Media Violence and Aggression by Powlin V. Manuel

The role of media in eliciting aggression especially in vulnerable population has been an area on intense debate. Aggression is defined as any behavior, be it physical, verbal, psychological, or emotional, indented to cause physical, emotional, or psychological injury to another human being (Kirsh, 2006).  The Surgeon General of the USA released a report in 1972 that concluded that violence on television does influence children who view those programs and that media violence does increase the likelihood that viewers will become more aggressive. There is evidence that television violence can be harmful to young viewers (Surgeon General’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Television and Social Behavior, 1972; Murray, 1973 as cited in Osofsky, 1997). Anderson et al., (2003) argued that media violence produces short-term increases by priming existing aggressive scripts and cognitions, increasing physiological arousal, and triggering an automatic tendency to imitate observed behaviors.  Media violence produces long-term effects via several types of learning processes leading to the acquisition of lasting aggressive scripts, and aggression-supporting beliefs about social behavior, and by reducing individuals’ normal negative emotional responses to violence, according to authors. Psychologists and psychiatrists involved in media studies do not suggest that violent media are the only cause of violence in society. Rather there are many other contributors to violent behavior, such as growing up in an abusive home or a violent neighborhood (Osofsky, 1995 as cited in Osofsky, 1997).

The factors that contributing to aggressive behavior are: cognitive functions of the viewer, male sex hormones, the level of frustration of the viewer, and other factors that control emotions. In a certain state of emotions media violence exerts its effect resulting violence by the following: imitation of violence, induction of aggressive thoughts, and eliciting fear. Attitudes are acquired from other people from social learning process. This could include violent behaviors that are very common for television programs including the sublimal messages conveyed by the television programs. Research shows that people who watch violent television programs repeatedly are more likely to be violent (Potter, 2003, as cited in Schneider, 2009). Longitudinal studies have shown evidence that TV violence increases violent behavior (Huesmann et al., 2003, as cited in Schneider, 2009). Numerous experimental studies have established a causal relationship between TV violence and aggressive behavior. Aggressive behavior, however, is overdetermined as it has multiple causes such as level of testosterone, type A personality, frustration and anger, stress, general arousal, the temperature, loud noises, and having been abused as a child (Schneider, 2009).

In experiments children who watched either children or adults act aggressively imitated their violence, or that children perform aggressive behaviors of other children who were rewarded for their aggressive behavior; this is due to vicarious learning. According to social cognitive theory the following four processes are involved: attention, representational process, behavioral production process, and motivational process. The theory also explains that motivational process is enhanced by reward, justification for violence, viewer perceiving the violence as realistic, and the viewer identifying or liking the perpetrator. People also get desensitized by repeated exposure to media violence. Desensitization leads to individual’s increased tolerance to violence.

The following measures have been taken to counter the effect of media violence: Rating of TV program has been implemented with some success. However the desire to watch is said to increase especially in teenagers as phenomenon of psychological reactance; making the child see violence as not rewarding by making them see from the perspective of the victim is another approach. The researchers suggest that parents and educators should talk with the children about the feelings of victims of violence as well as the feelings of the family members of the victims.