The Role of Animation in the Third Person Effect: A Comparison of Animated and Live-Action Violence in Kill Bill Volume 1
Student Researchers: Latrez A. Myer and Christine A. Kleck. This paper is based on a graduate project as part of a research methods course.
Faculty Supervisor: Dr. Shyam Sundar Sethuraman
Introduction
The third person effect argues that people believe certain media content, such as violence, are more likely to have a negative influence on others than it will on themselves. The perceived influence on others varies by how closely related these others are to the individuals. Studies focusing on violence have dealt with issues related to television violence but have largely ignored the impact of animated violence and its relationship to the third person effect. This study explores how exposure to animated violence impacts third person perceptions among college students based on personal identification. Third person effect was measured by examining the impact of violent content on the self, other college students, and the public at large.
Hypotheses and Research Question
Because of the large fan base and history behind the popularity of animated violence among young age groups we hypothesized that:
H1: Participants will perceive a greater third person effect for violence in animated scenes than live-action.
The relationship viewers create with TV characters comes to be an important part of their involvement with the medium that they are viewing. In particular, in fictional programs such as animation, involvement and identification with characters, particularly those depicting real-life events, is often given as the reason behind why viewers come to care about stories that may otherwise be of no relevance to them. Hence:
H2: Participants will identify more with live action violence than animated violence.
Finally:
Research Question: “For ‘university’ students, controlling for identification and gender, what is the relationship between presence of animation in violent films and magnitude of third person effect?”
Method
The researchers conducted a series of experimental sessions in which volunteer participants from Penn State University viewed either a live action or an animated five-minute scene from Kill Bill Volume 1 . Immediately following the viewing, participants were asked to answer a five-part questionnaire. Part one of the questionnaire assessed how well participants identified with the characters in the clip. Parts two, three and four assessed participants’ third person perceptions, while the final part of the questionnaire was used to collect demographic information about the participants.
Still Screens from Animation Condition
Still Screens from Live Action Condition
Results
H1 Not Supported: Participants in the live action condition showed a greater third person effect than did those participants in the animation condition. Participants in the animated condition felt the violence would have a greater effect on themselves than on others.
H2 Not Supported: Identification was higher for participants in the animation condition than it was for those participants in the live action condition.
As stated previously, the research question for this study is, “For ‘university’ students, controlling for identification and gender, what is the relationship between presence of animation in violent films and magnitude of third person effect?” In short, we found that the third person effect was present in both live action and animation conditions, but the effect was stronger in the live action condition.
Conclusion
While our results do not support the initial hypotheses, it was found that participants identified more with the characters in the animated clip and that live action violence increased the magnitude of the third person effect. If this is so, then further research should be performed to explore why identification with animated characters is a factor and what effects this may have on the way people perceive animated violence. This effect is significant to explore in further research on the demographic of 18 to 24-year-olds, and why they identify more with the characters in films containing animated violence and why they feel this violence will affect them more than it will affect others. What types of cultural phenomena (i.e. violent video games) are taking place that may lead them to identify more with the animated characters?
Also, female participants showed results in the direction of increasing third person effect whereas males did not. Future research should take this into account and explore why this may be a factor as well.
For more details/information about this study, please contact:
Shyam
Sundar Sethuraman
Associate Professor and Director
Media Effects Research Laboratory
College of
Communications
Penn State University
University Park,
PA 16802
Ph: (814) 865 2173
E-mail: sss12@psu.edu
Back to Research Projects Page
Media
Effects Research Laboratory
306, James Building
University Park, PA 16802
