Sex, Violence and the Media by H. J. Eysenck and D. K. B. Nias (review)

76 Books 'to save face' (p. 72) or to attribute the cost of the whole space programme to the search for intelligent life (p. 134). There are other (good or bad) reasons for this scientific research, but these have to be argued out separately in the face of competing requirements for funds and should not be confused with the problem of extra-terrestrial life (p. 138). Trott surveys the problems but he is preaching the doctrine incorporated in the title, and, in arguing his case, he mixes up the issues mentioned and ignores the case made at the beginning of this review. The second part of the book is based on biblical evidence: 'If extra-terrestrial life does exist on other planets, then how come the Bible is so silent on the subject?' (p. 85). This part of the book is for those who take the Bible very literally. The book contains a reasonable collection offacts (dates, names, etc.) concerning extraterrestrial space exploration in a small compass, and it may be useful from that point of view. Sex, Violence and the Media. H. J. Eysenck and D. K. B. Nias. Maurice Temple Smith, London, 1978.306 pp., £5.95. Reviewed by Julian Behrstock" A review of this book appearing in Leonardo. which addresses itself to the international community of artists, might have led to the assumption that contemplative visual artworks had also come under study in relation to sex and violence. Disappointly, the authors confine their investigation almost exclusively to television, with only an occasional foray into films and the print media. Consequently, the book has to be looked at for its possible general interest, and, on that score as well. its appeal is somewhat marred by excessively detailed reports and tables on experiments designed to measure viewer responses to TV violence and sex. Non-professional readers, I am sure, would have been satisfied with less statistical evidence and more broadly based substantive conclusions. Despite these caveats, the book offers an innovative and lucid approach to the key question: How do violence and sex on TV affect the attitudes and conduct of viewers? The short answer is that scenes of violence will in the long run be conducive to violent behavior whereas pornography is bad only insofar as it depicts violent acts. e.g. rape, which could be emulated. Hence the authors contend that, contrary to the present tendency, violence and not sex should be the principal preoccupation of censorship boards. Sex on TV should be judged, they say, mainly in terms of its 'context'; scenes of sexual intercourse, no matter how explicit. need not be banned 'if the tone is one of enjoyment, if women are not degraded and if there is no violence to destroy this sense of good humor and enjoyment'. Some other salient points from the book: (I) There is now sufficient empirical evidence to permit the establishment of codes of practice with regard to violence on TV, designed to minimize the kinds of violence that are most likely to be imitated. Hollywood's 'crime does not pay' code, for example. in which the hero catches and beats up the villain, needs to be reviewed in the light of tests showing that such scenes generate aggressivity and an inclination to take the law into one's own hands. (2) Censorship of erotic material, if done ineptly, can have a reverse effect to the one intended. The example iscited of a film in which a rape scene had been deleted in so obvious a manner that viewers, aware of the excision, gave free play to fantasy. Tests of audience reaction showed 'greater erotic vividness' aroused by the censored than by the uncensored version. (3) Personality differences between men and women and between introverts and extroverts have a measurable impact on reactions to sex and violence in the media, so that group testing must take into account the individuality of the persons involved. This, in turn, is adduced as a reason for placing research more into the hands of psychologists than of sociologists, as isthe case at present. (4) Somewhat surprisingly, the authors state categorically that 'genetic factors account for much if not most of the observed differences...