The self in cyberspace

Abstract: Jung's concept of the Self is compared with current theories of identity formation in post‐modern society concerning the question: is the self constituted through experience and cultural influences—as it is argued by current theories in the social sciences—or is it already preformed inside the person, as Jung argues? The impact of communication media on the formation of identity in today's societies is discussed with a focus on internet communication and virtual realities. The resulting types of identities are conceptualized as polycentric which has surprising parallels to Jung's idea of the Self. The epistemology of constructivism and parallels in Jung's thought are demonstrated. Jung's work in this respect often appears contradictory in itself but this can be dealt with by a postmodern approach which accepts a plurality of truths.     

父母对儿童青少年媒介使用的积极干预

积极干预是指父母在孩子使用媒介前后或者使用过程中, 通过解释和讨论等互动形式对媒介内容、使用方式等提供指导。随着电子媒介在家庭中的普及, 父母如何正确引导儿童青少年的媒介使用行为受到了研究者的关注。父母对媒介使用进行积极干预对儿童青少年认知发展、社会性发展等诸多方面产生了积极作用, 例如提高儿童对媒介内容的批判能力, 有效减少暴力内容可能产生的消极影响等。影响积极干预行为的因素可归纳为两大类：家庭因素和儿童个体因素。未来研究可从完善测量方法, 探究父母干预行为与儿童青少年媒介使用之间相互影响的机制, 建构影响因素模型, 提高积极干预的有效性等角度进行深入探索。     

Types of media violence and degree of acceptance in under‐18s

It is an established fact that almost every TV channel offers a high level of violent content. The object of this study is to check the degree of acceptance of this media violence in under‐18s. We will also check what cognitive and emotional effects the viewing of different types of violence has. A sample of 203 subjects aged 13 years from Madrid, Spain, viewed a clip from different films. Before and after the film, data were collected about their opinion on violence. Three viewing conditions were established according to the degree and type of violence shown and based on Berkowitz [(1996): Desclée De Brouwer]: action without violence, socially justified violence, and socially unjustified violence. Several ANOVAs were carried out revealing that violence is better valued and more attractive after watching the film sequences than before the showing. Aggr. Behav. 29:381–392, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

The Impact of Individual and Interpersonal Factors on Perceived News Media Bias

A large percentage of the public believes that the news media are biased, and the majority of these individuals consider the direction of bias to be against their own viewpoints. Past research has examined how individual factors such as strength of partisanship or extent of political involvement heighten bias perceptions, but little attention has been paid to interpersonal factors such as the ideological similarity or dissimilarity of personal communication networks. Results of a national survey show that perceptions of media bias were unrelated to the overall amount of discussion but were positively related to conversations with ideologically like–minded individuals. Moreover, the impact of conversations with similar others was stronger among Republicans than among Democrats, a finding consistent with recent work on news self–coverage of media bias claims.     

Sensationalising sex offenders and sexual recidivism: Impact of the Serious Sex Offender Monitoring Act 2005 on media reportage

Differences in extent and nature of newspaper media reporting before and after the introduction of the Serious Sex Offender Monitoring Act 2005 in Victoria were investigated, critically exploring the interface between psychological, media and criminological disciplines. Forty‐three news items before the Act and 90 after the Act were analysed using a thematic and discursive framework. A significant increase in the number of items was found after the Act but other discursive and thematic findings were mixed. Several indicators of sensationalism such as headline size, tone, and theme did not differ between time frames, while there was a significant increase in the incidence of case‐based and high‐profile case reporting after the introduction of the Act. Hence, although the discourse and frames within which serious sex offenders are reported has remained similar over time, the introduction of the Act has dramatically impacted on the frequency of reporting in such cases. The findings are congruent with the extant literature on the newsworthiness of child sexual offending, indicating a need for media outlets to be more responsible in their reporting, and for legislators to enact legislation based upon empirical evidence.     

The Internet is a scary place: How does evidence source and examinee race or ethnicity influence determinations of threat?

Violent rhetoric online is becoming increasingly relevant to the practice of forensic mental health assessment as examinee's virtual lives may transform into real-world acts of violence. With the rise of a diverse subculture of violent online communities, the aim of the present study was to inform how concerns with online sources of collateral data and racial/ethnic biases may influence determinations of violence potential. Using an experimental design, jury-eligible participants (N = 278) and forensic mental health experts (N = 78) were presented with mock Twitter (now referred to as X) posts that varied by data source (i.e., how information was accessed) and the examinee's race/ethnicity. Results showed no differences in participants' ratings of data credibility, how much weight they would place on the posts in a threat assessment, or how likely the examinee was to act violently against his intended target. Implications regarding the interpretation of social media evidence, relevant limitations, and future research are discussed.     

Imitative violence in the real world: A reanalysis of homicide rates following championship prize fights

Recently, Phillips [Am Soc Rev, 1983; 48:560–568] reported that the homicide rate increases on the third day after heavyweight championship prize fights. The present paper reports a reanalysis of Phillips's data using more sophisticated statistical techniques and examining several theoretically important variables not discussed by Phillips or his critics. Using a conservative analysis strategy, our results suggest that the increases in homicides reported by Phillips were not a methodological artifact as suggested by Baron and Reiss [Am Soc Rev 1985; 50:347–363, 372–376]. The homicide increases only occur on the first weekend or holiday after prize fights that receive the greatest publicity.     

Protest symbology: Political content and demonstration outcomes

Political symbologists generally concur that the use of symbols by regimes and citizens often leads to favorable outcomes for the manipulators. However, the various impacts of the different politcal contents, or “messages,” within the symbolic containers, or “media,” have gone unstudied. Thus, a major theoretical question arises: Do all messages of political symbols have similar political outcomes? The present investigation examines the impact of the various political contents of symbols manipulated by protest groups during demonstrations in the U.S.S.R. The findings suggest that the higher the politicality of the symbolic content, the fewer the concessions and the greater the repressions meted out to demonstrators by Soviet regime officials. Thus, although a deprived citizen group can obtain favorable regime policies through the political use of symbols, it might benefit most by depoliticizing their content.     

THE MEDIA AND POLITICAL VIOLENCE

The meanings of violence, political violence, and terrorism are briefly discussed. I then consider the responsibilities of the media, especially television, with respect to political violence, including such questions as how violence should be described, and whether the media should cover terrorism. I argue that the media should contribute to decreasing political violence through better coverage of arguments for and against political dissidents' views, and especially through more and better treatment of nonviolent means of influencing political processes. Since commercial pressures routinely conflict with media responsibility, I argue that society should liberate substantial amounts of culture from such pressures.