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Influence of Violent Media

Violent media refers to media that portrays actions of an individual, or group of individuals, in the real world as violent behavior. Media such as social media, video games, crime film, and other forms of media all have a unique influence on the audiences behavior of the audience. The correlation between violent media and aggressive behavior has not been proven. This has resulted in more questions surrounding how the media people consume influences there behavior. Researchers have examined different groups of people to measure the level of influence from violent media in those communities. Although a correlation cannot be made between both subjects, the repeated exposure of consuming violent media exposes people to higher risk of embodying violent behavior.

Desensitization

Desensitization

Moderation is often the gateway between addiction and indifference. However, in this case the overexposure or overstimulation of a violent media source creates desensitization. Krahé et al. investigated the connection between desensitization to vicious media stimuli and exposure to repeated violent media as risk factors for aggressive cognitions and behaviors.The study supports the findings of other researchers that exposure to violent media increases the risks for aggression in the short term and long term. The study posits that mimicry and priming are some of the key short-term implications of violent media on aggression. In contrast, desensitization and observational learning explain the long-term impacts of exposure to violent media on aggression. Desensitization in media violence changes individuals’ internal state and alters their response to violent stimuli. Whereas habitual exposure to violent media yields positive arousal and excitement towards aggression, desensitization reduces the arousal to counter media violence.

At Risk Communities

African American Young Adults

The African American community is no stranger to violent media having such a tight grip on the African American population. In much of the hip-hop music there is this abundance of gangster rap. This music genre often references illegal gang activity, objectify women, and the notoriety that comes with committing crimes. In research carried out on 100 black college students attending a Historically Black College and University in the United States showed a correlation between consumption of violence in media and aggressive behavior in black students. Black college students are among the leading consumers of violent media associated with aggression. Accessibility to violent media has increased, particularly among college students, due to their relatively higher levels of freedom. Most of the media consumed by young adults contain aggression and violence with exposure to several acts of murder. Black young adults are higher chances of being depicted as lawbreakers on American television and highly portrayed aggressively and violently. As a result, black individuals are at a significantly higher risk of adverse exposure to media violence.

Children

Children are watching a nice cartoon.

The influence of a child tend to be the product of the environment that they grow up around. The controversy that surrounds the video games that children play continues heat up as time goes on. Video game rating systems are used to act as a barrier between children gaining access to more mature video games. The media, outside of video games, that children consume often has those rating systems, but are still bypassed somehow. Wagar and Mandracchia investigated the connection between exposure to violent media and aggressive behavior. The study hypothesized that criminogenic thinking can mediate the association between exposure to violent media and aggressive behavior. According to the study, there is a substantial connection between violent media exposure and aggression among youths. Exposure to violent media is a significant risk factor for long-term adverse outcomes in terms of lack of empathy, aggressive cognitions, and aggressive behavior. With continued exposure to violent media, desensitization to violence results in increased aggression as a fear response to violence diminishes. The observational learning theory explains the increased aggression due to continued exposure to violent media, which suggests that kids learn behavior through imitating models in their lives. The study also established that criminogenic thinking could mediate the correlation between exposure to violent media and aggression.

Furthermore, Anderson and Bushman investigated exposure to violent media and its influence on various developmental, cognitive, social, and emotional courses that increase the risk of aggression. Exposure to media violence can escalate violence by triggering angry feelings, aggressive thoughts, and increased psychological arousal. The study has utilized the general aggression model to explain these observations. In the short term, exposure to violent media yields aggressive behavior through priming, mimicking, and arousal. In the long term, it causes aggression through observational learning and desensitization. Observational learning occurs through watching a model, which triggers a child to imitate what they see. Once children are exposed to violent media, they are likely to interpret it by imitating the models in the film/movie, which leads to the development of aggressive behavior. Recurrent exposure to vicious media is likely to corrupt people’s perception of the world and end up imagining the world as a fully aggressive place where violence is the order of the day.

Communities outside the United States

Saudi Arabian Young Adults

These effects of violent media aren't just for populations in the United States, but also are present in other parts of the world. Dhafar and his colleagues investigated the effect of media violence on young adults’ hostile and criminal conduct in Saudi Arabia. The study has highlighted key factors such as being male, exposure to domestic violence, low literacy levels of parents, area of residence, and exposure to media violence as the leading causes of aggression among adolescents. Media violence, in this case, includes video games and films/movies. According to the study, there is an affiliation between exposure to aggression in media and playing violent video games and aggressive behavior among adolescents. The study has established that socio-demographic characteristics of the parents and habitual exposure to media violence and violent videogames is a leading risk factors for aggression among adolescents.

Defense Mechanisms

Starting early in the monitoring o exposure that a child is to media can lead to better ways of fighting these effects. An article by Khurana et al., hypothesizes that media violence exposure is leads to aggressive behavior among the youths. The study also proposes variations in the aggression risk based on a person’s unique risks and protective factors. The interaction between media violence exposure and domestic violence exposure is likely to yield aggression among adolescents. Such aggressive behavior can be addressed through increased parental monitoring. Other interventions that can prevent aggression among adolescents due to exposure to violent media are addressing domestic conflicts and reducing exposure to media violence.

The effects of exposure to media violence are extreme and have been linked with increased aggression due to the violent themes and depictions in the media. Several scientific findings have associated exposure to violent media with increased aggression and an increase in desensitization. Although several factors cumulatively trigger aggression in adolescents, exposure to media violence has been established to increase the relative risk of such behavior. The study has identified children and males as at a higher risk of being affected by increased exposure to violent media. Parents and society can address the adverse impacts of violent media exposure by adopting various measures to reduce excessive exposure and consumption of prosocial and violent content.

Parental media monitoring reduces exposure to prosocial violent media. Autonomy supportive restrictive monitoring lowers exposure to violent and prosocial content. On the other hand, autonomy-supportive, active monitoring resulted in increased prosocial behavior and increased exposure to prosocial media content. Parents can reduce children’s exposure to violent content through autonomy-supportive restrictive parental monitoring. Prosocial violent content and violent content have the same implications on adolescents’ relational and physical aggression. Utilizing autonomy-supportive restrictive parental monitoring will reduce exposure to such content and thus reduce aggression among the youths.

Conclusion

There isn't a direct correlation between violent media leading to violent actions, however there is an effect that the media has on how people behave. After reading articles that talk about creating more monitoring measures for the youth, changes can be made to mitigate the effects of this issue. Starting monitoring procedure in early childhood can be a source used to combat the effects of media influence.

Indian children smiling and hugging.

Future Advancements

Krahé posits that violent media exposure is a significant risk factor for aggression. The study also establishes that the association between violent media exposure and aggression is consistent across different cross-cultural settings. Different countries have identified similar paths in which violent media exposure has yielded aggressive behavior. However, the study has identified significant gaps in the study of media violence exposure in different cultural contexts, thus justifying the need for systematic cross-cultural research. More research needs to be done on a cross-cultural level in order to correctly identify more communities that are at risk of this type of behavior. Furthering the scientific reach also helps us to figure out what other ways to combat the influence of media on our behavior in life. Starting in the younger population researchers should do cross-cultural longitudinal studies in order to measure the ages that are the most vulnerable to violent media's influence. The longitudinal study works as a tool to measure outside factors that may present themselves through adolescents (peer pressure, puberty, etc.)