Week Three – “Contemporary Media Research”, which will bring our understanding of media psychology into the domain of Zillmann and Bryant – the pioneers of the modern study of media influence – and take us to the current state of the field. Here, we will discuss research on media violence, aggression, sexuality and racism in the media to understand how we currently see the relationship between media, the individual, and society. Notably, we will study the influence of this early scholarship on the specific study of entertainment and society.

1. MEDIA PSYCHOLOGY
AND INFLUENCE
Week Three – Contemporary Media
Research

2. PreDay: Let‟s look at your
Models
Media Psychology and Influence
SPICE 2012 (Erfurt)
ND Bowman PhD, Instructor

4. Day One: The Bad Things
Media Psychology and Influence
SPICE 2012 (Erfurt)
ND Bowman PhD, Instructor

5. Outline
 “The Bad”
 Sex In Media
 Violence in Media
 Body Image in Media
 Racism in Media

6. Sex in the Media
 Why should we care?
 Kaiser Family Fund reports that
sex is learned from:
 Friends (64%)
 TV or Movies (61%)
 School and Teachers (44%)
 Internet searches (40%)
 Mothers and family (38%)
 Other studies show teens learning
sexual behavior from [violent]
pornographic media
(magazines, videos)

7. What sort of Sex?
 Lots of labels, including
erotic, pornographic, X-
rated and sexually
explicit
 Big. Business. (also
drives tech innovation)
 Distinctions made
between violence and
nonviolent
 But, nonviolence can
have other effects
(submission)

8. What sort of Sex?
 Importantly, it‟s not all porn and it‟s not all video
 Sex in literature goes back to Classics
 Overall, broadcast media has been far more
conservative in portraying sex, even cross-culturally
(WHY?)
 Televised representations:
 56% contain some form of sex content
 54% contain talk about sex
 23% contain sexual behavior
 6:1 ratio of affairs to married sex (as high as 24:1 in
soaps)
 In general, trends to increased sex over time

9. Effects of sexual media
 Arousal effects, much
greater on males
 What explains this?
 What has been
found to moderate
this (suppression)?
 The Catharsis
Legend

10. Effects of sexual media
 Attitudinal Effects
 Less satisfaction with
own partners
 More support of rape
myth
 Viewing of “out of
context” women as
sexual persons
 Increased salience of
„nasty heuristics‟
 Effects not necessarily
tied to explicit material

11. Effects of sexual media
 Behavioral Effects
 Learning new behaviors
 Disinhibiting effects What Theory Might Explain
This?
 Enactment of sex; crimes
 Sexual Violence: More than sum of parts
Gender (Sex?)
Media Content
Sexual
Thoughts
Context
Else?

12. Sex in the Media
 Why should we care?
 750K (40-50 per 1000) annual US teen
pregnancies (highest in modern world); rate lower
in Germany (10 per 1000) [birth rates]
 Germany and US, over 80% of teenagers have
had intercourse
 In US, 1:5 chance that your partner has an STD
 an estimated 10M new STD cases among 15-24
 Every hour, 2 Americans under 20 are infected with
HIV
 Rates much lower in Germany WHY?

13. Defining Pornography
I shall not today attempt
further to define the kinds of
material I understand to be
embraced within that
shorthand description ["hard-
core pornography"]; and
perhaps I could never
succeed in intelligibly doing
so. But I know it when I see
it, and the motion picture
involved in this case is not
that.

14. Sex in the Media – They‟re
affected
General Public Hollywood Elite
 76% feel that TV  37% feel that TV
contributes to teen contributes to teen
pregnancy pregnancy
 84% see link to affairs  43% see link to affairs
 83% link to  56% link to
promiscuity promiscuity
 90% link to teen sex  63% link to teen sex
 84% link to violence  61% link to violence
against women against women

15. Sex in the Media – They‟re
affected
 Why the
disagreement?
A Third Person Effect
could be at play here
 General notion that
others are affected by
mass messages more
than we are
 Davison, W. (1983).
"The third-person effect
in
communication". Public
Opinion
Quarterly 47 (1): 1-15.

16. Violence, or Aggression?
 As much as we study media‟s effect on violent
actions, we see fewer acts of widespread
violence…
 …but, we might argue that aggressive
thought is the media effect!

17. General Aggression Model
 What is Aggression?
 Evolutionary:mate selection, protection, survival
 As society developed, aggression becomes
(became) increasingly maladaptive…
 …yet, may be primed from our (media)
environment

18. General Aggression Model
 Main components
1. Person and
Situation Inputs
2. Present Internal
States
3. Outcomes qua
appraisal and
decision

19. General Aggression Model
 Violence influences:
 Short-term –
aggressive thoughts
primed
 Long-term – overall
desensitization to
violence; accessibility
of violent scripts

20. Body Image and the Media
Internalization of Thin
Body Ideal (Hour-
Glass)
Media Exposure  Eating Disorders

21. Body Image and the Media
 Harrison and Hefner (2005) argue that these
mediating effects might be happening as
young as pre-adolescent girls…
 …in fact, given few counterfactuals, effects
might be stronger!
Internalization of Thin
Body Ideal (Hour-
Glass)
Media Exposure  Eating Disorders
Counterfactuals
(real-world

22. Body Image and the Media
Self-Concept
Age
Media
Exposure Thin
Body
Ideal
Peer Pressure
Maternal
Pressure

23. Body Image and the Media
 Body Images are not just in “adult” media

24. Body Image and the Media
 Current body image, or future body image?
More likely to see older “thin” women in media, so we might study “Grown
Up Ideal”

25. Body Image and the Media
Food for Thought: How was the
proposed mediator (internalization of
thin body ideal) assessed in this
model?

26. Minorities in the Mass Media
 In mid-2011, a story on minority optimism in
the face of US economic downturn received
little press, angering many including Fox
News‟ Juan Williams
If there is a story about black poverty, police
brutality or a drug-related shooting spree in a
Hispanic neighborhood, the big papers will
feature it with Page One coverage. Those
stories fit old racial stereotypes. But when
there is good news on race relations and
refreshing evidence of blacks and Latinos
leading the way by showing faith in
America‟s future, the big media is just not
that into it.

27. Minorities in the Mass Media
 Greenberg and colleagues wrote on the topic
in three sections:
1. Content analysis
2. Usage patterns What Perspective Does This
Sound Like?
3. Observed effects

28. Minorities in the Mass Media
Real-World Demographics
Prime-Time Television (2000)
(2010)
 76% White  72% White
 18% African-  13% African-
American American
 2% Latino  16% Latino
 2% Asian-American  5% Asian-American
 0.2% Native  1% Native

29. Minorities in the Mass Media
1. Absent
2. Comic Relief
3. Justice and Stability
4. Normal

30. Minorities in the Mass Media
 Usage Patterns
 Overall, Blacks watch far more television than
Whites
 Latino youth seem to „look up‟ to same-race
portrayals and use targeted media; Latino elders
are more negative
 Little research on Asian- and Native-American
specific media usage
 FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Concerns about
Cultural Proximity and political/social
involvement?
 Effects largely rooted in Cultivation Theory

31. Day Two: Bad Content, Good
Effect
Media Psychology and Influence
SPICE 2012 (Erfurt)
ND Bowman PhD, Instructor

32. Outline
 “spill-over from yesterday”
 Appreciation as Media Effect
 Disinterest in Media Portrayals
 Media as Emotional Control

33. Appreciation for Media
 Enjoyment has been a central (almost myopic)
focus in entertainment research
 Enjoyment tends to focus on:
 Positive feelings
 Arousal (rooted in hedonism)
 Maximizing pleasure
 Distraction from reality

34. Appreciation for Media

35. Appreciation for Media
 Why does entertainment media have to be
enjoyable?
 Seems short-sighted, given the plethora of
motivations for media usage
 Enjoyment is not always adaptive
 Negative emotion can lead to empathy, perspective-
taking, etc.
 Does not explain the paradox of sad film
(Oliver, 1993)

36. Appreciation for Media
 Eudaimonic motivations for media
consumption also exist to drive
meaningfulness and insight
Where do we think
Eudaimonia fits in
Maslow‟s Hierarchy
of Needs?

37. Appreciation for Media
Hedonic Happiness Eudianomic Happiness
 Pleasure  Self-expression
 Arousal  Self-realization
 Positive feeling  Personal
 Maximizing pleasure development
 Contemplation

38. Appreciation for Media
 Media can result in the satisfaction of needs
that are not self-gratifications…
 …but in fact, more “meaning-of-life” questions
 Inspiration
 Compassion
 Introspection
Note that hedonism
and eudianomia are
orthogonal, but can
occur concurrently!

39. Appreciation for Media
These data show
consistent
patterns that
distinguish
hedonism from
eudianomia, but
what are some
limitations to this
study?
• Student
Sample
• US Sample
• Trait-Based
• OTHERS?

40. Appreciation for Media

41. Disinterest in Action

42. Disinterest in Action
 Do we always enact what we see on screen?
 No, and perhaps we are turned away from it
A murder simulator
ought to revile us, the
more the better. If
anything, trivializing
death and torture
through abstraction is
far more troublesome
What is Bogost
than attenuating it
through ghastly referring to here?
representation.

43. Disinterest in Action
 Consider NRA Gun Club
What does our
game “reviewer”
think of the game?

44. Disinterest in Action
 Disinterest likely
requires:
1. Exposure to script
2. Retention of script
What Theory Might Explain
3. Learning of script This?
4. (de)motivation to
enact script
 You need 1-3 +
[what] in order to
get 4!

45. Gaming and Control
 Video games provide us with “virtual realities”
…
 …which might provide escapes and
experiences far beyond that of „traditional
media‟

46. Gaming and Control
 Unlike films, video games require us to be in
the perceptual (violent?) space, which might
provide a different sort of perspective
 Video games instill a sense of:
 Presence (vividness + interactivity)
 Narrative transportation
 Flow

47. Presence
 A sense of “being there”
 Characteristics
 Continuum, not categorical
 Psychological, not technological
 Dynamic, not static
 Combination of
 Content
 Channel
 User

48. Flow
 Flow
 Understood as “being in the moment”
 Skills vs. Challenge – a balance
Flow results in:
• Clarity of goal
• Concentration
• Loss of
awareness
• Distorted sense
of time
• Feedback
• Balance
• Control
• Autotelic
* • absorption

49. Coping in video games
 Consider our daily lives, which Grodal argues
involve (among others):
 Empathy
 Cooperation
 Compromise
These are all adaptive!
 Aversion
 Assertiveness
 Confrontation

50. Importance of Context

51. Emotions, Real and Mediated
 Emotional responses – good or bad – require
a meaningful stimulus + response
 Emotions are “modes of relational action
readiness”(Fridja, 1986)
In a video
game, your
reaction here
might be more
“real”…why?

52. Video games vs. films
 Some differences might be:
 Attention controls perception
 Mental maps of virtual space
 Coordination of visual
attention and motor action
 Emotional significance of in-
game events
 (continual) satisfaction
 Player-driven, not game-
driven

53. Video games vs. films

54. Gaming and Control
1. Interaction between player and game
transforms coping reactions to coping
procedures; video games are output-
driven, so players need to master the inputs
2. Games provide mastery over emotions; serve
as our mood managers
3. Point-of-View activations go beyond mere
perspective; allow us to internalize
4. Game violence is similar (enacted) to real-
world violence; but takes place in a fantasy

55. Day Three: Media as
Functional
Media Psychology and Influence
SPICE 2012 (Erfurt)
ND Bowman PhD, Instructor

56. Outline
 Selective Exposure and Mood Management
 Media and Need Satisfaction
 Vitality and Restoration

57. Selective Exposure Theory
 People select media to:
 Dissipate noxious mood
states
 Ruminate pleasant mood
states
 Media selection determined
by mood
 Not a (necessarily)
cognitive process

58. SET and the Big Four
 Media Factors
 Arousal regulation
 Motivated to sustain
an optimal level of
arousal
 Excitatory
Homeostasis
 Some media more
arousing than others
 Intervention
potential
 Some media more
absorbing than

59. SET and the Big Four
 Content Factors
 Hedonic valence
 Theoverall
pleasant/unpleasant
form of the narrative
 Behavioral affinity
 How similar the
media narrative is to
the cause of one‟s
current mood

60. Bored
Stressed

61. Self-Determination Theory

62. Self-Determination Theory
 These are not hedonic needs (the “other 51%”)
 Media usage is functional (satisfies our
needs)…
 But our needs are not always hedonic!
 Autonomy – sense of volition and willingness
 Competence – sense of challenge and
effectiveness
 Relatedness – sense of connection with
others
 Each of the above are needed for
psychological growth and happiness

63. Self-Determination Theory
 Can media provide for these feelings?
 Enjoyment then might be the result of this
need satisfaction
Autotelism

64. Evidence of SDT?

65. Evidence of SDT?

66. Media and Vitality
 Media use is often
considered distracting
(displacement
hypothesis)
 Particularly in the
workplace:
 $175M “lost” for each
March Madness
weekend
 $1.5B “lost” by
employees playing

67. Media and Vitality
 But, is there more going on here?
 Distraction is not always a bad
thing, particularly as it can aid in recovery
(restoration of vitality)
 Psychological detachment
What Theory Might Explain
 Relocation This?
 Mastery experiences
 Control

68. Media and Vitality
 Studies show play can help with recovery
 Play in general enhances all four recovery
experiences, but digital games play might be
easier to do at work
 Video games are:
 Easy to access via computer
 Immersive
 Absorbing
 Transporting
 Provide for control
 OTHERS?

69. Media and Vitality

70. BONUS: Moral Foundations
Theory
 Morality is intuitive, not cognitive
 In line with cognitive miser ideal
 Five moral foundations
1. Harm/care
2. Fairness/reciprocity Enjoyment
3. In-group/loyalty comes from the
satisfaction of
4. Authority/respect
salient moral
5. Purity/sanctity foundations

71. Support for MFT
 Conservatives and Liberals
– harm/care and fairness
 Liberals
 Conservatives – equal weight
 Heroes and villains
 dispositions toward characters can be
determined by how they (characters) violate or
uphold moral foundations

72. Support for MFT
 Conservatives and Liberals
– harm/care and fairness
 Liberals
 Conservatives – equal weight
 Heroes and villains
 dispositions toward characters can be
determined by how they (characters) violate or
uphold moral foundations

73. Digital Natives
 Digital Natives = born into technology
 Adjusted to social mores of Internet, gaming
 Morality is “under (social) construction”
Germany US
Salience % Violation Salience % Violation
Harm/ care 4.44 (.98) 30% 4.47 (.99) 64%
Fairness/ reciprocity 4.37 (.95) 12% 4.36 (.91) 24%
Authority/ respect 3.89 (.96) 57% 4.27 (.95) 63%
In-group/ loyalty 3.88 (.85) 38% 4.33 (.94) 48%
Purity/ sanctity 3.61 (.92) 54% 3.97 (.99) 40%

74. Digital Immigrants
 Digital Immigrants = still adopting technology
 Still learning customs of technology
 Well-established sense of mores and customs
Germany US
Salience % Violation Salience % Violation
Harm/ care 5.2 (.6) 25% 4.9 (.7) 10%
Fairness/ reciprocity 5.0 (.6) 9% 4.7 (.6) 5%
Authority/ respect 3.7 (.9) 72% 4.5 (.8) 34%
In-group/ loyalty 4.1 (.8) 67% 4.3 (.9) 45%
Purity/ sanctity 3.8 (1.0) 65% 4.0 (1.2) 32%