10.3 The impact of the media on behaviour

2026 Syllabus Objectives

  1. Arguments and evidence about the extent to which violent media leads to violent behaviour.
  2. The impact of the media on crime, including deviance amplification and moral panics.
  3. Ways in which the media might have a positive impact on human behaviour.
  4. Ways in which people may be affected by media sensationalism and stereotyping.

Arguments and evidence about the extent to which violent media leads to violent behaviour

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The pervasive belief 🔑

The idea that exposure to violent media—from television and internet depictions of real-life violence to violent films and video games—contributes to or causes violent behaviour, especially among vulnerable groups, is pervasive across many cultures. However, evidence for this is not as definite as some sections of the media suggest.

Imitation as an explanation

Imitation is one of the most common explanations of how the media may lead to violent behaviour. This explanation stems from social learning studies.

Key study: Bandura et al. (1961) – The 'Bobo doll' experiment

  • Different groups of children witnessed adults behaving violently
  • The play of each group was then observed
  • Those children who had been shown violent behaviour subsequently played violently
  • This leads to the idea that immature and vulnerable audiences simply imitate the behaviour they see in the media

Key term: Imitation refers to the idea that audiences, especially immature or vulnerable ones, copy the violent behavior they see depicted in the media.

Examples of alleged imitation in criminal cases:

  1. Columbine High School shooting (1999): The actions of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were explained by some media as a consequence of playing violent video games, specifically 'Doom'.

  2. Murder of James Bulger (1993): The murder by two 10-year-old boys was attributed by some media to the film 'Child's Play 3', though there was no evidence the boys had seen it.

Methodological problems in research 📌

Research into the influence of the media on violent behaviour is full of methodological problems.

Belson's (1978) study:

  • Based upon in-depth interviews with 1565 teenage boys in London
  • Conclusion: Boys who had seen a lot of television had committed 49% more acts of violence than those with low exposure
  • Criticism: Failing to distinguish adequately between high exposure to television in general and high exposure to violent television programmes in particular

The cultural effects model

The cultural effects model suggests that if the media show violence as normal or acceptable as a way of settling disputes, audiences may over time absorb this view of the world.

Key features:

  • Heavy consumers of violent films and television, or those who spend a lot of time playing violent, immersive, video games, may develop a 'violent mindset'
  • People may become desensitised through repeated exposure to media violence, coming to accept real-world violence as an appropriate response or a way of life

Key term: The cultural effects model is a model suggesting that if media shows violence as normal, audiences may over time absorb this view and develop a 'violent mindset'.

Gerbner's (1994) argument:

  • Powerful and pervasive media in global societies creates mythical realities for audiences
  • Heavy media consumers find it difficult to distinguish media myth from reality

Complex relationships ⚡

Other approaches reject the idea that there is a relatively simple one-way relationship between the media and violence.

Huesmann and Miller (1994) argued that there is a more complex, two-way relationship between the media and the audience, rather than a direct cause-and-effect relationship.

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