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Citation
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Kunkel D, Wilson B, Donnerstein E, Linz D, Smith S, Gray T, Blumenthal E, Potter WJ. J. Broadcast. Electron. Media 1995; 39(2): 284-291. |
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Abstract
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VioLit summary:
OBJECTIVE:
This goal of this article by Kunkel et al. was to present their unique content analysis framework for studying television violence.
METHODOLOGY:
The authors presented a non-experimental literature review and description of their specialized content analysis method.
FINDINGS/DISCUSSION:
Early studies on television violence employed content analysis techniques that did not distinguish between degrees of realism and severity of violence. Industry spokes people have argued that not all violence produced the same effects; in fact, some violence is prosocial. The authors defined violence, explore its primary elements, introduce new levels of analysis, and illustrate the contextual variables with examples. Violence was defined according to the following elements: intention to injure, physical degree of injury and involvement of live beings. Intention to injure referred to the psychological state of the actor and excludes accidental harm. Physical injury or the threat of it referred to harmful consequences. Involvement of live beings as both attacker and victim eliminated harmful acts of nature and vandalism. However, the authors included a spectrum of creatures to encompass the range of fictional live beings that inhabit the world of television violence. The authors introduced their modified content analysis framework for television violence. The unit of analysis was changed from isolated violent acts to violent acts viewed in the context of an ongoing exchange between characters. The PAT framework (Perpetrator, Act, Target) was the name for the method of studying collectively all violence that occurred within a single program sequence. AUTHORS' RECOMMENDATIONS:
The authors planned to improve this framework with additional coding for a variety of characteristics that a perpetrator, act and target could have possessed. In addition, the authors intended to add an assessment of the consequences of violence: reward versus punishment. EVALUATION:
In general, this article provides a look at the early stages in the development of a content analysis framework specific to the study of television violence. The success of this framework cannot be fully evaluated until the authors progress with the next stages of development. (CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado)
KW - Literature Review
KW - Media Violence Measurement
KW - Content Analysis
KW - Reality Program
KW - Television Violence
KW - Media Violence Effects
KW - Program-Film Content |