Does violent media cause aggression?

 


In 2008 there was a study conducted to determine if there is a correlation between viewing violent media and aggression in children. The study took 1,500 American kids from the ages of 10 to 15. The study found that kids who viewed violent web pages were 5 times more likely to demonstrate violent behaviors. This was interesting, however, there was some concern that kids who were already violent gravitated towards violent web pages. So, a longitudinal study was conducted. The findings were that watching violent TV led to higher levels of violence 10 years later. Additionally, aggression in 3rd graders didn't lead to higher consumptions of violent media 10 years later. This proves that watching violent media leads to a higher risk of violent behavior. So, what responsibilities do the government and parents have to protect their kids from violent media?

Comments

  1. Natalie PorterMarch 7, 2024 at 11:39 AM

    This is super interesting and reminds me of our Media Violence paper. I think parents need to definitely take responsibility to intentionally teach their children prosocial behavior as well as monitor their media use, especially if their children have a greater tendency towards violence.

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  2. AveryMarch 7, 2024 at 1:28 PM

    I think this is really interesting. I also think the comment that you made about what responsibility the government and parents have to protect kids. I think that the responsibility to protect children falls more on the shoulders of the parents than the government.

    ReplyDelete
  3. KaywenMarch 9, 2024 at 8:52 PM

    One thing that I think is super important is having open lines of communication between ourselves and our children. I remember my mom and dad talking to us constantly about expectations, how to behave, about what was appropriate and what was not, and how to treat other people with kindness. When we would watch tv shows or movies and things would come up then my parents made sure that we understood the line between reality and make believe (even taking the time to watch the 'behind the scenes' with us) as well as what was appropriate for us to do and what wasn't "nice" or "good" to do. This helped my brothers and I to be able to discern between what was just a "movie" and what was real life and what that meant for the gravity of the choices that we made. I think that parents need to actually talk to their children, all the time about all sorts of things, so that it is engrained in them from a young age!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Allyse WalserMarch 11, 2024 at 9:43 AM

    I agree with the comments made and the original post. I did not realize how many acts of violence were in movies until we watched the clip from The Incredibles. I freaking love that movie and I would probably consider it my favorite movie. So to have an eye opening experience that even that movie showed violent behavior was shocking.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Domanique KempMarch 12, 2024 at 12:01 PM

    Totally agree with post and comments! Thanks for bringing this up!

    ReplyDelete

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