Today, we as a society across the world consume media in what seems to be at all times of the day. Whether we see a TV at home, at work, at a restaurant, a gas station, etc., it is always around us. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing until we realize what kind of material is being showcased to us. How often is it that we see an act of violence? In real life or in the media? Of course there is a big difference between the two but there still are effects on us from being exposed to that image in the media more than we realize. Studies have shown that watching television violence has effects in people such as increase in aggression and increase in violent crimes such as homicides.
There was a quasi-experimental study conducted in 1973 which took place in “Notel,” Canada. Children were analyzed after being exposed to television for the first time in their lives. The results throughout the experiment in this town were compared to two other towns “Unitel” and “Multitel” which had both already been exposed to television before Notel was. After the comparison of “both before and two years after the introduction of TV to Notel” (Gruman, pg. 159) the analysis was concluded. They found that “rates of both physical aggression and verbal aggression increased dramatically in Notel children after the introduction of TV.” (Gruman, pg. 160). This study displayed regular TV of its time and not just violence, however, the amount of violence within regular TV broadcasting still resulted in increased aggression in children.
Another quasi-experimental study on TV violence effects was conducted by Centerwall in 1989. They had compared the U.S. and Canada’s early exposure to TV from the 1950’s to South-Africa being introduced to TV in 1975. Their study had shown that “following the introduction of TV in each of these three countries, the homicide rates remained fairly constant for roughly 10-12 years, but then doubled by the 15th year.” (Gruman, pg.160). They claim that TV was responsible for this increase in homicides in these three countries. And their answer for the 15 year gap in the doubling of homicides is “the effect of the introduction of TV on violent homicides may have been delayed until children who were 3 or 4 years old when TV was introduced were old enough to be committing acts of violence – typically in their late adolescent years – approximately 15 years after the introduction of TV.” (Gruman, pg.160). However, Ceneterwall did overestimate the responsibility TV had on the homicides and did not consider factors that could have changed the results. Nonetheless, I still believe this experiment provides proficient evidence of TV violence having the influence on people committing a violent crime like homicide.
In conclusion, these studies have shown that TV influences people’s actions after they have been exposed to it. We have seen from the experiment in Notel that TV promotes increases of aggression in children. And we see the later effects of that in Centerwall’s experiment in South-Africa where children are exposed to TV and in later life they double the amount of homicides when they are old enough to be physically able to commit those crimes. These quasi-experiments have proof that the violence in TV influences people to be more aggressive and more violent.
References
Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (2016). Applied Social Psychology : Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems. (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications.