Violence in media has been a controversial topic for some time now due to the idea that violent media causes aggressive behavior in children and adults. Mass media has been pointed to as the cause of adolescents committing crimes, because human beings tend to do what they see. However, there is no certain evidence that these claims are true, and I personally disagree with the argument. Some people say that exposing children to violent media such as television shows, movies, or video games, will cause them to display more aggressive behavior because they are imitating what they see people older than them doing. This argument is based on the thought that children follow the actions of people they view as role models, whether that be a celebrity
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According to one study, high school aged students took inkblot tests before and after viewing violent behavior and hearing violent audio, the results concluded that exposure to violent media produced and increase in violent inkblot results (Hess, Hess, & Hess, 1999). While this does support the argument that viewing violence in media increases aggression, another study was done on elementary school students to judge whether or not seeing violent media caused children to build a tolerance to violence in real life, but the results concluded that most children did not let violence in media affect their judgement on aggression in real life and only one child did not get help in the situation (Moliter & Hirsch, 1994). These two cases show that results can be varied among individuals, which drives the point that violent media does not necessarily influence adolescents. Consequently, we cannot say that children who play a violent video game or watch a violent T.V. show will become more aggressive. Factors in situations like these can be anything from the individual’s personal values and morals to the way their parent’s raised the child. Researchers cannot undoubtedly say that violence in media causes aggression without knowing the other factors among the
According to one study, high school aged students took inkblot tests before and after viewing violent behavior and hearing violent audio, the results concluded that exposure to violent media produced and increase in violent inkblot results (Hess, Hess, & Hess, 1999). While this does support the argument that viewing violence in media increases aggression, another study was done on elementary school students to judge whether or not seeing violent media caused children to build a tolerance to violence in real life, but the results concluded that most children did not let violence in media affect their judgement on aggression in real life and only one child did not get help in the situation (Moliter & Hirsch, 1994). These two cases show that results can be varied among individuals, which drives the point that violent media does not necessarily influence adolescents. Consequently, we cannot say that children who play a violent video game or watch a violent T.V. show will become more aggressive. Factors in situations like these can be anything from the individual’s personal values and morals to the way their parent’s raised the child. Researchers cannot undoubtedly say that violence in media causes aggression without knowing the other factors among the