The Connection Between Media Violence and Aggressive Behavior - Coursework Example

Media Violence and Aggressive Behavior People have been concerned for many years about the effect that media violence can have on children’s behavior. The increasing violence in the media has led many parents especially to wonder whether there is a connection between the media violence and aggressive behavior in children. According to Felson (1996) watching violence has been a common form of entertainment. Activities such as wrestling, cock fights and bull fights have been used as entertainment for many years. More and more local news shows include violent crimes in their coverage as a way to increase their ratings. More significantly is the increase in technological advances which now greatly increases the availability of violent entertainment. Television, cable, videocassettes, video games, hand-held cameras and video monitors all contribute to the availability. In 1989 there was a reported dramatic increase in violent crimes after the introduction of television in American households (Felson, 1996). As media technology has increased the amount of time that children and adolescents spent with the technology is also increasing. Carnagey et al (2007) estimate that on an average American children now spend more than five hours a day with media such as television, films, video games. They have also reported similar increases in media consumption in other countries in Europe and Asia. More recently violent video games have been linked to school killings for example the Columbine High School incident and other violent crime sprees that have happened in some schools. In trying to understand the relationship between violent media and aggressive behavior in children Savage (2004) looks to the perspective put forward by Huesmann in 1986 who argues that “ the most plausible hypothesis is that habitual exposure to violent television programs teachers children aggressive habits which are maintained well into adulthood” (Savage, 2004. p.1010). This theory is based on the belief that social behavior is guided by beliefs or cognitive scripts that the person stores in memory. These scripts can then be retrieved later on when triggered and can direct the person into aggressive acts and reactions. The theory believes that children learn these scripts from many sources, one of which is television. Since it is believed that troubled and aggressive children watch more television and identify with the characters on television than other children, they are more prone to storing violent scripts. Watching so much violent television also reinforces these violent scripts. However, in order to analyze and understand the effect of media violence on children’s aggressive behavior we must first define aggression to understand what are the possible factors that can affect it and how it is affected. Psychologist define aggression as “any behavior that is intended to harm another person Anderson et al (2003. p.82). However the authors go on to describe the different types of aggression. Verbal aggression is hurtful things that are said to the victim. Relational or indirect aggression is behavior that is intended to harm the person but is done outside of the person’s view, or behind the person’s back, for example telling lies on the person to get him in trouble or hurt his relationship with others. In addition there is physical aggression which can be a simple push or shove to more serious acts of fighting and physical assault. These all describe aggressive behavior. Aggression can also include aggressive thinking and aggressive emotions both of which can lead to aggressive behavior. Felson (1996) point out that in defining aggression there is yet no single definition of the word intent, thus it is subject to interpretation. However, the effect that violent media have on all these – aggressive behavior, thinking and emotions- are important in understanding the relationship between the violent media and children’s behavior. Another consideration in the effect of violent media on children is the fact that violent action seldom results from a single cause. Media violence can be only one potential factor therefore. As Anderson et al (2003) point out it cannot be seen as “necessary or sufficient to help shape aggressive behavior”. There must be other factors involved and it takes a period of time for the effect of the factors to be evident. The developmental aspect of the relationship must also be considered. Most research shows that children who exhibit aggression early are more likely to exhibit aggressive behavior as older youths or as adults. Therefore the effect of media violence on children is important to study. The General Affective Aggressive Model (GAAM) and the General Aggressive Model (GAM) have been suggested to understand how aggressive behavior results from media violence. The GAM state that “using violent media, especially video games, over other media leads individuals to rehearse aggressive patterns, reinforcing the attribution of hostility toward others and positive attitudes to the use of violence as a means of conflict resolution”, (Clemente et al , 2008. p. 2396). Felson (1996) reviewed the research on the relationship between exposure to media violence and aggression. He first looked at the laboratory studies that were done. Most of these studies showed that the subjects in lab experiments who observe media violence tend to behave more aggressively. It was pointed out though that the analysis of these studies showed some inconsistencies in the results and that the laboratory situation is not always comparable to the outside situation thus affecting the behavior of the subject. In the field studies that the author examined that were carried out in institutions, sixteen studies showed more aggression in the subjects, seven studies showed more aggression in the control group and in five studies there were no significant differences between subjects and controls. Natural experiments looked at the rate of violence after television was introduced into the community. There was an assumption that people exposed to television were also exposed to higher doses of television violence. The results of the studies varied. In 1982 there was no relationship between introduction of television and increase in violence in the US. Some communities in Canada and South Africa also showed no conclusive evidence of a relationship between introduction of television into the communities and increase in violence. These studies showed that it is very difficult to determine that television viewing alone is the factor affecting violent behavior. In longitudinal studies there was a correlation of between .10 and .20. Some factors were identified. Children with more favorable attitudes to violence were more likely to be affected by television violence. Children whose television viewing was more closely supervised by adults were less likely to engage in violence. Other factors that seemed to have an effect on whether or not the children developed aggressive behavior included the level of intelligence of the child, the need for excitement, the level of fear and the commitment to school. The studies lead to the conclusion that exposure to television violence does have some effect but the effect is small and weak and only affects a small percentage of viewers. All these studies also did not offer an explanation for the differences in individual behavior and how individuals are affected by the media violence. In their analysis Clemente, Espinosa and Vidale (2008) set out to investigate the relationship between the amount of television, computer-gaming and Internet use and the antisocial aggressive behavior in teenagers. They had an additional factor- to see whether the relationship is different for males and females. They report studies that show that males who watched more television during their early adolescence were prone to being more violent towards others. Some studies found that television violence was related to direct aggression in males and indirect aggression in females. Violent video games were positively related to aggressive behavior and were stronger for males and individuals with aggressive tendencies. Their study included 51 female and 42 male students in a state school in Spain. All were between the ages of 13 – 18. The participants completed a questionnaire about the frequency and length of continued use of television, Internet, computer and computer gaming. They all completed an inventory of antisocial behavior. The study found that the higher the interactive media use, the higher the amount of global aggressive behavior reported by the participants. It also found that part of the effect of the media was a deficit in socialization. The more television and computer use the less the participants socialized with family and friends. The males reported higher frequency in aggressive behavior, but the television use, preference for violent media, computer games and interactive media use were not necessarily different for the females. This suggests that other factors may be at play in the aggressive behavior of the boys. The study also found that the interactive games were a significant predictor of antisocial aggressive behavior whereas the television was not. This latter conclusion is in agreement with the literature that suggests that the interactive video games have a greater influence on the aggressive behavior than the television. The exposure to violent computer or video games increases short-term aggressive thoughts and aggressive behavior. Video games are also thought to have a stronger effect on arousal of aggressive thoughts and violent behavior than movies or television. The reasons put forward for this are that the video games tend to be more violent, offer more reward for acting violently and are more addictive. In these games the player has more of an active role. References Anderson, C. A., Berkowitz, L., Donneistein, E., Huesmann, L.P., Johnson, J.D., Linz, D., Malamuth, N.M., Warletta, E. (2003). The influence of media violence on youth. Psychological Science in the Public Interest. 4 (3), 81-110. Carnagey, N. L., Anderson, C.A. & Bartholow, B.D. (2007). Media violence and social neuroscience: New questions and new opportunities. Current Directions in Psychological Science. 16 (4), 178-182. Clemente, M., Espinosa, P. & Vidal, M.A. (2008). The media and violent behavior in young people; effects of the media on antisocial aggressive behavior in a Spanish sample. Journal of Applied Social Psychology. 38 (10), 2395-2409. Felson, R. B. (1996). Mass media effects on violent behavior. Annual Reveiew of Sociology. 22, 103-128. Savage, J. (2004). Does viewing violent media really cause criminal violence? A methodological review. Aggression and Violent Behavior. 10 (1), 99-128 Read More