THE EFFECTS OF TV AND FILM EXPOSURE ON KNOWLEDGE ABOUT AND ATTITUDES TOWARD MENTAL DISORDERS.

Two empirical studies examined whether the portrayal of mental disorders on television and in films has an effect on people's knowledge about and attitudes toward the mentally ill. Study 1 found that the more often people watched television, the poorer their knowledge was about schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder. This finding did not apply to major depression. Study 2 demonstrated that people who watched a documentary film acquired more knowledge about schizophrenia than people who watched a fictional film, despite identical information in both films. Moreover, people who watched a fictional film had more negative emotional reactions (rejecting and unpleasant feelings) toward schizophrenia patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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