Media Violence Turning Good Kids Bad: Fact Or Fiction?

Media Violence Turning Good Kids Bad: Fact or Fiction?

Cultivation as defined by George Gerbner, “is the building and maintenance of stable images of life in society,” (Electronic Storyteller). It is this idea of cultivation that researchers are becoming more and more concerned with when it comes to media violence and the effect it is having on our culture; is it possible that video games, TV shows, and expensively produced films are influencing our behaviors and decisions? This has been a topic of debate since program broadcasting began in 1946. There have been millions of dollars donated and thousands of research studies and experiments conducted to see if this cultivation theory of Gerbner’s was, in fact, true. Is Gerbner accurate in saying that through the images and ideas we express in our media we have cultivated a society of insecurity and fear; aggression and dependence? What is media violence really doing to our society?
Media violence goes beyond the common stereotype of being limited to prime time shows and ‘R’ rated films. No, media violence can be found everywhere from food advertisements to children’s cartoons. However, many believe that the type of violence found in these commercials or cartoons is just for fun and kids know that it is only for entertainment and is pretend; is that really the case, however? In a study conducted by Kendeou and colleagues, it was discovered that young children focus most of their viewing attention on things they can relate to in the real world, in other words, they focus solely on the violence and forget about the character intention or internal plot of the show (Cartoon Violence). In addition, Gerbner stated that most children’s cartoons displayed over 30 episodes of violent acts per hour of television watched (The Killing Screens). In another study performed by Matthews and colleagues, it was concluded that heavy exposure to intense media violence by non-aggressive children lowered neural activity in the...