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Personality and the perception of TV violence
Pcvson ~nrlrtwl./I,//.Vol. 4. No. 3, pp. 315-321. 1983 Printed ITI C;reat Britain. All rights reserved
0191-8869,X3.‘030315-07S03 OO.‘O Copyright c 1983 Pcrgamon Press Ltd
PERSONALITY AND THE PERCEPTION OF TV VIOLENCE BARRIE
IBA. 70 Brompton
GUNTER*
Rd. London
SW3 IEY. England
and ADRIAN Department
of Psychology,
University (Receiwd
FURNHAM
College.
26 Bedford
3 I August
Way.
London
WCI,
England
1982)
Summary-An experiment was carried out to investigate relationships between individuals’ personality characteristics and their perceptions of violent TV portrayals. A panel of 40 viewers rated brief violent episodes from five categories of programming, contemporary British crime-detective series, American police series, westerns, science-fiction series and cartoons on eight scales. These responses were then related to viewers’ scores on the N, E and P dimensions of the EPQ. Results showed that violent scores from contemporary settings were rated as more serious than scores from non-contemporary and fantastic settings. In addition, viewers exhibited individual differences in ratings of TV violence which were related to certain of their EPQ scores. In particular, high N scorers tended to perceive violence generally, but especially that from contemporary British drama. as more serious than did low N scorers. This study indicates the need to include personality measures in the analysis of audience reactions to TV violence.
INTRODUCTION
One of the most controversial issues in the investigation of the impact of television concerns the exposure of viewers to violent content. An extensive literature including numerous survey and experimental studies on the question of TV violence has shown a remarkable degree of convergence in findings. Results suggest that the observation of violent TV materials can lead to increased levels of personal aggressiveness and social outbreaks of violence (Belson, 1978; Eysenck and Nias, 1978; Lefkowitz, Eron, Walder and Huesmann, 1972, 1977; Parke, Berkowitz, Leyens, West and Sebastian, 1977). But for all the research attention and methodological ingenuity invested in the analysis of TV violence and its effects, the heterogeneous nature of violent TV portrayals have been sadly neglected by investigators in this field. Researchers have tended to examine viewers’ reactions to a very narrow range of violent programme materials, and have often treated violence as a unitary process, a single set of events or happenings with common antecedents or consequences. Yet the many different psychological and sociological definitions of violence and explanations for its occurrence, indicate that the concept is highly complex, multidimensional and diversified. It seems likely that a proper understanding of the nature of violence, whether as it occurs in real life or as it is shown on TV, may be better achieved via a multidimensional analysis of its causes and characteristics (Fraczek, 1979; Gunter, 1981). Furthermore, recent research which has important implications for the analysis of viewers’ reactions to TV violence, has indicated that individuals tend to subjectively evaluate or define real-life violent episodes multidimensionally in terms of their various forms or contexts of occurrence (Forgas, Brown and Menyhart, 1980). This evidence implies that there is a need to systematically investigate viewers’ responses to a broader and more representative range of violent forms on TV because viewers may interpret one type of portrayal quite differently from another. A second critical omission from much of the work on TV violence has been the failure to take into account the heterogeneity of the audience, and the fact that people vary widely in terms of social background and personality. Where individual differences such as social and ethnic origins and personal aggressiveness have been taken into account by mass-media researchers, significant *To whom
all reprint
requests
should
be addressed. 315
variations have been observed among viewers in their behavioural. emotional and perceptual responses to TV programmes, and particularly in relation to their reactions to violent episodes (Greenberg and Dominick, 1970; Greenberg and Gordon, 1972; Parke et d.. 1977; Searle, 1976). Studies of individual differences between viewers in their responses to TV violence have typically been extremely limited in the depth to which personality mediators of violence judgements have been measured. There is a need for a systematic and comprehensive examination of the impact of TV violence within a broad theoretical framework which incorporates standardized, tried and tested measures of personality. Eysenck and Nias (1978) suggested that Eysenck’s three-dimensional model of personality (Eysenck and Eysenck. 1969, 1975). the constituent factors of which are Neuroticism (N), Extraversion (E) and Psychoticism (P). could serve as well as any in this respect. Given the extensively empirically-substantiated claims by Eysenck that these dimensions represent fundamental defining aspects of human personality, it is not unreasonable to assume that individuals who differ in their positions along these continua may also exhibit diIIerent reactions to TV programmes and more specifically to particular kinds of (violent) portrayals in programmes. Eyscnck (1967) has indicated. for example, that neuroticism interacts with extraversion to determine personal levels of aggressiveness, and that unstable or neurotic extraverts may show stronger propensities to exhibit intense anger and violent or unruly behaviour than other personality types. This fact opens up the possibility that such individuals also perceive the aggression of others. including that depicted in fictional TV settings. in a fashion that is distinct from the perceptions of individuals with a different blend of these characteristics. Similarly following from Eysenck’s theory of crime and personality (Eysenck, 1964) which suggests that criminals and delinquents tend to score highly on all three scales (N, E and P). it may be expected that people with high scores are not only more likely to engage in antisocial acts. but are less likely to perceive TV portrayals as violent. disturbing or antisocial than are people with lower scores on all three variables. To investigate the significance of the N, E and P dimensions as mediators of audience perceptions of TV violence a panel of ordinary viewers were asked to judge each of a series of short extracts depicting violent incidents from five categories or ‘genres’ of TV programming. They also filled out the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) and their scores on the N, E and P dimensions were related to their perceptual evaluations of the violent episodes. Whilst content-related differences in audience perceptions of violent portrayals from different types of programming are of considerable interest, the focus of this paper will be on individual differences between viewers in their judgements of TV violence. The ‘genre’ effects observed in this study are discussed in more detail by the authors elsewhere (Gunter and Furnham. 1983).
METHOD
Forty-five brief TV scenes were viewed and rated by a panel of ordinary viewers. Each scene was selected in accordance with Gerbner’s (1972) definition of violence which he and his monitors use for content coding purposes: ./ the overt expression of physical force against self or other, impelling action against one’s will on pain of being hurt or killed or actually hurting or killing” (p, 31). Each scene was 30-70 set long and portrayed a complete violent action sequence and was not joined or terminated part of the way through an aggressive interaction. The scenes were taken from five categories of programmes: British-produced crime-detective series (The Prqftissionuls, The S’weenej,); American-produced crime-detective series (Kg&k. Munrzix, Stur.skl, und Hutch). a western film (C’atznm For Cordoha); science-fiction series (Buck Rogers. Stm Trek ) and cartoon shows (Might?- Mmse). Nine scenes were selected per programme category and these depicted either gunfights or shootings and fist-fights or physical struggles. All programmes from which scenes were taken had been broadcast on one of the three major TV networks in the U.K. (BBC I, BBC 2 or ITV) during peak viewing hours (7 p.m. to I I p.m.) between 3 and 6 months prior to the experiment. TV scenes were played in a randomly-ordered sequence on a Sony VHS videocassette recorder
Personality
and perception
of TV violence
317
and relayed in monochrome over three TV monitors placed about 2 m apart at the front of a small lecture theatre. Each scene was rated along eight 7-point evaluative scales-Violent, Realistic, Exciting, Humorous, Likely to Disturb People in General, Suitable for Children, Frightening and Personally .” (1 point) to “extremely . .” (7 Disturbing, with response choices ranging from “not at all points) for each scale. Eight scales per scene were printed on a single sheet and these sheets were attached together as response booklets. The scales were selected to reflect a variety of different judgements about TV violence other than simply how ‘violent’ different portrayals appeared to viewers. The rationale behind their selection as well as proof of their salience is given in greater detail elsewhere (Gunter and Furnham, 1983). Subjects were in an earlier session given further questionnaires to complete and data from two of these forms are reported here in relation to their ratings of violent TV episodes. One of these forms dealt with demographic information-sex, age, socio-economic class and age when full-time education terminated. The other was the EPQ from which scores on three factors, E, N and P were related to Ss’ perceptions of TV violence. Subjects Forty ordinary members of the public were recruited from Oxford and surrounding districts and were paid to take part in a series of experimental sessions carried out on several separate days spread over a period of 2 months during the summer of 1981. This pane1 of individuals was not a representative sample of the population in genera1 but nevertheless consisted of a heterogeneous group of people who included housewives, factory workers, university technicians, school-teachers, students and retired and unemployed persons. In percentage terms, 45”/” of the pane1 were men and 55% were women. Broken down by age, 317; were 15524-years old, 2976 were 25-34-years old. 25% were 35-54-years old and 1504 were over 55 years; by social class, 430/, were professional, middle class, 43% were skilled, working class and 14::: were semi- and unskilled, working class; and finally by education, 20”; had finished full-time education by 15 years, 35’:” by 18 years and 45:; were graduates or had obtained equivalent professional qualifications during full-time education which had not finished until at least 21 years of age. Procedure The experiment was run in four sessions, each of approx 40-min duration, in the morning and afternoon on two separate days 2 weeks apart. Ss were seated so that they had an unobstructed view of one of three monochrome TV monitors. The volume of each monitor was adjusted at the beginning of each session to ensure that all viewers could comfortably hear any dialogue in the TV scenes. Each session began with the senior author explaining to Ss that they would be shown a series of short clips taken from a number of TV programmes broadcast during the last year on British television. They would see these scenes one at a time and judge each one separately along the scales provided in their response booklets. Ss were asked not to dwell too long when making their judgements but at the same time they should try to be as honest as possible about their rating of each TV scene. At the end of each scene the videotape was stopped and Ss made their ratings of it. After 2 min, the experimenter asked whether anyone had not yet completed their ratings for the preceding scene, by which time most Ss usually had done so. Then, when all Ss were ready, the next scene was played. When half of the scenes had been rated in each session, a IO-min break was taken to alleviate the build-up of fatigue effects or boredom with the rating test. During this period, Ss were allowed to leave the lecture theatre briefly to obtain refreshments. RESULTS The main focus of this paper is on the relationships between TV viewers’ scores on the N, E and P dimensions of the EPQ and their perceptions, of violent episodes. However, the violent episodes used in this study were taken from five different categories of TV programming and mean ratings of these portrayals varied from one programme setting to another. A series of Wilcoxon
BAKKU GUKTI:K and AINAN
318
FUKNHAM
matched-pairs, signed-ranks tests were computed to compare the scores for each category of programming on each rating scale. A number of significant differences in viewers’ ratings of violent portrayals from different programme settings were yielded by those analyses. and these results are summarized in Table 1. In general, violent scenes, consisting of similar forms of violence (i.e. shootings or fights/physical struggles) were perceived as more serious in contemporary settings (e.g. British- and American-produced crime-detective series), as somewhat less serious in historic settings (westerns) and as considerably less serious in futuristic (science-fiction series) or animated settings (cartoons) Gunter and Furnham, 1983). Table
British crime American crlmc Westerns Science liction Cartoon5 Scale range: maximum ~“‘Scores with common
I. Mean evaluation
Violent
Realistic
5.3,’ S.(Y 4.5 3.4 1.5
2.6,’ 3.3 ?.5,# 1.3“ 1.1”
Frightening 3.0 7.9’ 7.3 I.7h I?
scale scores per
Personally Disturbing 2.3,’ 2.1,’ 1.7 I .4” l.Ih
programme genre Likely to Disturb People in General
Suitable For Children
Exciting
Humorous
?.I,’ 3.0’ 2.7
2.4 2.X,’ 3.0”
4. I 3.7,’ 3.Y
I .l”
3.9
3.2
‘.4.‘h
IJh
5.3
3.7,’
4.8
l.flJ
I .w Xk’h
score possible = 7. minimum score possible = I. superscripts are not significantly different at the 0.05 level.
In order to examine the independent effects of the N, E and P dimensions on perceptions of violent TV materials. with the contribution to perceptual differentiation of other relevant factors such as demographics controlled, eight canonical correlations were run (one per evaluative scale) in which N. E and P scores were entered along with demographic scores as independent variables. As Table 2 shows, these analyses yielded at least one significant canonical variate per scale. Following Levine (1977) the canonical variates are to be interpreted in terms of the strength of loadings of items on them. Results indicated that, for these TV stimuli and rating scales, N and P dimensions were more consistently and powerfully related to viewers’ perceptions of violent TV scenes than was the E dimension. High N scorers with a tendency also to score more highly on the P dimension rated portrayals from British crime-detective series and westerns as more violent. This judgement was also more likely among older people. Low N scorers with better education perceived scenes from American crime shows and westerns as less frightening, whilst high N scorers tended to judge contemporary American crime scenes and also cartoon materials as more frightening. High P scorers tended to rate non-contemporary and animated violent materials as more frightening, whilst high scorers on N and P tended to be more personally disturbed by violence in most contexts. High N scorers who did not score highly on either E or P dimensions claimed to be less personally disturbed by cartoons, Individuals who exhibited higher scores on N, E and P dimensions judged most violent settings (except contemporary British crime drama) as more likely to disturb people in general, whilst high N scorers believed this only of violence in American crime and western settings. People with introverted tendencies judged violent portrayals from British crime shows as less suitable for children, and violence in science-fiction and cartoon settings as more suitable. On the perceived realism of TV violence, low N and low P scorers judged portrayals from British crime drama, science-fiction and cartoon shows as less true to life. However, high N and E scorers rated violent incidents from all genres as more realistic. Finally on personality differences, there was a tendency for low N scorers to perceive violent portrayals in contemporary British settings as more exciting and more humorous.
DISCUSSION Viewers characterized by different degrees found to differ in their judgements of violent
of neuroticism, TV portrayals.
extraversion and psychoticism Perceptions of violent episodes
were from
I .07 0.36 0.66 0.06 0.20
0.74 0.001
-0.00 0.71 0.59 0.31 -0.20
0.77 P
0.57 -0.08 0.44
-0.33 0.73 0.04 0.24
0.72 0.001
-0.76 0.03 -0.09 -0.57 -0.37
-0.35 0.21 -0.42
0.12 0.31 0.20 0.77
0.83 0.001
0.13 -1.05 -0.79 -0.15 -0.08
-0.49 0.06 -0.11
0.44 0.05
0.16 0.50 -0.04 0.12 -0.82
0.45 0.33 0.33
-0.15 0.41 0.07 0.41
0.77 0.001
0.16 0.49 0.48 0.28 0.30
0.59 -0.23 0.51
-0.30 0.10 -0.19 -0.57
0.57 0.01
0.74 0.001
0.74 0.001
0.45 0.07 -0.37 -0.21 -0.28
-0.49 -0.20 -0.14
0.12 0.08 0.39 0.46
Exciting
on each statistically-significant
0.67 0.01
-0.48 0.11 0.16 0.59 0.38
-0.26 -0.46 -0.09
-0.08 0.18 0.32 0.53
Suitable For Children
canonical
0.62 0.01
0.42 0.43 -0.31 -0.15 -0.09
-0.29 -0.10 -0.15
0.02 0.33 0.11 0.80
Humorous
from five genres of TV programming
variables)
0.07 0.61 0.43 -0.06 0.28
0.50 0.07 0.24
0.13 0.51 0.23 0.02
-0.01 0.84 0.75 0.45 0.23
0.36 0.30 0.50
0.27 0.02 0.23 0.71
Likely to Disturb People in General
genre (dependent
0.59 0.001
0.34 0.61 0.19 0.45 - 1.01
0.42 - 0.28 -0.21
-0.21 -0.04 -0.04 -0.55
Personally Disturbing
scores for violent portrayals
and programme
Variates
variables)
0.57 0.001
0.11 0.04 0.70 0.51 0.91
-0.13 -0.35 0.49
0.44 0.35 0.10 0.57
Canonical
Frightening
evaluation
Rating Scales
with perceptual
factor (independent
0.52 0.01
0.23 0.82 0.52 0.12 I .07
0.39 0.51 0.12
-0.28 0.36 -0.26 0.48
0.36 -0.10 0.31 0.65
and demographics
Realistic
factors
and personality
of personality
Violent
I
0.37 0.13 0.13
-0.19 -0.1 -0.27 -0.68
correlations
This table shows the loading of each demographic variate yielded per rating scale.
Programme genres British crime American crime Westerns Science-fiction Cartoons Multiple correlation Coefficient r, Significance level
Personality factors N E P
Demographics Sex Age Class Education
Table 2. Canonical
five programme categories were analysed in this experiment and although there was a general tendency, discussed in detail elsewhere (Gunter and Furnham, 1983) for viewers to rate violence in contemporary drama settings as more serious than violence in non-contemporary or animated settings, there also were notable differences het~~erz viewers in the extent to which individual judgements followed this pattern. It was suggested near the beginning of this paper that if criminal or delinquent types, who usually exhibit high scores on N, E and P dimensions, are not only more likely to behave violently but also to perceive violent incidents as less serious, then panel members from the ordinary public who show higher scores on these three dimensions might also be expected to rate violent TV scenes as less violent and disturbing. In fact. results indicated that high N and P scorers were more disturbed by some violent scenes than the average viewer on the panel. Of the three personality factors measured in this study, neuroticism was most powerfully and consistently related to viewers’ perceptions of TV violence. There was a tendency for more emotionally-sensitive people (i.c. high N scorers) to perceive violent episodes as more serious than did less-sensitive individuals. Seriousness here refers not so much to the perceived intensity of the violence, as indicated by scores on the violence scale, but relates more to emotionally-based reactions such as how frightening or personally disturbing the scenes were perceived to be. High N scorers were particularly upset by violent portrayals in contemporary dramatic settings such as in British or American crime-detective programmes. This indicated that violence in more authentic or realistic contexts can be especially upsetting to more anxious or sensitive individuals. However, there was at the same time some indication that the latter individuals were less concerned by pure fantasy violence. especially by that occurring in animated cartoon settings. Individuals who had both high N anal high P scores, however. exhibited tendencies to be more disturbed personally by most types of violence, although only very weakly by contemporary crime-detective portrayals in British settings. They also perceived all non-British violence as more likely to disturb people in general than did the average viewer. Reinforcing the point made about the sensitivity of high N scorers to realistic violence was the finding that these individuals tended to perceive most genres as more realistic than low N scorers. This propensity of emotionally sensitive viewers to perceive portrayals of violence, even in certain fantasy settings. as more true to life no doubt contributes towards their stronger emotional judgements about a wider range of violent content types than those found amongst less sensitive viewers. It has been reported elsewhere that viewers can make subtle distinctions between different forms of TV violence on the basis of their normal viewing experience and in the absence of any special tutoring to pay attention to particular features of portrayals whilst making their judgements (Gunter. 1982; Gunter and Furnham. 1983). The findings reported in this paper have indicated that different viewers may also make widely-varying judgements about the same or similar portrayals of TV violence and that these differences in appraisal may be associated with certain personality characteristics. These results have important implications for future research and for policy relating to the control of violent content on television. If people differ in their perceptual reactions to violent portrayals. they may also differ in terms of their behavioural responses to such portrayals. Further research is needed to find out the extent to which certain types of people are adversely-affected emotionally or behaviourally by violent content, and whether these types are particularly sensitive to specific types of violent portrayals, or violence depicted in specific settings. This would not only lead to mom accurate research about the effects of TV violence on the audience, but could also permit better control over the airing of potentially harmful portrayals on television. REFERENCES B&on W. A. ( 1978) Tdwkion Vio/w~c~ rrd rhcl Adde.wen/ Boj,. Saxon House. Farnborough Eysenck H. _I. (1964) C‘rinzr cmd P~~sonolit~~. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London. Eysenck H. J. (1967) The Biolo~ic~trl Bu.~i.~ o/ Pmondir~. Thomas. Springfield, Illinois. Eysenck H. J. and Eysenck S. B. G. (1969) Pwsonuli(~~ Structuw cmd Mcawrement. Routledge & Kegan Paul. London. Eysenck H. J. and Eysenck S. B. G. (I 975) Ma/n&for thus E~~.vrn~kpcrsondi~y Questionnuirr. Hodder & Stoughton, London. Eysenck H. J. and Nias D. K. B. (197X)Scs. V~olww rrnri t/w Mediu. Temple Smith, London. Forgas J. P., Brown L. B. and Menyhart J. (1980) Dimensions of aggrewon: the perception of aggressive episodes. Br.
Personality
and perception
of TV violence
321
Fraczck A. (1979) Functions of emotional and cognitive mechanisms in the regulation of aggressive behaviour. In &~rcs.sion und Behuniour Change (Edited by Feshbach S. and Fraczek A.). pp. 1399157. Praeger, New York. Gerbner G. (1972) Violence in television drama: trends and symbolic functions. In Television and SociaI Behariour. Vol. I, Medici C‘ontent and Control (Edited by Comstock G. A. and Rubinstein E. A.). U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC. Greenberg B. S. and Dominick D. R. (1970) Television behavior among disadvantaged children. In Use qf /he Mass Media by rhe Urban Poor (Edited by Greenberg B. S. and Dervin B.). Praeger, New York. Greenberg B. S. and Gordon T. F. (1972) Social class and racial differences in Children’s perception of televised violence. In Television and Social Behaviour, Vol. 5, Television’s Eflects, Further Explorations (Edited by Comstock G. A. and Rubinstein E. A.). U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC. Gunter B. (1981) Measuring television violence: a review and suggestions for a new analytical perspective. Curr. psychol. Rev. 1, 91-l
12.
Gunter B. (1982) Research overview: dimensions of television violence. Br. psycho/. Sot.: sec. Psychol. Sect.: NewsI. No. 9, 38-41. Gunter B. and Furnham A. (1983) Perceptions of television violence: effects of programme genre and type of violence on viewers’ judgements of violent portrayals. Submitted for publication. LeIkowitz M. M., Eron L. D., Walder L. 0. and Huesmann L. R. (1972) Television violence and child aggression: a follow-up study. In Teleaision and Social Behaviour, Vol. 3, Telrt’ision and Adolescent A~gressiueness (Edited by Comstock G. A. adn Rubinstein E. A.). U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC. Letkowitz M. M., Eron L. D.. Walder L. 0. and Huesmann L. R. (1977) Growing-up to he Violent: A Lon@tudinal study of the Dec’elopmeni of A,q,qression. Pergamon Press, New York. Levine M. S. (1977) Canonicul Analysis and Factor Comparkion. Sage. Beverly Hills, Cahfornia. Parke R. D., Berkowitz L. (Ed.). Leyens J. P., West S. G. and Sebastian R. J. (1977) Some effects of violent and non-violent movies on the behaviour of juvenile delinquents. In Advances in E.yperimental Sock1 Psychology, Vol. 10. Academic Press, New York. Searle A. (1976) The perception of filmed violence by aggressive individuals with high or low self-concept of aggression. Eur. J. sot.
P.Fychol. 6, 175-190.
0191-8869,X3.‘030315-07S03 OO.‘O Copyright c 1983 Pcrgamon Press Ltd
PERSONALITY AND THE PERCEPTION OF TV VIOLENCE BARRIE
IBA. 70 Brompton
GUNTER*
Rd. London
SW3 IEY. England
and ADRIAN Department
of Psychology,
University (Receiwd
FURNHAM
College.
26 Bedford
3 I August
Way.
London
WCI,
England
1982)
Summary-An experiment was carried out to investigate relationships between individuals’ personality characteristics and their perceptions of violent TV portrayals. A panel of 40 viewers rated brief violent episodes from five categories of programming, contemporary British crime-detective series, American police series, westerns, science-fiction series and cartoons on eight scales. These responses were then related to viewers’ scores on the N, E and P dimensions of the EPQ. Results showed that violent scores from contemporary settings were rated as more serious than scores from non-contemporary and fantastic settings. In addition, viewers exhibited individual differences in ratings of TV violence which were related to certain of their EPQ scores. In particular, high N scorers tended to perceive violence generally, but especially that from contemporary British drama. as more serious than did low N scorers. This study indicates the need to include personality measures in the analysis of audience reactions to TV violence.
INTRODUCTION
One of the most controversial issues in the investigation of the impact of television concerns the exposure of viewers to violent content. An extensive literature including numerous survey and experimental studies on the question of TV violence has shown a remarkable degree of convergence in findings. Results suggest that the observation of violent TV materials can lead to increased levels of personal aggressiveness and social outbreaks of violence (Belson, 1978; Eysenck and Nias, 1978; Lefkowitz, Eron, Walder and Huesmann, 1972, 1977; Parke, Berkowitz, Leyens, West and Sebastian, 1977). But for all the research attention and methodological ingenuity invested in the analysis of TV violence and its effects, the heterogeneous nature of violent TV portrayals have been sadly neglected by investigators in this field. Researchers have tended to examine viewers’ reactions to a very narrow range of violent programme materials, and have often treated violence as a unitary process, a single set of events or happenings with common antecedents or consequences. Yet the many different psychological and sociological definitions of violence and explanations for its occurrence, indicate that the concept is highly complex, multidimensional and diversified. It seems likely that a proper understanding of the nature of violence, whether as it occurs in real life or as it is shown on TV, may be better achieved via a multidimensional analysis of its causes and characteristics (Fraczek, 1979; Gunter, 1981). Furthermore, recent research which has important implications for the analysis of viewers’ reactions to TV violence, has indicated that individuals tend to subjectively evaluate or define real-life violent episodes multidimensionally in terms of their various forms or contexts of occurrence (Forgas, Brown and Menyhart, 1980). This evidence implies that there is a need to systematically investigate viewers’ responses to a broader and more representative range of violent forms on TV because viewers may interpret one type of portrayal quite differently from another. A second critical omission from much of the work on TV violence has been the failure to take into account the heterogeneity of the audience, and the fact that people vary widely in terms of social background and personality. Where individual differences such as social and ethnic origins and personal aggressiveness have been taken into account by mass-media researchers, significant *To whom
all reprint
requests
should
be addressed. 315
variations have been observed among viewers in their behavioural. emotional and perceptual responses to TV programmes, and particularly in relation to their reactions to violent episodes (Greenberg and Dominick, 1970; Greenberg and Gordon, 1972; Parke et d.. 1977; Searle, 1976). Studies of individual differences between viewers in their responses to TV violence have typically been extremely limited in the depth to which personality mediators of violence judgements have been measured. There is a need for a systematic and comprehensive examination of the impact of TV violence within a broad theoretical framework which incorporates standardized, tried and tested measures of personality. Eysenck and Nias (1978) suggested that Eysenck’s three-dimensional model of personality (Eysenck and Eysenck. 1969, 1975). the constituent factors of which are Neuroticism (N), Extraversion (E) and Psychoticism (P). could serve as well as any in this respect. Given the extensively empirically-substantiated claims by Eysenck that these dimensions represent fundamental defining aspects of human personality, it is not unreasonable to assume that individuals who differ in their positions along these continua may also exhibit diIIerent reactions to TV programmes and more specifically to particular kinds of (violent) portrayals in programmes. Eyscnck (1967) has indicated. for example, that neuroticism interacts with extraversion to determine personal levels of aggressiveness, and that unstable or neurotic extraverts may show stronger propensities to exhibit intense anger and violent or unruly behaviour than other personality types. This fact opens up the possibility that such individuals also perceive the aggression of others. including that depicted in fictional TV settings. in a fashion that is distinct from the perceptions of individuals with a different blend of these characteristics. Similarly following from Eysenck’s theory of crime and personality (Eysenck, 1964) which suggests that criminals and delinquents tend to score highly on all three scales (N, E and P). it may be expected that people with high scores are not only more likely to engage in antisocial acts. but are less likely to perceive TV portrayals as violent. disturbing or antisocial than are people with lower scores on all three variables. To investigate the significance of the N, E and P dimensions as mediators of audience perceptions of TV violence a panel of ordinary viewers were asked to judge each of a series of short extracts depicting violent incidents from five categories or ‘genres’ of TV programming. They also filled out the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) and their scores on the N, E and P dimensions were related to their perceptual evaluations of the violent episodes. Whilst content-related differences in audience perceptions of violent portrayals from different types of programming are of considerable interest, the focus of this paper will be on individual differences between viewers in their judgements of TV violence. The ‘genre’ effects observed in this study are discussed in more detail by the authors elsewhere (Gunter and Furnham. 1983).
METHOD
Forty-five brief TV scenes were viewed and rated by a panel of ordinary viewers. Each scene was selected in accordance with Gerbner’s (1972) definition of violence which he and his monitors use for content coding purposes: ./ the overt expression of physical force against self or other, impelling action against one’s will on pain of being hurt or killed or actually hurting or killing” (p, 31). Each scene was 30-70 set long and portrayed a complete violent action sequence and was not joined or terminated part of the way through an aggressive interaction. The scenes were taken from five categories of programmes: British-produced crime-detective series (The Prqftissionuls, The S’weenej,); American-produced crime-detective series (Kg&k. Munrzix, Stur.skl, und Hutch). a western film (C’atznm For Cordoha); science-fiction series (Buck Rogers. Stm Trek ) and cartoon shows (Might?- Mmse). Nine scenes were selected per programme category and these depicted either gunfights or shootings and fist-fights or physical struggles. All programmes from which scenes were taken had been broadcast on one of the three major TV networks in the U.K. (BBC I, BBC 2 or ITV) during peak viewing hours (7 p.m. to I I p.m.) between 3 and 6 months prior to the experiment. TV scenes were played in a randomly-ordered sequence on a Sony VHS videocassette recorder
Personality
and perception
of TV violence
317
and relayed in monochrome over three TV monitors placed about 2 m apart at the front of a small lecture theatre. Each scene was rated along eight 7-point evaluative scales-Violent, Realistic, Exciting, Humorous, Likely to Disturb People in General, Suitable for Children, Frightening and Personally .” (1 point) to “extremely . .” (7 Disturbing, with response choices ranging from “not at all points) for each scale. Eight scales per scene were printed on a single sheet and these sheets were attached together as response booklets. The scales were selected to reflect a variety of different judgements about TV violence other than simply how ‘violent’ different portrayals appeared to viewers. The rationale behind their selection as well as proof of their salience is given in greater detail elsewhere (Gunter and Furnham, 1983). Subjects were in an earlier session given further questionnaires to complete and data from two of these forms are reported here in relation to their ratings of violent TV episodes. One of these forms dealt with demographic information-sex, age, socio-economic class and age when full-time education terminated. The other was the EPQ from which scores on three factors, E, N and P were related to Ss’ perceptions of TV violence. Subjects Forty ordinary members of the public were recruited from Oxford and surrounding districts and were paid to take part in a series of experimental sessions carried out on several separate days spread over a period of 2 months during the summer of 1981. This pane1 of individuals was not a representative sample of the population in genera1 but nevertheless consisted of a heterogeneous group of people who included housewives, factory workers, university technicians, school-teachers, students and retired and unemployed persons. In percentage terms, 45”/” of the pane1 were men and 55% were women. Broken down by age, 317; were 15524-years old, 2976 were 25-34-years old. 25% were 35-54-years old and 1504 were over 55 years; by social class, 430/, were professional, middle class, 43% were skilled, working class and 14::: were semi- and unskilled, working class; and finally by education, 20”; had finished full-time education by 15 years, 35’:” by 18 years and 45:; were graduates or had obtained equivalent professional qualifications during full-time education which had not finished until at least 21 years of age. Procedure The experiment was run in four sessions, each of approx 40-min duration, in the morning and afternoon on two separate days 2 weeks apart. Ss were seated so that they had an unobstructed view of one of three monochrome TV monitors. The volume of each monitor was adjusted at the beginning of each session to ensure that all viewers could comfortably hear any dialogue in the TV scenes. Each session began with the senior author explaining to Ss that they would be shown a series of short clips taken from a number of TV programmes broadcast during the last year on British television. They would see these scenes one at a time and judge each one separately along the scales provided in their response booklets. Ss were asked not to dwell too long when making their judgements but at the same time they should try to be as honest as possible about their rating of each TV scene. At the end of each scene the videotape was stopped and Ss made their ratings of it. After 2 min, the experimenter asked whether anyone had not yet completed their ratings for the preceding scene, by which time most Ss usually had done so. Then, when all Ss were ready, the next scene was played. When half of the scenes had been rated in each session, a IO-min break was taken to alleviate the build-up of fatigue effects or boredom with the rating test. During this period, Ss were allowed to leave the lecture theatre briefly to obtain refreshments. RESULTS The main focus of this paper is on the relationships between TV viewers’ scores on the N, E and P dimensions of the EPQ and their perceptions, of violent episodes. However, the violent episodes used in this study were taken from five different categories of TV programming and mean ratings of these portrayals varied from one programme setting to another. A series of Wilcoxon
BAKKU GUKTI:K and AINAN
318
FUKNHAM
matched-pairs, signed-ranks tests were computed to compare the scores for each category of programming on each rating scale. A number of significant differences in viewers’ ratings of violent portrayals from different programme settings were yielded by those analyses. and these results are summarized in Table 1. In general, violent scenes, consisting of similar forms of violence (i.e. shootings or fights/physical struggles) were perceived as more serious in contemporary settings (e.g. British- and American-produced crime-detective series), as somewhat less serious in historic settings (westerns) and as considerably less serious in futuristic (science-fiction series) or animated settings (cartoons) Gunter and Furnham, 1983). Table
British crime American crlmc Westerns Science liction Cartoon5 Scale range: maximum ~“‘Scores with common
I. Mean evaluation
Violent
Realistic
5.3,’ S.(Y 4.5 3.4 1.5
2.6,’ 3.3 ?.5,# 1.3“ 1.1”
Frightening 3.0 7.9’ 7.3 I.7h I?
scale scores per
Personally Disturbing 2.3,’ 2.1,’ 1.7 I .4” l.Ih
programme genre Likely to Disturb People in General
Suitable For Children
Exciting
Humorous
?.I,’ 3.0’ 2.7
2.4 2.X,’ 3.0”
4. I 3.7,’ 3.Y
I .l”
3.9
3.2
‘.4.‘h
IJh
5.3
3.7,’
4.8
l.flJ
I .w Xk’h
score possible = 7. minimum score possible = I. superscripts are not significantly different at the 0.05 level.
In order to examine the independent effects of the N, E and P dimensions on perceptions of violent TV materials. with the contribution to perceptual differentiation of other relevant factors such as demographics controlled, eight canonical correlations were run (one per evaluative scale) in which N. E and P scores were entered along with demographic scores as independent variables. As Table 2 shows, these analyses yielded at least one significant canonical variate per scale. Following Levine (1977) the canonical variates are to be interpreted in terms of the strength of loadings of items on them. Results indicated that, for these TV stimuli and rating scales, N and P dimensions were more consistently and powerfully related to viewers’ perceptions of violent TV scenes than was the E dimension. High N scorers with a tendency also to score more highly on the P dimension rated portrayals from British crime-detective series and westerns as more violent. This judgement was also more likely among older people. Low N scorers with better education perceived scenes from American crime shows and westerns as less frightening, whilst high N scorers tended to judge contemporary American crime scenes and also cartoon materials as more frightening. High P scorers tended to rate non-contemporary and animated violent materials as more frightening, whilst high scorers on N and P tended to be more personally disturbed by violence in most contexts. High N scorers who did not score highly on either E or P dimensions claimed to be less personally disturbed by cartoons, Individuals who exhibited higher scores on N, E and P dimensions judged most violent settings (except contemporary British crime drama) as more likely to disturb people in general, whilst high N scorers believed this only of violence in American crime and western settings. People with introverted tendencies judged violent portrayals from British crime shows as less suitable for children, and violence in science-fiction and cartoon settings as more suitable. On the perceived realism of TV violence, low N and low P scorers judged portrayals from British crime drama, science-fiction and cartoon shows as less true to life. However, high N and E scorers rated violent incidents from all genres as more realistic. Finally on personality differences, there was a tendency for low N scorers to perceive violent portrayals in contemporary British settings as more exciting and more humorous.
DISCUSSION Viewers characterized by different degrees found to differ in their judgements of violent
of neuroticism, TV portrayals.
extraversion and psychoticism Perceptions of violent episodes
were from
I .07 0.36 0.66 0.06 0.20
0.74 0.001
-0.00 0.71 0.59 0.31 -0.20
0.77 P
0.57 -0.08 0.44
-0.33 0.73 0.04 0.24
0.72 0.001
-0.76 0.03 -0.09 -0.57 -0.37
-0.35 0.21 -0.42
0.12 0.31 0.20 0.77
0.83 0.001
0.13 -1.05 -0.79 -0.15 -0.08
-0.49 0.06 -0.11
0.44 0.05
0.16 0.50 -0.04 0.12 -0.82
0.45 0.33 0.33
-0.15 0.41 0.07 0.41
0.77 0.001
0.16 0.49 0.48 0.28 0.30
0.59 -0.23 0.51
-0.30 0.10 -0.19 -0.57
0.57 0.01
0.74 0.001
0.74 0.001
0.45 0.07 -0.37 -0.21 -0.28
-0.49 -0.20 -0.14
0.12 0.08 0.39 0.46
Exciting
on each statistically-significant
0.67 0.01
-0.48 0.11 0.16 0.59 0.38
-0.26 -0.46 -0.09
-0.08 0.18 0.32 0.53
Suitable For Children
canonical
0.62 0.01
0.42 0.43 -0.31 -0.15 -0.09
-0.29 -0.10 -0.15
0.02 0.33 0.11 0.80
Humorous
from five genres of TV programming
variables)
0.07 0.61 0.43 -0.06 0.28
0.50 0.07 0.24
0.13 0.51 0.23 0.02
-0.01 0.84 0.75 0.45 0.23
0.36 0.30 0.50
0.27 0.02 0.23 0.71
Likely to Disturb People in General
genre (dependent
0.59 0.001
0.34 0.61 0.19 0.45 - 1.01
0.42 - 0.28 -0.21
-0.21 -0.04 -0.04 -0.55
Personally Disturbing
scores for violent portrayals
and programme
Variates
variables)
0.57 0.001
0.11 0.04 0.70 0.51 0.91
-0.13 -0.35 0.49
0.44 0.35 0.10 0.57
Canonical
Frightening
evaluation
Rating Scales
with perceptual
factor (independent
0.52 0.01
0.23 0.82 0.52 0.12 I .07
0.39 0.51 0.12
-0.28 0.36 -0.26 0.48
0.36 -0.10 0.31 0.65
and demographics
Realistic
factors
and personality
of personality
Violent
I
0.37 0.13 0.13
-0.19 -0.1 -0.27 -0.68
correlations
This table shows the loading of each demographic variate yielded per rating scale.
Programme genres British crime American crime Westerns Science-fiction Cartoons Multiple correlation Coefficient r, Significance level
Personality factors N E P
Demographics Sex Age Class Education
Table 2. Canonical
five programme categories were analysed in this experiment and although there was a general tendency, discussed in detail elsewhere (Gunter and Furnham, 1983) for viewers to rate violence in contemporary drama settings as more serious than violence in non-contemporary or animated settings, there also were notable differences het~~erz viewers in the extent to which individual judgements followed this pattern. It was suggested near the beginning of this paper that if criminal or delinquent types, who usually exhibit high scores on N, E and P dimensions, are not only more likely to behave violently but also to perceive violent incidents as less serious, then panel members from the ordinary public who show higher scores on these three dimensions might also be expected to rate violent TV scenes as less violent and disturbing. In fact. results indicated that high N and P scorers were more disturbed by some violent scenes than the average viewer on the panel. Of the three personality factors measured in this study, neuroticism was most powerfully and consistently related to viewers’ perceptions of TV violence. There was a tendency for more emotionally-sensitive people (i.c. high N scorers) to perceive violent episodes as more serious than did less-sensitive individuals. Seriousness here refers not so much to the perceived intensity of the violence, as indicated by scores on the violence scale, but relates more to emotionally-based reactions such as how frightening or personally disturbing the scenes were perceived to be. High N scorers were particularly upset by violent portrayals in contemporary dramatic settings such as in British or American crime-detective programmes. This indicated that violence in more authentic or realistic contexts can be especially upsetting to more anxious or sensitive individuals. However, there was at the same time some indication that the latter individuals were less concerned by pure fantasy violence. especially by that occurring in animated cartoon settings. Individuals who had both high N anal high P scores, however. exhibited tendencies to be more disturbed personally by most types of violence, although only very weakly by contemporary crime-detective portrayals in British settings. They also perceived all non-British violence as more likely to disturb people in general than did the average viewer. Reinforcing the point made about the sensitivity of high N scorers to realistic violence was the finding that these individuals tended to perceive most genres as more realistic than low N scorers. This propensity of emotionally sensitive viewers to perceive portrayals of violence, even in certain fantasy settings. as more true to life no doubt contributes towards their stronger emotional judgements about a wider range of violent content types than those found amongst less sensitive viewers. It has been reported elsewhere that viewers can make subtle distinctions between different forms of TV violence on the basis of their normal viewing experience and in the absence of any special tutoring to pay attention to particular features of portrayals whilst making their judgements (Gunter. 1982; Gunter and Furnham. 1983). The findings reported in this paper have indicated that different viewers may also make widely-varying judgements about the same or similar portrayals of TV violence and that these differences in appraisal may be associated with certain personality characteristics. These results have important implications for future research and for policy relating to the control of violent content on television. If people differ in their perceptual reactions to violent portrayals. they may also differ in terms of their behavioural responses to such portrayals. Further research is needed to find out the extent to which certain types of people are adversely-affected emotionally or behaviourally by violent content, and whether these types are particularly sensitive to specific types of violent portrayals, or violence depicted in specific settings. This would not only lead to mom accurate research about the effects of TV violence on the audience, but could also permit better control over the airing of potentially harmful portrayals on television. REFERENCES B&on W. A. ( 1978) Tdwkion Vio/w~c~ rrd rhcl Adde.wen/ Boj,. Saxon House. Farnborough Eysenck H. _I. (1964) C‘rinzr cmd P~~sonolit~~. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London. Eysenck H. J. (1967) The Biolo~ic~trl Bu.~i.~ o/ Pmondir~. Thomas. Springfield, Illinois. Eysenck H. J. and Eysenck S. B. G. (1969) Pwsonuli(~~ Structuw cmd Mcawrement. Routledge & Kegan Paul. London. Eysenck H. J. and Eysenck S. B. G. (I 975) Ma/n&for thus E~~.vrn~kpcrsondi~y Questionnuirr. Hodder & Stoughton, London. Eysenck H. J. and Nias D. K. B. (197X)Scs. V~olww rrnri t/w Mediu. Temple Smith, London. Forgas J. P., Brown L. B. and Menyhart J. (1980) Dimensions of aggrewon: the perception of aggressive episodes. Br.
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