Violent Television Content and Aggression

Posted: March 27th, 2020

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Violent Television Content and Aggression

Occurrences that have involved the imposition of harm and danger on innocent civilians, especially in countries such as the United States have raised concerns on the concept of violence. Studies have often asserted a relationship between the provision of violent media content and the recurrence of aggravation. Based on this association, the discourse raises several hypothetical statements aimed at addressing the rational and evidentiary nature of the issue. The first hypothesis states that exposure to violent content in television, specifically advertisements, may lead to the development of aggression among children and young adults. The next hypothesis establishes that exposure to media content that generally encouraged violence may influence increased levels of aggression among children.

Some studies support a positive correlation between advertisements centered on violent content and the development of aggressive behavior among children. In an investigation by Huesmann et al., a longitudinal study was performed based on children that were assessed between 1977 and 1992 regarding the correlation between violent content and implications on aggression (211). Accordingly, the previous research discovered that incremental levels of aggression for the girls and boys that engaged in viewing violence in content such as movies and series were predominantly evident despite the establishment of controls for preliminary aggressiveness (Huesmann et al. 215). Huesmann et al.’s follow up study further discovered that the boys and girls that watched more violent media content during their middle-childhood age developed into aggressive young men and women. Interestingly, these developments were not derived or based on external aspects such as demographic qualities, parenting activities, and intelligence.

In another study on the relationship between violent media content and aggression among children, research by Scharrer (405) discovered a significant correlation between advertisements regarding violent video games and increased levels of aggression among children as well as adults. The study in question was limited by the gap in information as well as findings regarding the investigation on advertising and commercial messages usually applied in the endorsement of violent video games. Nonetheless, the study was able to address the gap in question by engaging in a quantitative content assessment of 1054 commercials for games that appeared in video game magazines with considerable popularity. In this respect, Scharrer (408) was able to point out how excessive such advertisements disseminate and endorse violent video games aside from engaging in the patriarchal portrayal of males as well as the exhibition of weapons in each commercial.

After the assessment of violent content exhibited in media content such as video games and films, Anderson et al. (85) engaged in the evaluation of experiments based on the supposed relationship between aggression and violent television content. According to the study, analyses that were meta-analyzed revealed that the exhibition of violent films, dramas, cartoons, and video clips influenced a rise in the risks associated with susceptibility to aggression and violence among children. In essence, children that regularly engaged in the observation of violent media content were bound to behave and act increasingly aggressive towards other children instantaneously. The quasi-experiment performed by Anderson et al. (92-95) further discovered that children within the preschool, elementary, and high school levels exhibited more aggression when exposed to violent media content in contrast to other children that watched non-violent content. Interestingly, the quasi-experiment further shows that adults, as well as college students, behaved more aggressively when exposed to the respective content.

Works Cited

Anderson, Craig A., Leonard Berkowitz, Edward Donnerstein, L. Rowell Huesmann, James D. Johnson, Daniel Linz, Neil M. Malamuth, and Ellen Wartella. “Influence of Media Violence on Youth.” Psychological Science in the Public Interest, vol. 4, no. 3, 2003, pp. 81-110.

Huesmann, L. Rowell, Jessica Moise-Titus, Cheryl-Lynn Podolski, and Leonard D. Eron. “Longitudinal Relations between Children’s Exposure to TV Violence and Their Aggressive and Violent Behavior in Young Adulthood: 1977-1992.” Developmental Psychology, vol. 39, no. 2, 2003, pp. 201-221.

Scharrer, Erica. “Virtual Violence: Gender and Aggression in Video Game Advertisements.” Mass Communication and Society, vol. 7, no. 4, 2004, pp. 393-412.