 America is an especially violent country in terms of interpersonal violence  American popular culture is “awash in violence”  There is reason to think that the latter may be one reason for the former

 Many fables and fairy stories are quite violent  Hansel and Gretel  Little Red Riding Hood  The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe  Sleeping Beauty  Snow White  Peter Pan

 Recent scholarly analysis looks beyond the mere total of violent acts in media content. More subtle distinctions regarding depictions of violent acts and the role of violence in the story have come to be considered as important as the volume.

 The NTVS staff found 80 experiments where some contextual feature of media violence was manipulated to see how it affected outcomes. Based on these studies, the NTVS staff identified the following contextual features in violent media that can affect young viewers:

Broadcast network (90 hrs) Independent broadcast (31 hrs) Public broadcast (17 hrs) Basic cable (232 hrs) Premium cable (48 hrs) Programs with violence 67%77%23%65%88% # of violent interactions ,2961,123 Rate of violent interactions/hour Programs w/ saturated violence 31%43%021%73%

Drama (66 hrs) Comedy (49.5 hrs) Children’s (29.5 hrs) Movies (215.5 hrs) Videos (32 hrs) Reality (74 hrs) Programs with violence 82%43%80%93%50%46% # of violent interactions , Rate of violent interactions/hour Programs w/ saturated violence 34%3%16%68%0%17%

SlapstickSuperheroAdventure/ mystery Social relationship Magazine % of programs with violence Number of violent PATs per hour Number of violent scenes per hour % of time devoted to violence Source: Wilson, Smith, Potter, Kunkel, Linz, Colvin & Donnerstein, 2002 Journal of Communication

Source: Signorielli, 2003

Source: NTVS

Source: Signorielli, 2003

Source: NTVS

Source: Signorielli, 2003

Source: NTVS

 This pattern is highly consistent across different types of programs and channels. The portrayal of rewards and punishments is probably the most important of all contextual factors for viewers as they interpret the meaning of what they see on television.  However, a much lower number go unpunished by the end of the show.  This is a special problem for younger viewers who often do not have the ability to connect later action to earlier events.

Source: NTVS

Source: Signorielli, 2003

Source: NTVS

 Very few violent programs place emphasis on condemning the use of violence or on presenting alternatives to using violence to solve problems. This pattern is consistent across different types of programs and channels.

Source: NTVS

 The NTVS continues to find that cartoons contain high rates of violence portrayed in ways that many existing studies agree will increase the probability of harmful effects. Children under 7 years are particularly at risk because of limited ability to distinguish fantasy from reality.

 Cartoon violence is (frequently) performed by attractive characters, seems justified, goes unpunished, and results in minimal consequences for the victim — all characteristics likely to promote young children’s learning of aggressive behaviors.  Source: NTVS