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Television and Media Violence - Is Aggressive Behavior Linked to TV Violence?

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Is Aggressive Behavior Linked to Television Violence?

According the Centerwall (1992), the average child aged 2-5 in 1990 watched 27 hours of

television per day, or almost 4 hours per day. When much of what is on television, including

cartoons and television shows targeted at children, contains violence, it becomes important to

know whether watching televised violence can lead to or increase aggressive behavior. Social

learning theory tells us that children model their behavior after those they see. It is reasonable,

then, to infer that watching violence on television will lead to behaving violently, due to the

modeling effect. The present study reviews some relevant prior research, and then investigates …show more content…

Centerwall found that in between 1945 and 1975, the homicide rate in the US increased by

93%, while in Canada, the homicide rate increased by 92% after the introduction of television. In

South Africa, however, the homicide rate decreased by 7%. In case we might think that South

Africa is just a less violent country than the US or Canada, Centerwall included the homicide rates

for the three countries in 1987. In the US and Canada, no significant changes were noted,

Homicides per 100,000

1945

1974

% Change

1987

% Change

United States

3

5.8

+93

5.4

n.s

Canada

1.3

2.5

+92

2.2

n.s

South Africa

2.7

2.5

-7

5.8

+130

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showing that the homicide rate had reached a plateau, at a rate that was nearly twice the pre-

television rate. In the fifteen years after South Africa received television, between 1975 and 1987,

the homicide rate increased by 130%. This is convincing evidence that television had an impact

on the homicide rates in the US and Canada, doubling the rate in 30 years, and more than

doubling the homicide rate in South Africa in only 15 years.

Centerwall notes that there was a delay of about 10-15 years between the introduction of

television in each country and the increase in homicide rates. He suggests that

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