Relationship_Between_Media_Exposure_and_Desensitisation_to_Violence

Relationship between media exposure and desensitisation to violence ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to construct a questionnaire, which will assess the relationship between media exposure and desensitisation to violence.  The design employed for this study was a correlational survey using single blind conditions. There were 22 respondents to the questionnaire who were asked to fill in the given questionnaire (see appendix). I used an opportunity sample, which was the students of South Cheshire College. The research was also conducted in the college. The questionnaire tested for two conditions 1. The amount of television watched and 2. The sensitivity to violence rating. The alternate hypothesis was rejected using a speraman’s rho statistical test, which showed there was no correlation between the amount of television watched and person sensitivity to violence. My conclusion for this study is that there is no relationship between the amount of television watched by a person and their sensitivity to violence. 147 Words INTRODUCTION Surveys are a common way and means of collecting data for analysis. They have the advantage of providing a wealth of data at a little cost in terms of time and expense. They also provide access to data, which is not available through direct observation of behaviour. The general area of study that I will design my survey for will be the relationship between media exposure and desensitisation to violence. Psychologists explain the effects of television violence on aggressive behaviour in terms of arousal, disinhibition, imitation, and desensitisation. The observation that levels of aggression are increasing is blamed on the fact that there is more violence on television. A number of studies have tried to answer this and to relate violence to aggressive behaviour. Desensitisation is the reduction in emotional response to television violence and increased acceptance of violence in real life as a result of viewing it. As with drug tolerance increasingly violent programmes may be required to produce an emotional response (Gadow and Sprafkin 1989) Baron (1977) refers to ‘phase two’ research (research into the effects of media violence) has been conducted using various methodological approaches. Correlational studies typically involve asking people which programmes they like best and what they watch most often. This data is then correlated with measures of aggression given by, parents, teachers, self-report peers and so on. Evidence from such studies has generally been inconsistent but on finding is that the overall amount of viewing is related to self-reports of aggressive behaviour. There is also the possibility that those who watch violent television are in some way different from those who do not and the inability to infer cause and effect in correlational studies weakens this methodology. Laboratory studies are designed to enable the causal link between watching violent television and behaving aggressively to be established (if it existed) Liebert and Baron (1972) randomly assigned children to two groups. One group watched The Untouchables, a violent television programme, whilst the other group watched an equally engaging and arousing but non-violent sports competition. Afterwards the children were allowed to play. Those who had watched the violent programme behaved more aggressively than the others did. The problem with laboratory studies is that they use small and unrepresentative samples that are exposed to the independent variable under highly contrived and unnatural viewing situations. The measures of television viewing and aggression tend to be so far removed from normal everyday behaviour that it is doubtful whether such studies have any relevance to the real world. Field experiments have higher ecological validity than lab experiments. Parke et al. (1977) showed that aggression in delinquent boys rises if they watch violent films at home. No change in behaviour is observed if they view non-violent films. Field experiments have higher ecological validity than lab experiments. Natural experiments show that the introduction of televisions to a town increases the aggressive behaviour of the inhabitants (Joy et al. 1986) Questionnaires are written methods of gaining data from subjects that do not necessarily require the presence of the researcher. By conducting a questionnaire to assess the relationship between media exposure and desensitisation to violence will allow a large amount of standardised data to be collected which will be highly replicable and easy to score. 543 Words AIMS I plan to construct a questionnaire, which will assess the relationship between media exposure and desensitisation to violence. A positive correlation between hours of television watched and frequency of aggressive behaviours has already been found by Robinson and Bachman (1972). I predict that I will find that the higher the media exposure (i.e. the amount of television watched) will lead to a lack of sensitivity towards violence. My hypothesis is one tailed as previous research indicates that people who do watch a large amount of television are more likely to be desensitised to violence. Such as the study by Eron (1987) who found that high frequency of television viewing leads to desensitisation in an individual. 115 Words HYPOTHESES I have chosen an alternative hypothesis because I am constructing a questionnaire not an experiment. It is a one tailed directional hypothesis as I predict that the results will show a positive correlation based on the vast amount of research already carried out in this area. Alternate (H1) hypothesis is that there is a positive association between the amount of television that a person watches and their lack of sensitivity towards violence. Null (H0) hypothesis is that there will be no significant relationship between the amount of television that a person watches and their lack of sensitivity towards violence The appropriate level of statistical significance is 0.05. It would be too lenient to use 0.10 and too strict to use 0.01. 121 Words METHOD Design Researchers recognise three different types of interview situations, which I turn require three different types of questionnaire which are structured, semi-structured and unstructured. For my investigation I am going to use a semi structured questionnaire (See Appendix 1 for questionnaire and appendix 2 for standardised instructions). This type of interview uses questionnaires with a mixture of questions with predefined answers as well as those where the respondent is free to say whatever they choose. The semi-structured tool is a more flexible tool than its highly structured counterpart and there is likely to be more probing to find out the reasons for certain answers. To assess the amount of television watched I think that classification questions are best as the information gathered could easily be used to se how the respondents differ from one another. The information that is required for a classification question is usually factual with typical classification questions providing a profile of the respondents. An example of a type of question that I asked is: - On average how many hours of television do you watch a day' 0-1 1-2 2-3 3-4 4-5 5+ The above example was also a closed-ended question where I have anticipated the replies that the respondent may have. The respondent had to choose from the predetermined answers. Another example being: - At what time of the day do you watch the most television' Morning (6am-12pm) Afternoon (12pm-6pm) Evening (6pm-9pm) Night time (9pm onwards) To assess the respondent’s sensitivity (or lack of it) towards violence I will use three different types of questions, behavioural, attitudinal and classification. Behavioural questions sought factual information on what the respondent does or owns and the frequency in which certain actions are carried out. Attitudinal questions are used to find out what people think of something, their image and rating of things. I used attitudinal questions more frequently to assess this area as the way people react to things depends on their attitude towards it, in this case violence on television. Some examples of the questions I asked are: - Do you think that there is too much violence on the television' (Excluding the news) Yes No Why do you think this is' …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………… What do you think of television programmes such as ‘Bad Girls’ or ‘The Bill’ regarding the amount of television violence shown'  The above question was asked as a closed-ended question with a number of possible statements to chose from. It may help to include some filler questions in my questionnaire. By doing this I was able to mislead the respondent from the main purpose of the survey. It also helps to have some easy, non-threatening questions, which will help the respondent relax. An example of a filler question that I used is: - What are your hobbies' …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………… This type of question can be asked either as a closed or open-ended question and will help the respondent feel like the researcher has an interest in his or her other pursuits. Co-variables The co-variables in my investigation are the lack of sensitivity towards violence and the amount of television watched (exposure). Ethical issues The ethical issues that I needed to deal with were avoided by gaining informed consent from the participants thus eliminating all deception and distress. It was important to keep the confidentiality of the participant and give the option to withhold data. It was also vital that the participants were debriefed. Participants  I carried out the research myself on my target population. My target population was males and females between the ages of 16 and 20. To do this I used an opportunity sample, selecting students from South Cheshire College, as they were readily available to me. The actual sample used was 22 students 10 of which were female and the remaining 12 male. Apparatus The apparatus used is clearly my questionnaire (See appendix 1), which was accompanied by standardised instructions read aloud by myself. (See appendix 2) Standardised procedure The research took place in college. I approached the participant and asked if they would like to answer a questionnaire to help me with my psychology coursework. If the participant agreed to take part then I explained to him or her that it was to assess the amount of television watched by college students and that all answers given by them would be confidential and that they had the right to withdraw their data at any time. After the participant had completed the questionnaire I then debriefed them stating the true aim of the research and again giving them the right to withdraw. Controls Use of filler questions for single blind conditions. Suitable method of sampling. Equivalent testing conditions for all respondents. 763 Words RESULTS All the raw data I collected is in the appendix. The data that I have obtained has been treated in the following way: Descriptive statistics The above graph shows that there is no correlation between the amount of television watched and a persons’ sensitivity to violence.  Graph one shows that no matter how much television is watched, a persons sensitivity towards violence does not seem to vary. Thus forcing me to accept my Null (H0) hypothesis, which is that there will be no significant relationship between the amount of television that a person watches and their lack of sensitivity towards violence. Therefore I will have to reject my Alternate (H1) hypothesis, which is that there is a positive association between the amount of television that a person watches and their lack of sensitivity towards violence. The above graph also supports my Null (H0) hypothesis as it demonstrates that a person lacks sensitivity towards violence on the television as reponse one (“seeing violence on television does not bother me”) as 50% of respondents agreed with this statement. (Actual categories of responses can be found in appendix 1 question 9) Both graphs have forced me to accept my Null (H0) hypothesis but to see if my results are statistically significant I will need to use an inferential test. Inferential statistics A statistical test can be used to see if there is a significant correlation between the hours of television watched and the lack of sensitivity towards violence. As there are many different statistical tests it is important that I chose the right one otherwise my results will be meaningless. All my calculations are shown in the appendix 3 and 4. The test that looks most likely to scientifically prove my hypothesis is the Spearman’s Rho. Once I have carried out my statistical test I will be able to say whether or not my data is significant. This will allow me to either accept or reject my Alternate (H1) hypothesis, which is that there is a positive association between the amount of television that a person watches and their lack of sensitivity towards violence. The Spearman’s Rho can only be used for differences or correlation of ordinal data. The design must be related and the data must be in the form of related pairs of scores. In this case it is related scores between the amount of television watched by an individual and their sensitivity score to violence. The formula that I used is as follows: - rs = 1- 6ed2 r = the result and has to be equal or greater than the table value for significance at the level consulted. In this case the level of significance is o.o5 for a one tailed test. The value has to be greater than 33.92 d = the difference between the ranks N= the number of pairs Full tables and equations can be seen in appendix 3 and 4. Statistical conclusion As the observed value of the Spearman’s Rho is –0.076555618 and is less than the critical value of 22nd df of significance for a one tailed test making my results not statistically significant. It therefore forces me to reject my Alternate (H1) hypothesis and accept my Null (H0) hypothesis, which is that there will be no significant relationship between the amount of television that a person watches and their lack of sensitivity towards violence. 544 Words DISCUSSION My investigation to construct a questionnaire to find out whether there is a significant relationship between the amount of television a person watches and their lack of sensitivity towards violence has been unsuccessful. I have had to accept my Null (H0) hypothesis, which is that there will be no significant relationship between the amount of television that a person watches and their lack of sensitivity towards violence thus having to reject my Alternate (H1) hypothesis, which is that there is a positive association between the amount of television that a person watches and their lack of sensitivity towards violence.  The significance of the results I measured using a Spearman’s Rho showed that there was absolutely no statistical relevance between my two co-variables of amount of television watched and sensitivity towards violence. Both of my graphs also support my Null (H0) hypothesis, as they show no correlation between the two variables as the amount of television watched has no effect on the sensitivity of violence. It is clear that my study supports none of the studies mentioned in my introduction such as Parke et al. (1977) and Robinson and Bachman (1972). However Howitt & Cumberbatch (1974) have disputed the evidence that media violence desensitises individuals. Researchers suggest that the media have no effect on desensitisation. One analysis of 300 studies led to the conclusion that television violence does not influence children’s or adult’s feelings or behaviour. It could also be a possibility that the individuals I asked may watch great amounts of television but they may not watch violent programmes. Anderson et al. (1986) found that the amount of hours spent watching television starts to level off at the age of seventeen and as 95% of my participants were older than seventeen they may already know what type of programmes they like to watch and already know if they are already desensitised to violence shown on television. There were many limitations to my experiment. The questionnaire that I designed had not been thought out well enough as it was difficult to try and rate an individuals sensitivity to violence. The rating scheme was not ideal as it resulted in many sets of tied ranks which is not the best situation to carry out the statistical test that I chose which was a Spearman’s Rho. As I chose to use an opportunity sample, which had cost and time advantages, it was not representative as a whole. It is very likely that a large majority of the respondents watched the same types of programmes not making my sample ecologically valid. I also feel that if my questionnaire had contained more questions to assess the respondent’s sensitivity towards violence I would have met my hypothesis. With a greater range of questions and a well thought of rating scale then I think that my investigation would have been successful. If I were to carry out further research in this field I would try and use a different sample more representative of the public. I would also like to see if there is a difference in genders due to the varied television viewing between the sexes. Conclusion The amount of television watched by and individual has no significant relationship to their sensitivity towards violence. Peoples sensitivity score is generally the same regardless of the amount of television viewed. 551 Words REFERENCES www.s-cool.co.uk  APPENDIX APPENDIX 1 PSYCHOLOGY QUESTIONNAIRE PLEASE REMAIN ANONYMOUS THROUGHOUT THE QUESTIONNAIRE PLEASE ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS AS BEST YOU CAN  Please state the following by circling the correct answer: - AGE 16 17 18 19 20 SEX male female 1. What are your hobbies' …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………… 2. On average how many hours of television do you watch a week' ………………………………………………………………………………………… 3. What is your favourite television programme' …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………… 4. Do you think that you watch too much television' Yes No 5. At what time of the day do you watch the most television' Morning 6am-12pm Afternoon 12pm-6pm Evening 6pm-9pm Night time 9pm onwards 6. Please rate the following programme genres with numbers 1-10. Number 1 being your favourite genre, 10 being your least. Drama Music Programmes Sports Documentaries/news Quiz Shows Light entertainment Soap operas Adult television Children’s TV Comedy 7. Do you think that there is too much violence on the television'  (Excluding the news) Yes No 8. If you answered yes to question seven why do you think this is' …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 9. What do you think of programmes such as ‘The Bill’ or ‘Bad Girls’ where the violence content is significantly higher than other programmes' § “Seeing violence on television does not bother me” § “Seeing violence on television bothers me therefore I do not watch these types of programmes” § “I find watching violence on television entertaining but it does not influence my actions afterwards” § “I find watching violence on the television entertaining and it makes me feel aroused and want to reinact what I have just watched” § “I watch violent television programmes as I like to get ideas from them” 10. When stories of rape or murder are shown on the news how do you feel' Shocked Aroused Saddened Tearful Disinhibited Aggressive Stimulated Desensitised Not bothered APPENDIX 2 STANDARDISED INSTRUCTIONS § PLEASE FILL IN THE QUESTIONNAIRE AS TRUTHFULLY AS YOU CAN § TAKE AS LITTLE OR LONG AS YOU WISH § PLEASE ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS § AT ANY TIME WHILST YOU ARE FILLING IN YOUR QUESTIONNAIRE OR AT ANY TIME AFTER YOU HAVE COMPLETED THE QUESTIONNAIRE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO WITHDRAW YOUR DATA. APPENDIX 3 SUBJECT AMOUNT OF TELELEVISION WATCHED SENSITIVITY TO VIOLENCE AMOUNT OF TELEVISION WATCHED RANK SENSITIVITY TO TELEVISION RANK DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RANKS (d) DIFFERENCE SQUARED (d2)