As a nineties kid, there was no greater daily joy than racing home from school, finishing my homework, and watching some of my favorite shows. Different shows depicted different levels of violence. Some of my favorite cartoons were wholesome, like “Doug” or “Rugrats” while other shows were a bit edgier like “Salute your shorts” or “Ren and Stimpy”. To be perfectly honest, there were a lot of shows I simply wasn’t allowed to watch. Even the most prosocial shows about fighting evil and being a positive role model included violence (ex. “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers”).
Thirty years later, things have not changed and are perhaps a bit worse despite mounting evidence that violent tv media can increase aggressive behavior (Gruman et al., 2016). I began to wonder if networks responsible for children’s programming had taken any cues from psychological research. Based on my experience watching children’s shows with my kids, my hypothesis – programming had actually become worse.
To test this, I decided to research the level of aggression in a typical modern-day children’s show compared to a 90s show. I first watched a 20-minute episode of a show called “Gravity Falls” and noted the number of times the characters engaged in aggressive behavior and the types of violence present. This show exhibited 26 acts of violence mostly by children which included smacking, shoving, breaking objects, punching, dismembering, kicking, beheading, burning, strangulation, use of a severed head as a weapon, and murder. Many extreme acts of violence occurred against evil wax statues resulting in their deaths (Hirsch et al., 2012).
I used an episode of “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers” for comparison. I chose this show specifically because I expected a great deal of violence. This 20-minute episode included 25 acts of violence, most of which occurred while battling “putties” while using martial arts. Acts of violence included punching, kicking, charging, throwing, fire-blasting, and sword fighting but surprisingly no deaths (Power Rangers Official, 2021). Yet, there were many prosocial themes throughout this episode such as helping others, standing up for positive ideals, never using violence for personal gain, and supporting friendships. Prosocial themes are positive behaviors demonstrated to increase positive behaviors (Gruman et al., 2016).
Despite the similar number of violent acts, the quality of those acts was different. The violence may have differed because the modern-day show was a cartoon while the 90s show was live-action, which somewhat limits the ability to intensify violence. But overall, the modern-day show was exceedingly more gruesome than the 90s show and included few prosocial themes. These findings led me to wonder whether society as a whole is becoming desensitized to violence.
Viewing violent media can increase aggression, decrease empathy for others, and elicit fear in children (American Psychological Association, 2013). Our children have become desensitized to violence on television, meaning the more they are exposed to violence, the less it affects them (Gruman et al., 2016). In addition to media desensitization, seemingly endless accounts of real-life violence are also desensitizing society (Pittaro, 2019). So much so that school shootings only headline in the news for a few days (TED, 2020). Clearly, we cannot merely blame television for desensitization but must broaden our perspective to instead observe the whole of society and the real-life violence influencing ourselves and our children.
While the jury is still out about which decade of children’s shows is more violent, one thing is clear – tv networks still haven’t taken the psychological research concerning violent children’s shows seriously. Even though psychological research supports non-violent tv programming for children, networks continue to produce violent media. In a world already fraught with terror and sadness, children’s shows should provide an escape for kids and help them to develop prosocial behaviors rather than serve to normalize violence.
References
American Psychological Association. (2013). Violence in the media: Psychologists study potential harmful effects. American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/topics/video-games/violence-harmful-effects.
Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (Eds.). (2016). Applied social psychology: Understanding and addressing social and practical problems. SAGE Publications, Incorporated.
Hirsch, A. (Writer), Wallington, A. (Writer) & Aoshima, J. (Director). (2012, Jun 30). Headhunters (Season 1, Episode 3)[TV series episode]. In A. Hirsch (Executive Producer), Gravity Falls. Disney Television Animation.
Pittaro, M. (2019). Exposure to Media Violence and Emotional Desensitization. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-crime-and-justice-doctor/201905/exposure-media-violence-and-emotional-desensitization.
Power Rangers Official. (2021, August 28). Day of the dumpster [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTh2Aj3gPqI&list=PLbt09tWqepBShiQ_Kyte8wlqZ5gOexnvj.
TED. (2020, September 30). New normal: How we are becoming desensitized to violence [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZVekq4N7P0.
As an avid cartoon watcher even into my twenties, one of my favorite shows is Gravity Falls, and children shows that are similar. The adult humor that goes over children’s head paired with cartoonish violence is comforting and enjoyable for me. Though I enjoy them, I can also attest to the violence that occurs in these shows and based on this lesson, the psychological ramifications that these occurrences have on children are important to address. As you touched on, the desensitization is critical to understanding the effects of violent media on society, especially children. A study regarding violent video games and desensitization has found that there is “lower empathy, stronger pro-violence attitudes” within children that have long-term exposure to violent video games. The study suggests that games creating moral components that provide experiences of the consequences of violent behaviors can help decrease the desensitization and increase empathy (Funk, J. B. (2005)). Similar to the textbook intervention study, having children consider the feelings of those that the aggressive behavior is being acted upon could help mitigate the affects of cartoon violence on children (Gruman, J. A.et.al (,2017) pages 165-166). Essentially, understanding the negative consequences of aggressive behavior could make it more seemingly undesirable. Overall, great post, I think it is important to bring awareness to the ramifications of cartoon or child show violence and prevalence on the violence in society. Great work!
References
Funk, J. B. (2005). Children’s exposure to violent video games and desensitization to violence. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 14(3), 387-404. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chc.2005.02.009
Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., and Coutts, L. M. (Eds.) (2017). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems
When I was growing up, my parents did not let me watch many TV shows because of the message being sent and the violence. They only let me watch shows that they had approved of and even had some channels locked. I agree that shows are definitely worse today with violence. “Another common belief about violent TV programs and movies is that they may help people relieve their stress and aggressive impulses, so violent TV shows and movies may actually decrease violence” (Gruman et al., 2016). This quote demonstrates that watching violent shows helps regulate people’s emotions, but this is not true. This is referred to as the cathartic of violent shows. The cathartic effect has not been proven to be accurate; it actually does the opposite and makes people act in a more aggressive way.
There are many studies that have proven that violent shows or even violent videogames have increased aggressive thoughts, feelings, and even psychological arousal. It is interesting how shows and movies are progressively getting more gruesome and violent, especially with Halloween around the corner. Therefore, this problem in society seems to be a conundrum because people enjoy watching violent shows, and that is how the TV industry makes its money.
References:
Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (Eds.). (2016). Applied social psychology: Understanding and addressing social and practical problems. SAGE Publications, Incorporated.