Media Violence

While the media has shown how useful and positive it can be in out lies, it also comes with a lot of negative aspects that can be brought into our lives. Adolescents specifically spend a large amount of time using on or more forms of media. In 2009, adolescents spent close to eleven hours a day being exposed to media (Schneider, 2012). Some of this media is informational and educational. Others are exposing adolescents to violence, sex, and health while changing their thoughts on these points.

Media violence is seen in many different programs. While it is not uncommon to go through the television and see people fighting or even shooting other people, these situations are also played out in video games as well. Unfortunately, many parents are unaware of the consequences it has on their children. These facts are important to know especially because about 85% of television shows have violence in them (Schneider, 2012 ).

In studies, it is found that the cathartic effect does not happen with TV violence. With this being said, viewing the violence on television does not relieve stress and help with aggression (Schneider, 2012 ). While watching television shows with violence, it is likely that those watching it are learning how to imitate the violence. This is supported with the social cognitive learning theory. This theory had four different processes that help with the imitation of violence. Attention, representational process, behavioral production process, and motivational process are those that are seen in this theory. This is because often, we learn what we watch through the media (Schneider, 2012 ).

While learning this, I think about my older brother’s son. He is a five year old boy that loves to watch wrestling. Although we try to explain to him that he cannot do what he sees on television, he often tries to do the moves that he has seen the wrestlers do. Unfortunately, wrestling gets his attention. With the representational process, the behavior is being remembered and modeled. As I think about my nephew, he does remember everything he watching on wrestling and attempts to model what he views. While my nephew watches the wrestlers hit each other, he then generalizes this to do the same to his dad and sister. This is the behavioral production process. While watching him wrestle my brother and niece, he often does a few of his favorite moves. This motivational process allows him to perform the moves that he is most motivated to perform.

As children are viewing the media, they are learning violence and changing how they think about the violence. While parents are not always aware of how this can hurt their children, it is important for them to be educated about it. The social cognitive theory allows people to understand how children watching violent media are learning how to imitate it. Unfortunately, this can result in others getting hurt when the violence is imitated.

 

References:

Schneider, F. W., Gruman, J. A., and Coutts, L. M. (Eds.) (2012). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

2 comments

  1. I really enjoyed reading this post and learning more about how media violence. I know several people that allow their children to play violent video games and watch violent television shows because they think that watching them will not cause them to do what they are watching. While they are watching these actions, they are becoming more attracted to what they are watching and if they have an interest in it they may also began to act out what they are viewing. In my opinion, there should be a decrease in the amount of violence that is shown in the media. With all of the understanding and studies on how it can affect people, it is obvious that a decrease in violence in the media would help decrease violent situations.

  2. Patricia L Thomas

    I want to expand more on children viewing the media and how they are viewing violence. There are several examples that viewing aggressive behavior in childhood has a hand in aggression in children. One of the best examples of this study is the bobo doll experiment. After viewing aggressive behavior they are more likely to imitate the behavior. Media has more of an effect on our youth than we realize and it can be a growing problem in the future.

    http://www.simplypsychology.org/bobo-doll.html

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