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The Effects Of Media Violence

Decent Essays
Violence has been around since the beginning of mankind, and it is not going away anytime soon. Ever since the era of cavemen, we have relied on violence to provide us with the basic necessities to survive; such as food and clothing, in harsh and barren environments. Fast forward several thousand years and these basic necessities for survival are now abundant and readily available for a large majority of the population. Unfortunately, this hasn’t decreased the presence of violence in our society. Today’s entertainment and media mostly focuses on these violent examples because they know that it will garner the most attention. The question on everyone’s mind is if these violent images shown throughout our multiple media outlets have a direct correlation with violent behavior. Research shows us that violent images can directly trigger violent behavior. In order to better understand media violence I think it’s important to look at what defines it and what consequences it can have. Rowell Huesmann goes on to state, “Most researchers define media violence as visual portrayals of acts of physical aggression by one human or human-like character against another. This definition has evolved as theories about the effects of media violence have evolved and represents an attempt to describe the kind of violent media presentation that is most likely to teach the viewer to be more violent” (Huesmann The Impact of Electronic Media). Now the question is, do these violent images contribute
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