Media Violence and Its Effect on Society

Violent media exposure of children or adults to violent media is a cause of aggression and violent behavior has been one of the most intensely debated issues in criminal justice and the broader populace. Concern have come and gone that media such as comic books, as well as television and movies, would lead to waves of rebelliousness, violence, and moral degradation. Sherry

Living in a world full of crime and violence, people begin to wonder what the cause of the violence is and how it can then be prevented. Unfortunately, there is not a single root cause that can be found when people attempt to decipher why children are deciding to bring guns to school and murder their peers. Some may believe that it was influenced by being exposed to a hostile family, violent films, or gory video games. Although sometimes this might be the case, a lot of the time it is not as black and white, making this topic very difficult to analyze and understand. Both Jonathan L. Freedman in “Villain or Scapegoat? Media Violence and Aggression” and L Rowell Huesmann and Laramie D. Taylor in “The Role of Media Violence in Violent

As censorship of the American media has broken down over the years, the amount of violence allowed to be shown in movies, on television, and in video games has skyrocketed. From coast to coast in our nation, this saturation of hostility in our media has caused many contentious debates between scholars, parents, students and government officials alike. In this controversy, the central argument revolves around the effects violent media has on our society. The question that most researchers strive to answer is this: does watching or participating in violent media cause violent or other harmful behaviors? There are those who would say yes, it does promote destructive behavior in

The media has a huge influence on how crime is presented and perceived. In fact, the media might even have an impact on crime prevalence and type. Reiner (2007) points out that "hard scientific evidence" shows that television viewing affects the ways children behave, and that "children imitate violent images," (Reiner, 2007, p. 302). Based on this information, it is not just the news media that may be to blame for some types of crime rate increases. Violent video games could also be implicated in overall desensitiziation or normalization of violence. Desensitization might cause individuals to perpetrate criminal acts. Alternatively, desensitization from overexposure to media might cause some individuals to condone or under-report crime. Media depicting law enforcement and other social institutions in a negative light could also lead to an antagonistic view of the law, leading to a general sense of anomie.

     There are many Psychological concepts that contribute to people’s deviance such as their personality, containment, and also through learning, which is observation of others. Television violence influences behavior through observational learning, by reducing social constraints, and by arousing aggressive tendencies. External social control is the attempt of others to control one’s behavior, however, it may not be just control but also influence. Although the viewer may not blindly mimic violent acts portrayed on television, although it is all possible, many factors can contribute to what dictates a viewers actions. One method by which the media may promote violence is through imitation. Imitation includes more than simply applying a crime technique the criminal learned by watching television. Fictional treatments of crime can inspire and empower potential criminals.

Violence has become a major social disturbance that is continuously on the rise to become more common within the media. Movies, TV shows, video games and the music in this era are being heavily influenced by violent notions. Some of the most popular TV shows that are aired have a significant amount of violence engulfed in the scripting. Even games and music that are produced are commonly centered on a violent scheme. Media violence has become a sociological issue for many reasons. Media inspires people in dramatic ways, which poses an issue when what is being portrayed is violence. Society grasp ideas through many ways, media being one, and accept them as norms. When media is broadcasting violence, people will accept it as being a normal aspect

I believe that these violent behaviors have an effect on the viewer's own behavior, the viewer can become more negative or violent themselves as a result of the content they are exposed to. But the most prominent source of violent content is produced in video games, due to the fact that in a video games the viewer can control the actions of the character as well as view violent behavior. Thus prompting me to believe that children should have some restriction to violent media, children are very easily influenced, which can result in them adapting to violent behaviors and exhibiting those behaviors in their daily lives. But children aren't the only ones who need restrictions, adults who are exposed the the violent behaviors also need to have fewer time viewing harsh content, the content can also take a negative effect in a adults life and even have health effects, such as

In everyday life, we are exposed to violence through the media, in one form or another. The ways we are exposed to it could be either through watching movies, TV-Shows or playing infamous computer games. For years the effects of violence in the media has been a provocative topic of debate. While some argue that violence in the media has no repercussions, others argue that it has a long lasting effect on people.

There has been far-reaching research on the link between televised violence and violent behavior amongst adolescents. Current studies have shown a direct correlation between aggressive conduct and watching violence depicted in many media services and suggest that media is a variable that put children at risk of aggressive behavior (Huesmann, Moise-Titus, Podolski, & Eron, 1992). According to the American Psychological Association, watching playing violent scenes them on games and television, can desensitize children to the suffering and pain of others and may be a greater risk of acting aggressively toward others and they're less bothered by violence in general and less likely to see anything wrong with it. Studies disclose that children

The media is a part of everyday life in American kids. Children are surrounded by technology, entertainment, and other media that is full of violence. Newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and the internet all contain violence. Today's media has a negative influence on children. The media does have an influence on them, but does it really influence them to act out even though they know it's wrong? Mass media, and its components, are very powerful and can influence one's mind, as well as their behavior. Children that imitate characters who use violence in the media and display aggressive behavior, tend to give them reason to believe that violence can happen without consequence. For children who grow up with poor adult examples or an

Today's children view vast amounts of violence on television. A steady diet of death, killings, torture, and other grotesque acts may be viewed on any day by vulnerable youth. When children are young, they are impressionable to all their surroundings, and especially vulnerable to what they see.

This article reviews evidence of the media impact on interpersonal violence internationally. Media violence always is a controversial topic. There are several factors that demonstrate this impact: (1) A recognition that electronic media use now dominates most of young people’s time; (2) Evidence demonstrating violent media has multiple harmful effects on children, adolescents, and young adults; (3) The growing impact of media violence on the media economy and media regulation; (4) Other factors, such as new technology, globalization, and regulation influence the media violence; and (5) broad economic and social impacts of the media violence. The following analysis of these factors can provide further insight into this topic and potentially define some actions to reduce the impact to society.

On average, an American encounters approximately 200,000 violent acts before the age of eighteen. However, these exposures do not influence an individual to exhibit violence. Concerns regarding whether television and video game brutality has a negative effect on the public by promoting cruelty, dates back to the 1950’s and is still prevalent today. Studies and research conducted on the issue are unable to prove that the two variables have any correlation to each other. In fact, statistics demonstrate how the amount of violent crimes has decreased significantly throughout time, despite the growing video game popularity. Lastly, in society, people look for anything to transfer the blame, especially in regards to a situation that may threaten an individual’s community. As a matter of fact, by reviewing the extensive research the conclusion was drawn stating, exposure has no effect on barbarity. Therefore, television and video game ferocity does not have a negative effect on the population.

As evidence has shown, children view many violent scenes while watching television, movies, or playing video games, but the question still remains: What psychological effect does violence in the media have on children? Research over the past 10 years has consistently shown that there is a cause-and-effect relationship between media violence and real-life aggression (Strasburger 129). Violence in the media can lead to aggressive behavior by children and teenagers who watch the various programs. Of course, not all children who watch television, or movies, or play video games develop aggressive behavior. However, there is a strong correlation between media violence and aggressive behavior. A study, published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry, examined how children's television viewing practices are related to aggressive behaviors. The results revealed that children who reported watching greater amounts of television per day had higher levels of violent behavior than children who reported lesser amounts of television viewing (Singer 1041). Witnessing violence is an important determining factor in violent behavior. The media serves as a means for children to witness violence. According to Bandura's Social Learning Theory, children imitate behavior that they see on television, especially if the person performing the behavior is attractive or if the

In the book Critique of Violence ,author Walter describes Violence as "The intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, which either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, male development, or deprivation .The violence that is portrayed in the media has been debated for decades ,and it has rose a question about how does it influence the youth?. From movies to video games society has been accustom to seeing violence in their everyday entertainment. Since children are easy to be influence by their environment, it is safe to say that violence in the media can and will contribute to violent behavior.