Media violence and aggression : science and ideology / Tom Grimes, James A. Anderson, Lori Bergen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Grimes, Tom, 1951-

Contributor:

Anderson, James A. (James Arthur), 1939-

Bergen, Lori A., 1958-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Violence in mass media.

Physical Description:

xi, 268 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Thousand Oaks : Sage Publications, [2008]

Summary:

Media Violence and Aggression: Science and Ideology provides a multimethod critique of the media violence/social aggression myth. It provides policy makers and students with information to understand why the media violence/social aggression hypothesis will not explain or predict how most people react to what they see and hear in the media. Authors Tom Grimes, James A. Anderson, and Lori Bergen take the reader through a history of media effects research, pointing out where that research has made claims that go beyond empirical evidence.

Key Features: Dispels the media violence/social aggression myth: Through a multiple method analysis of the mirth, the authors provide empirical evidence for their decoupling of media violence from social aggression. Illustrates how much of the media violence/social aggression equation derives from ideology: Taking a different perspective from most other books on media violence, this text shows how very easy-how almost imperceptible-it is to adopt an ideological perspective. Shows how the media violence/social aggression hypothesis conflicts with a range of established social science theory: The book examines why theories generated by media violence/social aggression advocates aren't compatible with other social science theories that explain human behavior (and why they must be compatible in order to achieve validity). Considers media effects for the general population and psychologically unwell people: The book explains that the clinical population's reactions to media violence are often improperly presumed to be the reaction of the psychologically well population. Argues that certain science practitioners view children as more psychologically vulnerable to media violence than they actually are: Children are surely more vulnerable to many social and environmental influences than adults, but the degree of media vulnerability is often overstated. Speaks directly to policy makers: This book helps policy makers sort through both the nature of the evidence with which they are presented and the risks that such evidence poses to the public.

Contents:

Setting the stage: why this book is needed

A short history of the concept of effects: the people who raised concerns about the media's putative effect on society

The epistemology of media effects: the way different scholars view the world in which they live often predicts the initial approach they take to doing research

The social scientific "theory" that never quite fit: why the media violence/social aggression theory isn't compatible with the rest of behavioral science theory (or with common sense)

Is it just science? Or is it ideology as well?

The world according to causationists: what the world would be like if the causationists were right

The biggest cultural variable of all: the Child Careful! and watch out for the children

The role of psychopathology in the media violence/aggression equation: a return to psychological and cultural conditionals as boundaries for assessing media effects

The attempt to make an ideology a science: when well-meaning people try to "science-ize" an ideology, confusion and foggy thinking reign

To legislate or not to legislate against media violence: what policy makers need to know

References

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 237-251) and index.

ISBN:

9781412914406

141291440X

9781412914413

1412914418

OCLC:

123390925