Location
University of Nevada Las Vegas, Greenspun Hall (first & second floor lobby)
Description
Portrayals of schizophrenia in the media have been found to be very negative in nature. This study is an attempt to take research in this area a step further by conducting an experiment measuring attitudes of viewers toward schizophrenia before and after viewing an episode of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit in which a man with schizophrenia is depicted as a dangerous sexual deviant. Participants were given a pretest, viewed the television show and then were given a post-test. The post-test and pretest are identical and consist of questions from the Community Attitudes on Mental Illness (CAMI) scale and questions assessing views of dangerousness. The CAMI scale measures attitudes of benevolence, attitudes of authoritarianism, attitudes on social restrictiveness and community health ideologies.Attitudes shifted significantly in regards to dangerousness (p = .001) and community health ideologies (p = .031).
Keywords
Community perceptions; Media; Mentally ill; Schizophrenia; Stereotypes
Disciplines
Broadcast and Video Studies | Mental and Social Health
Language
English
The portrayal of schizophrenia in television: An experiment assessing how viewer attitudes are affected
University of Nevada Las Vegas, Greenspun Hall (first & second floor lobby)
Portrayals of schizophrenia in the media have been found to be very negative in nature. This study is an attempt to take research in this area a step further by conducting an experiment measuring attitudes of viewers toward schizophrenia before and after viewing an episode of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit in which a man with schizophrenia is depicted as a dangerous sexual deviant. Participants were given a pretest, viewed the television show and then were given a post-test. The post-test and pretest are identical and consist of questions from the Community Attitudes on Mental Illness (CAMI) scale and questions assessing views of dangerousness. The CAMI scale measures attitudes of benevolence, attitudes of authoritarianism, attitudes on social restrictiveness and community health ideologies.Attitudes shifted significantly in regards to dangerousness (p = .001) and community health ideologies (p = .031).
Comments
Third place winner of the graduate research symposium.