The Effects model

The effects model says that a media text will have an effect or influence the audience in a negative way, and that the audience is powerless to prevent this.

Proof of the Effects model:

Bobo Doll experiment showed this idea. The experiment was conducted in 1961 by Albert Bandura. The experiment had a group of children shown a video, in which an adult attacked a bobo doll. After this, the children were led into a room with a bobo doll to see how they would react to it after seeing the video. 88% of the children imitated the violent behaviour towards the doll that was shown in the video. 8 months later, 40% of the children once again re-enacted the violent behavior.

The conclusion reached was that children will imitate violent media content.

However, some problems can be seen with the experiemnt,

• Bobo dolls were created to be hit and pushed in the first place.
• Children were likely to use the toys as weapons in this way, as that is what they were also made to do.

The effects model is still the dominant theory used by politicains, some parts of the media and some religious organisations in attributing violence to the consumption of media texts.

Some media texts were even called to be banned due to the influence they apparently had on people:

• The film 'Child's Play 3' in the murder of James Bugler in 1993
• The game 'Manhunt' in the murder of Stefan Pakeerah in 2004 by his friend Warren LeBlanc
• The film 'A Clockwork Orange' in a number of rapes and violent attacks in 1971
• The film 'Severance' in the murder of Simon Everitt in 2006.

However, in each case it was found there was no link between the media text and the violent acts that occurred, but this didn't stop an outcry for the films to be banned, and even for the films to be burned. The films were banned due to the fact that it was easier to do this than for the government to do anything about the major underling problems brought to light by these attacks.

The effects model contributes to the moral panics whereby:

• The media produces inactivity, making us into students who won't pass our exams or 'couch potatoes' who make no effort to get a job.
• The media produces violent 'copycat' behavior or mindless shopping in response to advertisements.