KEYWORDS:Desensitization

Hypodermic Syringe Model

CensorshipUses and

gratification model

What effect does the media have in society?L.O 1)To be able to explain the hypodermic syringe and uses and gratification model s using case study examples 2) Analyse the link between violence and the mass media 3) To be able to explain what effect the media has on its audiences.

The more an ideology is

‘dripped’ into society by the

media, the more people believe it & accept it as

true!(George Orwell)Discuss the quotation

above with a partner…. Write down main points of

discussion.

DO Now

Activity-Recap

What is the ‘new media’? Characteristics of the ‘new media’ Who is using the ‘new media’?

1)To be able to explain the hypodermic syringe and uses and gratification model s using case study examples

The Hypodermic Syringe Model

This model suggests that the audience passively accepts the message ‘injected’ into them by the mass media.

This model believes that there is a DIRECT correlation between the violent behaviour shown on TV, computer games etc and anti-social and criminal behaviour in real life.

Control Indoctrination Conditioning Moulding

Violent crimes are often explained in this way e.g. the James Bulger case and the ‘Child’s Play 2’

Jamie Bulger- Can violent films be blamed?

Jamie Bulger, a two- year old toddler who was abducted and murdered by two 10 year old boys

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FiDznXhKsM

The boys had apparently watched ‘Child’s Play 3’ before they murdered the toddler.

As Bulger’s death was very similar to a death in the film, newspapers such as ‘The Sun’ began to fuel the debate as to whether such violence in the media should be accepted.

Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, aged 10. Found guilty of the murder, and were sentenced to imprisonment in a young offenders institution.

Psychologists (Bandura, Ross and Ross) have carried out laboratory experiments that are claimed to prove a cause and effect relationship between media images and behaviour.

Thirty years before Albert Bandura conducted research into how we ‘learn’ to behave

Imitation or Copycat Violence

A BOBO DOLL IS AN INFLATABLE, EGG-SHAPE BALLOON CREATURE WITH A WEIGHT IN THE BOTTOM THAT MAKES IT BOB BACK UP WHEN YOU KNOCK HIM DOWN. 

He made a film of a young woman beating up a Bobo doll. 

THE YOUNG WOMAN PUNCHED THE CLOWN, KICKED IT, SAT ON IT, HIT WITH A LITTLE HAMMER AND SO ON.

SHE SHOUTED VARIOUS AGGRESSIVE PHRASES

BANDURA SHOWED HIS FILM TO GROUPS OF SMALL CHILDREN.

THEY THEN WERE LET OUT TO PLAY!

In the play room there was a bobo doll and various toys; including toy hammers.

BANDURA WATCHED AS THE KIDS BEAT THE DAYLIGHTS OUT OF THE BOBO DOLL. 

They punched it and shouted kicked it, sat on it and hit it with the little hammers.

IN OTHER WORDS, THEY IMITATED THE YOUNG LADY IN THE FILM.

THE CHILDREN CHANGED THEIR BEHAVIOUR IN RESPONSE TO WHAT THEY HAD SEEN ON THE TV!

Bandura also showed the children a film of the young woman beating up a live clown. 

WHEN THE CHILDREN WENT INTO THE OTHER ROOM, WHAT SHOULD THEY FIND THERE BUT -- THE LIVE CLOWN!  THEY PROCEEDED TO PUNCH HIM, KICK HIM AND HIT HIM WITH LITTLE HAMMERS.

Therefore Bandura concluded that violent media content could lead to imitation or copycat violence.

Supporting Research…

McCabe & Martin (2005) argued that imitation was a likely outcome of media violence because, often media portrays such violence as being ‘heroic’.

Such acts are then carried out by young people as they believe it is acceptable- this is known as the ‘disinhibition effect’

To analyse the link between violence

and the mass media

George was a thirteen year old from a middle class family in America

He was obsessed with Grand theft Auto One day he decided to go into his high

school gun down members of his class. His family said he showed no signs of

aggressive behaviour prior to this1. What does this case teach us about the

effect of the media on a person?2. Is this case study enough to show that

behaviour is learnt rather than part of our nature?

Study

Recap:1. Briefly explain what is meant by the

‘hypodermic syringe model’2. Give 2 contemporary examples of mass

media violence to illustrate this model3. How does McCabe & Martin’s

research support this model?4. How can Bandura’s research support

this model?

Explain the following using the hypodermic syringe theory.

Violence, pornography, war, knife crime, muggings, class, race....

The uses & gratifications

model

Leisure, entertainment and relaxation, as an

escape from daily routine.

The audience use the media for different reasons.

Personal relationships and companionship, through identification with communities like those in Coronation Street or Eastenders are main conversation starters in many communities.

Personal Identity: The use of media for their own identity, e.g. Latest clothing

fashions.

Information, such as news

Background whilst doing other things.

Give examples of programmes

Is the audience passive in this model?

To be able to explain what

effect the media has on its

audiences.

Censorship Newson’s research/findings have had a

major influence over censorship

Video Recordings (Labelling) Act 1985, which resulted in all videos and DVD’s being given British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) age certificates.

Desensitization Elizabeth Newson, as a result of the

James Bulger case has since been investigating the effects of violent TV on young people.

She suggested that such exposure of violent killings etc create a drip-drip effect amongst young people.

This results in such violence becoming desensitized- they begin to see such behaviour as ‘normal’ and they are socialised into accepting deviant behaviour.

Other Developments include:

The introduction of a 9 o’clock watershed

In 2006 an advertising campaign for a film starring 50 Cent was criticised for glamorising gun crime

In 2007 the government launched a review on the impact of violent TV on young chilren

In 2008 an Ofcom survey suggested that 2/3rds of their sample of young people between the ages of 12-15 yrs claimed that violent computer games had effected their behaviour.

Feminism & The Hypodermic Syringe Model

Morgan (1980) along with other Feminists have suggested that there is a causal link between pornography and real life sexual violence

Q. WHY DO YOU THINK THIS IS?

Dworkin (1990) suggests that pornography trivialises rape and makes men

‘increasingly callous to cruelty, to infliction of pain to violence against persons, to abuse of women’

Other research suggests that exposure to pornography makes both men and women less satisfied with their partners.

Other research suggests the opposite- and that pornography actually has a positive role to play in relation to behaviour in real life.

Denmark (2007) concluded that pornography actually led to improved sex-lives, sexual knowledge and attitudes towards the opposite gender.

Strongly Agree Strongly Disagree

“The Mass Media does have a

DIRECT influence over our

behaviour”

Task: On your piece of paper write your name. As we go round the class come and stick your name somewhere on the board, explain why you have positioned yourself there.

Plenary

PlenaryWWWEBI

Critique of The Hypodermic Syringe Model

Catharsis-

Sensitisation-

Methodology-

Children as sophisticated media users

Audiences are not homogenous

Scapegoating the Media-

HYPODERMIC SYRINGE MODELControl

Indoctrination

Conditioning

Moulding

Task:

- Everyone will be given a newspaper article about the Virginia shootings and the Mass Media coverage of the events.

- Read through your newspaper article highlighting any key points which relate to audience effects.

Violence and the Mass Media

“Do you think that the American press should have released the video footage?”