مشاهده خشونت رسانه های جمعی، ادراک خشونت، شخصیت و پیشرفت تحصیلی

The aim of this work was to study the relationship between the viewing of and interest in violent episodes on TV, whether they be in action and adventure films or cartoons, and both personality, measured by the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire(EPQ\J), the Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS\J) and the Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward Scales (SP-SR), and academic achievement. The sample was made up of 235 teenage boys and 235 teenage girls. The study also took account of teachers’ reports on student personality traits and attitudes such as aggressivity, excitability, leadership, responsibility and interest in studies. Our results reveal that those boys who perceive violent cartoon films as being funny and thrilling are deemed more aggressive and excitable by their teachers. Those boys who rate action and adventure films as more interesting attain lower academic achievement. Boys and girls who perceive violent cartoon films as being thrilling and funny get higher scores on N, P, SSS\J and SR. Those boys who rate action and adventure films watched as more interesting get higher scores on N, P, SSS\J and SR, whereas girls do likewise on E and P, SSS\J. The possible relationship between disinhibited, not very socialised personality and interest in violent topics on TV is thereafter discussed.

In Western countries, the television industry is becoming ever more competitive, with viewing figures being regularly published in the press and programme planning being focused on getting the maximum number of viewers possible. Violence-related topics serve to boost viewing figures, with regard to both adults and children. As a result, the amount of programme time devoted to such programmes is incredibly large. The relationship between the exposure of children and adults to violent images in the media, and aggressive and anti-social behaviour in adulthood has been widely-researched, in both longitudinal studies and the meta-analysis of specialised literature (Freedman, 1984; Comstock and Strasburger 1990 and Comstock and Strasburger 1993; Wood et al., 1991; Wiegman and Kuttschreuter, 1992; Viemero and Paajanen, 1992; Haejung and Comstock, 1994). These studies point to the existence of a positive lineal relationship between the viewing of violent programmes and films and aggressivity, both in the laboratory and real life. There are many possible explanations for the link between exposure to media violence and aggressive behaviour: (a) the former could be the cause of the latter; (b) it might also be that aggressive people like to watch TV more often; (c) aggressive behaviour and a liking for violent programmes might both be attributable to other variables. Theobservation of social models is a variable of relevance to the learning and maintenance of aggressive behaviour (Bandura, 1973). Huesmann and Eron (1986)reported that the relationship between watching violent TV programmes at the age of 11 and violent behaviour at 19 was very significant, whereas aggressive behaviour was not predictive of a preference for violent television at the age of 19. Such an influence could, however, be affected by several individual differences, which might come into play in both the watching and\or showing an interest in violent films, and the manifestation of aggressive behaviour. As for the influence of sex, Huesmann et al. (1984)observed greater viewing of violence on TV amongst boys than girls, and a positive relationship between peer-nominated aggression and TV violence viewing in both sexes. Moreover, men remember violent news items more clearly than women, especially on audiovisual media (Gunter and Furnham 1986 and Singer and Singer 1986).Withregard to personality, Singer and Singer (1981), Singer and Singer (1986)observed that high aggression children (even those of low level TV viewing) displayed an average of action and adventure programme viewing four times higher than that of less aggressive children. Freedman (1984)reported, furthermore, that aggressive people enjoy violent TV programmes more, though this relationship is not very pronounced. Gunter and Furnham (1983)found that, in adult samples, subjects scoring high on Neuroticism (N; Eysenck and Eysenck, 1975) perceived violent television scenes as being more serious and real; subjects with high scores on N and P showed a tendency to being more disturbed personally by most types of violence. Also, Gunter (1983)observed individual differences in the evaluation of harmful violence on TV: older people and lower P scorers tended to perceive harmful violence as more violent. Zuckerman and Litle (1986)observed in undergraduate students that people who show a greater curiosity about, and\or preference for violent and horror films, get higher scores on the Psychoticism Scale (P; Eysenck Personality QuestionnaireEysenck and Eysenck, 1975),and on the Sensation-seeking Scale (SSS; Zuckerman et al., 1978); in the same study, men got higher scores than women on P and SSS. A replica study with Catalan subjects produced very similar results (Aluja and Torrubia, 1993). In another study (Weaver, 1991),which sought to explore the relationships between personality and media preferences, it was found that subjects with high scores on P displayed a strong preference for graphically violent horror movies. Very recently, various studies using quasi-experimental designs have started to show that exposure to violent models may have different effects, depending on personality. Bushman (1995)found that videotape violence was more likely to increase aggression in high trait aggressive individuals than in low trait aggressive individuals. In this study, high P scorers with extended exposure to films with gratuitous violence behaved more violently in conflict resolution tasks than low P scorers (Zillman and Weaver, 1997). With regard to the relationship between exposure to mass media violence and academic achievement, Singer and Singer (1986)report that a large amount of TV viewing, including cartoons and action and adventure programmes, can harm faculties of imagination, and increase aggressive behaviour, motor restlessness and academic maladjustment. According to these authors, high aggressive children are more likely to be punished at school and, therefore, less rewarded by their families. It is also very probable that children and adolescents whose TV viewing is not subjected to parental control devote less time to their studies, and their academic achievement suffers from a lack of self-discipline and study habits. Personality has often been linked with academic achievement. Back in 1977Cattell and Kline (1977)reported that impulsive, anxious and not very socialised adolescents attained lower academic achievement. The Extraversion Scale (E) has been related to higher academic achievement at primary school, with high P and N scores being pointers to low achievement in primary education. The Anti-social Behaviour scale, derived empirically from the EPQ\J, has also produced much higher, and statistically significant scores for adolescents of low academic achievement (Aluja et al., 1996). If there is a positive relationship between disinhibited personality traits and high levels of viewing of and interest in violent and action and adventure films, and if adolescents with these personality traits display low levels of socialisation and as a result low academic achievement, we are likely to find a relationship between higher viewing of and interest in such films and low academic achievement. High P scorers display traits such as aggressivity, lack of empathy, deficient socialisation (Eysenck and Eysenck, 1976), and have a greater propensity to seek new sensations and stimuli. P, E and SSS have also been related to non-socialised and anti-social behaviour. The relationship between disinhibited and poorly socialised behaviour (characterised by high scores on Psychoticism, Sensation Seeking and Impulsiveness scales), and anti-social behaviour, has been satisfactorily corroborated in adults (satisfactorily corroborated in adults ; Zuckerman, 1978; Perez and Torrubia, 1985; Aluja and Torrubia, 1996). This relationship is also found in children and adolescents. In a study by Ortet et al. (1988)based on Spanish samples, youngsters of both sexes displaying a greater incidence of anti-social behaviours scored more highly on P, all the sub-scales of the Sensation Seeking Questionnaire (SSS\J), Impulsiveness and Venturesomeness (IVE-J) (Eysenck and Eysenck, 1980). In a later study (Simo and Perez, 1991) of French-speaking subjects in Belgium, a positive relationship was found between a self-reported Delinquency Scale and three of the SSS\J sub-scales, as well as the whole scale. Aggressivity is linked with sex (Maccoby and Jacklin, 1974; Gudjonsson and Roberts, 1985).Men tend to be more aggressive and people with higher levels of Psychoticism and Sensation Seeking would also tend to be more aggressive. If we accept that personality traits tend to be relatively stable in an individual’s life, and that some of them such as Sensation Seeking have a biological basis — as indeed biological-factorial theories postulate — we might hypothesise that personality could explain some subjects’ greater interest in, and viewing of stimuli related to violence and aggressivity. The results of the aforementioned study by Zuckerman and Litle (1986)seem to give support to this hypothesis. From a theoretical standpoint, sensation-seekers would tend to seek those sensations and stimuli which increase the activity of catecholamine systems in the brain. Violent films lead to excitement and so increase the level of peripheral catecholamines, a fact which would tie in with the hypotheses proposed (Zuckerman and Litle, 1986). The Sensation Seeking trait has been related to low levels of platelet monoaminoxidase (MAO) (Arque et al., 1988; Zuckerman, 1994), the enzyme responsible for the breakdown of the central catecholamines. The gonadal hormones could, in turn, have an antagonistic effect on the MAO; pronounced sensation-seekers have higher androgen levels (Daitzman and Zuckerman, 1980; Aluja, 1991). Low MAO levels would allow a greater availability of catecholamines in the brain, basically of noradrenaline, which might facilitate disinhibited or hypomanic behaviour. Gray (1982)argued for the existence of two independent motivational systems which affect individuals’ responses: one appetitive, and the other aversive. The appetitive motivational system (Behavioural Activation System) is related to reward-seeking behaviour and is activated by reward cues. Gray associated sensitivity to reward cues with the personality dimension of Impulsiveness. The Impulsiveness trait might be conducive to certain types of aggressive behaviour. The aversive motivational system (Behavioural Inhibition System) is related to anxiety. Low anxiety might also be conducive to aggressive behaviour. In a recent study based on a sample of delinquents (Aluja and Torrubia, 1996), the Sensitivity to Reward Scale (Torrubia et al., 1995)was related to the Sensation Seeking trait (Zuckerman et al., 1978; adaptation by Perez and Torrubia, 1986), and to an Experimental Psychopathy Scale, after Hare (1985). The present study was designed with the aim of evaluating, in a sample of adolescents, how personality is related to the viewing of, and interest in violent films, and to differences in the perception of violence. A second objective was to analyse the relationship between all these variables and academic achievement. We stand by the hypothesis that individual differences with regard to sex and personality, especially those relating to disinhibited behaviour (P, SSS\J and SR), affect the viewing of and interest in violent films, the perception of violence in them, and academic achievement.