Running head: MEDIA INFLUENCE ON THE HUMAN MIND

Media and the Effects on the Human Psyche

Elizabeth A. Mitchell
University of Texas at El Paso
Rhetoric and Writing Studies 1302
19 October 2016
Professor R. Dean Straight

MEDIA INFLUENCE ON THE HUMAN MIND

Abstract
This report explores the adolescent human psyche, and the ways that it can be influenced by the
media. This report will provide a few different cases of people who have been affected by the
media, as well as providing ways that this issue could be fixed. This also goes into depth about
how susceptible media influence is to any person.

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Research Questions
1.
2.
3.
4.

What is the human psyche?

Is this influence more often seen in adolescents or adults?
Is the media a negative influence on a persons mind?
Can this influence effect the healthy mind as well?

MEDIA INFLUENCE ON THE HUMAN MIND

The human psyche is considered to be the mind or soul of a person. It is what makes a
person themselves. The psyche is important in controlling a persons response to the environment
around them. A persons psyche is what helps find out what state of mind that person may be in,
and can reflect on their mental health. This relates to the different types of psychological
disorders that can effect a person, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and even depression.
The media can play a big part in how these psychological disorders are influenced, such as
creating a new thought that may cause them to have involuntary inappropriate behaviors.
There is not always a correlation between media
violence and violent acts, as shown in Figure 1.
In Figure 1, there is a graph of plotted
homicides and the amount of movie violence in
that year. In 1960, it was shown that while the
movie violence of that year increase
dramatically, homicide rates were down. This

Figure 1 [Digital Image]. (2016, October 19)

also occurs in many other parts of this graph, showing that movie violence does not correlate
with violent acts. There have been cases where there have been little to no correlation between
media violence and crime rates (Browne). However, this is not entirely the case as we cannot
limit this to a whole, as each person can be individually effected by a set of media differently.
As children are easily influenced, due to their trusting nature, we often see them and
teenagers being persuadable by the media. There was a study shown that children who watched
violent television often acted out in aggression and were more brutal than children who were
watching nonviolent television (Bhatti). Television is known for helping children connect and
develop certain connections between the screen and their world, so these can change some of

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their values based on the content they could be watching. Another study evaluating adults and
violent television found that the more violent the television show, the more it effected male
adults. There were reports of these men having nightmares as well as exhibiting symptoms of
depression after watching the violent media (Bhatti). It all depends on the type of person, as the
media is shown to effect each person differently, yet it is often children who are seen having the
biggest personality change rather than adults.
An example of this type of relationship is with Andrew Conley. In 2009, Conley was a
seventeen-year-old boy who seemed normal, never got into a lot of trouble and had a loving
family and younger brother. He soon began watching the Dexter, a show about a blood-spatter
analysis who has a secret life as being a murderer, and began to draw inspiration from it. Conley
claimed to identify with the shows main character, and began relating to how similar their lives
could possibly be if he started acting a little more like him. Conley felt just like him, and this
lead him to strangling his little brother. He even copied some of the characters habits, such as
placing a plastic bag on the floor so blood wouldnt get everywhere (Friedman). The defense
attorneys attempted to argue that he was insane at the time, as he likened strangling his brother to
a food craving.
Conley was shown to have felt guilt towards his actions at the time, as he turned himself
in and there was something further going on in his mind. No discoveries were made towards any
possible psychological disorders with Conley, but he still acted out of the norm. Media portrayal
has been seen to alter a persons perception into thinking that something that they are doing is
right at the time, when in reality it is an unhealthy behavior. This is not the first case to be
influenced from Dexter, and many of the producers had feared this originally when they put the
show on the air.

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Another example of a person being influenced by Dexter, was also seventeen at the time
of his crime. In January 2014, Miles murdered his then girlfriend Elizabeth Thomas. Miles had
been previously treated for psychiatric problems, but was released in late 2013 for having made
good progress on his mental health. He first claimed that Ed made him do it, Ed being a
fictional voice in his mind, thus leading to the belief that Miles had schizophrenia. It was later
noted that Miles was shown to have some qualities of narcissism and anxiety as well as being on
the autism spectrum, which many psychiatrists believe is where Ed came from (Steven).
Miles also had a fascination with Dexter, saying he wanted to copy his actions. He
idolized the fictional character, and let him control his actions. There were similarities between
the way he went about the murder, and the way the main character goes through his, such as
dismembering the body post-mortem and wrapping them in plastic to dispose of. This was not
Miles first case of acting out violently against someone, a previous girlfriend mentioned that he
used to describe how he would kill someone and resulted in strangling her for a couple of
seconds (Steven). With Miles preexisting psychological conditions, it is easy to see how he
could manifest this to be something more than just a television show, making it into a real
possibility that endangers many including Miles himself. Children and adults who have watched
some form of violent content and have been influenced by it will often show signs of antisocial
and aggressive behavior towards themselves and others (Bhatti). Dexter has been shown to be
one of televisions leading causes in possible psychotic behaviors, but television is not the only
form of media that can effect a person.
When asked to think of a twelve-year-old girl, many think of innocence and purity and
laughter, but that is not the case with Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier. These girls have both

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been tried for their crime in attempted murder against a former classmate. They were twelve at
the time of the attempt in 2014, and they were both trying to appease a figure called Slender
Man, in the hopes that he would allow them to join him forever. The two girls stabbed their
classmate nineteen times, and they had reportedly been planning this murder for months.
Slender man in a fictional character created by a contest sponsored on the website
Creepypasta. The origin surrounding this character is that it is a malignant presence that has been
around for centuries, and continues to live on. The legend is that once you see him in a photo,
he will come after you to take you away. He is described as having a humanoid figure with
black tentacles that protrude from his back [using them] in a similar fashion to Doctor
Octopus (Creepypasta). Using these tentacles, it is suspected that he absorbs prey, but not
much is known as he is shrouded in mystery.
Geyser is the one who initially began the plans for this crime, convincing Weier to go
along with her plans. It was later revealed that both of the girls claim to suffer from mental
illnesses. Geyser suffers from schizophrenia later diagnosed after she had been first admitted,
and Weiers illness has yet to be disclosed. They both pled not guilty, Geyser pleading insanity
while Weier just plead not guilty. The original plans of the girls were to kill their classmate to
appeal to Slender Man, and then they were going to walk off into the woods into his mansion
which they believed was located in the Nicolet National Forest (Slender).
While the media may not be a negative tool in use, it is possible for it to have negative
outcomes in a person. It is possible for the media to alter a persons psyche so dramatically that
they become something unrecognizable, but this does not pertain to just people with mental
illnesses, as it can appeal to people of sound mind and body. There just have to be preventive
measures to ensure that the media effecting a person is the right kind of media, such as providing

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warning labels before a show may start so this can help the person think about if they really want
to see it or not. Providing these labels, as well as reading the warning signs in peoples behaviors
can really help change these drastic habits and help people live healthier lifestyles.

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References
Bhatti, M. A., & Hassan, A. A. U. (2014). Psychological effects of TV News Violence on youth:
A Case Study of the Students of Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan. Pakistan
Journal of Social Sciences, 34(1). Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=GPS&sw=w&u=j071902006&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE
%7CA411668352&asid=7f5c4f73dd3478b91d76be1c26016821
Browne, K. D., & Hamilton-Giachritsis, C. (2005, February 19). The influence of violent media
on children and adolescents: a public-health approach. The Lancet, 365(9460), 702-710.
Retrieved from http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS01406736(05)17952-5/fulltext
[Digital Image]. Retrieved 2016, October 19, from: http://journalistsresource.org/wpcontent/uploads/2015/02/Movie-violence-and-homicide-rates-C.J.-Ferguson.jpg
Friedman, E. (2010, September 10). Andrew Conley Enters Guilty Plea, Says He Was Inspired
by 'Dexter' to Strangle Brother. ABC News. Retrieved from
http://abcnews.go.com/US/teen-enters-guilty-plea-dexter-inspired-killing/story?
id=11624672
Slender Man case: Morgan Geyser, 14, in not guilty insanity plea. (2016, August 20). BBC News.
Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-37141286
Steven Miles jailed for murder of girlfriend Elizabeth Thomas. (2014, October 2). BBC News.
Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-29459516
The Slender Man. (n.d.). Retrieved October 16, 2016, from
http://creepypasta.wikia.com/wiki/The_Slender_Man