Violent Video Research Articles

Игры, которые нас убивают: видеоигры и насилие в дискурсе российской печатной прессы

The paper investigates the video game discourse of the Russian state media from 2011 to 2015. Critical discourse analysis serves as a methodological framework for this work, and Foucault’s power/knowledge model is used to explain the logic behind the «grotesque discourses». In the Russian press, video games are described as an instance of inculcation, provoking overintense emotions and forcing individuals to commit symbolic acts impossible from the standpoint of “normal” pedagogy. The paper problematizes the mythologization of violence in video games and identifies the main tropes used to establish the connection between video games and violence (murders) as “natural” and “obvious”. Particular attention is paid to the publications of Aleksandr Minkin, a reporter at “Moskovskij Komsomolets” (“Moscow Komsomol Member”) and one of the most prominent critics of video games, as well as to the media coverage of the first school shooting in Russia (shooting at school № 263 in 2014). It is shown that video games are used in the media discourse as an explanatory principle that allows a shift from the crime to the criminal, to those acts which reveal moral depravity or psychological disorder, and those circumstances which foster criminalism. Pointing to the games helps restore the “normal” connection between social and moral qualities, explaining the crime committed by an honours student from a “good family” as being the result of the depictions of violence in video games affecting the child’s psyche. Video games are also described as a factor in shaping the “digital generation” or “generation of gamers” — odd and politically dangerous. The dangers that games create for both gamers and society in general (the non-distinction between the “real” and the “virtual”, the illusion of a “possible restart”) allow the journalists and experts to insist on strengthening measures of supervision and protection, and expanding legal and medical control.

The mediating role of sympathy in the relationship between media violence and Dutch adolescents’ social behaviors

ABSTRACT Previous research suggests that empathy could serve as a mediator in the relation between media violence exposure and social behavior (i.e., aggressive and prosocial behavior). However, conceptualizations of empathy are diverse and empirical findings are mixed. Theory as well as previous research suggests that sympathy, more than empathy, may explain how media violence can affect youths’ aggressive or prosocial behavior. The present study formally tests this assumption using a three-wave longitudinal design with 878 early adolescents. Although neither sympathy nor empathy provided a significant indirect pathway between media violence and social behavior, the findings do show that sympathy is more strongly related to media violence and social behavior than empathy Methodological challenges and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Peculiarities of the influence of media products on the level of adolescent anxiety

The article considers the problem of the influence of modern media products on the psychological characteristics of the individual, the violation of its information and psychological security and, as a consequence, the increase in the level of anxiety in adolescents. The subjects were 90 adolescents aged 13-15, who were resting in the children's center "Young Guard". The following research methods were used: methods of deviant analysis of media text by S.V. Knyzhnykova, methods of studying the level of anxiety by P. Kondash, methods by CH.D. Spielberger to detect personal and situational anxiety (adaptation by Yu.L. Khanin), the test of viability by S. Maddi (adaptation by D.O. Leontiev, E.I. Rasskazov). Spearman's correlation method and the Mann-Whitney U test were used for statistical analysis. The results showed that modern adolescents mostly choose the Internet and television among the media, do not approve of aggressive films, but consider aggression as a quality of a poorly educated person and as a result of self-defense against injustice; they consider cruel films and computer games dangerous, they are outraged by the following media stories - a naturalistic depiction of violence, a demonstration of perversions, a detailed depiction of death and abuse of people. Adolescents have an average level of vitality, but the level of involvement is low, the level of control is medium, and the level of risk appetite is high; the average level of situational and personal anxiety prevails, self-esteem and interpersonal anxiety prevails. It has been proven that such media products as violent films and computer games, films with scenes of various types of violence and murders, as well as media stories such as depictions of bullying and violence against people, their deaths and perversions affect the personality of adolescents and contribute to situational anxiety, interpersonal anxiety and general anxiety.

THE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON THE MORALITY OF MUSLIM YOUTHS IN NIGERIA

The study aims at shedding light on the positive and negative effects of social media on the lives of Muslim youths’ in Nigeria. although, it is an avenue to reach out to people, gather and spread information to one another in the Muslim domain. However, the youths have also lost their dignity through it, because it is another avenue for fraudulent activities. The work examines the effects of both electronic and print media on the socio-religious spheres of Muslim youths. The ability to use the media for “ networking” has played a significant role in the lives of these youths. As technology continues to evolve, including the means to connect and communicate in cyberspace, young Muslims see it as an opportunity for them to be heard. The researcher employed the use of qualitative and quantitative data analysis in carrying out this study as well as conducting structural interviews inorder to elicit useful information. The research finally suggests that, despite the positive effects of social media on Muslim youths’ through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram WhatsApp, e.t.c in passing meaningful information across the board its negative effect of promoting moral decadence like character assassination, media violence, nudity, obscene movies and videos that have challenged the moral values of a practicing Muslim were not to be overlooked.

Television and Video Films and the Rhythm of Violence: Assessing the Negative Effect of Youths’ Exposure to Violent Television and Video Films Content

The invaluable place of the youths in any given society cannot be overemphasised. As future generations of the society and leaders of tomorrow, what concerns the youths should be a matter of utmost concern to every well meaning citizen, and thus must be given adequate attention. This explains why many studies have tried to probe the negative effects of television and video films on viewers, especially the youths. In Nigeria, as in most developing and developed societies world over, apart from parental influence, television has become perhaps the most potent influence on the beliefs, values and behaviours of youths. In recent times, there are too many foreign and homemade violent programmes which are mixed bag of crime, sex, horror and violence. The video medium too is not excluded in this pervasion of vices and violence. The fact that the class of people mostly attracted to and influenced by these antisocial activities are the youths, calls for serious concern; more so, since violence has come to assume a serious global concern in today’s world. In the light of the above, the study adopts the qualitative research approach and the interplay of the Cultivation Analysis. and the Social Cognitive Theories to critically examine the negative effects of youths’ exposure to violent television and video film contents and their ramifying implications on our socio-cultural wellbeing as a people, as well as proffer valuable recommendations geared towards possible solution to this worrisome trend. Keywords: media, media effects, negative influence, Nollywood, violent films, youths DOI: 10.7176/NMMC/92-02 Publication date: August 31 st 2020

Firearms, brass knuckles… and Instagram: Intended and unintended influence of social media advertising

Understanding the influence of social media advertising is critical to brands today. This study explores how Instagram advertising from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), largely featuring confiscated weapons, influences attitudes towards the brand and, unintentionally, towards gun control. A between-groups online experiment found that brand attitudes were not influenced, but light crime show viewers and video game players exposed to TSA’s Instagram content showed higher support for gun control than heavy violent crime show viewers and video game players. This research provides practical insight into how a government agency brand communicates with the public subject to its services. It also has theoretical implications, extending priming and desensitisation literature in exploring the relationship between violent social media images, prior exposure to violent media and gun control attitudes and, ultimately, suggesting that brand social media content can unintentionally influence attitudes towards social issues.

Moderating effects of socio-ecological factors on the relationship between adolescent exposure to media violence and attitudes towards school bullying.

To examine the moderating effects of individual, family, and social factors on the relationship between adolescent exposure to media violence and attitudes towards school bullying. A cross-sectional study. A total of 473 middle and high school students participated in a self-reported survey between August and October 2016. Self-reported questionnaires were used to measure perceived aggression, resilience, parental violence experience, parenting styles, satisfaction with school life, teacher attitudes towards school bullying, media violence exposure, and adolescent attitudes towards school bullying. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and hierarchical multiple regression. Resilience (an individual factor; β=-0.48, p=.049) and parenting styles (a family factor; β=-0.77, p=.045) moderated the negative influence of media violence exposure on adolescent attitudes towards school bullying. The findings indicated that higher individual resilience and parents with more positive parenting styles could reduce the harmful effects of media violence exposure on adolescent attitudes towards school bullying. The teachers' attitudes towards school bullying (a school factor) contributed to predicting the adolescents' attitudes towards school bullying. However, no moderating effect of school factors was found. Resilience and parenting styles are important socio-ecological factors influencing the relationship between adolescent exposure to media violence and attitudes towards school bullying. Three types of intervention programmes can be suggested based on the results of this study. Reinforcing individual resilience and positive parenting styles should be considered important in developing intervention programmes targeted at eliminating the adverse effects of media violence exposure. Intervention programmes to develop parenting styles to increase the resilience of adolescents can also be considered. Lastly, programmes to screen for adverse outcomes of media violence exposure, low resilience, and poor parenting styles need to be developed.

Violence Hates Games? Revolting (against) Violence in Michael Haneke’s <i>Funny Games U.S.</i>

Violence Hates Games? Revolting (against) Violence 
 in Michael Haneke’s Funny Games U.S.
 Abstract: This article aims at exploring Haneke’s Funny Games U.S. as a protest against violence employed in the mainstream cinema. Satisfying compensatory needs of the spectators, constructing their identities, and even contributing to the biopolitics of neoliberalism, proliferating bloodthirsty fantasies put scholars in a suspicious position of treating them as either purely aesthetical phenomena or exclusively ethical ones. Haneke’s film seems to resist such a clear-cut binary; what is more, it contributes immensely to the criticism of mainstream cinematic violence. Misleading with its initial setting of a conventional thriller, Haneke employs absurd brutality in order to overload violence itself. The scenes of ruthless tortures are entangled in the ongoing masquerade, during which swapping roles, theatrical gestures, and temporary identities destabilize seemingly fixed positions of perpetrators and their victims, and tamper with the motives behind the carnage. As I would argue, by confronting its spectators with unbearable cruelty devoid of closing catharsis, Funny Games deconstructs their bloodthirsty desire of retaliation and unmasks them as the very reason for the violence on screen. Following, among others, Jean-Luc Nancy and Henry A. Giroux, I would like to demonstrate how Haneke exhausts the norm of acceptable violence to reinstate such a limit anew.

Protecting Children from Violent TV Programmes and Video Games in Tanzania

Violent Television programmes and video games have been consistently found to have negative impact on children’s education and behaviour. Past and current research on the attitudes of children watching violent television and video games show that children who watch violence in television and video games imitate the violent behaviours of the actors they watch in the television and video games. In Tanzania the influence of violent movies and video games on the education of children is an issue of great concern to parents, pediatricians, educators, researchers, and policymakers. However, very few studies have been undertaken to assess the debilitating effects of violent television programmes and video games on children’s education and attitudinal behaviour. This paper presents the findings of a study undertaken to assess the effects of violence in television and video games on children’s education and attitudinal behaviour. The study’s setting was Isenge Primary School, Pasiansi Ward, in the city of Mwanza. A total of 1,183 pupils were involved where 133 were randomly interviewed. The attitudes of the pupils were assessed by the Child and Adolescent Social Perception Measure (CASP). Results showed that the pupils’ attitudinal behaviours were substantially influenced by violent Television programmes and video games.

Reexamining the Findings of the American Psychological Association’s 2015 Task Force on Violent Media: A Meta-Analysis

In 2015, the American Psychological Association (APA) released a task-force technical report on video-game violence with a concurrent resolution statement linking violent games to aggression but not violent crime. The task-force report has proven to be controversial; many scholars have criticized language implying conclusive evidence linking violent games to aggression as well as technical concerns regarding the meta-analysis that formed the basis of the technical report and resolution statement. In the current article, we attempt a reevaluation of the 2015 technical report meta-analysis. The intent of this reevaluation was to examine whether the data foundations behind the APA’s resolution on video-game violence were sound. Reproducing the original meta-analysis proved difficult because some studies were included that did not appear to have relevant data, and many other available studies were not included. The current analysis revealed negligible relationships between violent games and aggressive or prosocial behavior, small relationships with aggressive affect and cognitions, and stronger relationships with desensitization. However, effect sizes appeared to be elevated because of non-best-practices and researcher-expectancy effects, particularly for experimental studies. It is concluded that evidence warrants a more cautious interpretation of the effects of violent games on aggression than provided by the APA technical report or resolution statement.

Real-Time Suspicious Human Action Recognition from Surveillance Videos for Resource-Constrained Devices

Recent developments in computer vision are seen as a vital advancement in video surveillance. The goal of this research is to build a deep learning model that is capable of analyzing and classifying the video from running CCTV streams to detect criminal actions and identify suspects on the scene. In particular, we focus on the detection of dangerous human behaviors in surveillance videos. This work provides a low cost embedded solution that can be integrated with the existing CCTV cameras. This integration can reduce the cost of transmitting the data to any centralized server, which may have various privacy implications and takes much inference time. We also benchmark our models performance with the existing real-world dataset in terms of accuracy and resource constraints. Using the concept of Multiple Instance Learning on the histogram of the optical flow of the videos combined with the pose estimation of the persons on scene, we provide a lightweight model which has 13 times lesser inference time than the existing very deep models. Focusing on one important thing, this research will expand to which state-of-the-art deep neural networks will “see” violence in photographs and videos, and recognize criminal behavior using characteristics such as gestures, gait, and unethical behavior. This helps enforcement agencies to unravel crime cases faster and also to scale back crimes by identifying the suspects in the surveillance videos.

Television and Video Films and the Rhythm of Violence: Assessing the Negative Effect of Youths’ Exposure to Violent Television and Video Films Content

Television and Video Films and the Rhythm of Violence: Assessing the Negative Effect of Youths’ Exposure to Violent Television and Video Films Content

Reconstructing the theater of terror

ABSTRACT The study explores the nexus of violence and mass media, and the ability of terrorists to enhance their influence and resources via effective marketing of their actions. We utilized a dataset of 242 IS propaganda videos in order to examine how the Islamic State employed visual propaganda to enhance the effectiveness of a low-cost, high-impact terrorist campaign, by reconstructing the theater of terror. Our findings illustrate the positive relationship between the IS territorial control and the quality of its media production, thus the IS uses propaganda to develop a relatively low-cost avenue to global media attention. Prior acts of terrorism were risky, high cost, and required news media to cover the incidents. For IS, a steady stream of battle imagery allowed it to develop highly efficient low-cost propaganda. Additionally, we identified associations between the video’s thematic components, including between level of depicted violence and the tendency of the videos to be critical or to include religious symbols, as well as their production value. It reflects the importance that terrorist groups place in maximizing the symbolic impact of their violent videos which intend to depict their military capabilities, and capacity to retaliate against their enemies.

“The Only Thing New is the Cameras”: A Study of U.S. College Students’ Perceptions of Police Violence on Social Media

The present study explored the impact of publicized incidents of police violence on racially underrepresented college students in the U.S. Approximately 134 college students at various colleges and universities in the U.S. completed a questionnaire that examined their engagement with police brutality videos, reactions about police killings of unarmed Black men (and boys), their encounters with police, and perceptions toward the issue of police violence. The majority of participants were students of color, from the middle to high socioeconomic backgrounds and attended private and public institutions of higher education. The main findings included: (1) social media as a medium to learn about incidents of police violence; (2) students displayed symptoms consistent with post-traumatic stress disorder (i.e., anger, sadness, and fear) after viewing the videos; and (3) student’s race affected how they viewed police violence in social media. These findings reflect that witnessing publicized police killings of unarmed Black men (and boys) is traumatic for college students and contributes to anxiety and fear for future police encounters.

Hindu nationalism and media violence in news discourses in India

ABSTRACT The mainstream media and communication discourses in India in the present times engender ‘media violence’ embedded in the dominant productions of ‘Hinduism’ together with aspirations for neoliberal development. The media violence engenders indigenous forms of racism and colonialism. This article attempts to examine the nature of these productions through critical theories of postcoloniality and decolonial approaches put into conversation with theories of journalism. Through the examination of the instances of selective silencing of journalistic voices, and erasures embedded within the journalistic practices, this article argues for critical theories of press freedom. The productions of racial superiority and internal colonialism in India only begin to make sense when read together with the interplays of religion, class, caste, and global reach of the privileged sections of Indian society, namely the civil society. Against the backdrop of the historical role of the press in India in freedom struggle against colonial rule, the history of press censorship after independence, the civil society voices that are amplified in the neoliberal restructuring of news media, and the Dalit movements that expose the Brahminical dominance in the imaginary of the ‘Indian culture’, the meanings of race and coloniality in India unfold.

The effect of the exposure of the youth in the Gulf region to the content of violence portrayed in foreign movies broadcasted through satellite channels

The modern technology in line with the fast -paced environment has caused the penetration of TV as an influential means of communication in almost all aspects of our lives. This crucial role played by TV has resulted in the creation of a complex effect system on the younger generations based on the contents broadcasted via the satellite channels. The dense exposure to action and crime genre movies broadcasted through Arab and foreign satellite channels gave rise to a huge set of implications on the youth of the Gulf general in particular. The field study aimed at determining the effect of the exposure of the youth of the Gulf region to the contents of violence portrayed in foreign movies via the satellites. This problem was approached through conducting a field study and applying a questionnaire based on the theory of cultural implantation. By researching the relationship between the exposure of the youth in the Gulf region to violent movie contents and the impact on their behaviors, it becomes evident that there is a strong effect due to the exposure to foreign movies on the youth in the Gulf region as a concrete result of the study. However, we conclude from the results that the Arab channels that reproduce or broadcast movie content are the most followed ones as a result of the way they reformat the content to suit the general public in terms of the availability of translation and the subjection of movies to the regulatory standards that are consistent with the society standards.

Media Violence and Siblings’ Aggressive Behavior: Parents’ Perception in Pakistan

Media Violence and Siblings’ Aggressive Behavior: Parents’ Perception in Pakistan

Establishing a web-based measurement of aggression (WTCRTT): Examining the validity of a modified Taylor’s competitive reaction time test

The current study attempted to develop a web-based state aggression measurement program (WTCRTT) and examine its applicability in terms of validity and reliability by conducting laboratory experiments. A repeated experimental design was employed, where subjects were exposed to both violent and non-violent media content. A physiological measure was also included to test the internal validity of media stimulation. The results showed the WTCRTT is a valid measure of behavioral aggression as the hypotheses on construct validity and internal validity were supported. For instance, the WTRCTT after exposure to violent media was positively correlated to anger, physical aggression, and total trait aggression scores. The WCRTT that was developed and tested in this study can be used not only by the scholars interested in aggression research with no cost and but also by the parents who want to monitor their children’s state (i.e., behavioral) aggression.

PENGARUH TEMPERATUR TEMPERING TERHADAP KEKERASAN DAN STRUKTUR MIKRO BAJA AISI 1045 YANG DIQUENCHING DALAM MEDIA PENDINGIN TERSIRKULASI

Steel AISI 1045 is steel classified as medium carbon steel because it has a carbon content of 0.45%.The characteristics of steel itself are sometimes not in accordance with the needs required,therefore the steel requires other treatments to change the properties and structure of steel AISI1045. The characteristics of steel can be changed by giving heat treatment, one of the processescarried out is the quenching tempering process. Quenching is a metal working process with rapidcooling to a predetermined variety of media with the aim of increasing the hardness of AISI 1045steel, while tempering is the process of reheating hardened steel with the aim of obtaining hightenacity and toughness.The quenching process uses a temperature of 800 °C with a waiting time of60 minutes and then cooled quickly with variations of diesel, water, and salt water with a 180°circulating process. While the tempering temperature variations used are 450 °C, 550 °C, and 650°C with a waiting time of 60 minutes. The results of the hardness test using the Rockwell method. inraw material testing get a value of 61.33 HRB hardness. The quenching results circulated in thesolar media are (80.6 HRB, 79.3 HRB, 81.3 HRB), the value of violence in the water media (89.3HRB, 89 HRB, 89.6 HRB), and salt water media (94,6 HRB, 96 HRB, 94.6 HRB). The hardnessvalue of temperature temperament 450 °C solar media (72.6 HRB 73 HRB, 72.6 HRB), water media(83.6 HRB, 82.6 HRB, 83 HRB), salt water (86.3 HRB, 86.6 HRB, 87.3 HRB). Temper temperaturehardness value of 550 ° C solar media namely (70.3 HRB, 70.3 HRB, 70.6 HRB) water media (81.3HRB, 81.3 HRB, 80.6 HRB) salt water media (84,3 HRB, 83.6 HRB, 84.6 HRB). The hardness valueof temperature variation of 650 °C, solar media are (68.3 HRB, 68.6 HRB, 68.6 HRB) water media(79 HRB, 79.3 HRB, 79.3 HRB) and salt water media (81,3 HRB, 81.6 HRB, 82 HRB). Themicrostructure obtained in quenching is the martensite structure and the tempering structure istemper martensite.Keywords: AISI 1045, quenching, tempering, martensite, ferrite, pearlite, HRB

The links between religiousness and prosocial behaviors in early adulthood: The mediating roles of media exposure preferences and empathic tendencies

ABSTRACT We examined the links among religiousness, prosocial and violent media exposure preferences, empathic tendencies, and prosocial behaviors in early adulthood. Participants were U.S. college students (N = 324; M age = 19.5 years; 79.6% Women). While young adults’ religiousness was not associated with prosocial media exposure preferences, it was negatively related to violent movie and Internet exposure preferences. In turn, violent movie exposure preference was negatively related to prosocial behaviors through perspective taking and empathic concern. Prosocial movie exposure preference was positively linked to prosocial behaviors. Moreover, religiousness was related to young adults’ prosocial behavior via empathic concern. Discussion focuses on religiousness, media exposure preferences, and empathic tendencies in understanding young adults’ prosocial behaviors.