The Depiction of Violence in the Media and its Effects on Youth

The Depiction of Violence in the Media and its Effects on Youth
Gunfights, bombs, professional wrestling, and car chases mare all depicted on television and in video games on a day-to-day basis. Most video games involve fighting an opponent of some kind and arcade games often have you shoot the “bad guys”. These are all games geared to towards adolescents and pre-adolescents who are quite impressionable. The link between violence in media, games and music and both short term and long-term increases in aggression is indisputable. (Anderson 1).
Media violence can lead to actual violence due to the aggressive scripts it primes and the arousal it causes (Anderson 1). Short term aggression happens while the priming is occurring; long term aggression is caused when the aggressive scripts are the most easily available. Desensitization also plays a part in long term aggression. Desensitization occurs when a person stops having the normal negative emotional responses to violence usually due to having seen it many times (Anderson 1). Long term aggression is characterized by actions such as spousal abuse and constant verbal aggression and threats. There is little known on how media violence affects the violent crimes of rape and homicide because they are so rare.
Children learn by imitation: of their parents, teachers, friends, and the media they are exposed to. In a study in Finland children were shown either a violent or a non-violent film. The observers, who didn’t know which children, had viewed which video watched them play together and rated their violence level in play. The children who watched the violent film were far more likely to physically assault (hit, kick) another child then the children who had not been shown the film. (Anderson 5). A similar study was done with slightly older boys. Half of the boys watched a violent film and half didn’t. Then they played a hockey game and double blind observers counted the number of physical assaults (hitting, shoving, kneeing, tripping) each child performed. The children who watched the violent movie were more likely to be aggressive and to physically assault the other team than those who hadn’t seen the film, especially when a trigger from the movie (a walkie-talkie) was carried by the referee. (Anderson 5) These studies show that children are indeed influenced by violent media and it can lead to physical aggression in their day-to-day lives without them even knowing it. Considering the amount of violence on television and in video games these days this is very troubling.
Media violence can lead to aggression which can lead to conflict and conflict can lead to war. If two leaders are both aggressive people who don’t want to back down and want to fight then there will be a war. While the reasons behind war are usually politics, religion, and predisposition the leaders may be more aggressive, and therefore more likely to go to war, if they were exposed to media violence as children. The relation of media to violence and aggression is large and even for the more violent forms of assault the findings are as statistically significant as those linking aspirin to preventing heart attacks. (Anderson 1)
In order to save a life we need to stop showing our children that violence is okay. We need to stop turning a blind eye to violence in the media especially in children’s games, movies, and television shows. If this callous view of hurt and death that is so often portrayed by them were erased then there would be less desensitization and aggressive scripts would not be as accessible. This would cause the levels of violence in the real world to go down. Aggression and violence lead to conflicts in which people die. Reducing violence helps reduce conflict and death.

Works Cited
Craig A. Anderson, Leonard Berkowitz, Edward Donnerstein, L. Rowell Huesmann, James D. Johnson, Daniel Linz, Neil M. Malamuth, and Ellen Wartella. The Influence of Media Violence on Youth. American Psychological Society. December 2003.