Developmental approaches to understanding media effects on
individual, Gentile & Sesma
- Normative developmental theory, Developmental tasks approach
- Individual differences among children, Risk and resilience approach
Seven Myths about media effects
Myth 1. Media effects are simple and direct
The effects of media are not simple or direct. Most media effects are cumulative and subtle,
even when they are designed to influence behavior. The effects of media usually happen at
a level of which we are not consciously aware.
Advertisements are designed to influence us, but we rarely notice that they do. This is
because ads are generally presented as entertainment, so that viewers are less likely to
notice any effects or to resist their messages. The more one participates in this charade, by
claiming that advertisements don’t affect one’s self, the more likely one is to be affected.
Myth 2. The effects of media violence are severe
Most people who watch media violence never seriously injure other people or themselves.
Since media violence does not make them commit the same kinds of violence, many people
draw the inference that it has no effect on them or on most other people. Most educators will
tell you that schoolchildren have become more disrespectful, more verbally aggressive, and
more likely to push and shove each other over time. The largest effect of media violence is
probably not illustrated by individual examples of violent
behavior, but by the ‘culture of disrespect’ it had fostered and
nurtured. For every school killing, there were over 7000
injuries, 28000 thefts, 44000 physical fights and 500000
reports of bullying. Killing is the most visible tip, but there is a
great deal of aggressive behavior that is not that extreme.
Positive and negative emotional and physiological reactions to
violent media are media effects. Violent media have many
effects, among which emotional, physiological, cognitive,
attitudinal, and behavioral effects.
Myth 3. Media effects are obvious
Because the effect tends to be subtle and cumulative, even if people notice that someone is
becoming more aggressive over time, they may not infer that the gradual change could be
due partly to watching violent media. Most people accept that smoking causes long cancer,
even though the effect is subtle and cumulative. One cigarette does not change a person’s
health, but years of smoking does. We expect media effects to be exhibited in an obvious
manner, but we are missing opportunities to see other less obvious and perhaps more
pervasive effects.
Myth 4. Violent media affect everyone in the same way
Many people assume that, to be considered valid, media violence effects must be
unidimensional. Everyone must be affected by becoming more aggressive and violent. While
this is one of the effects, it is not the only one. There are 4 main effects of watching violent
media:
, - Aggressor effect, describes how children and adults who watch a lot of violent
entertainment tend to become meaner, more aggressive, and more violent.
- Victim effect, describes how children and adults who watch a lot of violent
entertainment tend to see the world as a scarier place, become more scared, and
initiate more self-protective behaviors.
- Bystander effect, describes how children and adults who watch a lot of violent
entertainment tend to habituate to gradually increasing amounts of violence, thereby
becoming desensitized, more couscous and less sympathetic to victims of violence.
- Appetite effect, describes how children and adults who watch a lot of violent
entertainment tend to want to see more violent entertainment. The more one
watches, the more one wants to watch.
Something that is less well known is which people are more prone to which effects.
In general:
- Females tend to be more affected by the victim effects,
- whereas men tend to be more affected by the aggressor, bystander and appetite
effects.
But we cannot predict.
To understand where children learn their behaviors, values
and attitudes, we can consider the effects of various proximal
and distal sources of influence. Family is closest to children.
Children have their attitudes, values and behavior patterns
shaped and modified by their families. → Beyond the level of
the family, the norms of the community affects the norms of
families and individuals within it. → Beyond the level of the
community, the norms of society affect the norms of
community, families and individuals within it.
→ The media operates at the societal level. Media effects are seen at all levels. The media
affects us from multiple directions at once.
- This makes it that everyone will be affected by violent media, and also that the
effects are not identical for all people.
Myth 5. Causality means “necessary and sufficient.”
In the social sciences, causation is a very hard problem. Bushman & Anderson (2001): (a)
Because humans have always been violent, violent media, then, are not a necessaryM
precursor to violent behavior. (B) Because many people who are exposed to violent media
never commit violent behavior, violent media then, are not sufficient to cause violent
behavior. This problem is, however, multifascial. Aggressive behavior is multicausal. Media
violence is likely to be one of the pushes that interacts with other forces at work. In most
situations, it is neither necessary nor sufficient. But this does not mean that it is not a cause,
it just means that it is one of the causes.
Proximate cause: Law, where the goal is to assign legal responsibility for an action. It is the
last action to set off a sequence of events to produce an injury. In social science we are
concerned with all the causes.
Myth 6. Causality means immediacy
,People may assume that the effects of media violence must be seen in the short term in
order to be caused by exposure. But it is often a long term effect. Just like smoking and
getting cancer.
Myth 7. Effects must be big to be important
Many people have agreed that there is an effect of violent media on aggressive behavior, yet
they also insist that the effect is not large enough to be important. The effect of the media
appears to stand for 1 - 10% of aggressive behavior. This number may appear small, but it is
actually large. Because of all the people that use media platforms, if 1-10% of them get more
aggressive, then that will be a large number of people.
Developmental task approach
Language acquisition, development of attachment relationships and the formation of peer
relationships. These are all developmental tasks, a capacity or skill that is important for
concurrent and future adaption.
Masten & Braswell (1991), developmental tasks: “In developmental psychopathology,
adaptation is often defined in terms of developmental tasks. The basic idea is that in order
for a person to adapt, there are developmental challenges that must be met. Some arise
through biological maturation, others are imposed by families and society, while others arise
from the developing self.”
This approach has been used for two purposes:
1. It provides a set of criteria by which to judge adaptation at any particular point in
development. All children of a particular society are presumed to face these tasks at
some point in development. These tasks serve as a barometer from which to infer
competence.
2. The developmental task approach provides researchers and practitioners with a
framework for understanding how development unfolds over childhood.
A number of principles are specific:
→ There is a hierarchy to these tasks. Different issues rise in importance
depending on the developmental level of the child. For infants, the most
important task that must be negotiated is developing trusting relationships with
caregivers. Later tasks are contingent on the success with which earlier talks
were negotiated. Still, early tasks are relevant at later stages. The outcomes of
later tasks depend on the success of earlier tasks. Although current adaptation is
predicated on prior adaptation, change is still possible, future developmental
progress is not determined or fixed as a result of how earlier developmental
tasks are organized. Rather the successful negotiation of earlier tasks set the
child on probabilistic pathways for future competence, and these can change
depending on the severity of contemporaneous circumstances. While change is
possible, it is constrained by prior adaptation. The longer a child is on an
adaptive pathway, the less likely it is that dire, current circumstances can bump
the child onto a maladaptive pathway.
Developmental tasks
Infancy (0-12 months)
Developing a trusting relationship with a caregiver is the key developmental task for a
healthy development. Infants exhibit learning by classical conditioning, operant conditioning,
, and imitative learning. Expression of emotions begins to develop and we see the beginning
of emotional regulation.
Toddlerhood (1-1.5 years)
Children develop a number of capacities that could be affected by the media. In cognitive
development, children at this age develop the capacity for symbolic representation. They
grow in the ability to use language. Social gestures begin to emerge and children begin to be
expected to earn to regulate and control their behaviors and expression of emotions. Self-
consciousness also starts to develop.
Early childhood (2.5-5 years)
Children begin to learn to classify things by shared characteristics, such as color, size and
shape. They also begin to be able to organize things along a particular dimension, such as
size or height. Children develop a theory of mind. Preschoolers begin to understand that
some things happen that cannot be directly observed, such as the idea that other people can
make errors. Children learn scripts for types of behaviors such as what happens in
restaurants or what happens to get ready for bed. They acquire gender-role concepts. They
learn self-control and self-regulation, including reflecting on one’s behaviors to suit particular
situational demands. They begin to regulate their own emotions, including learning to be
aware of the standards for behavior and using those standards to guide their words and
actions. Good behavior is based on a desire to avoid punishment.
Middle childhood (6-12)
Children begin to understand the distinction between appearance and reality and to look at
more than one aspect of things at the same time. They seek out learning experiences, and
work hard to accomplish goals. They learn how to form friendships, how to be part of a
group. These groups have an impact on the cultural norms and values that develop.
Adolescence (13-18)
Adolescents gain the ability to think about abstract concepts and relationships among
abstract concepts. They learn how to achieve deep levels of trust and closeness with others.
At home they gain more autonomy and responsibility.
Risk and resilience approach to development
Another approach is a risk and resilience perspective. As opposed to the normative
approach of the developmental tasks framework, every child is presumed to go through
these phases, each with varying degrees of ease, a risk and resilience approach focuses on
differential life experiences among children that may put them at risk for future maladaption,
and those factors that serve to protect children from this risk exposure. This approach is
likely to be useful to help explain why we may see greater effects of media violence on some
children than on others. Some children may have additional risk factors that enhance the
effects of media violence exposure, whereas children may have protective factors that
attenuate the effects of exposure to media violence.
Also has been found that there are individuals who aren’t as vulnerable to risk factors as
other individuals. This phenomenon, termed resilience, refers to the observation that despite
experiencing severe adversity, some children display normal or above normal levels of
competence across an array of domains. Current thinking regarding resilience assumes that
successful outcomes despite stress exposure arise out of dynamic interactions between the
individual, Gentile & Sesma
- Normative developmental theory, Developmental tasks approach
- Individual differences among children, Risk and resilience approach
Seven Myths about media effects
Myth 1. Media effects are simple and direct
The effects of media are not simple or direct. Most media effects are cumulative and subtle,
even when they are designed to influence behavior. The effects of media usually happen at
a level of which we are not consciously aware.
Advertisements are designed to influence us, but we rarely notice that they do. This is
because ads are generally presented as entertainment, so that viewers are less likely to
notice any effects or to resist their messages. The more one participates in this charade, by
claiming that advertisements don’t affect one’s self, the more likely one is to be affected.
Myth 2. The effects of media violence are severe
Most people who watch media violence never seriously injure other people or themselves.
Since media violence does not make them commit the same kinds of violence, many people
draw the inference that it has no effect on them or on most other people. Most educators will
tell you that schoolchildren have become more disrespectful, more verbally aggressive, and
more likely to push and shove each other over time. The largest effect of media violence is
probably not illustrated by individual examples of violent
behavior, but by the ‘culture of disrespect’ it had fostered and
nurtured. For every school killing, there were over 7000
injuries, 28000 thefts, 44000 physical fights and 500000
reports of bullying. Killing is the most visible tip, but there is a
great deal of aggressive behavior that is not that extreme.
Positive and negative emotional and physiological reactions to
violent media are media effects. Violent media have many
effects, among which emotional, physiological, cognitive,
attitudinal, and behavioral effects.
Myth 3. Media effects are obvious
Because the effect tends to be subtle and cumulative, even if people notice that someone is
becoming more aggressive over time, they may not infer that the gradual change could be
due partly to watching violent media. Most people accept that smoking causes long cancer,
even though the effect is subtle and cumulative. One cigarette does not change a person’s
health, but years of smoking does. We expect media effects to be exhibited in an obvious
manner, but we are missing opportunities to see other less obvious and perhaps more
pervasive effects.
Myth 4. Violent media affect everyone in the same way
Many people assume that, to be considered valid, media violence effects must be
unidimensional. Everyone must be affected by becoming more aggressive and violent. While
this is one of the effects, it is not the only one. There are 4 main effects of watching violent
media:
, - Aggressor effect, describes how children and adults who watch a lot of violent
entertainment tend to become meaner, more aggressive, and more violent.
- Victim effect, describes how children and adults who watch a lot of violent
entertainment tend to see the world as a scarier place, become more scared, and
initiate more self-protective behaviors.
- Bystander effect, describes how children and adults who watch a lot of violent
entertainment tend to habituate to gradually increasing amounts of violence, thereby
becoming desensitized, more couscous and less sympathetic to victims of violence.
- Appetite effect, describes how children and adults who watch a lot of violent
entertainment tend to want to see more violent entertainment. The more one
watches, the more one wants to watch.
Something that is less well known is which people are more prone to which effects.
In general:
- Females tend to be more affected by the victim effects,
- whereas men tend to be more affected by the aggressor, bystander and appetite
effects.
But we cannot predict.
To understand where children learn their behaviors, values
and attitudes, we can consider the effects of various proximal
and distal sources of influence. Family is closest to children.
Children have their attitudes, values and behavior patterns
shaped and modified by their families. → Beyond the level of
the family, the norms of the community affects the norms of
families and individuals within it. → Beyond the level of the
community, the norms of society affect the norms of
community, families and individuals within it.
→ The media operates at the societal level. Media effects are seen at all levels. The media
affects us from multiple directions at once.
- This makes it that everyone will be affected by violent media, and also that the
effects are not identical for all people.
Myth 5. Causality means “necessary and sufficient.”
In the social sciences, causation is a very hard problem. Bushman & Anderson (2001): (a)
Because humans have always been violent, violent media, then, are not a necessaryM
precursor to violent behavior. (B) Because many people who are exposed to violent media
never commit violent behavior, violent media then, are not sufficient to cause violent
behavior. This problem is, however, multifascial. Aggressive behavior is multicausal. Media
violence is likely to be one of the pushes that interacts with other forces at work. In most
situations, it is neither necessary nor sufficient. But this does not mean that it is not a cause,
it just means that it is one of the causes.
Proximate cause: Law, where the goal is to assign legal responsibility for an action. It is the
last action to set off a sequence of events to produce an injury. In social science we are
concerned with all the causes.
Myth 6. Causality means immediacy
,People may assume that the effects of media violence must be seen in the short term in
order to be caused by exposure. But it is often a long term effect. Just like smoking and
getting cancer.
Myth 7. Effects must be big to be important
Many people have agreed that there is an effect of violent media on aggressive behavior, yet
they also insist that the effect is not large enough to be important. The effect of the media
appears to stand for 1 - 10% of aggressive behavior. This number may appear small, but it is
actually large. Because of all the people that use media platforms, if 1-10% of them get more
aggressive, then that will be a large number of people.
Developmental task approach
Language acquisition, development of attachment relationships and the formation of peer
relationships. These are all developmental tasks, a capacity or skill that is important for
concurrent and future adaption.
Masten & Braswell (1991), developmental tasks: “In developmental psychopathology,
adaptation is often defined in terms of developmental tasks. The basic idea is that in order
for a person to adapt, there are developmental challenges that must be met. Some arise
through biological maturation, others are imposed by families and society, while others arise
from the developing self.”
This approach has been used for two purposes:
1. It provides a set of criteria by which to judge adaptation at any particular point in
development. All children of a particular society are presumed to face these tasks at
some point in development. These tasks serve as a barometer from which to infer
competence.
2. The developmental task approach provides researchers and practitioners with a
framework for understanding how development unfolds over childhood.
A number of principles are specific:
→ There is a hierarchy to these tasks. Different issues rise in importance
depending on the developmental level of the child. For infants, the most
important task that must be negotiated is developing trusting relationships with
caregivers. Later tasks are contingent on the success with which earlier talks
were negotiated. Still, early tasks are relevant at later stages. The outcomes of
later tasks depend on the success of earlier tasks. Although current adaptation is
predicated on prior adaptation, change is still possible, future developmental
progress is not determined or fixed as a result of how earlier developmental
tasks are organized. Rather the successful negotiation of earlier tasks set the
child on probabilistic pathways for future competence, and these can change
depending on the severity of contemporaneous circumstances. While change is
possible, it is constrained by prior adaptation. The longer a child is on an
adaptive pathway, the less likely it is that dire, current circumstances can bump
the child onto a maladaptive pathway.
Developmental tasks
Infancy (0-12 months)
Developing a trusting relationship with a caregiver is the key developmental task for a
healthy development. Infants exhibit learning by classical conditioning, operant conditioning,
, and imitative learning. Expression of emotions begins to develop and we see the beginning
of emotional regulation.
Toddlerhood (1-1.5 years)
Children develop a number of capacities that could be affected by the media. In cognitive
development, children at this age develop the capacity for symbolic representation. They
grow in the ability to use language. Social gestures begin to emerge and children begin to be
expected to earn to regulate and control their behaviors and expression of emotions. Self-
consciousness also starts to develop.
Early childhood (2.5-5 years)
Children begin to learn to classify things by shared characteristics, such as color, size and
shape. They also begin to be able to organize things along a particular dimension, such as
size or height. Children develop a theory of mind. Preschoolers begin to understand that
some things happen that cannot be directly observed, such as the idea that other people can
make errors. Children learn scripts for types of behaviors such as what happens in
restaurants or what happens to get ready for bed. They acquire gender-role concepts. They
learn self-control and self-regulation, including reflecting on one’s behaviors to suit particular
situational demands. They begin to regulate their own emotions, including learning to be
aware of the standards for behavior and using those standards to guide their words and
actions. Good behavior is based on a desire to avoid punishment.
Middle childhood (6-12)
Children begin to understand the distinction between appearance and reality and to look at
more than one aspect of things at the same time. They seek out learning experiences, and
work hard to accomplish goals. They learn how to form friendships, how to be part of a
group. These groups have an impact on the cultural norms and values that develop.
Adolescence (13-18)
Adolescents gain the ability to think about abstract concepts and relationships among
abstract concepts. They learn how to achieve deep levels of trust and closeness with others.
At home they gain more autonomy and responsibility.
Risk and resilience approach to development
Another approach is a risk and resilience perspective. As opposed to the normative
approach of the developmental tasks framework, every child is presumed to go through
these phases, each with varying degrees of ease, a risk and resilience approach focuses on
differential life experiences among children that may put them at risk for future maladaption,
and those factors that serve to protect children from this risk exposure. This approach is
likely to be useful to help explain why we may see greater effects of media violence on some
children than on others. Some children may have additional risk factors that enhance the
effects of media violence exposure, whereas children may have protective factors that
attenuate the effects of exposure to media violence.
Also has been found that there are individuals who aren’t as vulnerable to risk factors as
other individuals. This phenomenon, termed resilience, refers to the observation that despite
experiencing severe adversity, some children display normal or above normal levels of
competence across an array of domains. Current thinking regarding resilience assumes that
successful outcomes despite stress exposure arise out of dynamic interactions between the
