14 DAY TRIAL // Scientists are beginning to figure out that movies and video clips do not influence teens and young adults in absolute terms. In other words, watching movies with distressing or malicious content will not necessarily make a young person behave the same way, unless the context to do so is already there.
The psychological impact of movies has been a source of concern for parents, teachers and so on for many years. Hence, various rating systems were introduced for TV shows and motion pictures.
The goal of these systems is precisely to keep teens and young people away from content that is deemed to be inappropriate for their age. A new study suggests that movies may not have such a profound impact on teens' state of mind and emotions as originally thought.
Investigations such as this one are very important for both the general public and the movie industry, seeing how teenagers and young adults are the largest target audience for most major releases.
Movies are also among the most common forms of entertainment, alongside going to bars/pubs or going to concerts. As such, rating systems need to be in accordance with scientific reality.
“We know that most of the time people enjoy watching movies – that’s why they do it. But sometimes we watch a movie that isn’t what we describe as ‘enjoyable’,” says scientists Richard Harris.
“For whatever reason, the experience is uncomfortable emotionally or in other ways,” adds the expert, who holds an appointment as a professor of psychology at the Kansas State University (KSU).
“We should know psychologically what the attraction of movies is, what the experience is like, and what the effects are,” the study team member explains. He is also the author of two new studies on the influences that movies have on teens.
The investigator explains that some of the rules that are in place today may contribute more to harming relationships between teens, and between teens and their parents and guardians, than to strengthening them.
For example, when youngsters watch graphic scenes depicting intercourse right alongside their parents, they understandably become uncomfortable. The same goes for their parents as well.
“The topic of [intercourse] seems to be the most difficult for parents and teens or young adults to talk about with each other. It’s not easy, and apparently, not fun,” Harris explains, quoted by PsychCentral.
“Seeing a movie with a graphic […] scene forces both parties to confront this awkwardness and implicitly acknowledge each other as sexual beings, one of the hardest realizations for teens to admit about their parents or parents to admit about their children,” he concludes.