Does viewing violent media really cause criminal violence? A methodological review (original) (raw)
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Does Media Violence Cause Violent Crime
Over the past 60 years, hundreds of studies have shown that viewing violence in the media can influence aggressive behaviour. However, the vast majority of these studies are laboratory based, and tell us little about how media violence influences real criminal behaviour. This paper reviews research involving crime statistics, offender populations, and longitudinal studies to evaluate the claim that such a link exists. When integrated with other long-term studies on the development of crime, it is concluded that the link between media violence and crime is weak after other environmental factors are taken into account.
Media Violence and Antisocial Behavior: An Overview
Journal of Social Issues, 1986
Do media portrayals of interpersonal violence engender aggression among the observers? This question has been the focus of social scientific inquiry for over a quarter of a century. The initial research efforts of numerous investigators led to the surgeon general's research program on television and social behavior in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The surgeon general's conclusion that “television violence, indeed, does have an adverse effect on certain members of our society” (Steinfeld, 1972) stimulated a torrent of research, congressional hearings, and expressions of public concern. The late 1970s and early 1980s also saw the emergence of cable television and the video cassette as major media forces. Accordingly, many teenagers and even preadolescents became frequent viewers of scenes that graphically couple sex and violence. Not surprisingly, a new research focus developed on the effects of such media stimuli.
We appreciate the efforts of Bushman, Gollwitzer, and Cruz (2015) to provide new data describing parents’ and professionals’ opinions regarding effects of media violence. Unfortunately, we feel it is necessary to call attention to apparent errors and inaccuracies in the way those data are interpreted and represented in their article. The article includes flawed analyses, overstates the extent to which there is agreement that media violence has meaningful negative societal effects, and misrepresents the relevance of the study to an understanding of the effects of media violence on societal violence. In contrast, we call for a climate of research on media violence that better recognizes the diversity of findings and conclusions in an active and growing research agenda and eschews unwarranted insinuations about effects on criminal violence from research focused on aggression-related measures not assessing violent crime.
Does Media Violence Have Causal Implication in Aggressive Behavior?
Current statistical data indicate that ninety-nine percent of U.S. households own at least one television, and that the average child watches more than 24 hours of television per week. This translates to roughly 160,000 viewed acts of television violence by the age of eighteen (The Statistic Brain Research Institute, 2013). This data does not even take into consideration the implication of other forms of media violence, such as video games, on aggressive or violent behavior. Arguments abound for, and against the belief that media violence has causal implication in aggressive behaviors. Armed with claims of data misrepresentation and concerns of research methodology, opponents assert that there is not enough evidence to implicate media violence in aggression. However, proponents to this belief, having addressed the concerns of methodology, indicate a correlation between violence and aggression, and maintain that media violence engenders aggressive behaviors. Through a literature review, summarization of points on both sides of this growing debate may provide the reader with enough information, to make a determination whether there is sufficient evidence to support the belief that television violence has causal implication in aggressive behaviors. Keywords: Media Violence, Aggression
Motivation for Watching Television Violence and Viewer Aggression
Mass Communication and Society, 2003
We examined whether motivation for watching television violence explains viewer aggression and considered the contribution of individual viewer differences, including locus of control, experience with crime, exposure to television violence, perceived realism, and viewer involvement. Several viewing motives and individual differences predicted aggression. Where exposure to television violence was a significant predictor of aggression, experience with crime, locus of control, or motivation were stronger predictors. Path analysis revealed direct and indirect links between audience predictors and aggression outcomes. Results were consistent with uses and gratifications assumptions that individual characteristics and expectations mediate the impact of exposure. Individual characteristics predicted aggressive attitudes, often independent of motivation, contextual factors or attitudes, and exposure. There was no conclusive direct link between exposure and aggression. Because motivation for watching television violence differentially affected aggression, research that neglects to consider viewer motivation and other audience characteristics when drawing conclusions about the effects of violence on aggression is called into question. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission recently assailed the entertainment industry for marketing violence intended for adults to children. This is just a recent example of a long line of criticisms of the media for peddling violence. Over the years, policymakers and the public have expressed concern that violence on television prompts negative outcomes, such as audience aggression. Many scholars have criticized conclusions linking television violence and viewer aggression and emphasized the role of other personal and environmental This paper is based on Paul Haridakis's dissertation directed by Alan Rubin in the School of Communication Studies at Kent State University.
Media Violence And Its Components Affecting An Individual's Aggressive Behavior
Exposure to media violence affects an individual's aggressive and violent behaviour but the extent to which parts of a particular media clip influences its viewers has not been given much thought. In this study, a 2 4 factorial design has been implemented. An experiment involving the presence of four (4) factors are analyzed in terms of having an influence on a viewer's behaviour after watching a randomly assigned video clip. Some media factors are undisputably believed to affect spectators but in reality are not really valid with much investigation, statistically speaking, particularly the form of violence involved as to whether violent act depicted is either verbal or physical. So long as the act committed is violent, it will have an effect on an individual no matter its form. Meanwhile, two interactions between factors were found to be significant namely the interaction between justification and type of media, and the interaction between justification and gender of perpetrator. These interactions indicate that the presence of justification, type of media as to whether it is live-action or animated, and the gender of perpetrator can greatly affect the changes in the aggression behavior of the viewer.
Media Violence and the General Aggression Model
Journal of Social Issues
The General Aggression Model (GAM) is a meta-theory that considers the role of personal and situational variables on aggressive behavior, ranging from the biological to the cultural. Possible mediating variables include internal states (e.g., aggressive thoughts, angry feelings, increased physiological arousal) and the results of appraisal and decision processes (automatic and controlled). In this article, we focus on one situational variable-exposure to violent media-and how it can influence a wide array of cognitive, developmental, emotional, and social processes that can increase likelihood of aggression. Previous research has shown that exposure to violent media can increase aggression through all three internal state paths, and by increasing hostile appraisals. In this article, we use GAM as a theoretical framework to explain a wide variety of violent media effects. We also add some clarifications and extensions to GAM that research in the past 15 years has shown to be needed in the model. We also suggest new research directions in the media violence domain that we believe will be especially useful in the future. "There is nothing so useful as a good theory."-Kurt Lewin (1951) We believe that the General Aggression Model (GAM) is "useful" and is a "good theory" for explaining violent media effects. Our goal in this article is to use GAM to summarize what is currently known about how exposure to media violence influences those who consume it. More specifically, we focus on screen