Media & Mortality Salience & Aggression in the Age of Information

C. Robinson

University of Saskatchewan

Psych 207 with Professor David Lane

                                                            March 19^th 2019

Abstract

What role does death in the media play in the overall mental health of society?

We live in an age of rapid information, and often, information overload – you can’t escape it, if it’s not on the television, it’s on your hand-held device, and instrument which has become as much a part of ‘living’ as ‘breathing’.

North Americans have a strange relationship and morbid fascination with death, especially violent death, and the demise of mankind (simply look at the popularity of media entertainment representing such concepts, war, zombie shows, apocalyptic scenarios, and unexpected severe weather events etc)

The many forms of death which are represented by the media shape our perspectives and cognitive schemas of how our world works, how death may occur, and what our own futures may hold.

In this paper I will look at the role News and Social Media play in the presentation and societal perceptions of Death related events, specifically, mass shootings, and the correlation between increase in social media usage, and the increase in gun violence and mass shootings in North America.

Keywords: Media, Mortality Salience, Depression, Aggression, Global Schemas, Crime, homicide, Mood Manipulation, Terrorism, AI predictive algorithms

TMT & Mortality Salience

‘Terror Management Theory’ was developed by Solomon, Arndt, Simon & Pyszczynski (2004) and looks at the psychological implications of death, with roots based in existentialism.

Existentialism assumes that death is an integral yet unwanted part of what it means to be human, a knowledge of impending demise which we all grapple with as we seek to find meaning in life, yet also something in which we can find great meaning.

This awareness of our own mortality ‘creates an ever-present potential for intense anxiety, or terror, which must be managed continuously’ which is the basis of mortality salience. (Barrett, 1959, p. 126; Pyszczynski, Solomon, Greenberg, & Koole, 2004; )

According to TMT & Mortality Salience theory, our distal and proximal senses become heightened in response to Death Reminders, whether blatant or subtle, realistic or not, we manage this ever-present threat through a variety of ways, including relationships, spirituality, faith and cultural practices. (Pyszczynski, Greenberg, & Solomon, 1999)

When reminded of our ever-present possibility for demise, we are more likely to cling to that which is familiar and others like ourselves, with the same background and belief systems, while distancing ourselves from, and forming a negative opinion towards the perceived ‘threat’ – be it a behavior, or those who hold a different world belief, or ethnicity. (Goldenberg, Pyszczynski, Greenberg, & Solomon, 2000)

Death Reminders & Marketing

Psychologists who work in marketing are well aware of this effect, and tailor their advertising to appeal to that need to live, before we die. The media has grown from what used to be 3 or 4 channels, which would turn off at midnight, to countless channels and online content always available, and constantly streaming information and media to the masses via TV, and more often, handheld devices.

Due to this, we have a generation experiencing life and death, communication and world events in a way previous generations have not.

What role does the media representations of death in our society and our world have in influencing how we as humans interact with each other and perceive the world around us and others within it?

Studies have shown that death reminders in the media may have one of two affects; either we will value our own lives more and ponder our own mortality, or we will begin to experience an increase in death related anxiety (Arndt, J., Solomon, S., Kasser, T., & Sheldon, K. M. (2004) )

Due to this increase in anxiety, individuals are more likely to make unnecessary purchases and spend more freely, and this lucrative method has been used to encourage spending and consumerism for decades. (Kasser, Tim, and Allen D. Kanner 2004) )

However, there is also a very human price to be paid due to these marketing techniques.

Growing Use of AI algorithms & Mood Manipulation via Social Media

Studies have shown that Death Reminders in the media can cause an increase in aggression towards those who have different world views or beliefs after exposure to a death, and one only has to look at the comments on a FB article regarding almost any death to see this happening.

 Social media giant FaceBook has admitted to using subversive mood manipulation techniques via their personalized news feeds, and showed that they were able to manipulate the moods of their viewers by filling their feed with either negative news full of death reminders, resulting in increased depression and aggression towards others who share different world views, or positive feed with feel good stories, resulting in the opposite effect, and were also able to show mass scale mood contagion via social media. (Adam D. I. Kramer, Jamie E. Guillory, and Jeffrey T. Hancock 2014)

While the ethics of the experiment are debatable (lack of truly informed consent) the results are hard to ignore.

In the last decade, we have seen an increase in hate crime, mass shootings, and political tensions, and I would hypothesis that the reason we are seeing such an increase in this behavior may be directly correlated to the death reminders in media and on social media which we as a society are being over exposed to.

Studies have shown the possibility of media being able to ‘inform, cultivate and possibly alter the perceptions of the viewers’ (Graber 1980). As well as the ability to mold viewers perceptions through framing and racial priming, such as headlines which link a death reminder to a specific ethnic, religious or political group. (Surette 1998)

In addition to this, we have new algorithms being developed which are used by Social Networking sites such as FaceBook and Twitter, which can predict with high accuracy, whether or not a person will commit suicide, (Vogel L. (2018) if they are depressed, or experiencing a period of psychosis. (De Choudhury M, Gamon M, Counts S, Horvitz E 2013)

News feed and content tailored to one’s interests are determined by AI monitoring our search engines and online activity, and help us to connect with what interests us, but can also feed into negative world views and ideas.

One can only wonder what affect the personalized newsfeed may have on a person who is experiencing, depression, or entering into a state of psychosis due to mental illness; if the feed is designed to give them more of what they normally look at, then is it possible for it to not only be aware of and predict these symptoms, but to feed into them?

Social Media and Mass Shootings

A mass shooting can be defined as 'an incident of targeted violence carried out by one or more shooters at one or more public or populated locations…occurring at one or more locations with multiple victims within a 24 hr time frame’ (Schildkraut & Elsass, 2016)

There is growing evidence pointing towards the link between coverage of such tragedies on news and social media, and the growing frequency of occurrence of these events, showing ‘mood contagion’ as disenfranchised individuals find ways to identify with the shooters, and interact online with others who support their views, and can result in copy-cat behaviors, hence possibly adding to the increase in mass shootings. (Meindl & Ivy, 2017)

In a study done in fall of 2018 (by Kristina J Lee of Elon University), data was examined and a direct link was shown in regard to the usage of social media and the increase in mass shootings, for instance, in 1999 when the shooting at Columbine occurred, there were no social media platforms, and the news was relayed via TV News stations, the information was delayed and there was no live footage of the attack or carnage. (Jones, 2009) (Mannino, 2012).

By 2007, when the shooting at Virginia Tech claimed 32 lives, social media platforms such as MySpace, Twitter and FaceBook were available to provide instant footage and updates resulting in hashtags and the most reported media event to be covered that year. (“Biggest Story by Week,” 2007) Since then mass shootings have increased, as have political, ethnic and religious tensions between groups.

Data compiled showing shootings from 1982 -2018 reveals that there has been a substantial increase in gun violence and mass shootings, especially since 2011, with the number tripling between 2011 and 2018. (Cohen, Azrael, & Miller, 2014).

This increase in mass shootings in 2011 also coincided with an increase in the number of users logging onto FB, Twitter & Instagram, all of which experienced massive growth in 2011, and a correlation between the increase in both mass shootings and the usage of Social Media usage can be clearly seen. (Lang 2015)

Conclusion

It is now March of 2019, and already we have seen several religious and racially motivated hate crimes and mass killings (world-wide), and we have to ask ourselves, how much more can we handle?

In the case of the very recent mass shooting in Christchurch New Zealand (march 2019) media was quick to point out the usage of social media in this attack; the shooter left a manifesto, and live streamed his attack while he carried it out, described by the NewYork Times as ‘A Mass Murder of, and For, the Internet’ (NYTimes, Kevin Roose, March 15 2019)

Footage of the attack spread through online Social Media and sharing platforms like wildfire, with authorities and website monitors struggling to keep it contained and get the feed taken down, but the damage may have already been done, with another attack occurring in the Netherlands mere days later, although on a lesser scale.

One can only wonder if they were motivated by the footage they may have viewed of the Christchurch shooters live feed.

And as pointed out by K.Roose of the NYTimes, and myself previously, the algorithms being used are designed to provide edgier content, designed to keep users coming back, and all in the name of revenue via advertising.

There is little moderation or censorship on most sites, and many provide a gathering space where extremist ideas and connections can thrive, resulting in the sort of mass shootings we are seeing today.

Do we need to change the way we present these tragedies in news and on social media?

Do we need censorship of the internet? Or at least some way to flag users who may pose a threat to society?

Is it even possible to close this Pandora’s box, or at least, try to?

Unfortunately, with the rise of lives lived mostly online, we have many individuals seeking fame and notoriety among their online peers, fueling their behavior at the detriment of society.

At the same time, we have media and politicians using these deaths to fuel their vendettas, whether it be for or against gun control, for or against immigration, or for or against a border wall.

In order to attempt to reverse the damage being done to society we would have to completely change the way social media and news outlets respond to and report on Death Related Events, which some would say is a slippery slope towards censorship, it would seem, we are between a rock and a hard place as Pandora is already out of the box.

C.Robinson March 19 2019

References

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• https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/15/technology/facebook-youtube-christchurch-shooting.html