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jenny's professor erica shar from the university of massachusetts department
of communication my undergraduate alma mater erika we've had
since the newtown shooting and really
before then but really it's been very prevalent since the newtown shooting
this idea in part perpetrated by those who want to avoid new regulations on
guns
the finger pointed at violence in video games and or movies as a possible cause
for gun violence in the united states i think
there's no better way to get into it and just to get your overall sense of that
you've studied this of this this is an area that you know a lot about what does
research say about the effect of violence in video games and movies on
real world bio
ans an excellent question then is the question of the hour per store
on into like a lot of questions it's complicated
arms so in my hands and maybe a little bit long
uh... but you know i i there there is
the job of that social science research at
is to try to examine he's critical social questions as best as she or he
can
giving given the limits of social science research
and that you know that sort of
generic disclaimer will end up being pretty pertinent to this question
because
what has been dyan pretty convincingly
is that only has been found in an experimental laboratory setting between
people who
way of island video game
or
in some cases watch a violent movie or a violent television show
and bear aggression
and so the word aggression is sort of a pivotal word choice here
on-base and part of the rabbit
in trying to answer the big question about whether media violence can indeed
have a bearing on real-world violence
is that there is inevitably up pretty big disconnect between the ways that we
can measure gretchen and by study
whether it's in a preparatory setting or sometimes we also serve eight people to
seeing you know how much do you watch of the same or how much time do you spend
with these sorts of media forms
and then we asked them to self reports
either behavioral tendencies or attitudes toward aggression
uh... bart in the laboratory setting
we might set up some sort of uh... outcome that we measure of the degree to
which people will engage in it so whether it's something like
i'm an evaluation of someone which could be negative unharmed sort creepy gentile
on the expressions on it
hypotheticals like what would you do in this scenario trident
thirty degree progression of the persons responds so when you talk about
measuring aggression
what you had a news that
there has been some some
linked to some extent between
violence in video games and movies and the definition of aggression as
indicated by an academic survey or study that that is done but then the question
of whether those people and up committing acts of violence that that
does not exist at this point
and i think it's almost impossible to have access to your arm and there are a
couple of sort of more macro level observations to make that would help
eliminate this question
and why is
it whatever crime rates you know what what is the status of crime rates either
in the u_s_ or in other places of the world and how much
those correspond with the circulation of violent
entertainment media
and they don't correspond
you know we we have more ahranat sources of entertainment violence arguably at
this point in history than we ever have before and yet for the most part in the
united states um... violent crime is down
and and you know we can also make some cross-cultural comparisons that world
call into question the overall potential violent media to contribute to
real-world violence
you know what about in other locations where they are very similar
media being circulated with similar amounts of violence in fact you know
um... one of the sort of goals for our modern media companies to make money is
for global circulation up their products
and so it's very similar media content and yet cross culturally often
you know if not similar at all violent crime rates
on so clearly there's something more going on
um... that the macro level of analysis will show us that sometimes those more
microbe level studies and salesman setting
might not
a couple of years ago we interviewed your colleague a michael morgan and he
was featured in the field
documentary film mean world syndrome
and one of the big takeaways for from him was that
violence in video games and movies does not make people more violent but that it
does make the more afraid of violence being committed against them
now some portion of crime maybe could be attributed
sue people
being afraid and acting out of
fear and again and being completely hypothetical just imagining what other
connections could someone draw but the point to that as the link seems a little
bit uh... uh uh... it seems open not the very strong uh... argument to me
i agree and i think you know if we're talking about prevalence
uh... how likely is there to be a link between some kind of violent media that
someone consumed and and ultra
aggressive lori violence and terribly tragic as we saw in newtown and other
school or mass shootings that sort of connection is so
of course obviously logically
west likely to occur you can argue that by the
tens of thousands to millions of people who consumed the same
media content as others and obviously do not have that
extreme response
uh... but it it we talk about more prevalent uh... a fax then we do get
into things like professor martin was talking about with this sort of concept
of fear and that the world is a dangerous place and as you said you that
made them precipitate some sort of sense of being
you know armed and ready to deal with whatever the world may bring
then the other consequence that i would like to point out is that notion of
desensitization camp
no i would argue that that's probably a more prevalent affective and of violent
affect of violent media consumption is
you know and that's just the notion that
the more we consume the stuff the more our culture is
uh... flooded with violent images the less likely they are to register at the
big deal the less likely they are to evoke a sympathetic
response the less likely they are just seen shocking more disturbing
you know i think we've experienced that on this program even because since the
newtown shooting
we've kind of outside of that we've been going out of our way but i think a lot
of media have been pointing to say you know
it's tragic the number of people that were killed in that one instance but
here's twenty others were only one or two people were killed when you look at
the specific circumstances look that individually they should be shocking but
it's almost like they become part of this broader landscape that this stuff
just happens all the time
i think cell and that's what makes something like noontime stand out
and i i'd guess i'm glad that as a collective where not so desensitized as
a culture
that have been reported
factly so and that clearly there is an impact and clearly there's an emotional
impact from something like this
you know the tender age of the victims the mass you know um...
quality of the shootings and
and so yes i think that's right that we said we read about this day in and day
out in the news
if it's not in the news it's in that television shows that we can sell if
it's not on the television
shows that we consume
it's in the games that we play and so a certain level of expectation of a
violent surrounding us is
it seems to me part of the modern sensibility
uh... any logistic annex sort of the macro level observation with more micro
level studies this too is something that researchers have studied in the lab or
in the you know an experimental setting in that you know there have been links
found as well with them
the more someone is exposed to violent images the less likely they will
register
arm some kind of concern sometimes that's physiologically concerned like a
heart uh... actually and um... heartbreak
on sometimes it's like self-report four uh... seem to be burbank tones
and there have been some studies where on the researchers have set up base and
sort of fall scenario where supposedly there's a fight breaking out
and um... people who are in the study they either seen something violent
or at violent media content or they've seen on violent media content and the
researchers study how long it takes for them to respond
to this ostensible
armed conflict that's emerging
and there has been a differential between the people who have seen the
violent media content and those who have not
so this notion of desensitization i think is also a powerful want to
consider
lasting than just to circle back in kind of
but the fine point on this that specific plan by the n_r_a_ and other groups that
that violence in video games and movies
directly responsible for
the gun violence problem in this country
academically there is nothing that would support that state
they i would just respect to the concept of aggression polka on them
and i have my intention to david that there is on what we call a meta-analysis
msn that's an analysis of quantitative
uncertain abrogation of all the existing studies honest single topic
and um...
there are many now see seem to be sorted but you know a way to maker
pretty massive claim based on a big body of research
and there is a meta-analysis that was done on television violence and
aggression
and what that found is that the science of the influence of the television
affect on the concept of aggression as it's been studied and lots of different
ways the size of that affect shrinks
when that aggressive outcome is more severe me
so in something like of real life
which it is
thankfully still an extreme and severe act of violence
those statistical link between media exposure has been shown to be smaller
then on more minor aggressive response
all right we've been speaking with professor erica shar from the university
of massachusetts department of communication thanks so much for being
with us today
thank you so much