Link Between Violence and the Media

Two psychologists at Iowa State University recently wrote that "The link between television and violence in society is now as well established as the fact that smoking causes cancer" (Hathaway, 2002, 16). The link between media and violent behavior seems indisputable considering that of the more than 3500 studies conducted on the issue, only 18 did not show a positive correlation between media exposure and violence in society (Chatfield, 2002, 735). A recent study reported in Science claims that "children who watch more than an hour of television a day are more likely to commit acts of aggression later in life" (Hathaway, 2002, 16).

The medical community has been concerned with the issue of media violence and its impact on viewers since the 1950s. However, escalating levels of violent and aggressive behavior in children have prompted increasing amounts of research into the issue by groups as diverse as the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the National Center for Children Exposed to Violence and Trauma. In today's society, the media often takes the place of teachers, parents and others who typically model behavior for children and provide information about the world. Media includes television, commercial or self-recorded videos, movies, video games, print, radio, recorded music, and the Internet. The AAP estimates that children between 2 and 18 years of age spend six-and-a-half to eight hours a day with media - more time than any ot

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f it in an entertaining and glamorous manner. Such frequent and entertaining depictions of violence have many believing that the growing culture of incivility in society begins with children. A 2000 report by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) entitled Marketing Violent Entertain to Children found that media industries are often guilty of regularly and illegitimately marketing violent entertainment aimed at adolescents and preadolescents. Dave Grossman, a psychologist and media researcher, argues that this kind of media content and marketing strategy is creating a greater capacity for violence in children. A retired U.S. Army Lieutenant, Grossman likens this to the same tactics used by the military in teaching a soldier to overcome natural and instinctive barriers to killing: "The psychological tools of repetition, desensitization, and escalation, combined with the instinct for survival, all contribute to a solder's - or a child's - capacity for violence" (Lavers, 2002, 28). The increasing level of violence in the media and the interactive nature of video games that reward children when they learn to be successfully violent have generated concern over the physical and mental health problems they engender in children. The AAP r

Category: Psychology - L