1. PSYA4: Addictive Behaviours
The role of the media in influencing addictive behaviours

2. Learning Objectives…
1)To examine research into the portrayal of addiction in the media, including film, advertisements and health campaigns 2) Evaluate the above research in terms of supporting/refuting research 3) Provide synoptic links

3. Starter List five different forms of media
Give at least three ways that messages promoting addictive behaviour could be transmitted through the media.
Give at least three ways that messages preventing addictive behaviour be transmitted through the media.
Name a psychological approach that is (particularly) relevant to media influence on addictive behaviour

4. Different forms of Media
Film
TV programmes
Radio broadcast
Newspapers and magazines
Internet
Campaign Leaflets
Posters (Advertising Hoardings)

5. Activity - Films
List at least three films (or other media) where addictive behaviour has been portrayed
What was the addictive behaviour?
Was it realistically portrayed?
Were the positive or negative effects emphasized?
Do you think the films had any influence on the opinions and behaviours of the audience

6. Film Gunasekera et al (2005) reviewed 87 of
most popular films in last 20 years for
portrayal of sex and drug use
Content analysis assessed for inter-rater reliability
Films with cannabis 8%
Alcohol intoxication 32%
Tobacco use 68%
Use of drugs portrayed positively with few negative effects shown
How might these portrayals affected addiction/ drug use?

7. Film
Sulkunen (2007)
Looked at 140 scenes from 47 films depicting use of alcohol, drugs, smoking, gambling and sex
Films about drug users like Trainspotting (1996) and Human Traffic (1999) presented scenes of drug competence and enjoyment of the effects which was often contrasted with the dullness of ordinary life
Q: What type of reinforcement Is this?

8. MEDIA & ADDICTION: What does the research say?
Read the following research studies
What did the study DO, FIND, and what are the IMPLICATIONS?
What methodological problems can you think of with each study?
Any issues or debates that are relevant?
Any relevant comments on ‘psychology in society’ (i.e. Application) as a consequence of this research?

9. Alcohol Portrayal on Television Affects Actual Drinking Behaviour- Engels et al (2009)
The team led by Professor Engels sat two groups of 20 male students in a mini-cinema and played two films to them – one featuring alcohol drinking and one without. A fridge containing alcoholic and soft beverages was placed next to them and they were told they could pick any drink.
The group that watched the comedy American Pie, which featured 23 alcoholic scenes, along with drink ads in between, consumed three bottles of beer on average compared with 1.5 bottles drank by another group that watched the relatively dry film 40 Days and 40 Nights without alcohol ad breaks.

10. The Effect of Alcohol Advertising on Immediate Alcohol Consumption in College Students: An Experimental Study- Koordeman et al (2011)
Background:  Survey studies have emphasized a positive association between exposure to alcohol advertising on television (TV) and the onset and continuation of drinking among young people. Alcohol advertising might also directly influence viewers’ consumption of alcohol while watching TV. The present study therefore tested the immediate effects of alcohol advertisements on the alcohol consumption of young adults while watching a movie. Weekly drinking, problem drinking, positive and arousal expectancies of alcohol, ad recall, attitude, and skepticism toward the ads were tested as moderators.
Methods:  An experimental design comparing 2 advertisement conditions (alcohol ads vs. nonalcohol ads) was used. A total of 80 men, young adult friendly dyads (ages 18 to 29) participated. The study examined actual alcohol consumption while watching a 1-hour movie with 3 advertising breaks. A multivariate regression analysis was used to examine the effects of advertisement condition on alcohol consumption.

11. The Effect of Alcohol Advertising on Immediate Alcohol Consumption in College Students: An Experimental Study- Koordeman et al (2011)
Results:  Assignment to the alcohol advertisement condition did not increase alcohol consumption. In addition, no moderating effects between advertisement condition and the individual factors on alcohol consumption were found.
Conclusions:  Viewing alcohol advertising did not lead to higher alcohol consumption in young men while watching a movie. However, replications of this study using other samples (e.g., different countries and cultures), other settings (e.g., movie theater, home), and with other designs (e.g., different movies and alcohol ads, cumulative exposure, extended exposure effects) are warranted

12. Effect of viewing smoking in movies on adolescent smoking initiation: a cohort study- Dalton et al (2003)
Summary
Background Exposure to smoking in movies has been linked with adolescent smoking initiation in cross-sectional studies. We undertook a prospective study to ascertain whether exposure to smoking in movies predicts smoking initiation. Method We assessed exposure to smoking shown in movies in 3547 adolescents, aged 10–14 years, who reported in a baseline survey that they had never tried smoking.
Exposure to smoking in movies was estimated for individual respondents on the basis of the number of smoking occurrences viewed in unique samples of 50 movies, which were randomly selected from a larger sample pool of popular contemporary movies. We successfully re-contacted 2603 (73%) students 13–26 months later for a follow-up interview to determine whether they had initiated smoking..

13. Effect of viewing smoking in movies on adolescent smoking initiation: a cohort study- Dalton et al (2003)
Findings
Overall, 10% (n=259) of students initiated smoking during the follow-up period. In the highest quartile of exposure to movie smoking, 17% (107) of students had initiated smoking, compared with only 3% (22) in the lowest quartile. After controlling for baseline characteristics, adolescents in the highest quartile of exposure to movie smoking were 2·71 (95% CI 1·73–4·25) times more likely to initiate smoking compared with those in the lowest quartile. The effect of exposure to movie smoking was stronger in adolescents with non-smoking parents than in those whose parent smoked. In this cohort, 52·2% (30·0–67·3) of smoking initiation can be attributed to exposure to smoking in movies.
Interpretation
Our results provide strong evidence that viewing smoking in movies promotes smoking initiation among adolescents.

14. Evaluation (AO2)
To what extent do these films have an impact on society?
Some evidence does suggest that they do. E.g. Dalton et al (2003) showed a positive correlation between adolescent exposure to smoking in movies and the likelihood of starting to smoke. However, there are issues here with causality…
Sargent and Hanewinkel (2009) surveyed 4384 adolescents (11-15). Exposure to movie smoking over the subsequent year was strong predictor of whether they began to smoke a year later…

15. AO2
Studies are correlational and somewhat reductionist. A more holistic approach is important in considering influences on addiction, such as … [hint: homelife?]
Boyd (2008) argues that films do frequently represent the negative consequences of alcohol and drug dependence, therefore…
There is an important discussion about free will and determinism relating to media representations of addiction (elaborate..)

16. Advertising and Media Campaigns – Media and reducing addiction
Health Campaigners use television and the internet in an attempt to raise awareness and prevent the number of addictions taking place to begin with.
Campaigns and health promotion can also be implicitly delivered by through the plots of TV or radio soap operas, where the audience tends to identify better with the characters involved, such as plots about addiction in Hollyoaks, aimed at young people.

17. Research
Bennett et al(1991) evaluated the effect of a BBC TV series on alcohol use entitled ‘Pssst, the Really Useful Guide to Alcohol’. Viewers of the series were compared to controls who did not watch the programme.
The results showed an improvement in alcohol related knowledge, but they did not show a change in attitudes to drinking or a lowering of consumption.

18. TV (research)
Kramer et al. (2009) assessed the effectiveness of a five week TV intervention self-help designed to reduce problem drinking called ‘Drinking Less? Do It Yourself!’
The intervention group was more successful than a control group in achieving a low-risk drinking pattern. The effect was still prevalent after three months.

19. Anti drug campaigns: Evaluation
Hornick et al. (2008) argues that expensive anti drug media campaigns in the US have not worked for two reasons:
Giving the same message that young people have heard many times before (lack of novelty)
Advertising giving an implicit message that drug use was common-place and so actually promoting things like marijuana use with young people thinking it was the norm (conformity effect)

20. Overall Research on media effects is inconclusive
Relationship between advertising and addictive behaviour is correlational (no cause and effect)
There could be different media effects for different addictions
Can you think of an IDA debate that would be appropriate?

21. Activity: The third Person Effect
Use the article to outline research into the ‘Third Person Effect’ (Youn et al. , 2000):
What is it and outline how it affects media campaigns
Evaluate the research giving three points