Media Violence: Does Media Affect

Media Violence: Does media affect behavior?

The debate over the effect that media has on behavior, especially violent behavior of individuals who view it is an ongoing and heated one which will likely never have a definitive answer. Yet, this does not stop the need to address the situation and to determine the nature of media violence and also the nature of human behavior and its real change. The debate has been raging since the invention of mass media, but has culminated in recent years with the increasingly violent television programming, which is for the most part freely accessed and the representation of violence and anonymity on the internet and in video games and the like. This new debate is also armed with the visible representation of violent crime getting younger and younger, which has many potential causative factors. This proposed thesis will discuss three key points with regard to media violence and its effect on behavior, is violence being perpetrated by younger and younger individuals, is violence becoming more frequently represented in the media and lastly but most difficult to answer are the two causative?

Violence is escalating among youth.

The homicide rate among young people alone has increased exponentially over the last two decades. (Prothrow-Stith & Spivak, 2004, pp. 39-40)

The nonfatal violence statistics among youth have also increased a great deal as noted by both police records and emergency room reports. (Prothrow-Stith & Spivak, 2004, pp. 40-41)

Media Violence is Increasing.

Every new television season ramps up the violence, escalates sexual content, and increases questions about the purpose of this powerful teaching and entertainment device." (Lavers, 2002, p. 68)

In many families, media have replaced teachers and parents as educators, role models, and the primary sources of information about the world, according to a November report by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) last year." (Lavers, 2002, p. 68)

By age 18, the average young person has seen 200,000 acts of violence on television alone." (Lavers, 2002, p. 68)

The report noted that, of 10,000 hours of broadcast programming reviewed by the National Television Violence Study, 61% portrayed interpersonal violence, much of it in an entertaining or glamorized manner."

According to Lavers the highest violence proportion occurred in children's programming with 100% of animated films produced in the United States between 1937 and 1999 portraying violence. (Lavers, 2002, p. 68)

Media violence and actual violence can be linked as causative forces.

Murder rates doubled 10 to 15 years after the introduction of television in the United States, Canada, and virtually every country where 'free' television was launched -- truly a troubling anecdote." (Lavers, 2002, p. 68) negative relationship between media consumption and various conceptualizations of social satisfaction or contentedness or "affective equilibrium" has long been noted." (Roberts, Foehr, Rideout & Brodie, 2003, p. 165)

Given the pervasiveness of media violence, it would be surprising if it had no effect on viewers." (Felson, 1996)