Violence, Television and the Health of American Youth

Somers, Anne R.

doi:10.1056/nejm197604082941505

Cited by 39 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Television has been postulated to cause an increase in violence, paranoia, and hyperactivity in children (202,203). Since there may be no educational source as all pervasive as TV, continued studies of its effect on behavior and physical health is mandatory.…”

Section: Behavior and Related Areasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental effects on the central nervous system.

Paulson¹

1977

Environ Health Perspect

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The centrai nervous system (CNS) is designed to respond to the environment and is peculiarly vulnerable to many of the influences found in the environment. Utilizing an anatomical classification (cortex, cerebellum, peripheral nerves) major toxins and stresses are reviewed with selections from recent references. Selective vulnerability of certain areas to particular toxins is apparent at all levels of the CNS, although the amount of damage produced by any noxious agent depends on the age and genetic substrate of the subject. It is apparent that the effects of certain well known and long respected environmental toxins such as lead, mercury, etc., deserve continued surveillance. In addition, the overwhelming impact on the CNS of social damages such as trauma, alcohol, and tobacco cannot be ignored by environmentalists. The effect of the hospital and therapeutic environment has become apparent in view of increased awareness of iatrogenic disorders. The need for particular laboratory tests, for example, examination of CSF and nerve conduction toxicity studies, is suggested. Epidemics such as the recent solvent neuropathies suggest a need for continued animal studies that are chronic, as well as acute evaluations when predicting the potential toxic effects of industrial compounds.

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Section: Behavior and Related Areasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental effects on the central nervous system.

Paulson¹

1977

Environ Health Perspect

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“…Often reviews have drawn strong inferences from studies they believe to show an activation effect. On the basis of these studies, some people have condemned the broadcasters and have suggested remedial action (Bandura, 1973;Liebert, et al, 1973;Rothenberg, 1975; Sommers, 1976). Some of the studies cited by these reviewers, however, show only minimal effects and some studies showing no effects have been ignored.…”

Section: Strong Inferences From Weak Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some previous reviews on this topic have supported the view that T V violence is a significant cause of aggressive behavior (Bandura, 1973;Comstock, 1975;Liebert, Neale, & Davidson, 1973;Murray, 1973). On the basis of these reviews, there have been calls for restrictions on the broadcasting of televised fantasy violence (Rothenberg, 1975;Sommers, 1976) and there is evidence that such positions have affected broadcast policy (Carter & St rickland, 1975). It is our argument here that the evidence that TV causes aggression is not strong enough to justify restrictions in programming.…”

mentioning

confidence: 95%

“…We emphasize that this review considers the evidence from a social policy perspective. Some professional organizations and parents groups have used research evidence on the effects of televised fantasy violence on human aggression to justify regulation of the television industry in this regard (Ingelfinger, 1976;Rothenberg, 1975;Sommers, 1976). A major purpose of this paper is to ask whether the contemporary evidence warrants control or censorship of TV on the basis of the current evidence and to question the extent to which certain laboratory experimental studies are relevant to the policy question.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Television Violence and Viewer Aggression: A Reexamination of the Evidence

Kaplan

Singer

1976

Journal of Social Issues

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Studies of the effects of fantasy violent content in television on aggressive behavior are reviewed and used to assess three positions: (a) an activation view that watching televised fantasy violence causes aggressive behavior, (b) a catharsis view that aggression in some groups may be decreased following the observation of such violence, and (c) a null view that such violence on television has not been demonstrated to have significant effects on aggressive behavior. Studies are discussed with regard to their representativeness in sampling and design. In contrast to earlier reviews which have advocated the activation position, the evidence is here interpreted as supporting the null view.

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“…American society, it is argued, is fed a continual mixture of real and imagined violence either through news documentaries or from "drama". This communicates, to children in particular, the idea that violent means are appropriate for resolving conflicts (Leading Article, 1976;Rotherberg, 1975;Somers, 1976;Inglefinger, 1976).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Victims of Homicide: An Epidemiologic Approach to Social Policy

Najman

1980

Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology

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In the same way that accidents are intuitively perceived to be a consequence of "bad luck", and suicide a COl)sequence of "mental illness", murder is usually perceived to be the result of a premeditated plan with a variety of possible motives. The motive might be robbery, .jealousy or simply a dress rehearsal for another murder (Christie, 1961). Agatha Christie, in her 68 novels, had 70 murderers: 35 were women and 35 were men (Krouse and Peters, 1975). This egalitarian approach to violence did not extend to. victims, and Agatha Christie created 87 female and 50 male victims. Aside from the desire for financial gain, women killed in these as well as other books for love, passion or jealousy, men to consolidate their careers or to prevent exposure. In the absence of accurate data, these types of stereotypes have had an influence in the emergence of appropriate legislative and public policies to reduce levels of homicide in society. Two orientations to policy are apparent. The liberal approach suggests that violence is a consequence of situational and sub-cultural factors associated with interpersonal deprivation, poverty and social disorganization. The conservative approach suggests that much violence is due to the inadequacy of the deterrent, and that tougher penalties would lead to less "deviant" behaviour. The liberal view is underpinned by a conception of social behaviour which assumes that people respond, in a relatively unpremeditated manner, to the environmental forces that act upon them. The conservative view is based upon a more "rational" conceptualization of social behaviour. That is to say, people are perceived to weigh carefully the consequences of alternative courses of action before selecting the most appropriate one. Clearly, there is a need for research which provides some information concerning some characteristics of homicide victitns in Australia.This paper reviews the findings of a number of overseas studies and the theoretical orientations that various researchers have used to explain homicide rates. In addition, Australian homicide rates are described and discussed in the context of previous research. To the best of our knowledge, there hav.e not been any previous studies of patterns of homicide mortality in Australia.The first detailed sociological studies of homicide were those undertaken by Marvin Wolfgang (1958). Wolfgang took, as his research model, a demographic approach not totally unlike the empirical method adopted by Durkheim (1968) in his studies of suicide patterns. Using police data, Wolfgang separated out information on both victims and offenders on a range of socio-demographic variables. He

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Violence, Television and the Health of American Youth

Cited by 39 publications

References 4 publications

Environmental effects on the central nervous system.

Environmental effects on the central nervous system.

Television Violence and Viewer Aggression: A Reexamination of the Evidence

Victims of Homicide: An Epidemiologic Approach to Social Policy

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