In the 1930s the Payne Foundation funded studies attributing juvenile

Question

Aristotle RC 99 - Passage 51     
   In the 1930s the Payne Foundation funded studies attributing juvenile crime to movie violence, complete with testimonials of youthful offenders that they had gotten larcenous ideas from the silver screen. Legions of censors from the Hays Office monitored Hollywood output to make sure that, at the least, crime didn‘t pay. In the 1950s, Dr. Frederic Wertham made a name for himself by attributing all manner of delinquencies to the mayhem depicted in comic books. If today‘s censorious forces smell smoke, it is not in the absence of fire.

In recent years, market forces have driven screen violence to an amazing pitch. As the movies lost much of their audience—especially adults—to television, the studios learned that the way to make their killing, so to speak, was to offer on big screens what the networks would not permit on the small. Thus, decades ago the “action movie”—a euphemism for, among other things, grisly violence—aimed to attract the teenagers who were the demographic category most eager to flee the family room. Aiming to recoup losses and better compete with cable, television programmers struck back; the networks lowered their censorship standards and pruned their “standards and practices” staffs; the 20 deregulatory Federal Communications Commission clammed up; and the local news fell all over itself cramming snippets of gore between commercials.

There are indeed reasons to attribute violence to the media, but the links are weaker than recent headlines would have one believe. The 25 attempt to demonize the media distracts attention from the real causes of—and the serious remedies for—the epidemic of violence. The question the liberal crusaders fail to address is not whether these images are wholesome but just how much real-world violence can be blamed on the media. Assume, for the sake of argument, that every 30 copycat crime reported in the media can plausibly be traced to television and movies. Let us make an exceedingly high estimate that the resulting carnage results in 100 deaths per year that would otherwise not have taken place. These would amount to 0.28 percent of the total of 36,000 murders accidents, and suicides committed by 35 gunshot in the United States in 1992.

That media violence contributes to a climate in which violence is legitimate—and there can be no doubt of this—does not make it an urgent social problem. Violence on the screens, however loathsome, does not make a significant contribution to violence on the streets. 40 Images don‘t spill blood. Rage, equipped with guns, does. Desperation does. Revenge does. As liberals say, the drug trade does; poverty does; unemployment does. It seems likely that a given percent increase in decently paying jobs will save thousands of times more lives than the same percent decrease in media bang-bang. And once in a while— meaning far too often—some grotesque images inspire emulation.   1 
1. The passage suggests that having more stringent controls on media violence would NOT have a great effect on the death rate because:

A. the numbers of deaths resulting from so-called "copycat" acts of violence composes only a small portion of violent deaths each year.

B. the number of deaths resulting from so-called "copycat" acts of violence would remain unchanged nonetheless.

C. networks and film studios lack the personnel to enforce any new regulation.

D. there exists no definite link between media violence and actual violence.

E. very few people watch television these days.
 2 
2. If delivered in a paper that sought to undermine the points of this passage, which of the following statements, if true, would most seriously weaken the passage‘s central argument?

A. The number of violent acts depicted in the media has remained more or less constant for the past decade.

B. A Canadian study reported a sixteen-percent increase in violent crimes after exposure to television and film episodes in which violent acts were depicted.

C. Politicians and celebrities are assisting effectively in diminishing violence.

D. Films belonging to the "action" genre have found little acceptance at the box office

E. Children become more violent after playing violent video games
 3 
3. The broadcast networks have recently proposed a system of rating program content, similar to those ratings in the film industry. Which of the following best characterizes the relevance of this statement?

A. The statement acknowledges that the networks have taken little responsibility in patrolling the content of their programming.

B. The statement implies that those who speak out against media violence have had significant success in convincing the networks to enforce stricter content standards.

C. The statement suggests that some convincing evidence supporting a stronger link between media violence and violent acts has been found.

D. The statement suggests that networks will decrease the amount of shows that contain violent content.

E. The statement has no relevance to the argument in the passage

RC99

sandysilva · Answer

OE..
1) Why does the author argue that the campaign against media violence is misguided? He essentially argues that media violence is not a big deal, a drop in the bucket. A states the same. 
 
(A): The correct answer 
 
(B): Out of Scope. Though this might be true, it‘s not the basis of the author‘s objection to the campaigns against media violence. He‘s more concerned with the argument that the problem isn‘t big to begin with. 
 
(C): Out of Scope. This argument isn‘t made anywhere in the passage. 
 
(D): Distortion. The author acknowledges that there is an occasional definite link, but makes the argument that the frequency is very low. 
 
(E): Out of Scope. This argument isn‘t made anywhere in the passage.

sandysilva · Answer

2) What is the author‘s central argument? That media violence doesn‘t cause much actual violence, and so there should be little worry about it. Look for a choice that establishes the link that the author denies: (B) does just this, suggesting that media violence does cause actual violence. 
 
(A): Out of Scope. Though this would contradict the author‘s point in ¶2, it wouldn‘t weaken the overall argument that there‘s little link between violence and its representation. 
 
(B): The correct answer 
 
(C): Out of Scope. Even if this were true, the author would respond that the violence reduced probably isn‘t caused by the media in the first place. 
 
(D): Out of Scope. Though this would also contradict a point made in ¶2, it doesn‘t weaken the author‘s argument that an overall link is weak. 
 
(E): Out of Scope. Video games are not the concern of the passage.

sandysilva · Answer

3) If the broadcast industry is just now proposing a rating system, what could have been the cause of this? Quite possibly the backlash to the increased violence that the author discusses. (B) says the same: those who have spoken out against media violence have made an impact on the networks. 
 
(A): Opposite. This choice would suggest that the networks have taken action to at least patrol the content of their programming, though they might not necessarily change that content. 
 
(B): The correct answer 
 
(C): Out of Scope. The stations might simply be reacting to pressure. There‘s no suggestion that the action is being taken because they‘ve acknowledged a link between violence in the media and the real world. 
 
(D): Out of Scope. Though the networks will rate content, this doesn‘t mean that they‘ll change it. 
 
(E): Incorrect, as described above.

Pratheek95 · Answer

Could you explain this? The rating systems of both parties tend towards more violence in their zest for competition...With ratings of both reduced...how can one conclude that perpetrators of the theory that violence comes from media succedded ?

RoshanAditya · Answer

hi  SajjadAhmad  .... kindly help me understand what makes B a better choice than C for qn 3 ?
my understanding is that if it was because of the pressure from people blaming media why it did not happen earlier ? 
It is becuase more stronger link is found i.e. more associated deaths etc that has turned the table so option C should be correct.

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Please read this explanation of question number 3. https://gmatclub.com/forum/in-the-1930s ... l#p2134850

amoljain · Answer

Q3 : Explanation says that patrolling means that the content has not been necessarily changed. However, in question, it is written that the network has implemented a rating system. This would mean that they are not changing the content, only restricting the audience.
Further, as the content has been restricted for the lower age group (assumption) with the help of patrolling, hence it can be contributed to the uproar against higher criminal activity involving children. However, overall for all age group, this would not be true.
Furthermore, as mentioned in the passage that the movie lost audience (especially adults)   and hence launched action movies to gain back the audience. Hence it can be inferred that the TV industry would like to encash on the same barring the children from unnecessary violence, hence the rating system.

Therefore, out of the options provided, Option B cannot be the answer, as it says "Stricter Content". With the rating system, the content will not be stricter for a specific age group (as in the movies); not the full library.

Proposed answer - A; as this invokes morality in the TV media to gain back some of the adult audience lost to movies and shielding children from unnecessary violence.

svasan05 · Answer

1. The passage suggests that having more stringent controls on media violence would NOT have a great effect on the death rate because:

This is detailed in the 3rd paragraph, where the passage states: "The attempt to demonize the media distracts attention from the real causes of—and the serious remedies for—the epidemic of violence....Let us make an exceedingly high estimate that the resulting carnage results in 100 deaths per year that would otherwise not have taken place. These would amount to 0.28 percent of the total of 36,000 murders accidents, and suicides committed by gunshot in the United States in 1992."

A. the numbers of deaths resulting from so-called "copycat" acts of violence composes only a small portion of violent deaths each year.  Correct answer and consistent with that above.

B. the number of deaths resulting from so-called "copycat" acts of violence would remain unchanged nonetheless.  The passage does not state this. Eliminate.

C. networks and film studios lack the personnel to enforce any new regulation.  The passage does not state this. Eliminate.

D. there exists no definite link between media violence and actual violence.  The passage does not state this. Eliminate.

E. very few people watch television these days.  The passage does not state this. Eliminate.

2. If delivered in a paper that sought to undermine the points of this passage, which of the following statements, if true, would most seriously weaken the passage‘s central argument?

The passage's central argument is that media does not impact actual crime as much as other factors like jobs, poverty, guns etc. We need to undermine this.

A. The number of violent acts depicted in the media has remained more or less constant for the past decade.  Nothing in the passage tells us about the number of violent crimes in the corresponding period. This does not undermine the argument. Eliminate.

B. A Canadian study reported a sixteen-percent increase in violent crimes after exposure to television and film episodes in which violent acts were depicted.  This clearly establishes a link between violence in media (TV) and actual violent crime and thus undermines the passage's central argument. Correct answer.

C. Politicians and celebrities are assisting effectively in diminishing violence.  This does not undermine the argument since it does not talk about violence in media at all. Eliminate.

D. Films belonging to the "action" genre have found little acceptance at the box office  This does not undermine the argument since it does not talk about actual violent crime at all. Eliminate.

E. Children become more violent after playing violent video games  This does not undermine the argument since it does not talk about violence in media at all - video games are not mentioned in the passage. Eliminate.

3. The broadcast networks have recently proposed a system of rating program content, similar to those ratings in the film industry. Which of the following best characterizes the relevance of this statement?

A. The statement acknowledges that the networks have taken little responsibility in patrolling the content of their programming.  This question talks about action that the networks have taken. It does not tell us anything about their actions prior to this. We cannot draw the conclusion that the networks have "taken little responsibility" (ie; have not taken any responsibility) in patrolling their content. Eliminate.

B. The statement implies that those who speak out against media violence have had significant success in convincing the networks to enforce stricter content standards.  The question does show "stricter content standards". We do not know whether this is as a result of "those who speak out against media violence". As of now, we can hold on to this option.

C. The statement suggests that some convincing evidence supporting a stronger link between media violence and violent acts has been found.  The question does not mention anything about any additional evidence linking media violence and actual crime. Eliminate.

D. The statement suggests that networks will decrease the amount of shows that contain violent content.  The question merely talks about rating shows and now reducing or increasing violent content. Eliminate.

E. The statement has no relevance to the argument in the passage  There is some relevance since the passage does talk about regulation of content on networks and cinema. Eliminate.

Even though it is not perfect, (B) is the best among the answer options provided.

Hope this helps.

dhruva09 · Answer

Can someone please explain why question 3 has 'B' as correct solution, since none of the explanations above seem to clear the doubt, I have with the reasoning.

In the 1930s the Payne Foundation funded studies attributing juvenile

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In the 1930s the Payne Foundation funded studies attributing juvenile

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