Media and Social PsychologyThis was a really interesting class and I wasn't ready for it to be over. We looked into how media affects us whether we realize it or not which is kind of disconcerting. There were many topics of interest but the one topic that I chose to write my class paper on was the "copycat effect".
The Fort Hood murders had just occurred as we were starting the class. Several other incidents followed those murders and that piqued my interest. What causes copycat murders and suicides? Who is most at risk? What can be done about them? I have copied and pasted my paper below. I know it could be better, it's my first APA style paper. My next one will be better. Practice, practice, practice.
When Life Imitates Life – Media Violence and Copycat EffectsWhen Life Imitates LifeHumans have moved through various methods of communication starting with verbal, then written, imagery, printed, and finally through electronically distributed communication such as the telephone, radio, television, film and the Internet. In the book “The Media is the Massage”, Marshall McLuhan explores the metamorphosis of communication from simple verbal storytelling to mass electronic media and how the changes affect man. Communication methods were once singular in nature such as the village sage telling stories to educate and entertain a small audience. This was limited in the ability of the sage’s memory and the size of the audience. It was also limited in the abilities of the audience members to visualize the sage’s communication intent. Without imagery to support the sage’s story, audience members had individual liberties to interpret his words with their own mental pictures. As time went on, humans learned to enhance their ideas with images and eventually printed alphabets turned into text. A permanent record of information was now available from a few people to a few people. Once the printing press was invented, mass production of information was possible. However, the audience or recipients of that information were still limited due to the labor involved to print the material and the cost to purchase the material. Electronic technology, particularly television and radio greatly expanded the ability of mass media to cross geographical, racial and socioeconomic borders. In addition, printing presses run by new technologies allowed for greater volume of printed materials to be produced and distributed. No longer were the parents or the village elder the authoritative word, now this multi-dimensional realistic form of storytelling and the medium presenting it has the ability to impact society in profound and sometimes unfortunate ways.
The purpose of this paper is to explore the advent of mass media, understand its ability to persuade and affect its consumers, look at who is at risk from violence portrayed in the media and learn how some people at risk react to it.
Mass Media Extends Our Senses and Transport Us Into the “World”
In “The Medium is the Massage” (McLuhan, 1967), media are viewed as extensions of
man. With media, we can be reached quicker and from farther away. We no longer depend on a
single source (for example, the village storyteller) to inform, enlighten or entertain us. We are
electronically connected to many “village storytellers” now and they are connected to many
listeners and viewers. Mass media are pervasive and available to almost anyone. Because media
are an extension of us (and by us), they have become a part of us. As they are part of us, they are hardly recognized, seldom questioned and ultimately our extension into the world. Or at least what the media want us to view as the world. Media are also very persuasive. Even low
credibility reports can convince us that fictional stories are real. In a study by Appel and Richter
(2007) it was demonstrated that a “sleeper effect” was a real consequence of beliefs being
changed over time. A sleeper effect occurs when an individual may at first not believe a
communicator’s point of view, but after a period of time starts to agree with the communicator’s
position. This is opposed to an individual at first believing a communicator’s point of view but after a period of time reverts to his/her previous attitude or belief.
In the study, students were asked to read two versions of a fictional story “The Kidnapping” with each version containing 16 assertions – eight true assertions, and eight false assertions. If a true assertion was in version one of the study, a false assertion was in version two and vice versa. The students read the stories and answered a questionnaire. The students returned two weeks later and answered another questionnaire. The results indicated that the students’ belief change was more evident and more highly held after two weeks. By reading fictional narratives and being transported into the story, our frames of reference are temporarily altered for our thought processes. Due to this, the ability to critically evaluate the presented information is partially blocked, allowing the persuasive effects of the narrative to be affective (Appel & Richter, 2007). As we are transported into stories, especially fictional ones, we are engaged and held because we want to believe the stories are real and attractive and we can almost see them as true (Dill, 2009, p. 13).
Media have the capability to disarm our ability to think critically about the message
without a conscious effort to do so. Combine this with media’s “always on” and “always
available” state, consumers find themselves vulnerable to media’s persuasive effects, and as
discussed later in this document, some of us more than others.
Mass Media Expands in the 20th CenturyThe electronic media revolution that occurred in the 20th century changed the way media were able to disperse information to the masses. Early on, broadcast models radio and television provided limited information (although broader than before). Twenty-four hour media outlets did not exist in the early years but later on as more channels of communication were added, around-the-clock programming provided more opportunity for media to reach the masses.
The paradigm shift in a broadcast model occurred with the release of the Internet to commercial traffic in 1993 (Feldman, 2002). The Internet provides the multi-dimensional aspect of all the media models; audio, imagery, print, motion and is used by 65% of the U.S. population (Nielsen, 2009). The Internet is unique in a publishing aspect due to a few factors:
1. The low cost of entry for content publishers. There are free blog engines that anyone with a computer can access and use to publish content.
2. A lack of filters such as editors or censors. Any type of content can be published on the Internet. Pornography, extreme violence, and other potentially harmful messaging such as suicide chat rooms are available to anyone with the tools (computer) to access them.
3. The author of Internet content is nearly impossible to trace if that author wishes to remain anonymous. There are no repercussions to the author for publishing content that results in the damage to humans or society as a whole.
Mobile phones followed the Internet and suddenly information could be dispersed
24 hours per day practically anywhere on the planet and it could be dispersed at the speed of electronic transmission. The implication of the Internet and mobile phones joining the other electronic methods of communication was that the control of information being broadcast was lost due to the public now contributing content to the masses.
Due to the numerous channels of content distribution, the public’s contribution of content and the “always on” state, mass media are ubiquitous, pervasive, invasive, infectious and not restrained by morals, ethics, good intentions or facts.
The Rise of Violence in the MediaAlong with the expansion of the mass media in the 20th century, whether connected or not, violent crimes also rose. In the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s, American children began to consume television programming and by 1999, children were spending about 40 hours per week watching television programs including movies and videos (Kaiser Family Foundation, 1999). In a 1992 study it was found that by the time an average American child graduated from elementary school, he or she would have seen more than 8,000 murders and more than 100,000 other serious crimes on network television (cable television would produce higher numbers) (Anderson & Bushman, 2001).
With exposure to this much violence at such a young age and assuming these consumption habits remain throughout adulthood, considerable harm can be done to and by certain consumers.
Does Media Violence Cause Aggressive Behavior in Certain Consumers?The question often arises if media violence causes violent behavior or those who have demonstrated aggressive behavior tend to consume violent media. Several studies have been conducted in an attempt to answer this question. In a study by Paik and Comstock, aggregated meta-data was used to look at viewing-to-behavior and behavior-to-viewing effects as well as socio-economic statuses (SES) among the test subjects. The results showed that viewing-to-behavior was more likely to cause aggression than behavior-to-viewing (Comstock, 2008).
So yes, media violence does cause aggressive behavior in certain consumers. But why in only certain consumers, why not all violent media consumers?
Who is at Risk from Violent Media?Before we look at how violent media affects its consumers, we need to discuss who it affects. Does it affect everyone? Does it affect some consumers more profoundly than others? Commons sense tells us that we are all affected by media violence. At the very least disturbed by it because it perhaps portrays actions abhorred by us. Why are some of us abhorred by it and others affected in a way as to adopt what they consume as part of their arsenal of social skills?
If by the time U.S. children graduating from elementary school have witnessed more than 8,000 murders and more than 100,000 other serious crimes on network television and assuming by law every U.S. child must attend school, we should see a chaotic society full of aggressive behavior. But we don’t, although one could argue that our society is more aggressive than it should be. To partially answer this, according to Comstock (2008) there are five attributes of a consumer that makes him or her more at risk from the effects of media violence:
1. A predisposition for anti-social or aggressive behavior: surveys (Belson, 1978; Robinson & Bachman, 1972), experiments (Celozzi, Kazelskis, & Gutsch, 1981; Josephson, 1987), meta-analysis (Paik, 1991).
2. Rigid or indifferent parenting; unsatisfactory social relationships: (Chaffee, McLeod, & Atkin, 1971; McLeod et al., 1972b).
3. Low psychological well-being: (D. R. Anderson, Collins, Schmitt, & Jacobvitz, 1996; Canary & Spitzberg, 1993; Comstock & Scharrer, 1999; Kubey & Csikszentmihalyi, 1990; Maccoby, 1954; Potts & Sanchez, 1994).
4. Having been diagnosed or suffering from disruptive behavior disorders (DBDs): (Grimes, Bergen, Nichols, Vernberg, & Fonagy, 2004).
Violent media consumers with a predisposition for anti-social or aggressive behavior are at the greatest risk. Consumers (children) who live in an open-communication environment with their parents are able to discuss many topics and view less television thereby reducing their exposure to violence as compared to those consumers who live in a closed-communication environment with their parents. Consumers whose parents are interested in their activities are less likely to be affected by media violence. Good parenting tends to be a mitigating factor.
Television can be an escape mechanism for some consumers who are lonely, stressed or in a less than ideal social situation. These consumers are at risk due to their volume of consumption of television exposing them to more potential to consume violent media.
Consumers who have been diagnosed or suffering with a DBD such as attention deficit or hyperactivity disorder respond more aggressively to violent imagery than others without a DBD thereby increasing the risk to be affected by media violence.
Clearly there are individuals who have committed serious crimes that have at least one of the five attributes listed above. Combine this predisposition with the persuasive effects of media and the results can become tragic.
The Persuasive Effect of MediaMedia have an agenda. That agenda is to deliver a message whether it is for an advertiser/sponsor, writer, producer or broadcast company owner. The objective is to make the message attractive (or in some cases not) to the audience. To make the message attractive, often a spokesperson is used. That spokesperson is usually a celebrity, someone that the audience trusts or “knows.” An attractive, interesting spokesperson makes us, the audience, want to emulate that person by using the product that the spokesperson is touting. In the same vein, when we view a movie or television program, we inject ourselves into it, it becomes real, we no longer realize we are watching fiction (or a reenactment of an actual event). Why do we do this? “The mass media artfully, skillfully, and adeptly use knowledge of human psychology to get our attention, and yes, even when we don’t necessarily ‘want’ to give it.” (Dill, 2008, p. 24).
Media are persuasive at the individual level. But what about groups of people? Can they
be affected by media so that they share the same ideas, attitudes and behaviors? The cultivation theory says that people who watch more television than those who don’t tend to view the “real
world” in ways that television programming portrays it. These people are persuaded or will tend to share these views even though those people are geographically and culturally diverse.
Dispersion of thought and identity are narrowed due to the media’s influence.
George Gerbner in the forward of the article Television & Its Viewer: Cultivation Theory & Research (1999) describes this.
"Most of what we know, or think we know, we have never personally experienced. We
live in a world erected by the stories we hear and see and tell. Unlocking incredible riches
through imagery and words, conjuring up the unseen through art, creating towering works
of imagination and fact through science, poetry, song, tales, reports and laws – that is the
magic of human life. Through that magic we live in a world much wider than the threats
and gratifications of the immediate physical environment, which is the world of other
species. Stories socialize us into roles of gender, age, class, vocation and lifestyle, and
offer models of conformity or targets or rebellion. They weave the seamless web of the
cultural environment that cultivates most of what we think, what we do, and how we
conduct our affairs. The story-telling process was once more hand-crafted, home-made,
community-inspired. Now it is mostly mass-produced and profit-driven. It is the end
result of a complex manufacturing and marketing process." (Shanahan, Gerbner, Morgan,
1999. p. ix).
Media Violence and the Copycat EffectSo far we have discovered that:
1. We are all exposed to media violence.
2. Some of us are more vulnerable than others to be negatively affected.
3. The media know how to persuade us affectively.
4. Our attitudes, beliefs and views of the world are cultivated through the media.
5. Violence in the United States started to rise when the first generation of U.S. children raised on television became old enough to commit crimes.
This all adds up to unfortunate circumstances that some consumers of media and/or their victims find themselves. An interesting facet of media’s influence upon us is something called the “copycat effect.” The copycat effect is a pattern that deals with the “power of the mass communication and culture to create an epidemic of similar behaviors.” (Coleman, 2004, p.1).
The epidemic can be non-violent or violent. Non-violent copycat behaviors can be media consumers emulating favorite celebrities (girls dressing like Madonna in the 1980s) or violent behavior such as mass suicides and murders.
Copycat Effect and SuicideThe “Werther Effect” also known as the “contagion effect” is the earliest known example of media’s affect on suicide. In the 1774 novel “The Sorrows of Young Werther” by Goethe, the hero shoots himself over an unsuccessful love affair. Shortly after the publication of this novel, there were reports of young men shooting themselves - hence “The Werther Effect.”
More current evidence was shown when the book Final Exit was written. It was a guide for terminally ill people to end their lives by asphyxiation. In the year the book was written, suicides in New York City rose by 313%, and a copy of the book was found at 27% of the suicide scenes (Stack 2003).
Other evidence includes charcoal burning in Hong Kong as a method of suicide. This method occurs when charcoal is burned in a small, sealed place or room. The burning charcoal produces carbon monoxide which asphyxiates the person attempting suicide. After the first report in 1998 was pictorially depicted, two months later suicide by charcoal burning was the third commonest method of suicide in Hong Kong. Of particular note, suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning was not a popular method until after the media reports. (Lee, Chan, Yip, Lee, 2005).
Copycat Effect and HomicidesThe copycat effect also manifests itself in homicides. The media must certainly play a role when similar mass homicides occur in a short time span across different countries. One such case occurred in Australia, New Zealand and England and was studied by Cantor, Sheehan, Alpers and Mullen in 1999. The incidents included mass commando-style homicides. Guns were used predominantly in the seven incidents.
From 1987 to 1996 there were four similar mass homicides in Australia (1987 – 1996) one in New Zealand (1990) and two in the United Kingdom (1987). The 1987 incident in Australian was followed 10 days later in the United Kingdom which suggests that media coverage of the Australian incident was viewed in the United Kingdom. These types of crimes were virtually unheard of in these countries prior to the 1987 incident.
To include this case in their study, it had to contain the following three elements: the degree of similarity of the events, proximity in time, and statements by the assailants before and after the crimes. The investigators found that four of seven incidents may have been partially modeled after one or more of the seven incidents. The proximity in time element was somewhat met but more importantly part of the findings indicated that media may contribute to modeling up to 10 years or more due to a connection of a 1987 incident with one in 1996. Due to the similar incidents occurring in different countries, modeling is not restricted to continents or countries when mass media reports globally on these incidents.
The media coverage of the Fort Hood murder rampage on November 5, 2009 could have contributed to similar incidents shortly after. On the following day, November 6, 2009 a man in Florida opened fire with a gun on his former workplace. He was upset with his former employer for firing him two years earlier and blamed his employer for his debt-ridden situation. Five people were injured, one died. The following day, an armed man in Colorado took over a school room holding the principal of the school hostage. Ultimately he released the principal and gave himself up. He was upset with the government. Later the same day, another shooting occurred at an office park in Portland Oregon resulting in two deaths. It turns out that this was a domestic situation; however, the media coverage of the initial incident (Fort Hood) and coverage of the subsequent incidents could have been the tipping point that made these other perpetrators act.
What did all of these men have in common or was there a commonality to them? The Fort Hood shooter, U.S. Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan aged 38 years, was described as unhappy with his employment situation, disturbed over the wounded soldiers that he treated, conflicted by his religion and military duty, and was unsuccessful in finding a wife. It was also reported that he was bullied at his workplace because of his practice of the Muslim religion.
The Florida shooter, Jason Rodriguez, aged 40, was struggling with divorce, blamed his former employer who fired him for all of his problems, had ongoing mental issues and was angry. The Colorado hostage taker, Christopher Craft Sr., aged 42, was upset with how the military was treating veterans. One of his sons was a veteran. One of the students overhearing him said that Craft said he was angry and confused. Craft requested treatment for his mental illness after the incident.
Although in-depth research is required to thoroughly analyze these men’s common traits, attitudes, opinions, physical and mental histories, the information above does show a few elements in common. Their ages are very close and their ages put them in that group of school age children starting to watch television (and the violence on it) in 1965 and now old enough to act out violence, at least two of them have unhappy love lives, all are angry at either a real or perceived slight against them, and at least two of them had mental issues. One other element not supported in the media reports is that perhaps all of these men had access to some form of media outlet that influenced them. Perhaps Hasan (already upset by the soldiers’ stories of war) was further influenced by the imagery of war shown by the media. After his act, perhaps the incessant reporting of the Fort Hood murders by all media outlets influenced the next shooter and so on and so forth. Although the media reported that these men acted alone, they really didn’t. Ironically, the media were with them long before, during and after their acts.
ConclusionMass media play a role in our behaviors, attitudes and viewpoints. They are always on, mostly available to us at any time and on any day, have global reach, have an agenda, and give sensationalistic type headlines prime coverage. Through the media, some people have blurred the lines between fantasy and reality, good and evil, and right and wrong. Some people at risk have a high probability of acting out what they view in the media thereby propagating and perpetuating the copycat effect.
Because mass media have ingrained themselves in our society and our lives, they have an obligation and responsibility to alter the way they cover suicides and crimes, thereby mitigating the copycat effect and reducing tragic incidents of life imitating life. Loren Coleman (2004) offers seven suggestions for the media to implement, which are paraphrased below:
1. Stop using the word "successful" or "failed" when speaking of violent acts. These words lead the audience to believe that they must keep trying to succeed in these pursuits.
2. Stop using the clichéd stories of the perpetrator as being "the boy/girl next door" or the
"lone nut." Perpetrators of violent acts are not so simply defined.
3. Cease endless graphic and sensationalized coverage of violent acts and omit details of
methods and places of the violent acts. These glamorize the violent acts and provide
instructional material for potential perpetrators.
4. Show more details about the consequences of the violent acts as they relate to the
survivors such as relatives and friends grieving.
5. Avoid ethnic, racial, religious and cultural stereotypes of the victims and the
perpetrators. Do not provide a road map for like-minded individuals who may want to avenge or commit a violent act.
6. Never report a story on a suicide or murder-suicide without offering contact information
for helplines, assistance, and so forth.
7. Concentrate on studying their role in creating our perceived increasingly violent society.
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