Media Influence - created from Mind Map

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communicates information about dependency through public formats which affect people's perceptions & behaviour.

addictive behaviours also portrayed through exposure to role models who promote dependency through film & music.

affects conceptions of addiction risks in an invalid manner

TV shows featuring lottery draws & interactive gambling via internet & phone generate impression that it is normal, acceptable & even socially expected. Highlights simplicity of winning while hiding huge number of viewing losers.

RWA: gives support for validity of the theory that media has a major influence on addictive behaviour. There are guidelines in place stating that film writers should communicate that all illegal drugs are unhealthy & harmful & in no way recreational & abstinence is the viable choice for everyone.

CHANGING ADDICTIVE BEHAVIOUR

television support through intervention programmes can be used to build knowledge about the risks of dependency. Promotes healthy lifestyles & behaviour change like smoking cessation & exercise.

conflicting results of effectiveness. study on TV series about alcohol found viewers of the series had increased alcohol related knowledge compared to control group that didn't watch it, but didn't show any change in attitude or actual consumption. (not effective)

other study on TV programme designed to reduce problem drinking found that intervention group was more successful than control group in achieving low risk rather than high risk problem drinking, which was maintained up to 3 months after (effective)

problems with the study: intervention group received weekly visits so may be that the extra attention contributed to the positive outcome. Control group were also awaiting the treatment & knowing they would get it soon may have made them postpone their behaviour change, artificially inflating the magnitude of the diference between the 2 groups.

anti-drug campaigns are used in the form of advertisements

an assessment of a US campaign found that not only did it fail to accomplish its goals but may have lead to delayed unfavourable effects particularly increased marijuana use. Youths who saw it took away the message that their peers are using marijuana & that its use is commonplace so were more likely to do it too.

FILM REPRESENTATIONS

research analysed scenes from films about drug users such as Transpotting, American Beauty etc. showed drug competence & enjoyment of effects contrasted with dullness of real life. Also represented as way of alleviating problems and protesting against parental hypocrisy.

contrary to this, Boyd claims films often depict drugs as associated with violence and murder, sexual degradation & moral decline. So media does portray the negative consequences too.

films such as Trainspotting are important due to widespread appeal & also for providing enduring stereotypes of drug addicts for addicts themselves & general public which sticks.

research examined films that depicted smoking e.g. Bridget Jones' Diary & found that teenagers that watched these were more likely to start smoking themselves. this relationship was still significant after controlling for social factors such as whether their parents or peers smoked.

support from other research that surveyed adolescents 11-15 yrs & resurveyed them a year later & those who had not smoked before had started to smoke the following year with exposure to movie smoking being a strong predictor of this

viewing cigarette advertisements made children associate smoking with looking grown up & having confidence, showing how media promotes addictive behaviours.

most evidence is correlational & doesn't indicate causal relationship between exposure & addiction.

Media Influence