Study says TV violence still, seen as heroic, glamorous

By Bridget Murray
Monitor staff

Despite psychologists? pleas to the television industry to scale back and portray violence realistically, TV programs continue to glamorize shootings, fistfights and pistol-whippings. That?s the conclusion of the largest-ever study of television violence in the United States, which was co-led by psychologists and supported in part by APA.

Over the three years of the study, researchers found that the rates of physical aggression in TV programming held steady at 60 percent, and even escalated on prime time. Most disturbing, though, is the fact that programs continue to portray violence as heroic?portrayals that can spur aggressive behaviors in viewers, says psychologist Edward Donnerstein, PhD, the study?s co-director and dean of social sciences at the University of California?Santa Barbara.

The team of social science and communications researchers that conducted the study released their results at an April press conference.

Overseen by researchers at the Universities of California?Santa Barbara, Texas?Austin, North Carolina?Chapel Hill and Wisconsin?Madison and underwritten by the National Cable Television Association, the study analyzed 9,000 hours of TV programming shown between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. About 2,000 people coded programming on 23 channels, including broadcast networks, independent broadcast, public broadcast and basic and premium cable.

Besides APA, the study was also sponsored by such diverse organizations as the National Education Association, the American Medical Association and the American Bar Association.

The researchers? main concern is that aggressors in TV programming often use violence to handle problems, they aren?t punished and their victims appear unharmed. As is well known from the psychological literature, that blend can teach aggression to children. Unless young children see the impact immediately after the violent act, they don?t understand the consequences, says Donnerstein.

'Children have a harder time than adults distinguishing fantasy from reality and linking scenes together,' Donnerstein said at the press conference. 'At the end of the show, you or I know that the person has been punished for a violent act that occurred an hour earlier. A 4-year-old does not.'

Rather than calling on TV executives to stop using violence, however, the researchers urged them to show its consequences and to portray alternatives for resolving conflicts. Television can send a message that violence is destructive, not a problem-solver, if it shows aggressors expressing remorse and facing reproof and victims experiencing real anguish, says psychologist Dale Kunkel, PhD, a senior researcher on the study and an associate professor in the department of communication at the University of California?Santa Barbara.

'We need shows that present violence as unattractive and repulsive?that make aggressors outcasts, not heroes,' says Kunkel. 'We believe the Hollywood production community cherishes their creative freedom, and we implore them to exercise it by breaking the prevailing patterns and moving toward much more emphasis on antiviolence themes.'

Harmful effects

In the study, the researchers uncovered several programming patterns that they say trigger fear, desensitization and learning of violence among children:

? 'Good' characters or heroes?attractive role models that children often emulate?commit nearly 40 percent of violent acts.

? More than one-third of programs feature bad characters who aren?t punished and physical aggression that is condoned.

? More than 70 percent of aggressors show no remorse for their violence and experience no criticism or penalty when it occurs.

? Roughly half of TV violence involves no physical injury and no pain or suffering. Shows seldom depict long-term suffering of the victim and the negative impact on the family and community.

Roll that all together and you get attractive heroes?the Ninja Turtles or Power Rangers, for example?shooting, stabbing and fighting anyone who stands in their way. This formula is especially common in cartoons, which are geared to a vulnerable audience of children under 7, the researchers say.

Less violence in the future?

Despite the TV industry?s continued depictions of glamorized violence, there are some glimmers of hope for reducing children?s exposure to it, the researchers say. All networks now rate televisions shows TVY for all children, TVY7 for older children, TVG and TVPG for general audiences and TV14 and TVMA for adults.

Even more effective than the ratings is a new set of content descriptors that alert viewers to sex, violence, coarse language and adult-oriented innuendo and dialogue (S,V, L and D) in shows, says psychologist Joanne Cantor, PhD, of the department of communication arts at the University of Wisconsin?Madison. (Most networks now use the content descriptors, with the exception of the National Broadcasting Co. and Black Entertainment Television.) Used along with the

V-chip?a television filtering system that will be available on new televisions as early as next year and as separate attachments even sooner?the ratings help parents screen out violent programming.

And, the V-chip could be the most effective TV-violence deterrent. If fewer children watch violent programming, it is hoped more advertisers would move their endorsements to nonviolent television, Cantor says.