Effects of Media Violence

In Brad Bushman’s and Rowell Huesmann’s Article Short-term and Long-term Effects of Violent Media on Aggression in Children and Adults from the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine journal, they believe the violent media in video games, tv shows, music, and movies, are affecting behavior in children and adults. Bushman and Huesmann believe that all the violence that has made a more popular appearance in today’s culture is causing for adults and children to be more prone to aggression. They hypothesized that the long-term effects would be greater in children and the short-term effects would be greater in adults, and discovered their hypotheses to be correct. Other articles, such as Beth Stein’s If Violent Video Games are Harmless Fun,

Comstock, G. (2008). A Sociological Perspective on Television Violence and Aggression. American Behavioral Scientist, 51(8), 1184-1211. doi:10.1177/0002764207312009

In the short term, the exposure to violence in the media may influence aggressive behavior by lowering the mood or activating aggression-related cognitive processes. Therefore, the individual is primed to behave aggressively in the short-term, and in the long-term this exposure may strengthen these aggressive cognitive processes, and therefore lead to a more aggressive personality overall. This theory would suggest that reading aggressive material would predict aggressive behavior. However, the Downward Spiral Model (Slater, Henry, Swaim, & Anderson, 2003) describes a bidirectional effect of media aggression. This implies that aggressive individuals may seek out violent media and thus reinforce and intensify such tendencies.

The results of the study were that it was possible to predict aggression based on media exposure and that it significantly increased aggression. The study suggests that the more educational media exposure there is to children the more aggression is shown.

I have chosen to discuss the role that media violence plays in aggression in children, specifically as related to Albert Bandura’s experiments. I specifically chose this topic based on Bandura's observations with his famous Bobo doll study (which has been very influential to linking media exposure to violent aggressive behavior in children). In researching this paper, I hope to find an answer to satisfy my curiosity as to whether the media is to blame to the extent that Bandura would have us believe or are there other forces accountable. Is it logical to blame media for the

The authors note that previous research on the effects of media and behavior has exclusively focused on aggressive media

Violent video games, movies and television shows have become the subject of large debates that may have lasted since the beginning of media. Everyone knows that people have the ability and desire to imitate what they experience in the media, and given the perceived increase in violence among children in the U.S., the media is seen as a major possible explanation. In the following, we will examine the evidence pertaining to whether the media is becoming more violent over time, how much violence is in the media, and what kind of psychological connection or causal influence there may be between children’s violent behavior and their favorite types of media. It will be argued that the type of media as well as other cultural and environmental factors, are the key variables in determining whether violent behavior was caused by media, focusing specifically on the influence of video games considering they permit children the most realistic and interactive experiences of violence compared to all media.

Academic studies prove what most Americans theorize to be true, providing documented consensus that exposure to media violence is linked to actual violent behavior, “on par with the correlation of exposure to secondhand smoke and the risk of lung cancer.” In a meta-analysis of 217 studies, psychologists

In this era of internet connectivity, access to an array of violent media stimuli is readily available. Scientific exploration of the effects of such exposure on real world violent behaviour carries potential ramifications for the safety of global communities. Media violence is understood here as stimuli that includes depictions of violence or calls to violent action and includes image, video, television and gaming. Violent behavior is defined as behavior causing emotional or physical harm expressed verbally or physically. Whilst there remains no causal proof for the

Among media researchers and the court of public opinion, violence on the television can be blamed for accelerated aggression, but whether or not it results in violence is another story. Aggression is defined as “any behavior intended to harm another person who does not want to be harmed.” Aggression can be in the form of verbal threats or as severe as physical attacks with intent to harm. Violence, however, is defined as “aggression that has as its goal extreme physical harm.” Brad J. Bushman (Ohio State University, VU University Amsterdam), Carlos Cruz (Ohio Stae University), and Mario Gollwitzer (Philipps University Marburg), attempted to review studies and researchers by asking a series of questions in order to determine whether there was an actual disagreement to the question of media violence induced

The exposure of media violence changes and increases violence behavior in different genders and ages around the world, which has been the topic of discussion for years (Kalnin et al., 2011). According to Kalnin et al. (2011), the General Aggression Model says that the long-term affect takes to violent media content messing with arousal, cognition and effect, which can lead to biggest issues such as, aggressive. Research has shown that having violence around you such as watching television increases aggressive thoughts in the brain, and the way that you act (Kalnin et al., 2011). Playing violent computer

            In recent times, the news media has cried out against violent media, painting it as the leading cause for youth violence. Following events such as the Columbine massacre, news sources have vilified violent media, claiming that it is a primary cause of violent behavior in youths. This analysis provides firm research on the subject from the opposing and supporting sources, giving a thorough definition to the term “violent media” and  brings forth evidence that other psychological effects and environmental factors are more significant causes of increased youth aggression than violent media.

As evidence has shown, children view many violent scenes while watching television, movies, or playing video games, but the question still remains: What psychological effect does violence in the media have on children? Research over the past 10 years has consistently shown that there is a cause-and-effect relationship between media violence and real-life aggression (Strasburger 129). Violence in the media can lead to aggressive behavior by children and teenagers who watch the various programs. Of course, not all children who watch television, or movies, or play video games develop aggressive behavior. However, there is a strong correlation between media violence and aggressive behavior. A study, published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry, examined how children's television viewing practices are related to aggressive behaviors. The results revealed that children who reported watching greater amounts of television per day had higher levels of violent behavior than children who reported lesser amounts of television viewing (Singer 1041). Witnessing violence is an important determining factor in violent behavior. The media serves as a means for children to witness violence. According to Bandura's Social Learning Theory, children imitate behavior that they see on television, especially if the person performing the behavior is attractive or if the

I found that this review examined just how aggression and aggressive behavior is depicted in the media and how this impacts society’s perspectives and thoughts when it comes to aggression behavior. There was a review of the literature by the authors, in which they analyzed the relational and physical aspects of aggression in many media aspects (film, broadcast television, music, books, and video games). Findings across media types, the evidence finds that both physical and relational aggression are portrayed often and in ways that may contribute to continued aggression. Also, although there are studies finding no impact of exposure to media aggression, the results discovered that watching relational and physical aggression in the media contributes to aggressive conduct. Important media aggression beliefs are assessed and some of those beliefs are administered to relational aggression media effects Coyne, S. M., Stockdale, L., & Nelson, D. A. (2012).

Media violence is considered as one of the causes of social aggression. Huesmann’s (2003, as cited in Martins & Wilsons, 2012), Ostrov’s (2006, as cited in Martins & Wilsons, 2012) and Kuntsche’s (2006, as cited in Martins & Wilsons, 2012) studies have shown that observation of televised violence can increase female’s social aggression and male’s physical abuse. However, all of the studies do not provide evidence