Media effects- Albert Bandura (audience theory)

• The media affects the way we act in everyday life, it has a influence on the decisions we make and the actions we take.
• This is shown by a study conducted by Bandura in 1961-63 where children watched a video of a adult acting aggressively to bobo doll. Another group watched a adult act normally and play with the doll. It was found that the children recreated what they saw showing the effect watching a video (the media) can have.
• Bandura said there was two types of learning: by direct experience and through modelling.
• Some examples of when the media has influenced conflict into children are:
• The James Bulger case- James was killed by 10 year old children who had prior been watching 'Childs Play 3', a horror/thriller film. James was said to have been splattered with paint and violently killed, the character in the film is splattered with paint and violently killed.
• Columbine massacre- In 1999 two teenagers killed 13 people at their high school. After the attack multiple media products were blamed including the video game 'Doom', the film 'Natural Born Killers' and the music of Marilyn Manson (although it was later found out they were not fans of his music).
• According to Bandura there are four interrelated sub processes to learning through modelling:
• Attentional processes- various factors increase or decrease the amount of attention paid. Includes distinctiveness, affective valence, prevalence, complexity, functional value. One’s characteristics (e.g. sensory capacities, arousal level, perceptual set, past reinforcement) affect attention.
• Retention processes- remembering what you paid attention to. Includes symbolic coding, mental images, cognitive organization, symbolic rehearsal, motor rehearsal.
• Motoric reproduction processes- reproducing the image. Including physical capabilities, and self-observation of reproduction.
• Reinforcement and motivational processes- having a good reason to imitate. Includes motives such as past (i.e. traditional behaviorism), promised (imagined incentives) and vicarious (seeing and recalling the reinforced model).

Articles about violence in the media-

• http://www.apa.org/action/resources/research-in-action/protect.aspx - Interesting information from article:  'The resulting report and a follow-up report in 1982 by the National Institute of Mental Health identified these major effects of seeing violence on television:
  • Children may become less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others.
  • Children may be more fearful of the world around them.
  • Children may be more likely to behave in aggressive or harmful ways toward others.'
• http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/child-adolescent-psychiatry/violence-media-what-effects-behavior