La Cultura del Miedo en los Medios - Tema 1 - Percepcion del Crimen

Todo es segun el color del cristal conque se mira.  He expuesto anteriormente que ese cristal es el bias que le ponemos a las cosas.  El bias es una percepcion precreada.  Es subjetiva y facilmente manipulable.  Los medios y lideres utilizan tecnicas de propaganda desarrolladas durante la segunda guerra mundial y la guerra fria para impulsar la agenda del partido en poder (o de los subersivos que los quieren hundir).
Este analisis de posibles causas comenzo aqui: http://www.boingboing.net/2011/03/03/human-beings-arent-v.html
El primer paper que incluyo expone lo del 'Confirmation Bias'.  Como absorbemos selectivamente la informacion para solo presentar lo que refuerza mi punto:
http://www.bmj.com/content/340/bmj.c2276.full
There is considerable evidence that people presented with balanced arguments place weight on those they already agree with,1 exhibiting what is termed confirmation bias.2 A recent study from the United States randomly allocated one of four versions of an authoritative news story about diabetes to people who had declared different political allegiances.3 Each story was identical except for how they described the cause of diabetes. One said nothing about the cause (the control), whereas the three others cited genes, individual lifestyle choices, and social determinants. They were then asked whether they agreed with two statements on the reason people get diabetes, one specifying social determinants and the other genes. Democrats were most likely to agree that social determinants were a cause, regardless of which version they read. Independents reading the version where social determinants were the cause were more likely to agree with this explanation than those who read the control story, but the social determinants version had no effect on Republicans’ views. 

En este segundo articulo discuto otro punto que he traido anteriormente.  Creemos que porque vemos CSI y House somos unos expertos forenses de la mejor clase.  Asi que todos saben quien mato a Lorenzo, conocen la maquinacion criminal tras la Masacre de Pajaros o porque le cayeron a golpes a la rectora. Este estudio demuestra que entonces la gente que constantemente ve estos programas tienden a desconfiar del sistema de justicia.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091028142237.htm

"Many people die as a result of being murdered in these types of shows, and we found the heavy TV-crime viewers estimated two and a half times more real-world deaths due to murder than non-viewers," Sarapin says. "People's perceptions also were distorted in regards to a number of other serious crimes. Heavy TV-crime viewers consistently overestimated the frequency of crime in the real world."

Viewers of crime shows also misjudged the number of law enforcement officers and attorneys in the total work force. Lawyers and police officers each make up less than 1 percent of the work force, but those surveyed estimated it at more than 16 percent and 18 percent, respectively, Sarapin says.

The viewing of crime drama also can shape opinions about the world in general, Sparks says.

"This kind of television viewing can lead to 'mean world syndrome,' where people start to think about the world as a scary place," Sparks says. "Some people develop a fear of victimization, and this belief can affect their feelings of comfort and security."

Va mas alla.  Cuando ni/no siempre recordaba a mi tia abuela con el radio puesto en radio reloj.  Radio Reloj (ahora WKAQ 580) repetia la misma noticia cada dos minutos,  Asi que cuando mataron a Pancho Lopez en un cafetin del Barrio Colorado de Cidra lo mataban cada dos minutos.  Ella asentia.  -Esto esta malo. El mundo se va a acabar.  Mira como mataron a otro mas.-  Lo repetian tanto que se le penetraba en la psiquis.
Eso mismo encontro el estudio.  Ver tanto asesinato en estas series hace sobreestimar el numero de crimenes que en realidad estan ocurriendo.
O sea.  La cosa esta mala.  Los crimenes siguen ocurriendo.  Y han agravado.  Pero hasta que punto?  Esto va mas alla de la estadistica y numeros manipulados y maquillados por las agencias.
 
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2011/02/oregonians_believe_crime_is_on.html
Este no es el caso de Puerto Rico.  En Puerto Rico no son las estadisticas el problema, son la magnitud de la violencia de los crimenes y el desden a la vida humana.  Sitios que no se cruzaban antes, como shopping centers, residencias o familiares ya no impiden una ejecucion por drogas.  Pronto llegara el dia en que puedan asesinar a alguien en un cine o Dios no lo quiera, en medio de un culto evangelico.

En Oregon encontraron que los encuestados creian que el crimen estaba peor que nunca mientras que las estadisticas mostraban lo contrario.  Sera el bias cognitivo mencionado arriba?  sera por ver mucha serie policiaca?

Around the time survey results arrived, Oregon's Criminal Justice Commission released a report about property crime being at an all-time low. "What I noticed right away," Renauer said, "was that perceptions about crime didn't seem to match up with trends in crime."

In the PSU survey, only 10 percent of respondents said they believed the crime rate had dropped during the preceding year, while 38 percent said they thought the rate had stayed the same. Researchers figured the margin of error at about 2.47 percentage points.

Respondents who said they thought crime had climbed were more inclined to define themselves as conservative. They typically did not have bachelor's degrees, reported their family income at less than $50,000 and said they were dissatisfied with the criminal justice system. Of that group, 45 percent ranked punishment and enforcement as top crime-control measures.

People saw their own communities in a more positive light, with only 25 percent saying they believed that local crime had increased.

The Oregon reality: From 2008 to 2009, violent crime fell 2.1 percent, putting the state's rate at 38th nationally. Oregon's property crime rate ranked 23rd in the nation in 2009, and that year the rate was the lowest since 1966.

Sociologists long have studied fear as an indirect effect of crime, and conclude it has contributed to everything from political campaigns with a law-and-order bent to the rapid growth of gated communities and the security industry.

Some studies show a strong correlation between fear of crime and media consumption -- from the abundance of crime reports in newspapers and on TV to the plethora of forensics and cop dramas on the tube night and day.

A 2009 Purdue University survey found that those who watched lots of crime shows estimated real-world deaths due to murder at 2 1/2 times more than non-viewers.

Renauer wanted to include such questions in the PSU study, but they were axed when the survey grew so long it verged on cumbersome, he said. The approximately 50-question survey took 15 to 20 minutes to complete. Residents were randomly sampled in the Willamette Valley, the coast, southern and eastern Oregon.

Una manera de manipular la opinion es con esta cultura de miedo.  Dar miedo para vender una idea.  Aqui se ha usado para todo.  Miedo a ser independientes, miedo a anexionarnos a los US hablando ingles, miedo a perder mis beneficios y posicion.  Y el miedo en realidad nunca logra nada.  Decia un jefe mio sabiamente: 'es mejor tomar iniciativa y tomar una mala decision en el proceso que no atreverse a hacer nada'.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_fear
http://www.csicop.org/si/show/why_do_we_often_fear_the_wrong_things/
Mas de la Cultura del Miedo aqui.  Si veo este libro lo compro...

Each day Americans are bombarded by a barrage of media messages. At the supermarket checkout we can't help but read tabloid headlines that announce what appears to be the umpteenth teen mother tragedy. Each morning, talk shows seem to feature yet another victim of some rare disease. On the car radio we hear the details of what seems to be the latest in a string of ever more serious youth crimes. Television newscasts will spend weeks discussing the latest plane crash.

In his wonderfully written new book, Barry Glassner reminds us again and again that frequently our fears are grossly exaggerated given the actual frequency of these rare events.

Glassner, a sociology professor at the University of Southern California, uses persuasive logic and well-chosen statistics to demonstrate the infrequency of such events as “road rage” and the rarity of such criminals as “cyber-predators.” Our almost pathological fears do serve some function, however. News media may use these fears to earn higher ratings, politicians may play on our fears during elections, and perhaps, in a sense, even lobbyists for special interest groups may exchange fear for increased fund-raising.

Luego sigo el tema con otros ejemplos relacionados a la salud.