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 434 235 4 1,296 1,123

Rate of violent interactions/hour 5.16 12.05 0.14 5.32 12.40

Programs w/ saturated violence

31% 43% 0 21% 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 384 87 365 1,916 121 219

Rate of violent interactions/hour 5.81 1.75 12.37 8.89 3.78 2.95

Programs w/ saturated violence

34% 3% 16% 68% 0% 17%

Slapstick Superhero Adventure/ mystery

Social relationship

Magazine

% of programs with violence 100 97 89 48 17

Number of violent PATs per hour

29.1 28.1 14.3 4.2 1.6

Number of violent scenes per hour

14.9 11.9 7.9 3.0 .9

% of time devoted to violence

28.7 24.4 12.9 3.1 1.2

Source: Wilson, Smith, Potter, Kunkel, Linz, Colvin & Donnerstein, 2002Journal of Communication

Source: Signorielli, 2003

Source: Signorielli, 2003

0

20

40

60

80

100

Child perp (n=660)

Teen perp(n=1019)

Adult perp(n=12,959)

% male % human% anthro % heroes% good % whose targets are children% whose targets are teens

Source: NTVS

0

20

40

60

80

100

Attractive Hero Human Anthro Male

Children's Nonchildren's

Source: NTVS

Source: Signorielli, 2003

Source: Signorielli, 2003

Source: Signorielli, 2003

0

20

40

60

80

100

Child Teen Adult

% to protect life % for personal gain % engaging in justified violence

Source: NTVS

Source: Signorielli, 2003

Source: Signorielli, 2003

0

20

40

60

80

100

Child Perp Teen Perp Adult Perp

% blood & gore % humor% animated program % fantasy context

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.

0102030405060708090

Children's Nonchildren's

Immediate reward No immediate punishmentBad perps never punished Good perps never punished

Source: NTVS

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

14%

16%

18%

No Cosequence Rewarded Punished Both

Men

Women

Whites

Minorities

Source: Signorielli, 2003

0102030405060708090

100

Child Perp Teen Perp Adult Perp

% with immediate rewards% with no immediate remorse, criticism or penalty% never punished in program

Source: NTVS

0102030405060708090

100

Children's Nonchildren's

Victim shows no pain Victim shows no harmUnrealistically low levels of harm Depicts long-term suffering

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. 

0102030405060708090

100

Children's Nonchildren's

Humor Fantasy context Animated format

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