Media violence presents a risk to public health, and it contributes towards having an increased level of violence and aggression in the real world. Research indicates that fictional film and television violence lead to having short-term as well as a long-term increases in violence and aggression among the young viewers (Huesmann & Taylor, 2007). It is also pointed out that the television news violence “also contributes to increased violence, principally in the form of imitative suicides and acts of aggression” (Huesmann & Taylor, 2007, p.393).
According to Hassan, et al (2009), the overall trend of the research findings indicates a positive link between movies violence and aggressive attitudes. It is pointed out that “the preponderance of evidence from many research studies in over two decades ago shows that the violence portrayed on media influences the attitudes and behavior of children who watch it” (Hassan, et al, 2009, p.154). In addition, Hassan, et al (2009) observe that a larger proportion of the scientific evidence gives a revelation that there exists a relationship between media violence and violent or aggressive behavior. As on one hand, a smaller number of people point out that there exists absolute proof that engaging in watching violence on this media caused violent behavior, on the other hand, the “overall cumulative weight” of all the studies examined by Hassan, et al (2009) gives credibility to the position that they are related. Media violence is among the things which may contribute towards having “aggressive, antisocial, or criminal attitudes; it does, however, usually work in association with other factors” (Hassan, et al, p.154).
As on one hand, the results of the effect studies on violence in TV as well as film show consistency, on the other hand, several theories explain the effects of exposure to media. The “general aggression model” or GAM constructed by Anderson and Bushman is presented as “a unifying framework for the explanation of human aggression” (Munich, et al, 2008, p.80). This model has a reliance on the short-term effect, “arousal and cognition components, but includes long-term knowledge structures including aggressive beliefs and expectation schemata or behavior scripts” (Munich, et al, 2008, p.80). In summary, the GAM accounts for a broad range of effects that can be seen in media violence and the declines in prosocial behaviors that follow, and on the changes in the social environment which come about as the developing child turns out to be consistently violent (Anderson, et al, 2007).
Putting it into consideration that “the development and expression of aggressive tendencies in children are influenced not only by exposure to media violence by a variety of factors” (Anderson, et al, 2007, p.45), the general aggression model encompasses the personal as well as ecological factors. The current version of the general aggression model is quite similar to a “risk and resilient perspective” (Anderson, et al, 2007, p.48). It is pointed out that the proximate causes may be “momentary emotional states such as frustration, bad mood, or they could be personal variables such as violence beliefs, aggressive scripts, or competencies of self-regulation” (Munich, et al, 2008, p.80). This model explains the increase in individual aggressiveness through a compound of risk factors integrating the cumulative risk model presented by Masten (Munich, et al, 2008). According to the cumulative risk model, this assumes that there is an extra or additional risk factor, for example, drug abuse, low social status, poverty, or parental violence. An explanation is presented by Anderson et al (2007) that a single risk factor like media violence is not adequate “to cause children to pick up guns and begin shooting people…however, each additional risk factor children have for aggressive behavior adds to the risk factor of that child acting violently” (Anderson et al, 2007, p.50).
Munich, et al (2008), in their study investigated the long-term effects of exposure to media violence at twelve years of age on antisocial behavior and violence beliefs two years later. Based on the suggestions presented by the general aggression model, the personal and the ecological factors were encompassed as the potential distal causes of aggressive tendencies (Munich, et al, 2008, p.91). Age, when people get acquainted with film violence, has been considered as one of the factors of personal risk. It was found out that the total exposure to media violence is the strongest factor in determining the violence of the students at the age of fourteen. It was also found out that those experiencing aggressive emotions such as rage and hate, “associated with feelings of power and dominance when viewing media violence, continues to affect aggressive experiences of real violence between or in peer groups” (Munich, et al, 2008, p.91).
References
Anderson, C.A., Gentile, D.A., & Buckley, K.E. (2007). Violent video game affects children and adolescents. New York, NY: Oxford University Press
Munich, S. O. et al. (2008). Media Violence and Youth Violence: A 2-Year Longitudinal Study. Journal of Media Psychology, 20(3),79–96
Hassan, S. et al. (2009). Effects of watching violent movies on attitudes concerning aggression among middle school boys at International School at Kuala in Lumpur, Malaysia. European Journal of Scientific Research, 38(1), 141 – 156.
Huesmann, R. & Taylor, L., (2007). The Role Of media Violence In Violent Behavior. Annu. Rev. Public Health. 27:393–415