Impact of Films: Changes in Young People’s Attitudes after Watching a Movie

Tags

Top Highlights

• cultivation theory

• how much emotion, cognition and behavior are changed under the influence of mass media

• “theories of a minimal effect” to “theories of a strong effect”

• mass communication contributes to the assimilation of commonly accepted values, norms and forms of behavior

• diverse effects of film exposure

• Dramatic films

• taught teenagers about social interaction with the opposite sex and adults

• had a positive impact on their self-concept

• increased ethnic tolerance

• humanistically oriented movies improved skills of children in communicating with peers, increased their desire to help and understand others

• It should be noted that when analyzing the impact of films, conclusions about their effectiveness are the result of different methodological approaches, which have varying advantages and limitations.

• In experimental studies, exposure effects are detected using pre- and post-film questionnaires; however, the time interval between testing and a film screening, such as a few weeks before viewing the film or a several days after [26,27,29], can lead to distortion of the results that are caused by the influence on the viewers’ attitudes of other factors besides the film;

• not investigated whether new attitudes are retained over time

• the effects of films are analyzed in experimental conditions where participants watch only short cut scenes from existing films [24], which limits the extrapolation of the results.

• viewing an empathy-arousing film about immigrants induced more positive attitudes toward them [26],

• It has been shown that emotional involvement in viewing, evaluated using surveys drawing on theories of social learning and social representations, increases the effectiveness of influence [30];