The Effects of Media Violence

The Effects of Media Violence

Katie Murphy

Media violence’s effect on our behavior is a growing topic of interest especially when we observe its influence on the expanding minds of children. Laura Stockdale from the Department of Psychology at Loyola University Chicago spoke to Neuroscience Society about media violence and the consequences its high exposure rates. At first I was somewhat skeptical of the accusations on media violence and its potential effects on our behavior. I thought to myself, its just meaningless entertainment, it doesn’t change who I am. After her presentation, I was convinced, not that media violence makes people violent, but that media definitely influences thinking and possibly behavior whether we realize it or not. Often, media violence occurs between a hero and villain. These violent behaviors performed by the hero are justified and seen as rewarding and result in few to no consequences. Children see and idolize these hero’s as they enter into countless battles strapped with machine guns and swords to kill the enemy. The result is glory. Children often have a hard time seeing where the line is drawn between imagination and reality. When a child is playing with their toy guns and swords at home, whether they use them in a purely innocent act or not, this still shows a sense of desensitization to weapons and their use. Stockdale says that there’s a growing concern of medias effects on physical aggression, specifically the intent to harm another person and it is seen in both genders through different types of aggressive behavior. Stockdale states that all media seems to have an interaction with behavior. This makes sense when you think about the music or movies you might choose based on your mood or how it makes you feel.

Violence in the media cant force people to act violently, however, it has been shown to increase desensitization to violent and aggressive behavior therefore, impairing ones judgment. Longitudinal, cross-sectional and experimental studies have examined and confirmed this relationship between media violence and its aggressive consequences seen in youth.

Violence isn’t anything new so why is violence in media such a big deal?

In America, 99% of homes have at least one TV and people have shown to use media for as many hours a week as a full time job (Beresin, 2014). Laura Stockdale’s study shows that the average amount of time Americans spend using media is around 11 hours a day (and more on the weekend). About 4.5 hours a day was found to be spent watching TV, 2.5 hours listening to music and 1 hour playing video games. With this much contact with potentially violent and aggressive media, it’s not wonder why an aggressive mood and behavior might be induced. Dr. Eugene Beresin found that today’s youth watch about 28 hours of TV a week and witness 200, 000 plus acts of violence and 16,000 plus murders before even reaching that age of 18. Even children’s programs have about 20 acts of violence per hour (Beresin, 2014).

For those who look at media as JUST entertainment the way I did, there are studies out there, which actually show differences in brain activity when exposed to violent media. In a study at Indiana University School of Medicine, MRI brain scans were performed on young men before and after ONLY one week of playing violent video games. There were significant changes in activation in the prefrontal area of the brain as well as the amygdala. The prefrontal activation declined, which deals with decision-making and self-control. On the other hand the amygdala activation showed increased activation, which is involved in emotions and can trigger aggression and impulsive behavior (Archer, 2013). This still doesn’t prove a causal relationship between media and violence but this could be a new way to understand the possible triggers and events that are going on during exposure to violent media. Other studies have shown that violent movies can increase hostile behavior and have also shown that this aggressive behavior is retained for some while. Further, a study looked at worldviews of children’s who watch violent films verses those who don’t. Those who watched violent films were much more likely to associate negative attributes to their views on the world and believe it to be more of an aggressive place than children who don’t watch violent films (Archer, 2013).

Although there’s a lack in the literature on causal evidence of violent media producing violent or aggressive acts, there’s also no evidence against it. Media is consumed with violence but that doesn’t mean that everyone is tainted and bound to behave violently. It does introduce the idea that media should be monitored and regulated especially amongst children (Pozios, 2013). The role that media plays and its potential to advocate violent or aggressive behavior needs to be further examined. I don’t personally believe that media can turn someone into a serial killer but as Stockdale along with others suggest, it can promote relational aggression and desensitization to violent acts as well as desensitization of perception of others pain amongst youth. It creates a more fearful world to children and could lead to children acting more aggressively or harmful towards others (Violence in the Media).

Work cited

Archer, Dale. "Violence, The Media And Your Brain." Psychology Today., 2013.

Beresin, Eugene. "The Impact of Media Violence on Children and Adolescents:

            Opportunities for Clinical Interventions." American Academy of Children and

            Adolescent Psychiatry., 2014.

"Violence in the Media — Psychologists Study TV and Video Game Violence for

            Potential Harmful Effects." American Psychological Association., 2013.

Pozios, Vasilis K., Praveen R. Kambam, and Eric H. Bender. "Does Media Violence

            Lead to the Real Thing?" The New York Times, 2013.