Academic Article Paper (1st Draft)

Effects of Horror Movies on Children (1st Draft)

It is apparent that horror movies affect a child’s psychological development. A child’s mind is prone to absorb what is displayed on screen. Studies and surveys both have agreed that horror movies do indeed affect a child’s psychological development. Most studies concentrate on the short term effects horror films have on children, but very few focus on the long term effects it may have on young children. In the article “Tales from the Screen: Enduring Fright Reactions to Scary Media” from Media Psychology (1999), Dr. Kristen Harrison, begins her essay with the story of two young boys that were severely traumatized by a scary TV program that aired in Britain Oct. 1992. Dr. Harrison reported that one of the young boys was affected to the point that he had to be admitted to a hospital for 8 weeks. She also wrote that he “…suffered panic attacks, refused to go upstairs alone and slept with the bedroom light on. He had nightmares and daytime flashbacks and banged his head to remove thoughts of ghosts. He became increasingly clingy and was reluctant to go to school or to allow his mother to go out without him.”
This example of a documented, long term clinical case is rare. However, Dr. Harrison does mention what she calls anecdotal observations not clinically documented of which we are all aware. She mentions a friend who cannot shower without watching the door after seeing the movie “Psycho” 25 years before. She also mentions a colleague that still can’t swim in the ocean after seeing the movie “Jaws” twenty years earlier.
In studying the phenomena of lingering effects of scary media stimuli, Dr. Harrison quoted a study that found a number gender differences in the reactions between males and females. One of the differences in the study by Sparks (1989), “…found that half of the females and one-quarter of the males in his sample reported enduring fright effects after viewing scary media.” Dr. Harrison’s study showed no significant difference in gender other than a reluctance to participate in the study by males.
Dr. Harrison’s study was very detailed and was conducted at two Midwestern universities using student volunteers. One example of the amount of scientific detail involved is in the area of coding. Dr. Harrison reports, “Coding was done on the basis of both the open-ended description (Part I) and the structured questionnaire (Part II). Responses were coded for immediate symptoms, enduring effects, duration of effects, stimulus types, and coping strategies.”
Her conclusion is that 90% of her volunteers had lingering effects from scary media stimuli. Dr. Harrison validates her study by the fact that a number of her statistical findings using college students match closely with another study of parent interviews concerning their children’s exposure to scary media. Dr. Harrison states, “Comparing our convenience sample of reports to Cantor and Nathanson's (1996) random sample of parental reports further validates our data.”
The article was very interesting and compelling and indicates the need for more study and perhaps more content ratings to warn parents of possible lingering effects. At the very least, it points to a need for a much more serious attitude toward the exposure of young children to scary media and a change from the very casual attitude we seem to have today.
The second article is entitled; “The Psychological Effects of Media Violence on Children and Adolescents” by Joanne Cantor, Ph.D. Dr. Cantor begins her article by stating that the effects of media violence on children are misunderstood by the general public. In her article she states three major arguments for this. The first reason is that the effects cannot be simply induced and studied as with animal studies. The second reason is that in her words, “…most public discussions of the problem focus on criminal violence and ignore the other unhealthy outcomes that affect many more children.” The third reason is that the media, including movie and video game producers as well, in her opinion have been less than forthright about revealing the true content of their products, and any research about harmful effects.
After dealing with the public’s misconception about the harmful effects of media violence on children, she then begins to break down her analysis into four basic categories: Aggression, Desensitization, Interpersonal Hostility, and Fears/Anxiety.
Under the heading of aggression, she mentions one behavior in children that she calls “copying”, in which children imitate aggressive behaviors they’ve seen in media. She sites one case in Israel, where numerous injuries were reported by school principles immediately following the airing World Wrestling Federation (WWF) programming. Many of these cases involved children who were old enough to know that the content was fake and potentially dangerous but that did not stop them from imitating the behavior anyway.
In the category of desensitization, which is commonly mentioned as a negative effect of media violence on children, Dr. Cantor indicates two striking examples of desensitization. She states that children exposed to more media violence are less likely to call an adult when there is an altercation between peers and they are less likely to feel sympathy for victims of abuse.
In the area of hostile feelings, the article mentions a argument by those arguing against the creation of hostile feelings by violent media. The argument states that increased hostility in those that view more violent media simply indicates a predisposition to hostility in those individuals to begin with. However, the article sites two case studies to the contrary and Dr. Cantor states that hostile feelings can be produced to the extent that “…media violence can cause interference in the ability to interact in interpersonal relationships.”
On the subject of fears and anxiety Dr. Cantor indicates that it is a much ignored area of study. She states, “Although most of researchers' attention has focused on how media violence affects the interpersonal behaviors of children and adolescents, there is growing evidence that violence viewing also induces intense fears and anxieties in young viewers.” She mentions a study of third graders where as the number of television viewing hours increased so did the prevalence of symptoms of psychological trauma.
I agree with Dr. Cantor’s statement in which she says, “The research I’ve described above provides overwhelming evidence that growing up with unrestricted access to media violence is, in the least, very unhealthy for young people.” Dr. Cantor ends her article with suggestions about what can be done to reduce the effects of media violence on children.