Psychology: Media Violence
Rachel Meyer
July 22nd, 2017
Michael Koehn
Psychology 101
Everywhere you look, there is some kind of media. Whether it is from the newspaper, the radio, a tv, or the internet, people are constantly being exposed to media. One of the more common forms of media is the television. The television has been around for several decades, and it has been increasingly becoming more and more popular. Everywhere you go, there are televisions being sold, and almost every house has at least one television. Unfortunately, one of the downsides of a tv is that gruesome, terrible, and bloody things can be shown. As years continue, more and more violence is being shown: the news, TV shows, and movies all depict violence in some sort of way. Even worse, violence showed on TV is becoming more and more graphic, and almost anyone can easily access it. With violence being shown so much on TV, children or adolescents, can become easily inclined to it; therefore, signs of violent or negative behavior can start to appear.
Over the course of 30 years there has been in-depth research that shows the relationship between aggressive behavior in young children and violent television. Unfortunately, as time goes on, the amount of violence shown increases and the number of TV’s in American houses continually grows. Research shows that children watch at least 28 hours of television per week, and watch at least 200,000 acts of violence (Beresin). Researchers have proven that young children will imitate violent acts on TV while they play with others. Young children, before the age of 4, can’t distinguish what is real and what is fantasy, therefore, they may see aggressive behavior as normal. All over TV, heroes in movies and TV shows are rewarded and praised for their violent behavior. Children will then start looking up to these heroes; making them their role models. Kids may start to see themselves as being justified to be violent, if it means to defeat the “bad guys” and be heroes. Therefore, like in movies and TV shows, young children may use violent acts to solve problems (Beresin).
Children learn from experience and social learning. Therefore, they cannot tell what is real, and what is fake. When children see violence, they tend to want to imitate it. There has been research that shows that there is a chemical change in the brain when violent television is watched a lot. This chemical change is similar to what PTSD does to the brain; the brain reacts as if the person who is viewing the violence is the one actually being hurt (Gross, 2013). This can be true, especially if the violence being shown is one-sided. Watching this as a child can be dangerous and cause negative effects because their brains are still being developed (Gross, 2013).
Children can be psychologically affected by having less empathy; which is a characteristic seen in bullies. Children with less empathy are more likely to use aggressive behavior to solve problems. Basically, they tend to react more, than to take charge; relying more on immediate reactions to solve frustrations. Also, children who have less empathy, tend to be more scared of social relationships, therefore making them lash out before anything can happen (Gross, 2013). All in all, watching violence, with being less empathetic, can lead to sadistic behavior. Moreover, there has been research that has shown that children who watch violent TV are more argumentative and are more likely to act out in class. Research concludes, that children who are exposed to excessive amounts of violent behavior on TV, are more difficult and they have delayed gratification. Also, they seem to think they are entitled. Unfortunately, all this can lead to them being more violent as teenagers (Gross, 2013).
There have been studies that have shown the effects of children watching violent television. Some of their findings were: Children becoming less sensitive to pain and suffering of others, children might become afraid of others around them, and children may start acting aggressive or harmful toward others (Violence in the Media). Research going back to the 1980s has shown that young children who watch violent TV for hours seem to show high levels of aggression by the time they become teenagers. Psychologists L. Rowell Huesmann and Leonard Eron, found that people who have been watching violent television since they were eight tended to get arrested or do something illegal (Violence in the Media).
Television can strongly impact peoples’ morals and values. Watching hours and hours of violent TV, children may think that violence is the way to solve problems or they may want to imitate the violence observed on television. Studies have showed that children who view shows that contain realistic violence or frequently repeated, are more likely to imitate the violent behavior (TV Violence and Children, 2014). Kids with behavioral, emotional, or impulse control problems are more easily inclined by television violence. TV violence can potentially effect children right then and there, or effects could start to appear years later. Also, children can be affected by TV violence when their home lives aren’t good. Although, TV violence is not the only cause of harmful and violent behavior, it is still a big factor (TV Violence and Children, 2014).
Retired clinical psychiatry professor Emmanuel Tanay said, “You turn on the television, and violence is there. You go to a movie, and violence is there, Reality is distorted. If you live in a fictional world, then the fictional world becomes your reality (Tanay, 2012).” The typical American watched at least five hours of television every day; nearly two-thirds of TV programs contain some kind of violence. A study done by the U.S Secret Service and the U.S Department of Education in 2002 studied 37 school shootings and attacks from 1997-2000. They found that more than half the attackers showed some kind of violence through movies, books, and some other type of media (Kaplan, 2012). A few years later, in 2009, a policy statement on Media Violence, the American Academy of Pediatrics said, “Extensive research evidence indicates that media violence can contribute to aggressive behavior, desensitization to violence, nightmares, and fear of being harmed (Kaplan, 2012).” Basically, there is a direct correlation between violent media, and aggressive behavior.
Research has shown that watching violent television can cause aggressive behavioral problems later. In some studies, it has been shown that there was a 12 percent increase in aggressive behavior for those who watch violent TV. Research has also shown that children who watch excessive amounts of television do worse in school, have poorer literate skills, and not as social with others (Tompkins, 2003). The Academy of Pediatrics says,
“More than one thousand scientific studies and reviews conclude that significant exposure to media violence increases the risk of aggressive behavior in certain children, desensitizes them to violence and makes them believe that the world is a ‘meaner and scarier’ place than it is (Academy of Pediatrics).”
If children start to think that at an early age, it is often harder to change their thoughts later on in life. Although, there is discussion as to whether playing videos games rather than watching violent television increases violent behavior. Some say that just watching violent television does not increase violent behavior as much, and if it does, it is just a small factor; while playing video games does increase aggressive behavior more and is a bigger factor. But overall, which everyone can agree on, violent television and other sorts of gory media are not the only factors that lead toward aggressive behavior (Tompkins, 2003).
Although there is a connection between violent media and aggressive behavior, there are still many other factors that lead to violent and aggressive behavior. Psychologist Craig Anderson said,
“Media violence is only one of many risk factors for later aggressive and violent behavior. Furthermore, extremely violent behavior never occurs when there is only one risk factor present. Thus, a healthy, well-adjusted person with few risk factors is not going to become a school-shooter just because they start playing a lot of violent video games or watching a lot of violent movies (Anderson).”
Basically, even though watching violent television can be an impacting factor, it is not the only cause for later violence like a school shooting. Other factors could potentially be: victimization, no parental involvement, and physical fights. Violent TV is a risk factor to future aggressive behavior but there are other risk factors as well (Kaplan, 2012).
Overall, watching violent television can influence children to have more aggressive behavior later in their lives. There have been many research studies, studying this topic, and a lot of them have in the end have concluded that children who watch excessive amounts of television, are affected in some way by it. Some people become desensitized to things, while others become less empathetic. Young children are very impressionable, so the things they watch can have a heavy impact on them. They can’t distinguish what’s real and what is not, so they make think having very aggressive behavior is acceptable. In all, as years go on, more and more families allow their kids to watch excessive amounts of TV, causing them to be affected in some way or another.
Works Cited
Beresin, Eugene V. "The Impact of Media Violence on Children and Adolescents: Opportunities for Clinical Interventions." The Impact of Media Violence on Children and Adolescents: Opportunities for Clinical Interventions. AACAP, n.d. Web. 10 July 2017.
Gross, Dr. Gail. "Violence on TV and How It Can Affect Your Children." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 15 Aug. 2013. Web. 10 July 2017.
Kaplan, Arline. "Violence in the Media: What Effects on Behavior?" Violence in the Media: What Effects on Behavior? | Psychiatric Times. Psychiatric Times, 5 Oct. 2012. Web. 11 July 2017.
Tompkins, Aimee. "The Psychological Effects of Violent Media on Children." AllPsych. AllPsych, 14 Dec. 2003. Web. 16 July 2017.
"TV Violence and Children." TV Violence and Children. American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry., Dec. 2014. Web. 05 July 2017.
"Violence in the Media." American Psychological Association. American Psychological Association, n.d. Web. 05 July 2017.