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PSYA4: Addictive Behaviours
Sessions 12-13:
The role of the media in addictive
behaviours

Starter
 List five different forms of media
 Give at least three ways that messages
promoting addictive behaviour could be
transmitted through the media.
 Give at least three ways that messages
preventing addictive behaviour be transmitted
through the media.
 Name a psychological approach that is
relevant to media influence on addictive
behaviour

Different forms of Media
 Film
 TV programmes
 Radio broadcast
 Newspapers and magazines
 Internet
 Campaign Leaflets
 Posters (Advertising Hoardings)

Aims & Objectives…
AIMS:
OBJECTIVES:
1)To examine research into the portrayal
of addiction in the media, including film,
advertisements and health campaigns
2) Evaluate the above research in terms
of supporting/refuting research
3) Provide synoptic links (at least three)

Films-Activity
 List at least three films where addictive
behaviour has been portrayed
 What was the addictive behaviour?
 Was it realistically portrayed?
 Were the positive or negative effects
emphasized?
 Do you think the films had any influence on
the opinions and behaviours of the audience

Trainspotting…
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.

Film and Addiction
Gunasekera et al (2005)
 Content analysis of 87 of the top 200
grossing films in the last 20 years
 Recorded sexual activity (including STD
prevention), birth control and drug use
 Use text book to write down the specific
findings of the study (454)

Film
 Sulkunen (2007)
 Looked at 140 scenes from 47 films depicting
use of alcohol, drugs, smoking, gambling and
sex
 Films about drug users like Trainspotting
(1996) and Human Traffic (1999) presented
scenes of drug competence and enjoyment of
the effects which was often contrasted with
the dullness of ordinary life
 Q: What type of reinforcement Is this?

Evaluation (AO2)
To what extent do these films have an impact on
society?
 Some evidence does suggest that they do. E.g.
Dalton et al (2003) showed a positive correlation
between adolescent exposure to smoking in movies
and the likelihood of starting to smoke. However,
there are issues here with causality…
 Sargent and Hanewinkel (2009) surveyed 4384
adolescents (11-15). Exposure to movie smoking
over the subsequent year was strong predictor of
whether they began to smoke a year later…

AO2
 Studies are correlational and somewhat
reductionist. A more holistic approach is
important in considering influences on
addiction, such as…
 Boyd (2008) argues that films do frequently
represent the negative consequences of
alcohol and drug dependence, therefore…
 There is an important discussion about free
will and determinism relating to media
representations of addiction (elaborate..)

Advertising and Media
Campaigns
 Health Campaigners use television and the
internet in an attempt to raise awareness and
prevent the number of addictions taking place
to begin with.
 Campaigns and health promotion can also be
implicitly delivered by through the plots of TV
or radio soap operas, where the audience
tends to identify better with the characters
involved, such as plots about addiction in
Hollyoaks, aimed at young people.

Research
 Bennett et al(1991) evaluated the effect of a
BBC TV series on alcohol use entitled ‘Pssst,
the Really Useful Guide to Alcohol’. Viewers
of the series were compared to controls who
did not watch the programme.
 The results showed an improvement in
alcohol related knowledge, but they did not
show a change in attitudes to drinking or a
lowering of consumption.

TV (research)
 Kramer et al. (2009) assessed the
effectiveness of a five week TV intervention
self-help designed to reduce problem drinking
called ‘Drinking Less? Do It Yourself!’
 The intervention group was more successful
than a control group in achieving a low-risk
drinking pattern. The effect was still prevalent
after three months.

Activity-The third Person
Effect
 Use the text book (page 456) to outline
research into the ‘Third Person Effect’
(Youn et al. (2000))
 What is it and outline how it affects
media campaigns
 Evaluate the research giving three
points

Internet
 TV and internet has been used to warn
UK teenagers about the dangers of
cocaine using a fictional dog called
‘Pablo’ (see clips)…
 The dog seeks out cocaine users to find
out what negative things happen to
them after taking the drug.

AO2
 Bennett (1991) - little change in actual behaviour
despite raising awareness following BBCs ‘Pssst,
the Really Useful Guide to Alcohol’.
 Kramer et al.(2009) study - (Drinking Less TV
series) can be criticized as there were important
differences between the control and intervention
group. The intervention group had weekly visits.
This extra attention may have resulted in a positive
outcome for the group. Also the ‘waiting list’ control
group was aware that it would receive treatment
soon and so might have delayed changing
behaviour producing a false difference between the
two groups

Evaluation
 Hornick et al. (2008) argues that expensive
anti drug media campaigns in the US have
not worked for two reasons:
 Giving the same message that young people
have heard many times before (lack of
novelty)
 Advertising giving an implicit message that
drug use was common-place and so actually
promoting things like marijuana use with
young people thinking it was the norm
(conformity effect)

Overall
 Research on media effects is inconclusive
 Relationship between advertising and
addictive behaviour is correlational (no cause
and effect)
 There could be different media effects for
different addictions
 Can you think of a debate that would be
appropriate?

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Media and addiction

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