Many social psychologist have studied the effects of our media on juvenile delinquency. Today most of the research looks at violent video games and rap music. However, in the 1950's the evil medium was comic books. Psychologist,Fredric Wertham's, 1954 book Seduction of the Innocent claimed the violent imagery was harmful to young people who read them. This prompted the U.S. Congress to pressure comic book companies into establishing a self regulatory organization called the comic code. Recently there has been a review of Wertham's data from his case studies of comics. The following was originally posted over at the blog site Teaching High School Psychology:
Posted: 13 Feb 2013 11:57 AM PST
Librarians Assemble! Carol Tilley, media literacy professor at the University of Illinois, looked at the archival data from a study done by Psychiatrist Fredric Wertham, and figured out that his own data didn't support the conclusions he presented to the U.S. Senate!
This was back in the ol' days when comic books didn't have a great reputation Wertham told the Senate that comics might contribute to increases in violence, drug use, and "sexual deviancy" (as he defined it).
Enter our hero: Carol Tilley swoops in and uses her super-archivist powers to look at Wetham's original case study notes and finds that he often didn't have much if any data to support his dramatic conclusions. POW! Take that, bad science!
Psychology teachers could use this as a compelling example of the importance of responsible data use by psychologists, and that research should be re-examined and continually peer-reviewed, especially when dealing with case study and other qualitative research that might be easily misrepresented.
Look! Up in the sky! It's a lirbarian! It's a critical thinker! It's super-heroine Carol Tilley!
image credit: http://news.illinois.edu/news/13/0211comics_CarolTilley.html
posted by Rob McEntarffer
This is actually still a very relevant point, for the same type of issue is arising with videogames. Many studies (which are backed by movie studios of all things), are trying desperately to connect violence to vidoegames, but the evidence just isn't there. It's interesting to see how so many people are afraid of different forms of expression simply because they do not fit a societal norm, and are innovating in new ways.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree, it seems that more and more videogames are persecuted against when there's plenty of violence in books, movies, and even on TV. Whether our society is becoming too desensitized to violence I'm not sure, but to me there's definetely an illusory correlation between virtual violence and the tragic events that take place in real life. 1000's of teenagers play games like Halo and COD and grow up to be completely normal; it's on parents to decide what's appropritate at what ages for their children.
DeleteAs a persn who loves comic books I've could never understand why someone would hate comics so much that they'd falsify data to turn them into the root of evil
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on this, having read comics for a long time, I believe people want to blame things. Those who don't read them don't understand that comics show what is good and bad in people.
DeleteI think that this article is very interesting. It shows that we shouldn't just believe everything we see and hear about studies that are being done. Only with careful experimentation and attention to detail does a study really accurately prove something. It seems like Werthem had some personal problem with comics and maybe he didn't consider everything that he needed to when making his conclusions.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that Wertham was trying to pin the causes of violence onto one thing, but couldn't find enough support to do so. It is kind of like the movie studios working to pin violence on video games like rogerdoger703 mentioned. The only difference is that Wertham just fudged all of his "facts" to make it appear as though there was a connection. This study goes to show the importance of the reproducibility aspect of experiments. If other experimenters look at the data presented and the numbers recorded and see discrepancies, then they can work towards providing better, more accurate data.
ReplyDeleteI do not completely agree with the fact that such things cause children to act in a certain way. While i do beleive that they might have some sort of impact on the mind, we can not solely blame comic books and video games or any other media for the changes in behavior an individual might have.
ReplyDeleteThis is an idea that society seemed to just accept immediately as fact back in the 1950s possibly because it affirmed their moral standings and opinions. It seems a lot of times everyone seems to just accept information (or even ideas) as factual and accurate simply because it either a) affirms what they already believe (confirmation bias) or b) because it denounces someone else's stance on the defending side of a debate.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to be honest and say that some of the things I've done that were dangerous I have gotten ideas from T.V. from. Maybe my unconscious pushes these ideas forward when the times have come when I have done the stupid things. Either way people were violent before comic books and they're still violent now.
ReplyDeleteI agree with procrastinator4. I also believe that video games and comics books do not cause violence. It seems that Werthman made a rookie mistake. As we have learned in psychology, correlation does NOT equal causation. I also have an example of video games and comic books not leading to violence. I have a younger brother and as a boy, of course he reads comic books and plays video games as much as he breathes. Just because he takes part in these activities does not mean hes a bad guy and is going to commit felonies as an adult. He is actually a smart kid that wants to have a degree in computer science when he grows up. Does that really sound like a delinquent to you? I believe people that don't read comic books are just as likely to commit a crime as a person that does read comic books. Again, Wertham just made a rookie mistake!
ReplyDeleteI think it's interesting that the US senate didn't look more in depth into Wertham's study. If they had taken the time to look into his notes just as Carol Tilley did, they may not have had to establish the comic code in the first place. This emphasizes the importance of replicating experiments and case studies. Just because one psychologist's findings prove his hypothesis, doesn't mean it's true. Especially because of experimenter bias. Since Wertham believed comic books were bad, his experiment mimicked his beleifs.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand how anybody can claim that such a specific thing as comic books can cause somebody to become more violent. There are so many other factors that contribute to people's temperament and violence. I myself play games like halo and call of duty all the time. I also read books with lots of violence in them. you know...fantasy stuff. But I would definitely not consider myself a violent person and don't plan on becoming a criminal anytime soon. So it can't be true that these things cause violence. Or I guess I could just be a crazy exception to the rule.
ReplyDeleteI think this article demonstrates the importance of reviewing the data that is found in various studies. We see that most psychologist publish their findings in hopes that their findings support their thesis. The reality is that it may actually support something different than what they are trying to prove, but they never change their thesis so that it is supported by their data.
ReplyDeleteThis is reminiscent of the debates Congress had about the impact of Rock and Roll on teens when the music became wildly popular. I think that Wertham rushed to his conclusions and didn't really find the evidence to support it. He might have been eager to find the cause of rising violence, and since comic books didn't have a great reputation, it was easy for him to blame them and to have others follow suit. It is good that people review data to point out these errors.
ReplyDeleteI see where the librarian and psychologist is coming from comic books tv shows and video games can all be a cause in violence but the perception taken on from their experiences effect each person differntly. If someone chooses to become violent after reading a comic book it is not the books fault it is the individuals and they should take responsibility for their actions.
ReplyDeleteI think that violence comes from the person individually. Yes they are probably influenced by video games, movies, TV shows, and other media, but there is not enough statistics to back it up. I'm sure kids are just as influenced at home, by their parents or siblings, as they are comics or the TV. They need to take into account real world situations that also probably influence kids violence.
ReplyDeleteI think that Fredric Wertham was just trying to be the psychologist that "found something." He wanted to give an answer for society's question of why children and teens were becoming more violent. Without any data to back up his theories, he was only a man with an opinion.
ReplyDeleteThis makes me wonder if recent studies on video games causing violence actually have any factual evidence. If comic books were thought to cause violence back in the 50's yet they are fine to read today, will video games be viewed as being okay for kids in the future when something new comes along for people to complain about that "causes" violence?
ReplyDeleteUntil the end of time people will always be scapegoating problems on new things. Take music for example. In the 12 note scale that we use today (Ab A Bb B C Db D Eb E F Gb G) the interval between the root of the scale and the augmented fifth was beleived to have the devil in it, and if one were to play this on the piano, damnation would await in the afterlife. In the 1700's french music composers invented the crescendo(a gradual increace in volume written into the music) and parents beleived that the loudening in music would make their kids roudy, and violent and rude. When Beehtoven began ignoring trends in music, and composing the way he wanted to, people didnt want their kids to hear it because it would make them rebelious. People are always going to blame culture for their problems, and kids are always just going to be rowdy
ReplyDeleteI think this might have something to do with causal vs. correlational data. Just because they see that more violent kids tend to play violent video games or read graphic magazines doesn't mean that's what CAUSES it. It could be that kids in the income level that can afford such games and magazines are the more violent ones due to their environment, it could be that violent kids take out their anger in video games or magazines, or several other third, unknown factors. This research needs to be more broad to make any conclusions.
ReplyDeleteI think many people these days associate video games such as Call of Duty and Halo with increased violence, and I don't think it's !00% wrong. Think about it: comic books don't give nearly as realistic an experience as video games. The high intensity that these games are played at stimulates the mind more than reading a comic book, regarding the violence factor. I think the law should evolve over time, and take into account the intensity of these games.
ReplyDeleteI feel like older generations are always trying to put blame on something that is new and different; something they did not grow up with. Whether it be music, comic books, television or the internet, there is always potential for misuse by immature kids and i feel like this is another example of parents trying to make excuses for their children. Yes, kids do make mistakes and make horrible decisions sometimes but that responsibility lays on them alone. There are always going to be advancements and new things when it comes to entertainment and the environment we live in but our decision making is ours alone and therefore we alone should be blamed for our mistakes.
ReplyDelete