How Media Violence Affects the Real-life Violence of Young Children - Research Proposal Example

Communications Research Proposal Part It is commonly agreed that the 21 century is a revolution in communications and Information technology; however the role of the media and its influence over the audience especially the youths and children is unarguably responsible for promoting violence in them. How the media violence affects the real life violence of young children is evident in their negative behavior in society. In the article Youth and Society, Moral Panic over youth violence: wilding and the manufacture of menace in the media, Welch, Price and Yankey identify the root cause of provoked violence in young urban youths to be the irresponsible role of the mass media to disseminate their news in the most sensational manner only to compete with high viewer ship and maximization of mass appeal. Race, economic and social class is made the scapegoat while youths become the most gullible for criminal behavior stereotypes in society. “Finally the study of youth in society would be enhanced from analysis that determines whether crime news influences criminal justice policies and tactics, particularly in light of such controversial law enforcement practices as racial profiling”. It illustrates how the media violence affects young children and how negative an impact the media makes on them (24). In the media column, Media violence research and youth violence data: why do they conflict, Olson asserts that it is a perpetual blame game between the media and citizens about consequential negative impact of its coverage on viewers. “Authors pondered how the television content and programming practice could be changed to reduce the risk of increasing aggression without causing other social harms” (144). “The series of random shootings by Lee Malvo and John Muhammad created panic in the Washington, DC area. News headlines repeated claims by Malvo’s defense team that the youth had been brainwashed and trained to kill while playing video games with sniper shooting modes such as Halo, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon, and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Covert Ops”.(pg 145). Olson proves the effect of media violence as the affect of their real life behavior. Olson contend that Children are exposed to electronic games designed to arouse destructive and criminal instincts in the form of play and the same is reflected in their behavior in daily life (146). Appropriate policies may help in curbing the root cause of such behavior he concludes. The article on Criminal Justice and Behavior, the effects of media violence exposure on criminal aggression”Meta analysis, Savage and Yancey identify the correlation between exposure and psychology of viewers. They concluded their extensive study emphasizing that media affects aggressive behavior in youths. “For example, many early studies used a learning paradigm in which subjects were told to administer shocks to another individual. The outcome measure was often the maximum level of shock that each subject chose to administer or how many shocks were delivered (Kaplan, 1984). If the group that had viewed a violent television show in an earlier experimental session had a higher average score than the group that had viewed a control program, evidence of an effect was said to be demonstrated” (773). Therefore a correlation certainly existed in the media and the viewer’s behavior as shown by their experiment. Savage focused on the American youth in his article American Behavioral Scientist, the role of exposure to media violence in the Etiology of violent behavior: a criminologist weighs in, argues that “crime is caused by many things; exposure to media violence may or may not be one of them” (1123). The intensity, duration and repetition of media violence are some of the other factors which play a key role in provoking violent behavior remarks Savage. “Factors that operate through their effects on individuals—child abuse, parenting styles, parent antisociality, and the like—are studied by “developmental criminologists” and form a bridge between developmental psychology and criminology with the majority of authors having training in psychology. Media violence would fit in this group, operating through individual effects on child development” he insists (1125). There is need to study the intricacies of psychological impacts of many other factors besides the media violence for research. Although in the article Uses and Gratification of Media Violence: personality correlates of viewing and liking violent genres, Krcmar and Kean examine personality factors in relation to television viewing, they disagree with the argument that watching media violence directly results in inciting youths to criminal behavior. “This study attempts to explore viewers’ interest in and enjoyment of media violence” (400). According to them “The factors most often identified are Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness. Previous research (Finn, 1997) has found that Extraversion and Openness to Experience are the best predictors of media use. In addition, it is possible that Agreeableness and Neuroticism may be related to media use. Therefore, we focus now on Neuroticism Extraversion, Openness to Experience, and Agreeableness (403). Comparing desensitization of audience due to constant viewing of violence in media and its result on individuals, social scientists agree that violent television exposure leads to degradation of positive emotions in the audience. Violence in news, stories of crime, diminish natural human traits and thereby encourage negative behavior, emphasizes Scharrer (291, 292). While Welch, Price and Yankey point at media violence as the root cause of creating moral panic in society, Olson rebukes at the blame game between the media, criminal behavior of youths and the socio-political scenario in the US in not attempting to resolve the issues, Yancey identifies the distinct correlation between the two. Savage discusses the gratification of such viewing sublimates the contention that it is such viewing that results in criminal actions of youths in society. Kremar and Kean disregard the strong connection between behavior and media violence exposure. But Scharrer reiterates the argument and concludes that negative behavior is encouraged by violent coverage of news and exposure of media. How the media violence affects the real life violence of young children is evident by these articles. The research proposal will delve into details of how it affects juvenile’s behavior. Will the formation of socio legal policies for improving the quality of youth behavior enhance the deteriorating standards of morality? Is it not vital for the promotion of good citizens of the future world? Is it not the responsibility of the media? Is it not the influence of its content which plays a major role in carving out the behavior of children and youth in this revolutionary epoch of electronics and communication media networking and infotainment over the viewers, especially young children? Communications Research Proposal 2 Quantitative Proposal Mass media is a powerful source of communication; technology has made it ubiquitous in the lives of all while the young children are perpetually governed by it in daily life. It is commonly agreed that the 21 century is a revolution in communications and Information technology; however the role of the media and its influence over the audience especially the youths and children is unarguably responsible for promoting violence in them. How the media violence affects the real life violence of young children is evident in their negative behavior in society. The qualitative design proposal aims to explore answers to questions like: Does media exposure lead to violent behavior in young children? Can it be gender segregated behavior, girls and boys reacting in different acts? Does the violence seen also result in similar actions by viewers? Is there any gratification derived from watching violence? Does violence provoke negative behavior or is it predominantly inert psychology that makes children respond with violence. Does media violence segregate certain sections, races, ages and social class of a society? Is media violence the root cause of destructive criminal behavior in youths? Does it inflate minor issues and instigate bias against a select group of society? Methodology Qualitative methods- a group of 5 students will be formed to observe the behavior of students/ youths in college cafeteria during lunch time. The subjects will primarily be between the age of 13 -20. The observations will focus on their class, race, body language, conversation topics, dress sense and the style they pose in public. Aim- to analyze the pattern of behavior. Time period envisaged is 3 months. The data collected will throw light on the issues with relevance to movies, shows on television or electronic games known to have excessive violence in them. Does media exposure lead to violent behavior in young children? Another group of 5 volunteers will be assigned the work of participating into conversations of boys in the age group of 13-20 in and outside school and college. These volunteers will make note of what the boys talk, girls separately. The volunteers will record the remarks made to note what they like to watch on television as their hot favorites everyday. For how many hours they watch television, browse on the net, play computer games. The data collected by this process will highlight the prevalent trends in the youngsters of opposite gender and report on influence of media on them with reference to intensity of watching and amount of violence and its impact on girls and boys separately. Time frame proposed is 3 months A group of 5 students will design an electronic survey form to be filled up by young children in order to get a feedback of what they watch and how they behave afterwards in their homes and with peers. The expected response is minimum of 500 youths. The survey questions proposed would highlight the age, gender, class, race, background, parental status, single, both, family, education, economic status (income) and psychological questions which could reflect on the behavior of the person through this survey. The data collected will support or negate the research of how media violence affects the behavior of youths. Time frame – only 30 days. The remaining 30 days will be spent in deciphering the data and segregating it according to each issue in the research proposal. A group of 5 students will volunteer to distribute the same survey forms in print, and get them filled up by students in various schools. The schools will be selected on the basis of academic, social, economic criteria. Practically possible locations will be selected. Time frame- one month. Targeted feedback forms- minimum 500. The data collected will then be fed into the computers to match the electronic forms for final analysis of the survey. Objectives of this qualitative research will bring forth the statistics of number of hours children watch television, what kind of programmes they watch, what kind of background they come from, social and economic status of these children and their relation to the kind of behavior they profess in daily life. Theoretical Implications Some of the possible problems this qualitative data may impose ; Not all the children may project true information so it may not match the research question at all. The data may fluctuate and vary to a degree that standardization of feedback is not possible. The survey may not reflect the correct behavior pattern of the youths as they are not even aware of it. The data may not have any relevance to parental upbringing nor economic or educational status of the children. The definition of violence itself may be arguable by each member of society and the group conducting the survey. The media may be objectionable to the survey for fear of social activist intervention into their role and the threat of political parties to the welfare of their own issues may deflect the objectives of the research proposal and its outcome. Ethical Issues The issues raised in the text and the articles identify violence exposure through the media to be a vital cause of such behavior in society especially the young children. They reflect polluted toxic food the media is feeding the younger generation for their commercial profits and mass scale viewer ship without pondering on the derogatory effects it is having on these tender minds. The irresponsible role of the media is illustrated by recurrence of crime in youths daily. The sensationalization of crime promotes negative emotions which emerge before us as re enacted news stories somewhere else by just someone else. The research may pose problems from the media tycoons, the teenagers and also profit oriented companies who thrive through mass media to promote and influence the minds of all those who are glued to their screens and digesting whatever has been fed to them through the media. How media violence affects the real life violence of young children is an issue of vital ethics. Can it be possible to censor and filter media content so that it may enhance the moral quality of viewers through positive messages; can policies resolve ulterior motives of crime and violence? Is it possible to convert the powerful force of the media to make this world a better place for all irrespective of class, race, income and background? The research proposal endeavors to find a panacea to curb real life violence as an effect of media violence exposure on young children, not just of the US but of the whole new world we have inherited. Works Cited Olson, Cheryl, .K. “Media Column” Media Violence Research and Youth Violence Data: Why Do They Conflict? 144 Academic Psychiatry, 282: Summer 2004. Savage, Joanne., Yancey, Christina. “Criminal Justice and Behavior” The Effects of Media Violence Exposure on Criminal Aggression: A Meta-Analysis 2008:35:772 DOI: 10.1177/0093854808316487 1 November 2009 < http://cjb.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/35/6/77> Savage, Joanne. “American Behavioral Scientist” Behavior: A Criminologist Weighs In The Role of Exposure to Media Violence in the Etiology of Violent DOI: 10.1177/0002764207312016 American Behavioral Scientist 2008; 51; 1123 I November 2009 < http://abs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/51/8/1123> Scharrer, Erica., “Media Exposure and Sensitivity To Violence in News Reports: Evidence of Desensitization?” J and MC Quarterly, University of Massachusetts Amherst Vol.85, No.2 Summer 2008 291-310®2007AEIMC Welch, Michael., Price, E., A. and Yankey, N. “Youth and Society” Moral Panic Over Youth Violence: Wilding and the Manufacture of Menace in the Media DOI: 10.1177/0044118X2034001001 Youth Society 2002; 34; 3. 1 November 2009 < http://yas.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/34/1/3> Read More