” As shown in this study, violent media leads to the desensitization of the pain of others. This finding paints a bleak picture for the future if this trend were to continue. If people were no longer able to empathize with the suffering of others, then the world would surely become a less hospitable place. However, there are still opportunities for positive effects in media. Since media has been shown to be an influential source for learning, this could be used for educational learning. For example, Sesame Street has been shown to improve literacy of children.[3] In disadvantaged populations, educational television shows could be used as a teaching tool. The most important lesson to take away from this is that television and movies exhibit huge influences on people, especially children. While this influence could have beneficial effects, it could also contribute negatively to behaviors and attitudes. Television and film are relatively new phenomenon and future generations could have longer exposure to this media. If most of the films and television programs happen to be violent, then the future may not be a happy place. An empathetic population transforms a gathering of individuals into a community of people. Indifference towards the suffering of the people next to us only serves to break down the bonds of humanity. Unless we reduce our exposure to violent media, we may be headed down a dark road with only ourselves to keep us company.