July 2018 Vol.6 No.7

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Iorgulescu G

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Original Research Article

The influence of mass media on the development of deviant personality

Dr. Gabriela Iorgulescu

MDD, MA, BA, PhD Medical Psychology, Lecturer Behavioral Science Departament ”Carol Davila”, Univ. of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, România

E-mail: gabriella_iorgulescu@yahoo.com

Accepted July 02, 2018

Abstract

Numerous scientific research has come to the conclusion that mass media (television in particular) offers a lifestyle through which the universe approaches the human, making the act of reading and thinking superfluous, in other words, it has a reduced pedagogical value by flattening passions, by identifying well-being with happiness. The media favors morality and virtue only by flattening, being responsible for the doubling of crime rate in the last 15 years, according to the rate of television viewing, especially by minors. Lombrosa (2006), in his work, highlights the connection between media and delinquency, mentioning that ”newspapers excite people's appetence”, and the model offered by Goethe's ”The Sorrows of Young Werther”, led to an increase in the suicide rate. In the 1990s, in America, reports of suicide cases were presented through media, enhancing this phenomenon seven times over. Studies conducted in 1968 on the press articles in Toronto have correlated the suicide modalities with 56 similar cases, and in 1971, 30 press articles have been correlated with 3265 suicide cases (Littman). On the contrary, in Detroit, suicides and crimes have decreased by 40% as a result of the journalists' strike for 265 days. By means of television, violence scenes and the mode of operation are reproduced in detail, multiplying the risk of murders and suicide, the same way pornographic scenes favor the transition to sexual violence. According to the FBI, the number of young people who have committed crimes by gun use has increased by 80% in recent years. They are ”exposed” to violence scenes more oftenly, even cartoons providing violent episodes, and television movies are becoming inspiration sources for violent behaviors.

Keywords: Violence, Media, Suicide, Delinquency, Media coverage