The Relationship between Television Violence and Aggression - Book Report/Review Example

? Television Violence Essay Introduction The debate about the relationship between television violence and aggression has been intense for several decades now. The former Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency, Senator Estes Kefauver, conducted investigations in 1954 on whether television violence was aggravating cases of violent activities in the U.S. (Watson & Martin, 2011). When asked, network owners retorted that the existing studies were inconclusive. After several decades, several government documents and a huge number of empirical studies present compelling evidence that television violence can have adverse impact on viewers (Grimes, Anderson, & Bergen, 2008). This essay presents an overview of the arguments for and against the relationship between television violence and aggression. Television Violence Promotes Aggression There is a growing number of evidence that exposure to television violence is positively correlated to the development of aggressive behavior. There are three major arguments that help demonstrate how television violence can influence aggression. The first argument is referred to as social learning or observational theory. As argued by psychologist Albert Bandura, children acquire new behaviors through observing and imitating other people in their immediate social environment or through direct experience. Children observe the behavior of television characters and may afterward imitate these actions, particularly when the child idolizes and relates to the character (Van Der Voort, 2009). Children are likely to imitate violent actions that are effective in achieving the character’s goals. The more realistic television violence is for the child the more s/he will identify with the characters, and the more s/he will try to imitate their behavior (Van Der Voort, 2009). Numerous field and laboratory studies over the recent decades have investigated whether children exposed to television violence act more aggressively. Paik and Comstock carried out a meta-analysis of television violence studies. They discovered a highly positive correlation between television violence and aggression. The strongest impact was found in preschool children, and the impact for males was somewhat greater than it was for females (Feshbach & Tangney, 2008). The second argument, called cognitive scripting, was introduced by Huesmann. Cognitive scripts are “mental routines that are stored in memory and are used to guide behavior” (Watson & Martin, 2011, 1007). Huesmann discovered that television violence gives viewers scripts that promote aggressive behavior. These scripts, once acquired or learned, can be recovered from memory at whatever time. When a violent script is recovered, it can be strengthened and expanded to a new set of situations (Slotsve et al., 2008). Therefore, frequent exposure to violent scenes in television can persuade children to adopt a set of constant cognitive scripts that highlight aggressive behavior as a usual reaction to social circumstances. The third argument focuses on how the television could encourage or activate already acquired or learned aggression. The ‘excitation transfer theory’ of Zillmann argues that television violence can have an effect basically because it is stimulating in nature (Savage & Yancey, 2008). The argument states that exposure to television violence can arouse excitement that, since it dissolves gradually, can move or expand to other emotional domains; if an individual is already aggressive or furious an arousing violent television program can intensify those emotions and thus enhance the possibility of aggressive reaction (Grimes et al., 2008). According to Feshbach and Tangney (2008), due to its stimulating attributes, Zillmann has concluded that even erotic television shows can reinforce aggression in upset or resentful individuals. Television Violence Does Not Promote Aggression Other empirical evidence suggests that television violence and aggression are associated but that a causal relationship is nonexistent. In effect, both television violence and aggression may be due to a third variable such as gender, peer pressure, cultural and social factors (Freedman, 2007). Martinez argues that even those who claim that there is a positive correlation between television violence and aggression differ about the strength of the correlation and the degree to which the one influences the other. A great deal of causal effect research reveals a positive, but inconclusive or weak, correlation between exposure to violent media content and aggression (Grimes & Bergen, 2008). The first argument states that even though exposure to television violence may trigger aggressive behavior, causation may also run in the opposite way. As argued in the ‘selective exposure’ theory, children with a psychological or biological inclination toward aggression may be attracted to the violent media content more than children with a low inclination toward aggressive behavior (Van Der Voort, 2009). Numerous studies substantiate the selective exposure theory. For instance, a 10-year study of children identified as ‘emotionally disturbed’ discovered that even though these children were exposed to a great deal of television violence and liked aggressive characters better, they were no more likely to act violently immediately after watching violent television shows than nonviolent television programs (Grimes & Bergen, 2008). A research in Northern Ireland looked at exposure to television violence and aggressive behavior among young and adult sibling pairs. More aggressive pairs had a tendency to prefer violent television shows more than less aggressive pairs, but no evidence of the influence of television violence on differences in intra-pair behavior has been found (Grimes et al., 2008). A second argument states that some feature of the child’s personality may act together with television violence to elicit the child’s aggression. Hence, children who are inclined toward violence or aggressive behavior or who are in some way more ‘susceptible’ may respond aggressively to television violence, while other children may not (Grimes et al., 2008). Furthermore, originally aggressive children who are greatly exposed to violent media content would be likely to display later increase in aggressive behavior in comparison with either originally aggressive children who are not exposed to violent television shows or originally non-aggressive children who are very much exposed to television violence (Grimes & Bergen, 2008). The third argument, referred to as the catharsis theory, states that aggressive behavior will be lessened after exposure to violent media content. Allegedly through catharsis, the tendency toward aggression is reduced through exposure to television violence (Watson & Martin, 2011). This theory argues that the emotional impulse stimulated by violent television shows lessens the likelihood of a child actually behaving aggressively; the imagined behavior and fantasy play of a child lead him/her to have weakened desires to behave aggressively (Van Der Voort, 2009). In essence, the catharsis theory claims that watching violent media content is a healthy way of releasing negative emotions and is thus beneficial for the mind. Conclusions The evidence from both sides of the debate thus far makes it logical to assume that exposure to television violence is one source of aggression, particularly in some groups of children and particularly in boys. However, a causal relationship between exposure to violent television shows and behaving aggressively is not unavoidable and may not always be long-term. Moreover, there are numerous situations where in the impact does not arise. Environmental factors, personality attributes, peer influence, and parents may reduce or heighten the impact of exposure to television violence. In fact, not all viewers perceive violence similarly, and not all viewers are similarly susceptible. The most susceptible could be young boys, particularly the ones who are originally predisposed to aggression. References Feshbach, S. & Tangney, J. (2008). Television Viewing and Aggression: Some Alternative Perspectives. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 3(5), 387-389. Freedman, J. L. (2007). Television violence and aggression: setting the record straight. The Media Institute. Retrieved November 10, 2011, from http://www.mediainstitute.org/new_site/PDFs/policyviews/Freedman-TelevisionViolence.pdf. Grimes, T., Anderson, J., & Bergen, L. (2008). Media violence and aggression: science and ideology. New York: Sage Publications. Grimes, T. & Bergen, L. (2008). The Epistemological Argument against a Causal Relationship between Media Violence and Sociopathic Behavior among Psychologically Well Viewers. American Behavioral Scientist, 51(8), 1137-1154. Savage, J. & Yancey, C. (2008). The Effects of Media Violence Exposure on Criminal Aggression: A Meta-Analysis. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 35(6), 772-791. Slotsve, T., del Carmen, A., Sarver, M., & Villareal-Watkins, R., J. (2008). Television violence and aggression. Southwest Journal of Criminal Justice, 5(1), 22-49. Van Der Voort, T. (2009). Television Violence: A Child’s Eye View. New York: Elsevier. Watson, R. & Martin, C. (2011). Handbook of Behavior, Food and Nutrition. New York: Springer. Read More