Effects of Contents of Broadcasting (and press?)
A number of fields exist in which concerned observers have alleged that what is shown influences what is done.
Some of these fields or areas include:
violence breeds violence
violence breeds fear
violence and other victim displays breed homophobic,
mysogynistic or other harmful attitudes (and behaviour)
paedophilic examples prompt imitation
lifestyle displays (swearing, taking drugs, overeating ...) prompt
imitation
suicide (in fiction and in fact) prompts imitation
In most of these areas there is a body of research.
Most of these bodies of research contain more studies that suggest imitation occurs, than which fail to show this.
Virtually no studies are reported which show that the posited harmful examples lead to varieties of reflective, positive behaviour.
The exception in the above list appears to be the contention that violence shown, breeds fear (and in somse cases it was alleged in the USA, breeds prejudice).
Three possible interpretatons of this situation are possible:
the general weight of evidence supports the phenomenon of imitation
therefore let society do something
the existence of some 'neutral' or inconclusive studies undermines any
conclusion being drawn from those which suggest imitation occurs
therefore, nothing need be done
none of the effects-indicating studies are wholly watertight (the
general predicament of social science)
therefore, nothing need be done
The American discourse weighing in the direction of harm following problematic display runs into the barrier of the First Amendment to the Constitution which appears to be interpreted to refer to protect 'freedom' (of utterance - rather than from effect) for every form of expression - even those outside the normal political discourse, which it may have been the Amendment's first concern to protect.
The UK discourse (without a first amendment) to some extent is influenced by the American one. A professional zeitgeist probably reflects this caution - partly perhaps to keep UK and US interpretations of what needs to be done, in terms of precautions or even of prevention, in parallel.
A recent spate of suicides - mostly amongst teenagers - in South Wales has led to concern and a piece has appeared in The Psychologist monthly, attributed to the BPS' psychology journalist Christian Jarrett. He quotes a less equivocal judgement from an Oxford scientist, in the area of suicide imitation (see below).
http://www.bps.org.uk/publications/thepsychologist/extras/pages$/2008/
suicide-the-media-and-prevention.cfm
The report, necessarily brief, does not distinguish between various "media" (press and broadcasting by inference being lumped together). Some of these message systems are (still ?) regulated, and the extent of influence attributable to each message system may well thus be different. There may also be interactions between message systems.
"Society"appears to be unwilling to tolerate suicide and willing to act on the evidence that it may be influenced by what is shown or said.
Society seems unwilling to tolerate racist attitudes and behaviour and regulates content of mass message systems which may encourage such things.
Society is perhaps less willing to act on similar kinds of evidence with regard to some of the other (violent) dangers above.
It is possible that regulatory response to the dangers of suicide from imitation will influence tighter requirements with regard to other sources of possible malign influence. It is also possible that the 'guilt' of tighter regulation vis a vis suicide will be accompanied with a laxer treatment of other matters. It is thirdly possible that what is done about suicide may have no influence on what is done about other matters.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
BPS RESEARCH DIGEST: Music can help people recover from stroke
Dengl 18 BPS RESEARCH DIGEST: Music can help people recover from stroke
first - an abstract of a new study then, my comment:
______________
Given its power to move us, perhaps it's no surprise that a great deal of
research has focused on whether or not music can help people with depression
or anxiety. Now researchers in Finland have asked whether music can benefit
people recovering from stroke. Their study is notable for its sound
methodological quality, and the results are promising: music does indeed
appear to make a difference to patients' cognitive recovery.
Soon after their hospitalisation, 60 stroke patients were allocated randomly
to one of three groups. Those in the music group were provided with a
portable CD player and asked to listen to their favourite music for at least
an hour a day for two months. Patients in the audio book group spent at
least an hour a day for two months listening to audio books of their
choosing. A final control group were not given a listening task.
Compared to the patients who listened to audio books and the control
patients, the patients who listened to music daily showed superior
performance when tested three months and six months later on measures of
verbal memory and focused attention. Crucially, the psychologists who
performed these neuropsychological assessments were unaware of which groups
the patients had been in - making this a single-blind, randomised,
controlled trial. The music and audio book patients also showed reduced
depression and confusion compared with the control patients.
Teppo Sarkamo and colleagues who conducted the research said that music may
exert these benefits by virtue of its wide-ranging impact on brain activity.
Neuroimaging studies have shown that listening to music "naturally recruits
bilateral temporal, frontal and parietal neural circuits underlying multiple
forms of attention, working memory, semantic and syntactic processing, and
imagery," the researchers said. By contrast, the brain activity triggered by
speech without music is less extensive and more focused on the
language-dominant hemisphere (usually the left).
The new finding is consistent with research on animals showing that a
stimulating environment can speed recovery after stroke. Yet the researchers
noted with regret that many stroke patients are left in their rooms without
much stimulation or interaction. "We suggest that everyday music listening
during early stroke recovery offers a valuable addition to the patients'
care," they concluded.
__________________
my comment:
I guess the patients were aged (at least) over 65, and that their preferred music was in the realm of classical or older popular music which was structurally similar to classical music (some slower tempi, some use of triple time)
It is important to specify what music these people did listen to - and even to an analyse, within the music-receiving group, who did best with what.Of course, the location of the stroke and the propensity to benefit from music will likely also be a part of the outcome. One may (sadly) forecast that as the decades march on, music preferences will be for rock-and-later popular music (less use of slower tempi, virtually no triple time). I tentatively forecast (hypothesise) that this will be less useful - regardless of the fact that it is familiar and preferred - in stroke recovery. I have written elsewhere why triple time is so important to more complex mentation (references on request).
first - an abstract of a new study then, my comment:
______________
Given its power to move us, perhaps it's no surprise that a great deal of
research has focused on whether or not music can help people with depression
or anxiety. Now researchers in Finland have asked whether music can benefit
people recovering from stroke. Their study is notable for its sound
methodological quality, and the results are promising: music does indeed
appear to make a difference to patients' cognitive recovery.
Soon after their hospitalisation, 60 stroke patients were allocated randomly
to one of three groups. Those in the music group were provided with a
portable CD player and asked to listen to their favourite music for at least
an hour a day for two months. Patients in the audio book group spent at
least an hour a day for two months listening to audio books of their
choosing. A final control group were not given a listening task.
Compared to the patients who listened to audio books and the control
patients, the patients who listened to music daily showed superior
performance when tested three months and six months later on measures of
verbal memory and focused attention. Crucially, the psychologists who
performed these neuropsychological assessments were unaware of which groups
the patients had been in - making this a single-blind, randomised,
controlled trial. The music and audio book patients also showed reduced
depression and confusion compared with the control patients.
Teppo Sarkamo and colleagues who conducted the research said that music may
exert these benefits by virtue of its wide-ranging impact on brain activity.
Neuroimaging studies have shown that listening to music "naturally recruits
bilateral temporal, frontal and parietal neural circuits underlying multiple
forms of attention, working memory, semantic and syntactic processing, and
imagery," the researchers said. By contrast, the brain activity triggered by
speech without music is less extensive and more focused on the
language-dominant hemisphere (usually the left).
The new finding is consistent with research on animals showing that a
stimulating environment can speed recovery after stroke. Yet the researchers
noted with regret that many stroke patients are left in their rooms without
much stimulation or interaction. "We suggest that everyday music listening
during early stroke recovery offers a valuable addition to the patients'
care," they concluded.
__________________
my comment:
I guess the patients were aged (at least) over 65, and that their preferred music was in the realm of classical or older popular music which was structurally similar to classical music (some slower tempi, some use of triple time)
It is important to specify what music these people did listen to - and even to an analyse, within the music-receiving group, who did best with what.Of course, the location of the stroke and the propensity to benefit from music will likely also be a part of the outcome. One may (sadly) forecast that as the decades march on, music preferences will be for rock-and-later popular music (less use of slower tempi, virtually no triple time). I tentatively forecast (hypothesise) that this will be less useful - regardless of the fact that it is familiar and preferred - in stroke recovery. I have written elsewhere why triple time is so important to more complex mentation (references on request).
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