Media Violence and the Violent Male Adolescent
My research led me to form some new hypotheses on the correlation of violence in the media, namely television, movies, and video games, to the rise in violent behavior in adolescents. For this essay, I will focus on male adolescents. I will use multiple lenses for my research to (1) establish the increase in violent acts by adolescents in the past two decades; (2) use proven research to show the impact of media violence on the individual; and (3) to illustrate my "recipe for disaster," four correlations that contribute to the effects of media violence on male adolescents.
Rise in Youth Violence
According to the United States Department of Justice ("DOJ"), (1999)
…show more content…
The majority of these studies reach the same conclusion: television and film violence leads to real-world violence" (Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 1999). Many of the studies I researched reported similar statistics with more emphasis on male adolescents.
My recipe for disaster focuses on the following four correlations: (1) susceptibility of the individual/prevalent traits (males), (2) social isolation, (3) exposure to violence, and (4) reenacting the violent behavior.
1. Susceptibility: Gender studies and Violence
The first factor contributing to adolescent violence deals with individual predispositions and susceptibility toward violent influences. The male appears to have a greater tendency towards violence and is shown in studies to find more enjoyment in violent acts. A Social Psychologist in the 1980s initiated a study on media violence and behavior in males: Josephson (1987) examined the combined effects of exposure to violence in films and retrieval cues with aggressive and non-aggressive second and third grade boys. His hypothesis confirmed that the boys who were previously rated as aggressive did increase their violent behavior, more so when frustration was added to the experiment. His possible conclusions were that children imitated the low self-control of the characters in the film, and engaged in deviant behavior. He calls his theory "stress
THESIS STATEMENT: The world’s media today seem to have more violence than ever. Video games have vivid depictions of accident catastrophes, fighting and murder. Television news programs generally lead with a violent story in order to gain an audience. This is free society people can stay what they want. ‘’ Media violence has many negative effect on youth today to commit crimes in society.’’
Assessing potentially violent students is one thing, but determining what is causing these high-risk teens to act out is another. Numerous reasons have been suggested as to why teenagers kill. One possibility could be the media. This includes music, movies, books and video games. Social science research conducted over the past 40 years supports the conclusion that viewing violent television programming has negative consequences for children, and the research suggests three factors in which watching violent television programs can impact young viewers. (Aidman, 1997) These factors say that media violence can encourage children to learn aggressive behavior and attitudes, media violence can cultivate fearful or pessimistic attitudes in children about the non- television world, and media violence can desensitize children to real-world and fantasy violence. One very controversial music artist made headlines when the Columbine massacre occurred. From day one,
Media has dramatically changed over time from black white to coloured screens, from newspaper to having information on fingertips. Media has also become more violet in comparison to what it was over the past generations, as now video games and movies are action packed. The studies conducted by research scientist show various results from harmful to neutral effects of media, all these studies were children and teenage based it was not highly focused on adults.
(1).The problem is that in the last four decades, the government and the public health amassed an impressive body of evidence identifying the impact of media violence on children. Since 1969, when President [Lyndon] Johnson formed the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence, the body of data has effectively grown and grown and it leads to an unambiguous and virtually unanimous conclusion: media violence contributes to
The past violence that the subject and his brother suffered through is a large factor in their need for violent satisfaction. The lack of emotional support and adoration can connect with the subject’s sexual gratification that he achieves through killing. Relentless abuse ongoing throughout childhood backed by neglect in school (often connatural with social mistreatment) can “create a violent, deviant personality” (Pakhomou, 220). Children are greatly impact with what surrounds them. The negativity and violence that are exposed to them will form lasting flashbulb memories that can shape not only their actions in the future but how they understand and perceive life. Violence plays a big part in developing the characteristics of a serial killer, but there are also other components that can lead to a distraught and homicidal person. In a research composed by James Beasley, he presents several different factors of development into becoming a serial killer through the case studies of seven offenders. Offender number three had multiple challenges that led him to become as aggressive and hostile as he was. As a child, his mother was completely absent and was an alcoholic. His stepfather, who physically and verbally abused him, lacked the comfort and attention any child would need. After learning that he would repeat the third grade, his behavior became hostile and he showed a lack of self-esteem. At the age of seven, the subject already began to show
The article “Violence As Fun” by Randall Sullivan brings up this issue, arguing that parents need to be educated on the dangers of allowing their children to watch violent TV programs. The author supports this with evidence from a report conducted by The American Psychological Association, where they concluded that early substance abuse, access to weapons, isolation, and widespread display of violence in media; the latter being greater, contributes to the violent behaviors in adolescents. He also points out that since the 1950s, aggravated assaults have increased seven times. The passage further emphasizes that many TV outlets know the damaging effects that violence in media has on juveniles, yet only a few acknowledge this fact. Sullivan’s
Many people still have several questions they want answered, such as, is media violence actually affecting children or are children already prone to violence drawn to media violence? Some experts have shown short and long-term negative effects occur in children from watching violent media; however another group of experts have shown that media violence is only one of many risk factors leading to aggression developed in children. These two groups need to continue more research and go beyond that to find true solutions. Nevertheless, no sources were found to say that media violence has no influence on the increase in modern culture’s violent actions. The key to discovering the true correlation between violence in children and media violence is to continue research until a solution is
This leads to lack of sympathy for victims of violence, notably in children. The surgeon general, National Health Institute and other professional medical organizations such as the American Medical Association and American Psychological Association have linked exposure to media violence to societal violence. The author argues that these studies may not be of considerable importance to claim that media violence is a public health risk. There other factors that are of more concern for societal violence such as being male or female, socioeconomic status, and intelligence. More research needs to be done before arguing media violence has a role in societal violence. I chose this article because it associates societal violence with the film industry. We see how different members of the film industry respond after a violent school shooting committed by an adolescent male. It shows opposing views of whether or not media violence affects behaviour, stating that the general public doesn’t believe it plays a role in
With children having easier access to media and a wider variety of content, the possible negative influence on health issues such as sex, drugs, obesity and eating disorders is increased, along with the influence of violence (Media para 3). The viewpoint claims that children learn their attitudes toward violence at a young age and that makes it difficult to reverse and modify these attitudes (Media para 1). Several studies have shown that violent boys tend to watch more TV, choose more violent content and get more enjoyment out of it (Cutler para 3). Because of all the love in boys for violent television and games they tend to grow up in a violent aggressive way and have a greater chance than someone not a fan of violent media to make the wrong
Some may go on to argue that children have grown up watching TV violence for many years now, so that there must be some other explanation for the recent surge in youth violence. However, this argument is flawed. Not until the past few decades have conclusive studies on the effects of television violence been performed. As more of these studies are done, the evidence is becoming increasingly clear that there are adverse effects of television violence on children.
A range of studies assert that causes of violent behavior are complex at the level of environmental influence and compare other learning, modelling and disinhibiting factors. This is an area where opposition to the hypothesis is more common. Two longitudinal studies assessing levels of violence pre-and post the introduction of television found a positive correlation, however
In recent times, the news media has cried out against violent media, painting it as the leading cause for youth violence. Following events such as the Columbine massacre, news sources have vilified violent media, claiming that it is a primary cause of violent behavior in youths. This analysis provides firm research on the subject from the opposing and supporting sources, giving a thorough definition to the term “violent media” and brings forth evidence that other psychological effects and environmental factors are more significant causes of increased youth aggression than violent media.
According to John Davidson's essay Menace to Society, "three-quarters of Americans surveyed [are] convinced that movies, television and music spur young people to violence." While public opinion is strong, the results of research are divided on the effects of media violence on the youth in this country. Davidson wrote that most experts agree that some correlation between media violence and actual violent acts exists, yet the results are contradictory and researchers quibble about how the effects are to be measured (271). Moreover, Davidson is not convinced that the media is the sole problem of violence, or even a primary problem. He points out that other factors, such as
As evidence has shown, children view many violent scenes while watching television, movies, or playing video games, but the question still remains: What psychological effect does violence in the media have on children? Research over the past 10 years has consistently shown that there is a cause-and-effect relationship between media violence and real-life aggression (Strasburger 129). Violence in the media can lead to aggressive behavior by children and teenagers who watch the various programs. Of course, not all children who watch television, or movies, or play video games develop aggressive behavior. However, there is a strong correlation between media violence and aggressive behavior. A study, published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry, examined how children's television viewing practices are related to aggressive behaviors. The results revealed that children who reported watching greater amounts of television per day had higher levels of violent behavior than children who reported lesser amounts of television viewing (Singer 1041). Witnessing violence is an important determining factor in violent behavior. The media serves as a means for children to witness violence. According to Bandura's Social Learning Theory, children imitate behavior that they see on television, especially if the person performing the behavior is attractive or if the
In the book Critique of Violence ,author Walter describes Violence as "The intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, which either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, male development, or deprivation .The violence that is portrayed in the media has been debated for decades ,and it has rose a question about how does it influence the youth?. From movies to video games society has been accustom to seeing violence in their everyday entertainment. Since children are easy to be influence by their environment, it is safe to say that violence in the media can and will contribute to violent behavior.