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0 pointsuniqueuid3y ago0 comments

Please note that the fear-instilling effect of media coverage is not backed by conclusive evidence.

George Gerbner's famous television studies suggested that heavy viewers of crime shows would become more fearful and over-estimate violent crime (hence the name "scary world theory"). But scientific support is mixed, it's not safe to assume that this effect exists.

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llamaimperative3y ago

Seems to me that this is a direct corollary of the claim that people’s beliefs are affected at least somewhat by the data they are exposed to. This seems self-evidently true.

uniqueuidOP3y ago

Maybe, but there's more to it.

(1) inconclusive means we may not have looked hard enough, or

(2) the effect may be very very small, as in not distinguishable from zero, or

(3) there are alternative models of learning. People could do bayesian updating, but they may also employ thresholds, toggle between belief systems and so on.

Summary: it's very complicated, lack of evidence suggests caution.

michaelcampbell3y ago

Maybe, but it's also possible that the people who LIKE crime shows tend to be less overly paranoid about it vs. people who just watch the news not necessarily expecting to see negative content, but do.

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