Does Media Violence Lead to violent acts?
The twenty-first century, the information age. Everywhere you turn you can't help but be exposed to some sort of media. Whether it be radio, television, movies or the internet, everyone of us is receiving messages from the media. What effects does this constant bombardment of messages have on us? Well on one hand it is obvious, do you believe that Coca-cola is better than Pepsi, is a Ford car really all that different from a Toyota? In this case the media has made us believe that two virtually identical products are different. Some will even argue that the media makes us purchase things we don't need, whatever the case maybe it is clear that media does have some measurable effect on us. Which leads us to the question: What effect does violence in the media do to us? If a Chihuahua can influence us to buy more tacos what can watching someone being shot do to us, does it lead us to act in a more violent manner? These questions will be furthered explored in the rest of ! Some will argue that violent acts portrayed in the media certainly lead to violent behaviors in people, especially the young. They point to certain incidents such as the Columbine massacre, Jonesborough Arkansas, and other school shootings as
Kessler, Ronald C., Stipp Horst. The Impact of Ficticious Television Attorney General on Current and Future Rates of Juvenile Offending. (Mar. 1996) On a more scientific note, actual psychological research has shown that youths that have been exposed to violent content tend to exhibit, at least, some sort of short term priming effects. This was shown in a study by Hess et alt (1999). Researchers primed 41 high school juniors by exposing them to violent film clips or violent audio recordings. After exposure the participants were then asked to view HIT inkblots and write about them. The results of the experiments were that "Brief exposure to violent media produced increases in violent inkblot responses. This effect was demonstrated for both visual and auditory media, and for both academically accomplished eleventh-grade females and males...Males produced more violent responses across conditions in both studies" (Hess, 4-5). What this basically shows is that when children watch or listen to violent media content they tend to pick up violent suggestions, at least in the short term. While the long term effects of exposure a! Self-Regulation And Industry Practices In The Motion Picture, Music Recording & Electronic Game Industries: A Report Of The Federal Trade Commission (September 2000). http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2000/09/youthviol.htm steadily since 1976 "the incidence of violence appears to have peaked or at least plateaued around 1980, and then to have subsided or at least leveled off until the mid-1980s. Since the mid-1980s, however, the incidence of violence has risen", "Over the past decade, the rate of homicide committed teenagers, ages 14-17, has more than doubled, increasing 172%, from 7.0 per 100,000 in 1985 to 19.1 in 1994." (www.usdoj.gov), while studies by the FTC indicate that various media sources such as motion picture companies, record companies, etc. have not only made very little effort to restrict violent content to youths but have directly increased efforts to market towards them over the years. Key findings of this report include: Another study conducted by Anderson on aggression (1997) yielded similar results. However this experiment went further in that it tried to analyze why this occurs. In the two experiments conducted by Anderson participants were shown either clips of violence and aggression or non-violent scenes and given a questionnaire. Their reaction times were measured and their responses to the questionnaires were encoded. The results indicated that "watching a violent movie clip can increase the relative accessibility of Hess et al. The Effects of Violent Media on Adolescent Inkblot Responses: Implications take into account the entire picture. be explained by individual deviations, mental dysfunctions, and social learning. If someone's goal were to murd
Some common words found in the essay are:
Trade Commission, Department Justice, Kessler Stipp, Pepsi Ford, Jonesborough Arkansas, , Sociology Volume, Offending Mar, BEHAVIOR Volume, Psychology Vol, violent media, violent content, short term, exposure violent, violent acts, children 17, exposure violent media, department justice, effects violent, targeted children 17, term effects, motion picture, federal trade commission, children 17 ·, violence report united,
Approximate Word count = 1909
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
