Effect of Violence in the Media
Effect of violence in the media
Decades of psychological research confirms that media violence can increase aggression. Virtually since the dawn of television, parents, teachers, legislators, and mental health professionals have been concerned about the content of television programs and its impact, particularly on children. Of special concern has been the portrayal of violence, especially given psychologist Albert Bandura 's work on social learning and the tendency of children to imitate what they see. As a result of 15 years of consistently disturbing findings about the violent content of children 's programs, the Surgeon General 's Scientific Advisory Committee on Television and Social Behavior was formed in 1969 to assess the impact of violence on the attitudes, values and behavior of viewers. The resulting Surgeon General 's report and a follow-up report in 1982 by the National Institute of Mental Health identify these major effects of seeing violence on television: * Children may become less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others * Children may be more fearful of the world around them * Children may be more likely to behave in aggressive or harmful ways toward others
Research by psychologists L. Rowell Huesmann, Leonard Eron and others found that children who watched many hours of violence on television when they were in elementary school tended to also show a higher level of aggressive behavior when they became teenagers. By observing these young people into adulthood, Dr. Huesmann and Dr. Eron found that the ones who hadd watched a lot of TV violence when they were eight years old were more likely to be arrested and prosecuted for criminal acts as adults. Interestingly, being aggressive as a child did not predict watching more violent TV as a teenager, suggesting that TV watching may more often be a cause rather than a consequence of aggressive behavior. Violent video games are a more recent phenomenon; therefore there is less
Decades of psychological research confirms that media violence can increase aggression. Virtually since the dawn of television, parents, teachers, legislators, and mental health professionals have been concerned about the content of television programs and its impact, particularly on children. Of special concern has been the portrayal of violence, especially given psychologist Albert Bandura 's work on social learning and the tendency of children to imitate what they see. As a result of 15 years of consistently disturbing findings about the violent content of children 's programs, the Surgeon General 's Scientific Advisory Committee on Television and Social Behavior was formed in 1969 to assess the impact of violence on the attitudes, values and behavior of viewers. The resulting Surgeon General 's report and a follow-up report in 1982 by the National Institute of Mental Health identify these major effects of seeing violence on television: * Children may become less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others * Children may be more fearful of the world around them * Children may be more likely to behave in aggressive or harmful ways toward others
Research by psychologists L. Rowell Huesmann, Leonard Eron and others found that children who watched many hours of violence on television when they were in elementary school tended to also show a higher level of aggressive behavior when they became teenagers. By observing these young people into adulthood, Dr. Huesmann and Dr. Eron found that the ones who hadd watched a lot of TV violence when they were eight years old were more likely to be arrested and prosecuted for criminal acts as adults. Interestingly, being aggressive as a child did not predict watching more violent TV as a teenager, suggesting that TV watching may more often be a cause rather than a consequence of aggressive behavior. Violent video games are a more recent phenomenon; therefore there is less
Cited: Research Anderson, C. A., Carnagey, N. L. & Eubanks, J. (2003). Exposure to violent media: The effects of songs with violent lyrics on aggressive thoughts and feelings. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 84, No. 5. Anderson, C. A., & Dill, K. E. (2000). Video games and aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behavior in the laboratory and in life.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 78, No. 4. Huesmann, L. R., & Eron, L. D. (1986). Television and the aggressive child: A cross-national comparison. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Huesmann, L. R., Moise-Titus, J., Podolski, C. L., & Eron, L. D. (2003). Longitudinal relations between children 's exposure to TV violence and their aggressive and violent behavior in young adulthood: 1977-1992. Developmental Psychology, Vol. 39, No. 2,pp. 201-221. Huston, A. C., Donnerstein, E., Fairchild, H., Feshbach, N. D., Katz, P. A., Murray, J. P., Rubinstein, E. A., Wilcox, B. & Zuckerman, D. (1992). Big World, Small Screen: The Role of Television in American Society. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press. Murray, J. P. (1973). Television and violence: Implications of the Surgeon General 's research program. American Psychologist, Vol. 28, pp. 472-478. National Institute of Mental Health (1982). Television and Behavior: Ten Years of Scientific Progress and Implications for the Eighties, Vol. 1. Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services