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Violence, media effects, and criminology.

Nickie D. Phillips Nickie D. Phillips Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, St. Francis College
https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264079.013.189
Published online: 27 July 2017

Debate surrounding the impact of media representations on violence and crime has raged for decades and shows no sign of abating. Over the years, the targets of concern have shifted from film to comic books to television to video games, but the central questions remain the same. What is the relationship between popular media and audience emotions, attitudes, and behaviors? While media effects research covers a vast range of topics—from the study of its persuasive effects in advertising to its positive impact on emotions and behaviors—of particular interest to criminologists is the relationship between violence in popular media and real-life aggression and violence. Does media violence cause aggression and/or violence?

The study of media effects is informed by a variety of theoretical perspectives and spans many disciplines including communications and media studies, psychology, medicine, sociology, and criminology. Decades of research have amassed on the topic, yet there is no clear agreement about the impact of media or about which methodologies are most appropriate. Instead, there continues to be disagreement about whether media portrayals of violence are a serious problem and, if so, how society should respond.

Conflicting interpretations of research findings inform and shape public debate around media effects. Although there seems to be a consensus among scholars that exposure to media violence impacts aggression, there is less agreement around its potential impact on violence and criminal behavior. While a few criminologists focus on the phenomenon of copycat crimes, most rarely engage with whether media directly causes violence. Instead, they explore broader considerations of the relationship between media, popular culture, and society.

media exposure
criminal behavior
popular culture
media violence
media and crime
copycat crimes

Media Exposure, Violence, and Aggression

On Friday July 22, 2016 , a gunman killed nine people at a mall in Munich, Germany. The 18-year-old shooter was subsequently characterized by the media as being under psychiatric care and harboring at least two obsessions. One, an obsession with mass shootings, including that of Anders Breivik who ultimately killed 77 people in Norway in 2011 , and the other an obsession with video games. A Los Angeles, California, news report stated that the gunman was “an avid player of first-person shooter video games, including ‘Counter-Strike,’” while another headline similarly declared, “Munich gunman, a fan of violent video games, rampage killers, had planned attack for a year”(CNN Wire, 2016 ; Reuters, 2016 ). This high-profile incident was hardly the first to link popular culture to violent crime. Notably, in the aftermath of the 1999 Columbine shooting massacre, for example, media sources implicated and later discredited music, video games, and a gothic aesthetic as causal factors of the crime (Cullen, 2009 ; Yamato, 2016 ). Other, more recent, incidents have echoed similar claims suggesting that popular culture has a nefarious influence on consumers.

Media violence and its impact on audiences are among the most researched and examined topics in communications studies (Hetsroni, 2007 ). Yet, debate over whether media violence causes aggression and violence persists, particularly in response to high-profile criminal incidents. Blaming video games, and other forms of media and popular culture, as contributing to violence is not a new phenomenon. However, interpreting media effects can be difficult because commenters often seem to indicate a grand consensus that understates more contradictory and nuanced interpretations of the data.

In fact, there is a consensus among many media researchers that media violence has an impact on aggression although its impact on violence is less clear. For example, in response to the shooting in Munich, Brad Bushman, professor of communication and psychology, avoided pinning the incident solely on video games, but in the process supported the assertion that video gameplay is linked to aggression. He stated,

While there isn’t complete consensus in any scientific field, a study we conducted showed more than 90% of pediatricians and about two-thirds of media researchers surveyed agreed that violent video games increase aggression in children. (Bushman, 2016 )

Others, too, have reached similar conclusions with regard to other media. In 2008 , psychologist John Murray summarized decades of research stating, “Fifty years of research on the effect of TV violence on children leads to the inescapable conclusion that viewing media violence is related to increases in aggressive attitudes, values, and behaviors” (Murray, 2008 , p. 1212). Scholars Glenn Sparks and Cheri Sparks similarly declared that,

Despite the fact that controversy still exists about the impact of media violence, the research results reveal a dominant and consistent pattern in favor of the notion that exposure to violent media images does increase the risk of aggressive behavior. (Sparks & Sparks, 2002 , p. 273)

In 2014 , psychologist Wayne Warburton more broadly concluded that the vast majority of studies have found “that exposure to violent media increases the likelihood of aggressive behavior in the short and longterm, increases hostile perceptions and attitudes, and desensitizes individuals to violent content” (Warburton, 2014 , p. 64).

Criminologists, too, are sensitive to the impact of media exposure. For example, Jacqueline Helfgott summarized the research:

There have been over 1000 studies on the effects of TV and film violence over the past 40 years. Research on the influence of TV violence on aggression has consistently shown that TV violence increases aggression and social anxiety, cultivates a “mean view” of the world, and negatively impacts real-world behavior. (Helfgott, 2015 , p. 50)

In his book, Media Coverage of Crime and Criminal Justice , criminologist Matthew Robinson stated, “Studies of the impact of media on violence are crystal clear in their findings and implications for society” (Robinson, 2011 , p. 135). He cited studies on childhood exposure to violent media leading to aggressive behavior as evidence. In his pioneering book Media, Crime, and Criminal Justice , criminologist Ray Surette concurred that media violence is linked to aggression, but offered a nuanced interpretation. He stated,

a small to modest but genuine causal role for media violence regarding viewer aggression has been established for most beyond a reasonable doubt . . . There is certainly a connection between violent media and social aggression, but its strength and configuration is simply not known at this time. (Surette, 2011 , p. 68)

The uncertainties about the strength of the relationship and the lack of evidence linking media violence to real-world violence is often lost in the news media accounts of high-profile violent crimes.

Media Exposure and Copycat Crimes

While many scholars do seem to agree that there is evidence that media violence—whether that of film, TV, or video games—increases aggression, they disagree about its impact on violent or criminal behavior (Ferguson, 2014 ; Gunter, 2008 ; Helfgott, 2015 ; Reiner, 2002 ; Savage, 2008 ). Nonetheless, it is violent incidents that most often prompt speculation that media causes violence. More specifically, violence that appears to mimic portrayals of violent media tends to ignite controversy. For example, the idea that films contribute to violent crime is not a new assertion. Films such as A Clockwork Orange , Menace II Society , Set it Off , and Child’s Play 3 , have been linked to crimes and at least eight murders have been linked to Oliver Stone’s 1994 film Natural Born Killers (Bracci, 2010 ; Brooks, 2002 ; PBS, n.d. ). Nonetheless, pinpointing a direct, causal relationship between media and violent crime remains elusive.

Criminologist Jacqueline Helfgott defined copycat crime as a “crime that is inspired by another crime” (Helfgott, 2015 , p. 51). The idea is that offenders model their behavior on media representations of violence whether real or fictional. One case, in particular, illustrated how popular culture, media, and criminal violence converge. On July 20, 2012 , James Holmes entered the midnight premiere of The Dark Knight Rises , the third film in the massively successful Batman trilogy, in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. He shot and killed 12 people and wounded 70 others. At the time, the New York Times described the incident,

Witnesses told the police that Mr. Holmes said something to the effect of “I am the Joker,” according to a federal law enforcement official, and that his hair had been dyed or he was wearing a wig. Then, as people began to rise from their seats in confusion or anxiety, he began to shoot. The gunman paused at least once, several witnesses said, perhaps to reload, and continued firing. (Frosch & Johnson, 2012 ).

The dyed hair, Holme’s alleged comment, and that the incident occurred at a popular screening led many to speculate that the shooter was influenced by the earlier film in the trilogy and reignited debate around the impact about media violence. The Daily Mail pointed out that Holmes may have been motivated by a 25-year-old Batman comic in which a gunman opens fire in a movie theater—thus further suggesting the iconic villain served as motivation for the attack (Graham & Gallagher, 2012 ). Perceptions of the “Joker connection” fed into the notion that popular media has a direct causal influence on violent behavior even as press reports later indicated that Holmes had not, in fact, made reference to the Joker (Meyer, 2015 ).

A week after the Aurora shooting, the New York Daily News published an article detailing a “possible copycat” crime. A suspect was arrested in his Maryland home after making threatening phone calls to his workplace. The article reported that the suspect stated, “I am a [sic] joker” and “I’m going to load my guns and blow everybody up.” In their search, police found “a lethal arsenal of 25 guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition” in the suspect’s home (McShane, 2012 ).

Though criminologists are generally skeptical that those who commit violent crimes are motivated solely by media violence, there does seem to be some evidence that media may be influential in shaping how some offenders commit crime. In his study of serious and violent juvenile offenders, criminologist Ray Surette found “about one out of three juveniles reports having considered a copycat crime and about one out of four reports actually having attempted one.” He concluded that “those juveniles who are self-reported copycats are significantly more likely to credit the media as both a general and personal influence.” Surette contended that though violent offenses garner the most media attention, copycat criminals are more likely to be career criminals and to commit property crimes rather than violent crimes (Surette, 2002 , pp. 56, 63; Surette 2011 ).

Discerning what crimes may be classified as copycat crimes is a challenge. Jacqueline Helfgott suggested they occur on a “continuum of influence.” On one end, she said, media plays a relatively minor role in being a “component of the modus operandi” of the offender, while on the other end, she said, “personality disordered media junkies” have difficulty distinguishing reality from violent fantasy. According to Helfgott, various factors such as individual characteristics, characteristics of media sources, relationship to media, demographic factors, and cultural factors are influential. Overall, scholars suggest that rather than pushing unsuspecting viewers to commit crimes, media more often influences how , rather than why, someone commits a crime (Helfgott, 2015 ; Marsh & Melville, 2014 ).

Given the public interest, there is relatively little research devoted to exactly what copycat crimes are and how they occur. Part of the problem of studying these types of crimes is the difficulty defining and measuring the concept. In an effort to clarify and empirically measure the phenomenon, Surette offered a scale that included seven indicators of copycat crimes. He used the following factors to identify copycat crimes: time order (media exposure must occur before the crime); time proximity (a five-year cut-off point of exposure); theme consistency (“a pattern of thought, feeling or behavior in the offender which closely parallels the media model”); scene specificity (mimicking a specific scene); repetitive viewing; self-editing (repeated viewing of single scene while “the balance of the film is ignored”); and offender statements and second-party statements indicating the influence of media. Findings demonstrated that cases are often prematurely, if not erroneously, labeled as “copycat.” Surette suggested that use of the scale offers a more precise way for researchers to objectively measure trends and frequency of copycat crimes (Surette, 2016 , p. 8).

Media Exposure and Violent Crimes

Overall, a causal link between media exposure and violent criminal behavior has yet to be validated, and most researchers steer clear of making such causal assumptions. Instead, many emphasize that media does not directly cause aggression and violence so much as operate as a risk factor among other variables (Bushman & Anderson, 2015 ; Warburton, 2014 ). In their review of media effects, Brad Bushman and psychologist Craig Anderson concluded,

In sum, extant research shows that media violence is a causal risk factor not only for mild forms of aggression but also for more serious forms of aggression, including violent criminal behavior. That does not mean that violent media exposure by itself will turn a normal child or adolescent who has few or no other risk factors into a violent criminal or a school shooter. Such extreme violence is rare, and tends to occur only when multiple risk factors converge in time, space, and within an individual. (Bushman & Anderson, 2015 , p. 1817)

Surette, however, argued that there is no clear linkage between media exposure and criminal behavior—violent or otherwise. In other words, a link between media violence and aggression does not necessarily mean that exposure to violent media causes violent (or nonviolent) criminal behavior. Though there are thousands of articles addressing media effects, many of these consist of reviews or commentary about prior research findings rather than original studies (Brown, 2007 ; Murray, 2008 ; Savage, 2008 ; Surette, 2011 ). Fewer, still, are studies that specifically measure media violence and criminal behavior (Gunter, 2008 ; Strasburger & Donnerstein, 2014 ). In their meta-analysis investigating the link between media violence and criminal aggression, scholars Joanne Savage and Christina Yancey did not find support for the assertion. Instead, they concluded,

The study of most consequence for violent crime policy actually found that exposure to media violence was significantly negatively related to violent crime rates at the aggregate level . . . It is plain to us that the relationship between exposure to violent media and serious violence has yet to be established. (Savage & Yancey, 2008 , p. 786)

Researchers continue to measure the impact of media violence among various forms of media and generally stop short of drawing a direct causal link in favor of more indirect effects. For example, one study examined the increase of gun violence in films over the years and concluded that violent scenes provide scripts for youth that justify gun violence that, in turn, may amplify aggression (Bushman, Jamieson, Weitz, & Romer, 2013 ). But others report contradictory findings. Patrick Markey and colleagues studied the relationship between rates of homicide and aggravated assault and gun violence in films from 1960–2012 and found that over the years, violent content in films increased while crime rates declined . After controlling for age shifts, poverty, education, incarceration rates, and economic inequality, the relationships remained statistically non-significant (Markey, French, & Markey, 2015 , p. 165). Psychologist Christopher Ferguson also failed to find a relationship between media violence in films and video games and violence (Ferguson, 2014 ).

Another study, by Gordon Dahl and Stefano DellaVigna, examined violent films from 1995–2004 and found decreases in violent crimes coincided with violent blockbuster movie attendance. Here, it was not the content that was alleged to impact crime rates, but instead what the authors called “voluntary incapacitation,” or the shifting of daily activities from that of potential criminal behavior to movie attendance. The authors concluded, “For each million people watching a strongly or mildly violent movie, respectively, violent crime decreases by 1.9% and 2.1%. Nonviolent movies have no statistically significant impact” (Dahl & DellaVigna, p. 39).

High-profile cases over the last several years have shifted public concern toward the perceived danger of video games, but research demonstrating a link between video games and criminal violence remains scant. The American Psychiatric Association declared that “research demonstrates a consistent relation between violent video game use and increases in aggressive behavior, aggressive cognitions and aggressive affect, and decreases in prosocial behavior, empathy and sensitivity to aggression . . .” but stopped short of claiming that video games impact criminal violence. According to Breuer and colleagues, “While all of the available meta-analyses . . . found a relationship between aggression and the use of (violent) video games, the size and interpretation of this connection differ largely between these studies . . .” (APA, 2015 ; Breuer et al., 2015 ; DeCamp, 2015 ). Further, psychologists Patrick Markey, Charlotte Markey, and Juliana French conducted four time-series analyses investigating the relationship between video game habits and assault and homicide rates. The studies measured rates of violent crime, the annual and monthly video game sales, Internet searches for video game walkthroughs, and rates of violent crime occurring after the release dates of popular games. The results showed that there was no relationship between video game habits and rates of aggravated assault and homicide. Instead, there was some indication of decreases in crime (Markey, Markey, & French, 2015 ).

Another longitudinal study failed to find video games as a predictor of aggression, instead finding support for the “selection hypothesis”—that physically aggressive individuals (aged 14–17) were more likely to choose media content that contained violence than those slightly older, aged 18–21. Additionally, the researchers concluded,

that violent media do not have a substantial impact on aggressive personality or behavior, at least in the phases of late adolescence and early adulthood that we focused on. (Breuer, Vogelgesang, Quandt, & Festl, 2015 , p. 324)

Overall, the lack of a consistent finding demonstrating that media exposure causes violent crime may not be particularly surprising given that studies linking media exposure, aggression, and violence suffer from a host of general criticisms. By way of explanation, social theorist David Gauntlett maintained that researchers frequently employ problematic definitions of aggression and violence, questionable methodologies, rely too much on fictional violence, neglect the social meaning of violence, and assume the third-person effect—that is, assume that other, vulnerable people are impacted by media, but “we” are not (Ferguson & Dyck, 2012 ; Gauntlett, 2001 ).

Others, such as scholars Martin Barker and Julian Petley, flatly reject the notion that violent media exposure is a causal factor for aggression and/or violence. In their book Ill Effects , the authors stated instead that it is simply “stupid” to query about “what are the effects of [media] violence” without taking context into account (p. 2). They counter what they describe as moral campaigners who advance the idea that media violence causes violence. Instead, Barker and Petley argue that audiences interpret media violence in a variety of ways based on their histories, experiences, and knowledge, and as such, it makes little sense to claim media “cause” violence (Barker & Petley, 2001 ).

Given the seemingly inconclusive and contradictory findings regarding media effects research, to say that the debate can, at times, be contentious is an understatement. One article published in European Psychologist queried “Does Doing Media Violence Research Make One Aggressive?” and lamented that the debate had devolved into an ideological one (Elson & Ferguson, 2013 ). Another academic journal published a special issue devoted to video games and youth and included a transcript of exchanges between two scholars to demonstrate that a “peaceful debate” was, in fact, possible (Ferguson & Konijn, 2015 ).

Nonetheless, in this debate, the stakes are high and the policy consequences profound. After examining over 900 published articles, publication patterns, prominent authors and coauthors, and disciplinary interest in the topic, scholar James Anderson argued that prominent media effects scholars, whom he deems the “causationists,” had developed a cottage industry dependent on funding by agencies focused primarily on the negative effects of media on children. Anderson argued that such a focus presents media as a threat to family values and ultimately operates as a zero-sum game. As a result, attention and resources are diverted toward media and away from other priorities that are essential to understanding aggression such as social disadvantage, substance abuse, and parental conflict (Anderson, 2008 , p. 1276).

Theoretical Perspectives on Media Effects

Understanding how media may impact attitudes and behavior has been the focus of media and communications studies for decades. Numerous theoretical perspectives offer insight into how and to what extent the media impacts the audience. As scholar Jenny Kitzinger documented in 2004 , there are generally two ways to approach the study of media effects. One is to foreground the power of media. That is, to suggest that the media holds powerful sway over viewers. Another perspective is to foreground the power and heterogeneity of the audience and to recognize that it is comprised of active agents (Kitzinger, 2004 ).

The notion of an all-powerful media can be traced to the influence of scholars affiliated with the Institute for Social Research, or Frankfurt School, in the 1930–1940s and proponents of the mass society theory. The institute was originally founded in Germany but later moved to the United States. Criminologist Yvonne Jewkes outlined how mass society theory assumed that members of the public were susceptible to media messages. This, theorists argued, was a result of rapidly changing social conditions and industrialization that produced isolated, impressionable individuals “cut adrift from kinship and organic ties and lacking moral cohesion” (Jewkes, 2015 , p. 13). In this historical context, in the era of World War II, the impact of Nazi propaganda was particularly resonant. Here, the media was believed to exhibit a unidirectional flow, operating as a powerful force influencing the masses. The most useful metaphor for this perspective described the media as a “hypodermic syringe” that could “‘inject’ values, ideas and information directly into the passive receiver producing direct and unmediated ‘effects’” (Jewkes, 2015 , pp. 16, 34). Though the hypodermic syringe model seems simplistic today, the idea that the media is all-powerful continues to inform contemporary public discourse around media and violence.

Concern of the power of media captured the attention of researchers interested in its purported negative impact on children. In one of the earliest series of studies in the United States during the late 1920s–1930s, researchers attempted to quantitatively measure media effects with the Payne Fund Studies. For example, they investigated how film, a relatively new medium, impacted children’s attitudes and behaviors, including antisocial and violent behavior. At the time, the Payne Fund Studies’ findings fueled the notion that children were indeed negatively influenced by films. This prompted the film industry to adopt a self-imposed code regulating content (Sparks & Sparks, 2002 ; Surette, 2011 ). Not everyone agreed with the approach. In fact, the methodologies employed in the studies received much criticism, and ultimately, the movement was branded as a moral crusade to regulate film content. Scholars Garth Jowett, Ian Jarvie, and Kathryn Fuller wrote about the significance of the studies,

We have seen this same policy battle fought and refought over radio, television, rock and roll, music videos and video games. Their researchers looked to see if intuitive concerns could be given concrete, measurable expression in research. While they had partial success, as have all subsequent efforts, they also ran into intractable problems . . . Since that day, no way has yet been found to resolve the dilemma of cause and effect: do crime movies create more crime, or do the criminally inclined enjoy and perhaps imitate crime movies? (Jowett, Jarvie, & Fuller, 1996 , p. 12)

As the debate continued, more sophisticated theoretical perspectives emerged. Efforts to empirically measure the impact of media on aggression and violence continued, albeit with equivocal results. In the 1950s and 1960s, psychological behaviorism, or understanding psychological motivations through observable behavior, became a prominent lens through which to view the causal impact of media violence. This type of research was exemplified by Albert Bandura’s Bobo Doll studies demonstrating that children exposed to aggressive behavior, either observed in real life or on film, behaved more aggressively than those in control groups who were not exposed to the behavior. The assumption derived was that children learn through exposure and imitate behavior (Bandura, Ross, & Ross, 1963 ). Though influential, the Bandura experiments were nevertheless heavily criticized. Some argued the laboratory conditions under which children were exposed to media were not generalizable to real-life conditions. Others challenged the assumption that children absorb media content in an unsophisticated manner without being able to distinguish between fantasy and reality. In fact, later studies did find children to be more discerning consumers of media than popularly believed (Gauntlett, 2001 ).

Hugely influential in our understandings of human behavior, the concept of social learning has been at the core of more contemporary understandings of media effects. For example, scholar Christopher Ferguson noted that the General Aggression Model (GAM), rooted in social learning and cognitive theory, has for decades been a dominant model for understanding how media impacts aggression and violence. GAM is described as the idea that “aggression is learned by the activation and repetition of cognitive scripts coupled with the desensitization of emotional responses due to repeated exposure.” However, Ferguson noted that its usefulness has been debated and advocated for a paradigm shift (Ferguson, 2013 , pp. 65, 27; Krahé, 2014 ).

Though the methodologies of the Payne Fund Studies and Bandura studies were heavily criticized, concern over media effects continued to be tied to larger moral debates including the fear of moral decline and concern over the welfare of children. Most notably, in the 1950s, psychiatrist Frederic Wertham warned of the dangers of comic books, a hugely popular medium at the time, and their impact on juveniles. Based on anecdotes and his clinical experience with children, Wertham argued that images of graphic violence and sexual debauchery in comic books were linked to juvenile delinquency. Though he was far from the only critic of comic book content, his criticisms reached the masses and gained further notoriety with the publication of his 1954 book, Seduction of the Innocent . Wertham described the comic book content thusly,

The stories have a lot of crime and gunplay and, in addition, alluring advertisements of guns, some of them full-page and in bright colors, with four guns of various sizes and descriptions on a page . . . Here is the repetition of violence and sexiness which no Freud, Krafft-Ebing or Havelock Ellis ever dreamed could be offered to children, and in such profusion . . . I have come to the conclusion that this chronic stimulation, temptation and seduction by comic books, both their content and their alluring advertisements of knives and guns, are contributing factors to many children’s maladjustment. (Wertham, 1954 , p. 39)

Wertham’s work was instrumental in shaping public opinion and policies about the dangers of comic books. Concern about the impact of comics reached its apex in 1954 with the United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency. Wertham testified before the committee, arguing that comics were a leading cause of juvenile delinquency. Ultimately, the protest of graphic content in comic books by various interest groups contributed to implementation of the publishers’ self-censorship code, the Comics Code Authority, which essentially designated select books that were deemed “safe” for children (Nyberg, 1998 ). The code remained in place for decades, though it was eventually relaxed and decades later phased out by the two most dominant publishers, DC and Marvel.

Wertham’s work, however influential in impacting the comic industry, was ultimately panned by academics. Although scholar Bart Beaty characterized Wertham’s position as more nuanced, if not progressive, than the mythology that followed him, Wertham was broadly dismissed as a moral reactionary (Beaty, 2005 ; Phillips & Strobl, 2013 ). The most damning criticism of Wertham’s work came decades later, from Carol Tilley’s examination of Wertham’s files. She concluded that in Seduction of the Innocent ,

Wertham manipulated, overstated, compromised, and fabricated evidence—especially that evidence he attributed to personal clinical research with young people—for rhetorical gain. (Tilley, 2012 , p. 386)

Tilley linked Wertham’s approach to that of the Frankfurt theorists who deemed popular culture a social threat and contended that Wertham was most interested in “cultural correction” rather than scientific inquiry (Tilley, 2012 , p. 404).

Over the decades, concern about the moral impact of media remained while theoretical and methodological approaches to media effects studies continued to evolve (Rich, Bickham, & Wartella, 2015 ). In what many consider a sophisticated development, theorists began to view the audience as more active and multifaceted than the mass society perspective allowed (Kitzinger, 2004 ). One perspective, based on a “uses and gratifications” model, assumes that rather than a passive audience being injected with values and information, a more active audience selects and “uses” media as a response to their needs and desires. Studies of uses and gratifications take into account how choice of media is influenced by one’s psychological and social circumstances. In this context, media provides a variety of functions for consumers who may engage with it for the purposes of gathering information, reducing boredom, seeking enjoyment, or facilitating communication (Katz, Blumler, & Gurevitch, 1973 ; Rubin, 2002 ). This approach differs from earlier views in that it privileges the perspective and agency of the audience.

Another approach, the cultivation theory, gained momentum among researchers in the 1970s and has been of particular interest to criminologists. It focuses on how television television viewing impacts viewers’ attitudes toward social reality. The theory was first introduced by communications scholar George Gerbner, who argued the importance of understanding messages that long-term viewers absorb. Rather than examine the effect of specific content within any given programming, cultivation theory,

looks at exposure to massive flows of messages over long periods of time. The cultivation process takes place in the interaction of the viewer with the message; neither the message nor the viewer are all-powerful. (Gerbner, Gross, Morgan, Singnorielli, & Shanahan, 2002 , p. 48)

In other words, he argued, television viewers are, over time, exposed to messages about the way the world works. As Gerbner and colleagues stated, “continued exposure to its messages is likely to reiterate, confirm, and nourish—that is, cultivate—its own values and perspectives” (p. 49).

One of the most well-known consequences of heavy media exposure is what Gerbner termed the “mean world” syndrome. He coined it based on studies that found that long-term exposure to media violence among heavy television viewers, “tends to cultivate the image of a relatively mean and dangerous world” (p. 52). Inherent in Gerbner’s view was that media representations are separate and distinct entities from “real life.” That is, it is the distorted representations of crime and violence that cultivate the notion that the world is a dangerous place. In this context, Gerbner found that heavy television viewers are more likely to be fearful of crime and to overestimate their chances of being a victim of violence (Gerbner, 1994 ).

Though there is evidence in support of cultivation theory, the strength of the relationship between media exposure and fear of crime is inconclusive. This is in part due to the recognition that audience members are not homogenous. Instead, researchers have found that there are many factors that impact the cultivating process. This includes, but is not limited to, “class, race, gender, place of residence, and actual experience of crime” (Reiner, 2002 ; Sparks, 1992 ). Or, as Ted Chiricos and colleagues remarked in their study of crime news and fear of crime, “The issue is not whether media accounts of crime increase fear, but which audiences, with which experiences and interests, construct which meanings from the messages received” (Chiricos, Eschholz, & Gertz, p. 354).

Other researchers found that exposure to media violence creates a desensitizing effect, that is, that as viewers consume more violent media, they become less empathetic as well as psychologically and emotionally numb when confronted with actual violence (Bartholow, Bushman, & Sestir, 2006 ; Carnagey, Anderson, & Bushman, 2007 ; Cline, Croft, & Courrier, 1973 ; Fanti, Vanman, Henrich, & Avraamides, 2009 ; Krahé et al., 2011 ). Other scholars such as Henry Giroux, however, point out that our contemporary culture is awash in violence and “everyone is infected.” From this perspective, the focus is not on certain individuals whose exposure to violent media leads to a desensitization of real-life violence, but rather on the notion that violence so permeates society that it has become normalized in ways that are divorced from ethical and moral implications. Giroux wrote,

While it would be wrong to suggest that the violence that saturates popular culture directly causes violence in the larger society, it is arguable that such violence serves not only to produce an insensitivity to real life violence but also functions to normalize violence as both a source of pleasure and as a practice for addressing social issues. When young people and others begin to believe that a world of extreme violence, vengeance, lawlessness, and revenge is the only world they inhabit, the culture and practice of real-life violence is more difficult to scrutinize, resist, and transform . . . (Giroux, 2015 )

For Giroux, the danger is that the normalization of violence has become a threat to democracy itself. In our culture of mass consumption shaped by neoliberal logics, depoliticized narratives of violence have become desired forms of entertainment and are presented in ways that express tolerance for some forms of violence while delegitimizing other forms of violence. In their book, Disposable Futures , Brad Evans and Henry Giroux argued that as the spectacle of violence perpetuates fear of inevitable catastrophe, it reinforces expansion of police powers, increased militarization and other forms of social control, and ultimately renders marginalized members of the populace disposable (Evans & Giroux, 2015 , p. 81).

Criminology and the “Media/Crime Nexus”

Most criminologists and sociologists who focus on media and crime are generally either dismissive of the notion that media violence directly causes violence or conclude that findings are more complex than traditional media effects models allow, preferring to focus attention on the impact of media violence on society rather than individual behavior (Carrabine, 2008 ; Ferrell, Hayward, & Young, 2015 ; Jewkes, 2015 ; Kitzinger, 2004 ; Marsh & Melville, 2014 ; Rafter, 2006 ; Sternheimer, 2003 ; Sternheimer 2013 ; Surette, 2011 ). Sociologist Karen Sternheimer forcefully declared “media culture is not the root cause of American social problems, not the Big Bad Wolf, as our ongoing public discussion would suggest” (Sternheimer, 2003 , p. 3). Sternheimer rejected the idea that media causes violence and argued that a false connection has been forged between media, popular culture, and violence. Like others critical of a singular focus on media, Sternheimer posited that overemphasis on the perceived dangers of media violence serves as a red herring that directs attention away from the actual causes of violence rooted in factors such as poverty, family violence, abuse, and economic inequalities (Sternheimer, 2003 , 2013 ). Similarly, in her Media and Crime text, Yvonne Jewkes stated that U.K. scholars tend to reject findings of a causal link because the studies are too reductionist; criminal behavior cannot be reduced to a single causal factor such as media consumption. Echoing Gauntlett’s critiques of media effects research, Jewkes stated that simplistic causal assumptions ignore “the wider context of a lifetime of meaning-making” (Jewkes, 2015 , p. 17).

Although they most often reject a “violent media cause violence” relationship, criminologists do not dismiss the notion of media as influential. To the contrary, over the decades much criminological interest has focused on the construction of social problems, the ideological implications of media, and media’s potential impact on crime policies and social control. Eamonn Carrabine noted that the focus of concern is not whether media directly causes violence but on “how the media promote damaging stereotypes of social groups, especially the young, to uphold the status quo” (Carrabine, 2008 , p. 34). Theoretically, these foci have been traced to the influence of cultural and Marxist studies. For example, criminologists frequently focus on how social anxieties and class inequalities impact our understandings of the relationship between media violence and attitudes, values, and behaviors. Influential works in the 1970s, such as Policing the Crisis: Mugging, the State, and Law and Order by Stuart Hall et al. and Stanley Cohen’s Folk Devils and Moral Panics , shifted criminological critique toward understanding media as a hegemonic force that reinforces state power and social control (Brown, 2011 ; Carrabine, 2008 ; Cohen, 2005 ; Garland, 2008 ; Hall et al., 2013 /1973, 2013/1973 ). Since that time, moral panic has become a common framework applied to public discourse around a variety of social issues including road rage, child abuse, popular music, sex panics, and drug abuse among others.

Into the 21st century , advances in technology, including increased use of social media, shifted the ways that criminologists approach the study of media effects. Scholar Sheila Brown traced how research in criminology evolved from a focus on “media and crime” to what she calls the “media/crime nexus” that recognizes that “media experience is real experience” (Brown, 2011 , p. 413). In other words, many criminologists began to reject as fallacy what social media theorist Nathan Jurgenson deemed “digital dualism,” or the notion that we have an “online” existence that is separate and distinct from our “off-line” existence. Instead, we exist simultaneously both online and offline, an

augmented reality that exists at the intersection of materiality and information, physicality and digitality, bodies and technology, atoms and bits, the off and the online. It is wrong to say “IRL” [in real life] to mean offline: Facebook is real life. (Jurgenson, 2012 )

The changing media landscape has been of particular interest to cultural criminologists. Michelle Brown recognized the omnipresence of media as significant in terms of methodological preferences and urged a move away from a focus on causality and predictability toward a more fluid approach that embraces the complex, contemporary media-saturated social reality characterized by uncertainty and instability (Brown, 2007 ).

Cultural criminologists have indeed rejected direct, causal relationships in favor of the recognition that social meanings of aggression and violence are constantly in transition, flowing through the media landscape, where “bits of information reverberate and bend back on themselves, creating a fluid porosity of meaning that defines late-modern life, and the nature of crime and media within it.” In other words, there is no linear relationship between crime and its representation. Instead, crime is viewed as inseparable from the culture in which our everyday lives are constantly re-created in loops and spirals that “amplify, distort, and define the experience of crime and criminality itself” (Ferrell, Hayward, & Young, 2015 , pp. 154–155). As an example of this shift in understanding media effects, criminologist Majid Yar proposed that we consider how the transition from being primarily consumers to primarily producers of content may serve as a motivating mechanism for criminal behavior. Here, Yar is suggesting that the proliferation of user-generated content via media technologies such as social media (i.e., the desire “to be seen” and to manage self-presentation) has a criminogenic component worthy of criminological inquiry (Yar, 2012 ). Shifting attention toward the media/crime nexus and away from traditional media effects analyses opens possibilities for a deeper understanding of the ways that media remains an integral part of our everyday lives and inseparable from our understandings of and engagement with crime and violence.

Over the years, from films to comic books to television to video games to social media, concerns over media effects have shifted along with changing technologies. While there seems to be some consensus that exposure to violent media impacts aggression, there is little evidence showing its impact on violent or criminal behavior. Nonetheless, high-profile violent crimes continue to reignite public interest in media effects, particularly with regard to copycat crimes.

At times, academic debate around media effects remains contentious and one’s academic discipline informs the study and interpretation of media effects. Criminologists and sociologists are generally reluctant to attribute violence and criminal behavior directly to exposure to violence media. They are, however, not dismissive of the impact of media on attitudes, social policies, and social control as evidenced by the myriad of studies on moral panics and other research that addresses the relationship between media, social anxieties, gender, race, and class inequalities. Scholars who study media effects are also sensitive to the historical context of the debates and ways that moral concerns shape public policies. The self-regulating codes of the film industry and the comic book industry have led scholars to be wary of hyperbole and policy overreach in response to claims of media effects. Future research will continue to explore ways that changing technologies, including increasing use of social media, will impact our understandings and perceptions of crime as well as criminal behavior.

Violent media and real-world behavior: Historical data and recent trends

2015 study from Stetson University published in Journal of Communications that explores violence in movies and video games and rates of societal violence over the same period.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License .

by Devon Maylie, The Journalist's Resource February 18, 2015

This <a target="_blank" href="https://journalistsresource.org/criminal-justice/violent-media-real-world-behavior-historical-data-recent-trends/">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://journalistsresource.org">The Journalist's Resource</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<img src="https://journalistsresource.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/cropped-jr-favicon-150x150.png" style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;">

The relationship between violent media and real-world violence has been the subject of extensive debate and considerable academic research , yet the core question is far from answered. Do violent games and movies encourage more violence, less, or is there no effect? Complicating matters is what seems like a simultaneous rise in onscreen mayhem and the number of bloody events in our streets — according to a 2014 report from the FBI, between 2007 and 2013 there were an average of 16.4 active-shooter incidents in the U.S. every year, more than 150% higher than the annual rate between 2000 and 2006.

But as has long been observed, any correlation is not necessarily causation . While Adam Lanza and James Holmes — respectively, the perpetrators of the Newtown and Aurora mass shootings — both played violent video games , so do millions of law-abiding Americans. A 2014 study in Psychology of Popular Media Culture found no evidence of an association between violent crime and video game sales and the release dates of popular violent video games. “Unexpectedly, many of the results were suggestive of a decrease in violent crime in response to violent video games,” write the researchers, based at Villanova and Rutgers. A 2015 study from the University of Toledo showed that playing violent video games could desensitize children and youth to violence, but didn’t establish a definitive connection with real-world behavior, positive or negative.

A 2014 study in Journal of Communication , “Does Media Violence Predict Societal Violence? It Depends on What You Look at and When,” builds on prior research to look closer at media portrayals of violence and rates of violent behavior. The research, by Christopher J. Ferguson of Stetson University, had two parts: The first measured the frequency and graphicness of violence in movies between 1920 and 2005 and compared it to homicide rates, median household income, policing, population density, youth population and GDP over the same period. The second part looked at the correlation between the consumption of violent video games and youth behavior from 1996 to 2011.

The study’s findings include:

Overall, no evidence was found to support the conclusion that media violence and societal violence are meaningfully correlated.
Across the 20th century the frequency of movie violence followed a rough U-pattern: It was common in the 1920s, then declined before rising again in the latter part of the 20th century. This appears to correspond to the period of the Motion Picture Production Code (known as the Hays Code), in force from 1930 to the late 1960s.

Movie violence and homicide rates (C.J. Ferguson)

The frequency of movie violence and murder rates were correlated in the mid-20th century, but not earlier or later in the period studied. “By the latter 20th century … movie violence [was] associated with reduced societal violence in the form of homicides. Further, the correlation between movie and societal violence was reduced when policing or real GDP were controlled.”
The graphicness of movie violence shows an increasing pattern across the 20th century, particularly beginning in the 1950s, but did not correlate with societal violence.
The second part of the study found that for the years 1996 to 2011, the consumption of violent video games was inversely related to youth violence.
Youth violence decreased during the 15-year study period despite high levels of media violence in society. However, the study period is relatively short, the researcher cautioned, and therefore results could be imperfect.

“Results from the two studies suggest that socialization models of media violence may be inadequate to our understanding of the interaction between media and consumer behavior at least in regard to serious violence,” Ferguson concludes. “Adoption of a limited-effects model in which user motivations rather than content drive media experiences may help us understand how media can have influences, yet those influences result in only limited aggregate net impact in society.” Given that effects on individual users may differ widely, Ferguson suggests that policy discussion should be more focused on “more pressing” issues that influence violence in society such as poverty or mental health.

Related research: A 2015 research roundup, “The Contested Field of Violent Video Games,” gives an overview of recent scholarship on video games and societal violence, including ones that support a link and others that refute it. Also of interest is a 2014 research roundup, “Mass Murder, Shooting Sprees and Rampage Violence.”

Keywords: video games, violence, aggression, desensitization, empathy, technology, youth, cognition, guns, crime, entertainment

About The Author

Devon Maylie

Violence in the Media: What Effects on Behavior?

"You turn on the television, and violence is there. You go to a movie, and violence is there."

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Violence in movies reflects a cultural reality.

ReBecca Theodore-Vachon is a film/TV contributor for Forbes, Vulture, Roger Ebert, The Urban Daily and Paste Magazine. She also co-hosts the @CinemaInNoir podcast on BlogTalkRadio. She is on Twitter .

Updated June 30, 2016, 3:20 AM

We witness fictional acts of violence all the time at the movies, in PG-13 flicks and otherwise, and there's certainly a conversation to be had about our desensitization to that. But the conversation should also acknowledge that violent shoot-em-up art is a reflection of our times.

This month, we witnessed one of the most horrific mass shootings in American history. Federal authorities are still looking for clues into Omar Mateen's motivations for killing and wounding so many in Orlando, Fla. — and there could have been many different ones — but what is not fully acknowledged is the American pattern he fits into.

We must acknowledge that shoot-em-up art reflects our times and history of violence.

Bluntly stated, the core of American values is rooted in violence. U.S. history is rife with acts of violence perpetuated against many different communities. Mass shootings are not aberrations — they are a continuation of a legacy of hate and violence, threaded through American culture and society.

And if we're sugarcoating that violence in PG-13 movies — to attract younger movie goers, no less — we shouldn't be. Let them see the consequences of violence, in fiction and in the news. Perhaps a more visceral response to it could finally prompt Congress to pass gun control measures.

Violence in movies and video games certainly contributes to aggression, but are they causal or correlative? That's not a question we can answer. But the prevalence of the AR-15 rifle isn't debatable. The prevalence of gun violence in America is not debatable.

And there is no doubt that violence has its own starring role on the big screen.

Join Opinion on Facebook and follow updates on twitter.com/roomfordebate .

Topics: movies , summer

The Case for Stylized, Cartoonish PG-13 Violence

The Risk to Children in Violent, PG-13 Blockbusters

Pg-13 blockbusters and the sugarcoating of violence, in movies, violence can be a crutch for weak stories.

Violence in Movies Reflects a Cultural Reality

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Does Movie Violence Increase Violent Crime?

Laboratory experiments in psychology find that media violence increases aggression in the short run. We analyze whether media violence affects violent crime in the field. We exploit variation in the violence of blockbuster movies from 1995 to 2004, and study the effect on same-day assaults. We find that violent crime decreases on days with larger theater audiences for violent movies. The effect is partly due to voluntary incapacitation: between 6PM and 12AM, a one million increase in the audience for violent movies reduces violent crime by 1.1 to 1.3 percent. After exposure to the movie, between 12AM and 6AM, violent crime is reduced by an even larger percent. This finding is explained by the self-selection of violent individuals into violent movie attendance, leading to a substitution away from more volatile activities. In particular, movie attendance appears to reduce alcohol consumption. Like the laboratory experiments, we find indirect evidence that movie violence increases violent crime; however, this effect is dominated by the reduction in crime induced by a substitution away from more dangerous activities. Overall, our estimates suggest that in the short-run violent movies deter almost 1,000 assaults on an average weekend. While our design does not allow us to estimate long-run effects, we find no evidence of medium-run effects up to three weeks after initial exposure.

Eli Berman, Sofia Berto Villas-Boas, Saurabh Bhargava, David Card, Christopher Carpenter, Ing-Haw Cheng, Julie Cullen, Liran Einav, Matthew Gentzkow, Jay Hamilton, Ethan Kaplan, Lawrence F. Katz, Lars Lefgren, Ulrike Malmendier, Julie Mortimer, Ted O'Donoghue, Anne Piehl, Mikael Priks, Uri Simonsohn, and audiences at London School of Economics, Ohio State, Queens University, Rutgers New Brunswick, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, University of Tennessee Knoxville, University of Western Ontario, University of Zurich, Wharton, the Munich 2006 Conference on Economics and Psychology, the NBER 2006 Summer Institute (Labor Studies), the 2006 SITE in Psychology and Economics, the IZA Conference on Personnel and Behavioral Economics, the IZA/SOLE Transatlantic Meeting of Labor Economists, and at the Trento 2006 Summer School in Behavioral Economics provided useful comments. We would like to thank kids-in-mind.com for generously providing their movie violence ratings. Scott Baker and Thomas Barrios provided excellent research assistance. The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

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Does Media Violence Cause Violence? Can exposure to Violent TV Shows, Movies and Video Games turn people Aggressive and Desensitized to Violence?

29 Pages Posted: 19 Feb 2021

Syed Hassan Zulfiqar

The Jerry Lee Center and Department of Criminology at the University of Pennsylvania; The Malcolm Wiener Center at John F. Kennedy School of Government - Harvard University

Date Written: May 4, 2020

The existing literature is indicative of the fact that violence has been rooted in the mass media like never before and with the growing advancement technological advancement children and adolescents spend considerable amount of time exposed to such violence through various sources of media. In order to address this growing concern, this paper analyses the impact of media violence exposure on the development of aggressive feelings, thoughts and behaviour in children and youth. The content analysis of TV shows, movies and video games as most commonly used sources of media have been analysed along with the studies that show rapid increase in violent behaviour after being exposed to virtual violence. It also explores the neurophysiological perspectives by analysing the consequences of exposure to violent media on adolescents’ brain through neuroimaging. Although limited research has been conducted in this field, but the empirical evidence demonstrates an alteration in the prefrontal mechanisms after exposure to violent media, that are responsible for controlling emotion and behaviour leading to aggression. Based on the current longitudinal research, it is also observed that excessive exposure to media violence makes the youth less emotional and desensitized towards real life violence which ultimately leads to aggressive behaviour and have negative long-term effects on the brain. Future research should integrate other risk factors and research paradigms in order to have a more comprehensive picture with continuous development in next generations’ media technology and changing horizons of violence.

Keywords: Media Violence, Aggression, Desensitization, Prefrontal, Neuropsychological, Neuroimaging

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The jerry lee center and department of criminology at the university of pennsylvania ( email ).

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Home — Essay Samples — Sociology — Media Violence — Violence in the Media: Understanding its Impact and Influence

Violence in The Media: Understanding Its Impact and Influence

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The prevalence of media violence, the effects on youth, the role of desensitization, the role of regulation, media violence as a reflection of society, conclusion: a complex and ongoing debate.

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Watching violence on screens makes children more emotionally distressed

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Children today can access media through both traditional devices, like televisions, and portable devices like laptops and tablets.

With more access, children are more likely to be exposed to violent content – like real-life or cartoons where force is being used and harm is being done to a person or character. Studies show that 37% of media aimed at children have scenes of physical or verbal violence. What’s more, 90% of movies, 68% of video games, 60% of TV shows, and 15% of music videos have some form of violence. In some cases, it’s rising – the amount of violence in mainstream movies has been growing steadily over the past 50 years.

Evidence shows that this can be detrimental to young children. Around the ages of three and four children begin to develop perceptions and expectations about the world around them. These views are strongly influenced by their daily experiences. If children are often exposed to scenes of violence, they may develop a view of the world as a more dangerous place than it actually is.

To investigate this further, and predict the types of mental health outcomes this has, my colleagues and I examined the potential long-term risks associated with exposure to violent media on children’s development. We found that those exposed to violence become more antisocial and emotionally distressed.

Exposed to violence

Through parent reports, we measured children’s exposure to violent movies and programmes in 1,800 preschool aged children between the ages of three and four. Four years later, second grade teachers rated the same childrens’ classroom behaviour using a social behaviour questionnaire – which covers behaviour such as physical aggression, inattentiveness and emotional distress over the course of the school year. Teachers were unaware of which children had been exposed to violent media.

To rule out the impact of the home environment on the development of these behaviours, we controlled for the contribution of early childhood aggression, parenting quality, maternal education, parent antisocial behaviour and family structure.

According to our results, teachers rated exposed children as more antisocial. Antisocial behaviours include; a lack of remorse, lying, insensitivity to the emotions of others, and manipulating others.

Our results also reveal significant associations between exposure to violent media and classroom attention problems. Furthermore, exposed children were reported to show more signs of emotional distress; in terms of sadness and a lack of enthusiasm.

The results were similar for boys and girls.

Child development

The content of media to which young children are exposed is closely related to child outcomes.

Age-appropriate programmes – like sesame street for kindergarteners– which aim to help children understand words or ideas, are known to help them develop language and mental skills.

New technology can be useful too. Video chat technologies – like Skype or Facetime – which give children an interactive, two-way live exchange with adults facilitate language learning.

On the other hand, violent films and video games often feature attractive protagonists that engage in a disproportionate number of aggressive actions. Children exposed to this type of content can develop a deformed perception of violence and its actual frequency in real life.

Eventually, this can give rise to the impression that the world is an overly dangerous place filled with ill-intentioned people. People that have such a worldview are more likely to interpret an ambiguous or accidental gesture as hostile or as a personal attack.

There are steps that parents can take. By modelling, positive non-violent behaviour – like using respectful communication to solve problems rather than aggression – and having conversations about the violent images their children are exposed to, parents can reduce the negative effects of violent media on their child’s development.

Parents should also keep bedrooms free from screens, closely monitoring children’s media usage, and shutting off the internet at night.

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Violence in the media: Psychologists study potential harmful effects

Early research on the effects of viewing violence on television—especially among children—found a desensitizing effect and the potential for aggression. Is the same true for those who play violent video games?

Video Games
Physical Abuse and Violence

Television and video violence

Virtually since the dawn of television, parents, teachers, legislators, and mental health professionals have wanted to understand the impact of television programs, particularly on children. Of special concern has been the portrayal of violence, particularly given psychologist Albert Bandura’s work in the 1970s on social learning and the tendency of children to imitate what they see.

As a result of 15 years of “consistently disturbing” findings about the violent content of children’s programs, the Surgeon General’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Television and Social Behavior was formed in 1969 to assess the impact of violence on the attitudes, values, and behavior of viewers. The resulting report and a follow-up report in 1982 by the National Institute of Mental Health identified these major effects of seeing violence on television:

Children may become less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others.
Children may be more fearful of the world around them.
Children may be more likely to behave in aggressive or harmful ways toward others.

Research by psychologists L. Rowell Huesmann, Leonard Eron, and others starting in the 1980s found that children who watched many hours of violence on television when they were in elementary school tended to show higher levels of aggressive behavior when they became teenagers. By observing these participants into adulthood, Huesmann and Eron found that the ones who’d watched a lot of TV violence when they were 8 years old were more likely to be arrested and prosecuted for criminal acts as adults.

Interestingly, being aggressive as a child did not predict watching more violent TV as a teenager, suggesting that TV watching could be a cause rather than a consequence of aggressive behavior. However, later research by psychologists Douglas Gentile and Brad Bushman, among others, suggested that exposure to media violence is just one of several factors that can contribute to aggressive behavior.

Other research has found that exposure to media violence can desensitize people to violence in the real world and that, for some people, watching violence in the media becomes enjoyable and does not result in the anxious arousal that would be expected from seeing such imagery.

Video game violence

The advent of video games raised new questions about the potential impact of media violence, since the video game player is an active participant rather than merely a viewer. 97% of adolescents age 12–17 play video games—on a computer, on consoles such as the Wii, Playstation, and Xbox, or on portable devices such as Gameboys, smartphones, and tablets. A Pew Research Center survey in 2008 found that half of all teens reported playing a video game “yesterday,” and those who played every day typically did so for an hour or more.

Many of the most popular video games, such as “Call of Duty” and “Grand Theft Auto,” are violent; however, as video game technology is relatively new, there are fewer empirical studies of video game violence than other forms of media violence. Still, several meta-analytic reviews have reported negative effects of exposure to violence in video games.

A 2010 review by psychologist Craig A. Anderson and others concluded that “the evidence strongly suggests that exposure to violent video games is a causal risk factor for increased aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, and aggressive affect and for decreased empathy and prosocial behavior.” Anderson’s earlier research showed that playing violent video games can increase a person’s aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behavior both in laboratory settings and in daily life. “One major conclusion from this and other research on violent entertainment media is that content matters,” says Anderson.

Other researchers, including psychologist Christopher J. Ferguson, have challenged the position that video game violence harms children. While his own 2009 meta-analytic review reported results similar to Anderson’s, Ferguson contends that laboratory results have not translated into real world, meaningful effects. He also claims that much of the research into video game violence has failed to control for other variables such as mental health and family life, which may have impacted the results. His work has found that children who are already at risk may be more likely to choose to play violent video games. According to Ferguson, these other risk factors, as opposed to the games, cause aggressive and violent behavior.

APA launched an analysis in 2013 of peer-reviewed research on the impact of media violence and is reviewing its policy statements in the area.

Anderson, C.A., Ihori, Nobuko, Bushman, B.J., Rothstein, H.R., Shibuya, A., Swing, E.L., Sakamoto, A., & Saleem, M. (2010). Violent video game effects on aggression, empathy, and prosocial behavior in Eastern and Western countries: A Meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin , Vol. 126, No. 2.

Anderson, C. A., Carnagey, N. L. & Eubanks, J. (2003). Exposure to violent media: The effects of songs with violent lyrics on aggressive thoughts and feelings. Journal of Personality and Social Psycholog y, Vol. 84, No. 5.

Anderson, C. A., & Dill, K. E. (2000). Video games and aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behavior in the laboratory and in life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , Vol. 78, No. 4.

Ferguson, C.J. (2011). Video games and youth violence: A Prospective analysis in adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence , Vol. 40, No. 4.

Gentile, D.A., & Bushman, B.J. (2012). Reassessing media violence effects using a risk and resilience approach to understanding aggression. Psychology of Popular Media Culture , Vol. 1, No. 3.

Huesmann, L. R., & Eron, L. D. (1986). Television and the aggressive child: A cross-national comparison. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Huesmann, L. R., Moise-Titus, J., Podolski, C. L., & Eron, L. D. (2003). Longitudinal relations between children’s exposure to TV violence and their aggressive and violent behavior in young adulthood: 1977–1992. Developmental Psychology , Vol. 39, No. 2, 201–221.

Huston, A. C., Donnerstein, E., Fairchild, H., Feshbach, N. D., Katz, P. A., Murray, J. P., Rubinstein, E. A., Wilcox, B. & Zuckerman, D. (1992). Big world, small screen: The role of television in American society. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.

Krahe, B., Moller, I., Kirwil, L., Huesmann, L.R., Felber, J., & Berger, A. (2011). Desensitization to media violence: Links with habitual media violence exposure, aggressive cognitions, and aggressive behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , Vol. 100, No. 4.

Murray, J. P. (1973). Television and violence: Implications of the Surgeon General’s research program. American Psychologist , Vol. 28, 472–478.

National Institute of Mental Health (1982). Television and behavior: Ten years of scientific progress and implications for the eighties, Vol. 1. Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Exploring How Quentin Tarantino Uses Violence in His Films

"it's not blood. it's red." —jean-luc godard.

Quentin Tarantino is a maestro when it comes to on-screen violence—I mean, every single one of his films features entire sequences dedicated to shootouts, sword fights, or general bloody mayhem (even his segment in Four Rooms builds up to a guy's pinky getting chopped off). But is there more to all of the carnage and bloodshed than mere spectacle and thrills? This video essay by Julian Palmer of The Discarded Image examines Tarantino's use of violence in his work to find out.

So, just how violent are Tarantino's movies? A quick Google search will tell you just how many characters Tarantino has killed since Django Unchained , and even though the death toll reaches over 560 , it doesn't even make it on the top 10 list for most on-screen deaths in a movie. That honor belongs to Guardians of the Galaxy with 83,871 deaths. (That is not a typo.)

I think this is one of the main points the video tries to explain, how one death can be considered brutal and cruel, while another can be comical and almost unimportant. Perhaps it's not about how many characters you kill off in a film, but how you do it. I mean, is violence really seen as violence when it's Indiana Jones shooting the Cairo Swordsman in Raiders of the Lost Ark ? Not really, in fact most people laugh at that scene. But when it's Ordell shooting Louis at point blank range in the front seat of a car, it's startling mostly due to the facts that the scene and the setting are so intimate, and Ordell is a ruthless m-fer.

But even though scenes from Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction, and Django Unchained are full of blood, bullets, and all-out carnage, there seems to be some sort of rhyme and reason for it. Tarantino himself is not a big fan of real-world violence, but he appears to see a huge chasm between actual violence and movie violence—the two are not closely related. At a 1994 press conference, he told Newsday :

Violence is just one of many things you can do in movies. People ask me, 'Where does all this violence come from in your movies?' I say, 'Where does all this dancing come from in Stanley Donen movies?' If you ask me how I feel about violence in real life, well, I have a lot of feelings about it. It's one of the worst aspects of America. In movies, violence is cool. I like it.

What do you think about how Quentin Tarantino uses violence in his films? Do you think there's a limit to how much a filmmaker can include depictions of violence in their work before it becomes "irresponsible"? Let us know in the comments below.

Source: The Discarded Image

How Netflix’s sci-fi thriller “Atlas” used cutting-edge visual effects

We had the opportunity to speak with aaron eaton, cantina vfx supervisor, about the detailed compositing process and the crucial role of adobe after effects on the project..

This post was written by Michelle Gallina and originally appeared on the Adobe blog on August 23rd, 2024.

Read below for more behind the scenes.

How did you first get into VFX? What drew you to it?

I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in the broad subject of Multimedia. It was during college that I took various film related courses, including one specifically for After Effects. I decided the VFX path was calling me. Also my initials are AE, so I guess my path to After Effects was already decided for me at birth. I was immediately drawn to the unique combination of computer technology and creative artistry that is at the heart of Visual Effects. It felt like the perfect fit for someone like me who loves tech, has an analytical and creative brain, and no desire to do fine art.

What was the inspiration behind your VFX work on the film? What were you trying to achieve?

Our inspiration came from pre-designed graphics by our partners at Territory Studio. Much of the design language was already established when we came on board. With our additional holograms and graphics that we created, our goal was to bring a sense of realism, grounding them in their environments to serve specific purposes. For example, when designing the consumer-based holograms like the augmented reality TV wall, coffee machine hologram, alarm clock and chess game hologram, the goal was to make them both sleek and functional, integrated with practical objects, designed to be flashy and exciting enough to draw shoppers eyes in a store and beat out the competitors. In contrast, the military tech holograms focused more on clarity of data.

What tools did you use on this project and why did you originally choose them? Were there any other third-party tools that helped enhance your workflow?

The vast majority of our compositing work was completed entirely in After Effects with designs done in Adobe Illustrator . A huge advantage of compositing in After Effects is the ability to keep design and animation living in the final composite. It gives the compositor broader creative control, allowing them to easily make tweaks to design/animation at any point in the process. We also used the third-party plugin Frischluft Out of Focus a lot, which allowed us to accurately recreate the natural anamorphic depth of field captured by the production lenses. Other third-party tools include a plethora of Andrew Kramer’s handy Video Copilot plugins.

How did you begin this project? Can you talk about the collaborative process with the director and/or editor, and the process of creating your work from start to finish?

When we first jumped on board, we had several calls with director Brad Peyton and VFX supervisor Lindy DeQuattro, where we discussed the overall vision and initial scope of work. This included creating several new holograms and compositing a large amount of graphics. We began our work with GFX packages developed by our friends at Territory Studios. This became the framework for all of the graphics seen inside Atlas’ Arc Suit — the large mech that she controls through a large portion of the film. Throughout the next 12 months, we continued to work closely with Lindy, collaborating on creative choices and discussing additional needs for the project. Our scope of work on the show continued to grow, until we were tracking over 600 shots.

Image Source: Netflix.

Describe your favorite piece or component of the project. How did it come together and how did you achieve it?

It's a small part of the movie, but I really like how the TV Wall hologram came out. It was very creatively open-ended from the start. The original pre-visualization was just a wall of screens and graphics. It felt futuristic and techy, but not consumer-based and functional, something you might want in your living room, filling up your entire wall. Our design shifted toward a subtle hologram, one that seamlessly blended into the empty wall, using shapes and color from the home's interior style, to become both a living part of the personal decor and also a way of engaging with TV content. The technology behind the hologram projection is that it can trick the eyes into seeing depth on the blank wall, depending on viewing angle, an augmented reality projection.

What were some specific challenges you faced? How did you go about solving them?

One challenge was maintaining continuity and consistency with graphics — color, positioning and overall feel. The sheer quantity of graphics in the film required that multiple vendors composite graphics in different scenes. Although we frequently shared tools and pre-rendered elements, maintaining consistency across the board was a challenge. With a combination of shared assets and visual reference, we were able to smooth it out in the end.

Another challenge was Smith — the AI hologram that talks to Atlas throughout the film. Because Smith was designed to be interactive in the way he speaks and moves, we needed to work closely with editorial to ensure that he was perfectly synced. If the dialogue was re-recorded or was shifted in the edit, we needed to render Smith quickly with those changes. To ensure that Smith was handled efficiently, we built a long scene-length sequence in After Effects that included each line of dialogue in its correct place. From there we rendered individual shot length Smith elements. This also meant that Smith’s overall movement and animation would be both unique from shot-to-shot and have accurate continuity across the entire sequence.

If you could share one tip about any or multiple Adobe tools you used, what would it be?

Several of the graphics and holograms in the film are close to the camera, and very out of focus. We took some time to develop a custom Iris shape based on depth of field reference from principal photography. This seemingly small thing makes a huge impact on the visual feel and realism of the composited graphics. To be able to use our custom Iris in After Effects, we used third party plugins Frischluft Out of Focus and Frischluft Depth of Field.

It's not much of a “hack,” but something else that really helped the pipeline for this project was to always keep an updated edit cut in Adobe Premiere Pro for each sequence/scene in the film. When working on 500+ shots simultaneously, this enabled us to quickly review our latest versions back to back, and helped immensely with controlling continuity throughout the sequence.

Who is your creative inspiration and why?

I have a huge amount of respect and admiration for all designers of futuristic UI. I especially love to view the work of Jayse Hansen, Toros Kose and Bradley Munkowitz. Personally, the most inspiring aspect of their creations is not necessarily in the design itself, but how it is visually ingested — the converging point between design and the real world — masterfully guiding light, shadow, medium, and lens.

What’s the toughest thing you’ve had to face in your career and how did you overcome it? What advice do you have for people aspiring to get into the VFX space?

Oddly enough, the toughest thing I’ve had to face in my career was self-inflicted — it was participating in the Los Angeles 48 Hour Film Project for 8 years. The challenge was the same each year — to create a unique 4-7 minute short film from start to finish within 48 hours. This includes storyboarding, script writing, shooting, editing, sound design, original score (in our case), and of course, visual effects. The genre, as well as a required prop, line of dialogue and character, were unknown until the challenge began. It was a side project, and it was always a fun and rewarding experience, but it was incredibly tough. Myself, along with a core group of talented individuals, were heavily involved in the entire process. My key focuses were cinematography and visual effects, which kept me 100 percent occupied for 48 hours straight, with potentially a couple hours of sleep. Our first film, packed with VFX, caused the organization to create a new category specifically for “Best Visual Effects.” Every one of our films went on to receive multiple awards, with our latest film also being awarded “Best Cinematography.”

My advice for people aspiring to get into VFX is relatively simple; come on in! I’ve seen people get into VFX from a multitude of career paths. If you’re willing to take the time to learn some programs, you will find your way in. There is an endless supply of guides/tutorials online. Start to create things that you like to create, and slowly fine tune your craft, creating a collection of work that you can show others. Feel free to reach out to people/companies in the industry, and start to build a small framework of connections.

Share a photo of where you work. What’s your favorite thing about your workspace and why?

Image Source: Aaron Eaton, Cantina VFX Supervisor

This is my home office. I am surrounded by things that I enjoy — board games, legos and various knick knacks related to projects I’ve worked on. My desk is positioned in front of a window so that I can take a break from staring at screens, and gaze outside to the trees and distant hills. My favorite thing would be the full-size movie posters of films that I’ve worked on. They bring back some great memories.

In the Cantina Los Angeles office, my favorite thing has to be the wonderful natural light that fills the office throughout the day. The sunsets are also incredible from up on the fifth floor.

Stream “Atlas” on Netflix .

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Ti West Loved This Western So Much He Wrote an Essay About It

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Ti West began his career as an independent filmmaker in the early 2000s, slowly climbing the industry ranks to become more mainstream. Although firmly steeped in the low-budget horror genre early in his career, West has graduated to bigger-budget commercial projects, including cable TV shows The Exorcist , The Resident, and most recently, the X trilogy. While steeped in the horror genre, the most off-brand movie West has made thus far in his career is the 2016 western In A Valley of Violence, starring Ethan Hawke and John Travolta.

Although In A Valley of Violence is inspired by several movie westerns, in 2014, West professed his undying admiration for a little-known western called The Homesman , directed by and starring Tommy Lee Jones. To trace the dramatic roots of In a Valley of Violence, it's worth exploring what drew West to The Homesman , why he feels it's such a great must-see movie, and perhaps most importantly, how movies about frontier life must return to making audiences feel uncomfortable like The Homesman is unafraid to do.

The Homesman

Who is ti west.

Ti West and John Travolta speak on the set of In a Valley of Violence

Ti West is an American filmmaker who has cut his teeth in horror since the early 2000s. After a pair of horror shorts, West made his feature film debut with the stylish creature feature The Roost in 2005. In 2009, West's profile was raised considerably with the release of House of the Devil , a retro slow-burn Satanic cult outing, and Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever , a hyper-gory sequel that he eventually removed his name from following studio interference. In 2011, West made the underrated haunted house film The Innkeepers before helming multiple segments in various horror anthologies.

In 2015, West transitioned to television and away from horror. Episodic stints on South of Hell, Wayward Pines, Outcast, Chambers, The Passage, Soundtrack, and Tales From the Loop, followed suit. In 2016, West made the Western revenge film In a Valley of Violence before returning to the horror genre with the X trilogy , including X, Pearl, and MaXXXine . Despite being known for horror, West's affinity for Westerns, and Tommy Lee Jones's The Homesman, in particular, inspired him to become a better and more mature filmmaker .

What Is The Homesman About?

Adapted from the Glendon Swarthout novel, The Homesman is a historical Western drama written and directed by Tommy Lee Jones. The title refers to the transportation of immigrants back to their homes, which, in the 1850s, was deemed a man's job. However, the story follows Mary Bee Cuddy (Hilary Swank), a childless teacher from New York venturing to Nebraska for better living conditions after she is rejected for marriage . In the Midwest, Mary encounters three immigrant women suffering from madness and mental illness and agrees to escort them back to their homes, braving the harsh winter, bleak conditions, and rough land.

Before the pilgrimage, Mary meets George Briggs (Jones), an outlaw who agrees to assist her in escorting the three women in exchange for $300 . A prickly skepticism between the two slowly grows into a mutual trust, with George vowing to protect Mary and ensure she completes her task. Alas, the movie delivers a brutal blow to viewers when Mary and George argue over giving a proper burial to a slain child whose grave was desecrated. George disagrees, forges ahead with the immigrant women, and leaves Mary behind .

Best Hilary Swank Movies with three images of the actress in different films like Boys Don't Cry and Million Dollar Baby

The 15 Best Hilary Swank Movies, Ranked

Double Academy Award-winning actress Hilary Swank has quite the film repertoire. From Million Dollar Baby to Boys Don't Cry, here are her best movies.

After getting lost for two nights, riding in circles on horseback, Mary reunites with George and asks him to marry her. George declines, saying he "ain't no farmer" who can provide the life she desires. The next day, George finds Mary dead in a shocking act of suicide via hanging. George blames her death on the immigrant women and briefly abandons them, only to realize what a disservice he is doing to Mary's memory and returns to complete his mission .

Without spoiling the emotionally moving resolution, Jones' decision to kill off what audiences believe is the main character is as bold a move as a filmmaker can make. It calls to mind Hitchcock killing off Janet Leigh in Psycho halfway through the movie, forcing audiences to align themselves with a new protagonist. Despite its bleak subject, The Homesman is throwback filmmaking at its finest. While Ti West has additional praise for The Homesman , the gritty, unflinching realism of 19th-century prairie life inspired his own brutal western.

How The Homesman Inspired Ti West

Mary and George sit on a wagon in The Homesman

When promoting the cult-suicide film The Sacrament in 2014, West penned a lengthy essay extolling the virtues of The Homesman . The first thing West praises about The Homesman is its approach to "reality filmmaking," which is less interested in opening weekend box office success and more interested in telling honest and authentic stories. According to West via Talk House :

"The Homesman reminds us of the unpleasant, oppressive challenges men and women faced in our country’s history, but also that most modern filmmaking does not usually look to engage an audience beyond their basic threshold of 'entertainment.'"

West admires how the Tommy Lee Jones movie is unafraid to make viewers uncomfortable , putting them into a vicarious bind that fosters empathy rather than fun, escapist entertainment, adding:

" The Homesman is the type of American filmmaking we should be celebrating. Filmmaking that does not conform to current trends. Filmmaking that focuses firmly on the story and the characters it represents, and does not attempt to make extra appeals to its audience . Respectfully, Tommy Lee Jones is not looking for an easier way to tell a difficult story. For better or worse, these are the people, places and situations this film is about — and the audience can deal with that as they see fit."

Best Western Horror Movies, Ranked

Merging the Western genre with horror movies is rare, but when attempted, the results are often unique. These are some of the best.

In West's estimation, The Homesman 's "traditional moviemaking, where cinema is art, and where deliberate storytelling is the most important," is the "type of American filmmaking that we should be celebrating." Not just for its honest approach to its dramatic storytelling and for treating audiences as mature adults, but for the melancholy Jones elicits in foreshadowing the role of women in American society. West says:

"Things will get better for women in American society, but for those depicted in the film, and for many generations following, they will suffer and, sadly, never see the results. This is par for the course whenever history is viewed without rose-tinted glasses, but the sense of melancholy with which the film is infused feels pertinent ."

While West's In a Valley of Violence features a different story and depiction of women along the American frontier, casting for the film was completed in July 2014, four months before West wrote about The Homesman . Given the same approach to telling an uncompromising story and the timing of the movie's production, it's easy to see how The Homesman inspired West to explore his version of the American frontier . The real question becomes whether Ti West will remain in the horror realm or return to the Western genre.

The Homesman is available to stream on Starz & In a Valley of Violence is available to stream on AppleTV.

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What research says about preventing school shootings

Cory Turner

Jeffrey Pierre

Students and residents mourn those who lost their lives near the scene of the mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Ga. Peter Zay/Anadolu via Getty Images hide caption

Wednesday's violence at a Georgia high school and the arrest of a 14-year-old suspect follow a familiar pattern of previous school shootings. After every one, there's been a tendency to ask, "How do we prevent the next one?"

For years, school safety experts, and even the U.S. Secret Service, have rallied around some very clear answers. Here's what they say.

It's not a good idea to arm teachers

There's broad consensus that arming teachers is not a good policy. That's according to Matthew Mayer, a professor at Rutgers Graduate School of Education. He's been studying school violence since before Columbine, and he's part of a group of researchers who have published several position papers about why school shootings happen.

Law enforcement and first responders respond to Apalachee High School in Winder, Ga., on Wednesday, after a shooting was reported.

Law enforcement had prior warning about suspect in fatal Georgia high school shooting

Mayer says arming teachers is a bad idea "because it invites numerous disasters and problems, and the chances of it actually helping are so minuscule."

In 2018, a Gallup poll also found that most teachers do not want to carry guns in school, and overwhelmingly favor gun control measures over security steps meant to "harden" schools. When asked which specific measures would be "most effective" at preventing school shootings, 57% of teachers favored universal background checks, and the same number, 57%, also favored banning the sale of semiautomatic weapons such as the one used in the Parkland attack.

Raise age limits for gun ownership

School safety researchers support tightening age limits for gun ownership, from 18 to 21. They say 18 years old is too young to be able to buy a gun; the teenage brain is just too impulsive. And they point out that the school shooters in Parkland, Santa Fe, Newtown, Columbine and Uvalde were all under 21.

School safety researchers also support universal background checks and banning assault-style weapons . But it's not just about how shooters legally acquire firearms. A 2019 report from the Secret Service found that in half the school shootings they studied, the gun used was either readily accessible at home or not meaningfully secured.

Of course, schools don't have control over age limits and gun storage. But there's a lot they can still do.

Schools can support the social and emotional needs of students

A lot of the conversation around making schools safer has centered on hardening schools by adding police officers and metal detectors. But experts say schools should actually focus on softening to support the social and emotional needs of students .

"Our first preventative strategy should be to make sure kids are respected, that they feel connected and belong in schools," says Odis Johnson Jr., of Johns Hopkins University's Center for Safe and Healthy Schools.

That means building kids' skills around conflict resolution, stress management and empathy for their fellow classmates — skills that can help reduce all sorts of unwanted behaviors, including fighting and bullying.

In its report, the Secret Service found most of the school attackers they studied had been bullied.

The School Shootings That Weren't

Jackie Nowicki has led multiple school safety investigations at the U.S. Government Accountability Office. She and her team have identified some of things schools can do to make their classrooms and hallways feel safer, including "anti-bullying training for staff and teachers, adult supervision, things like hall monitors, and mechanisms to anonymously report hostile behaviors."

The Secret Service recommends schools implement what they call a threat assessment model, where trained staff — including an administrator, a school counselor or psychologist, as well as a law enforcement representative — work together to identify and support students in crisis before they hurt others.

Earlier this year, the National Association of Secondary School Principals released new guidance for preventing school violence.

It noted that ensuring that educators, parents and students have access to mental health services is a "critical component" in preventing violence and increasing school safety. And the organization called for congressional action to provide support for those services.

This story has been updated from an earlier version published on May 26, 2022.

gun violence
mass shootings

Media Violence and Aggressive Behavior Essay

To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
As a template for you assignment

It is said that television and media brought about new problems that are evident in the modern day and age. Mostly, these influences are harmful in relation to violence and people’s general behavior, which is characterized as careless, destructive and unpredictable.

In reality, there is a great difference and separation between the violence that is seen on TV and that in real life, as people will not become aggressive if their character is not based on aggression.

For a long time, there has been a debate that violence in the media causes more aggressive behavior in the person. There have been numerous studies, but the evidence is somewhat controversial. The majority of people believe that the causation of violent behavior by media is exaggerated. The social theorists suppose that people learn by modeling and imitating behavior.

There have been experiments where such imitation would be tested with children as participants. It has yielded imprecise results (Wells, 1997). Further studies and experimentation have not established any particular correlation because of the control variables being too fluid.

An important concept in movies and media is that they constantly remind the viewer that it is only the authorized people, like police officers and other authorities, are allowed to use violence as a last resource. In many instances, there is added humor, even though it does not diminish the violent and dangerous nature of the situation where a person is killed or their life is threatened.

In general, it is possible to assume that a person might get desensitized towards violence, blood, aggression and criminal behavior. It has been proven that the more a person is confronted with a certain stimuli, the more they will get used to it. This can be seen in many examples from real life (Casey, 2008).

Today, there are movies that show very gruesome and graphic scenes, and it is a fact that many people watch movies like “Saw” and it might make them more used to horror and blood. But people realize that it is a movie and a false, staged situation. A real life occurrence would be very different.

For example, if a movie does not have graphic images or scenes, it might create an idea of violence where people are controlled against their will or held hostage. From one perspective, it is said that the person will learn to like the violence and use it in real life. But a person’s character or individuality cannot learn to like a particular stimulus. If a person does not like to smoke, they will not get used to it by constantly smoking.

Or if someone likes a certain color or smell, a person cannot be made to like or unlike something. In the end, it is possible to see that there must be a link between violence and an already existing personal predisposition to it. The only people who will get affected by graphic violent media are those who require ideas in how to manifest own violent behavior.

From this perspective, it would be better if violence was excluded from media and movies. It can be left simple, as if when a person gets shot or hit, there are no close-ups to show the wound or any blood. It would be useful to promote that the only moral of the movies in relation to violence is that it is unlawful and unwanted by anyone. Most evidence supports the fact that there must be a predisposition towards violence.

It very much depends on an individual. A person who is kind and moral will not resolve to violence because it will conflict with their core moral beliefs, and no matter how often they see violence on the news or in movies, each time they will feel appalled and will not simulate such behavior (Freedman, 2002).

It is clear that a person, who resolved to violence, either grew up in aggressive circumstances where they thought that it was allowed or possible or they have some genetic malfunction. Majority of people are taught that violence is wrong and will not be tolerated by the law and society.

Modern civilized countries take every effort to make this as clear as possible and everyone, even the criminals, know that taking someone’s life or being aggressive towards someone is the highest crime and will be punished. Unfortunately, the evolving technology is becoming a greater part of human life. The 3D or hologram affects, not to mention virtual reality, can stimulate senses in ways that were not possible before.

There is very little evidence as to how the body and genetic information reacts and what it stores. There is a slight chance that a person who watches violence all their life and becomes desensitized to human pain and suffering, will record that information in genes and pass it on to the next generation (Holtzman, 2000).

In any case, there is always a limit as to violence on TV and its nature. The modern society wants to see more blood, which is evident from many movies, and the types of people that watch those movies are of specific character. But the general public seems unharmed by media, as it is too character specific.

Works Cited

Casey, Bernadette. Television studies: the key concepts . New York, NY: Routledge, 2008. Print.

Freedman, Jonathan. Media violence and its effect on aggression: Assessing the scientific evidence. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press, 2002. Print.

Holtzman, Linda. Media messages . Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2000. Print.

Wells, Alan. Mass media & society . London, England: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1997. Print.

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IvyPanda. (2019, July 8). Media Violence and Aggressive Behavior. https://ivypanda.com/essays/violence-on-tv/

"Media Violence and Aggressive Behavior." IvyPanda , 8 July 2019, ivypanda.com/essays/violence-on-tv/.

IvyPanda . (2019) 'Media Violence and Aggressive Behavior'. 8 July.

IvyPanda . 2019. "Media Violence and Aggressive Behavior." July 8, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/violence-on-tv/.

1. IvyPanda . "Media Violence and Aggressive Behavior." July 8, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/violence-on-tv/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Media Violence and Aggressive Behavior." July 8, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/violence-on-tv/.

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Justin baldoni pens letter to domestic violence survivors: “you are never alone in this fight”.

"We are with you. You are not just surviving; you are thriving, and in your thriving, you inspire us all," the 'It Ends With Us' director wrote.

By Christy Piña

Christy Piña

Associate Editor

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Justin Baldoni on the 'Today' show on Aug. 8, 2024.

It Ends With Us director and star Justin Baldoni is continuing to speak out in support of domestic violence survivors.

Baldoni took to Instagram to share a lengthy love letter he wrote to survivors, praising them for everything they do to thrive, even in the darkest situations.

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COMMENTS

Violence in Movies and Its Effects
At this point it is necessary to mention another possible effect of violence in movies. Researchers claim that violence in media can affect adolescents' self-efficacy. In other words, young people can feel more confident when they associate themselves with certain characters created by filmmakers (Kirsh 102).
Violence, Media Effects, and Criminology
Media Exposure and Copycat Crimes. While many scholars do seem to agree that there is evidence that media violence—whether that of film, TV, or video games—increases aggression, they disagree about its impact on violent or criminal behavior (Ferguson, 2014; Gunter, 2008; Helfgott, 2015; Reiner, 2002; Savage, 2008).Nonetheless, it is violent incidents that most often prompt speculation that ...
Violent media and real-world behavior: Historical data and recent
The graphicness of movie violence shows an increasing pattern across the 20th century, particularly beginning in the 1950s, but did not correlate with societal violence. The second part of the study found that for the years 1996 to 2011, the consumption of violent video games was inversely related to youth violence.
Violence in the Media: What Effects on Behavior?
In a 2009 Policy Statement on Media Violence, the American Academy of Pediatrics said, "Extensive research evidence indicates that media violence can contribute to aggressive behavior, desensitization to violence, nightmares, and fear of being harmed." 3. This year, the Media Violence Commission of the International Society for Research on ...
PDF DOES MOVIE VIOLENCE INCREASE VIOLENT CRIME?
GORDON DAHL AND STEFANO DELLAVIGNA. Laboratory experiments in psychology find that media violence increases ag-gression in the short run. We analyze whether media violence affects violent crime in the field. We exploit variation in the violence of blockbuster movies from 1995 to 2004, and study the effect on same-day assaults.
Impact of Violence Movie on Human Behaviour
Violence is an act of physical force that causes or is intended to cause harm. The. damage inflicted by violence may be physical, psychological, or both.or both. Violence. may be distinguished ...
Does Media Violence Lead to the Real Thing?
Naturally, debate over media violence stirs up strong emotions because it raises concerns about the balance between public safety and freedom of speech. Even if violent media are conclusively ...
Violence in Movies Reflects a Cultural Reality
Updated June 30, 2016, 3:20 AM. We witness fictional acts of violence all the time at the movies, in PG-13 flicks and otherwise, and there's certainly a conversation to be had about our ...
Does Movie Violence Increase Violent Crime?
Like the laboratory experiments, we find indirect evidence that movie violence increases violent crime; however, this effect is dominated by the reduction in crime induced by a substitution away from more dangerous activities. Overall, our estimates suggest that in the short-run violent movies deter almost 1,000 assaults on an average weekend.
Violent Media Effects: Theory and Evidence
The goal of this chapter is to provide a review of current theory and research findings concerning media violence effects on good (prosocial behavior) and evil (aggression, violence, stereotyping ...
Does Media Violence Cause Violence? Can exposure to Violent TV Shows
The existing literature is indicative of the fact that violence has been rooted in the mass media like never before and with the growing advancement technologic. ... Can exposure to Violent TV Shows, Movies and Video Games turn people Aggressive and Desensitized to Violence? 29 Pages Posted: 19 Feb 2021. ... PAPERS. 953. Biology & Anthropology ...
How Violence in Movies Influences Real Violence
It is as if someone was on the "edge" or at the "breaking point" and could be "tipped over the edge" into committing violent acts. Having an understanding of risk factors would benefit the public to form a more rational opinion rather than an emotional opinion. This is only a sample. Get a custom paper now from our expert writers.
Violence in The Media: Understanding Its Impact and Influence
Violence in the media has been a subject of concern and debate for decades. With the proliferation of television, movies, video games, and digital media, the portrayal of violence has become increasingly prevalent in our daily lives.This essay explores the phenomenon of violence in the media, delving into its impact on individuals, society, and the ongoing discussion surrounding its influence.
The Violence In Movies
Violent movies disrupt sleep and leave children not so eager for hard work and concentration in classrooms, which automatically leads to a considerable drop in grades and accumulation and assimilation of knowledge. The same research also proved that students with excellent scholastic results dropped from 50% to 25% in grades.
Watching violence on screens makes children more emotionally distressed
Studies show that 37% of media aimed at children have scenes of physical or verbal violence. What's more, 90% of movies, 68% of video games, 60% of TV shows, and 15% of music videos have some ...
Movies Should Avoid Using Violence as Entertainment Essay
There are stories that warrant violence and movies where violence is added merely as a selling feature. Get a custom essay on Movies Should Avoid Using Violence as Entertainment. A leafing through a movie guide will likely throw up movie names such as Show of Force, Hell Squad, The Killers, The Naked and The Dead, Masters of Menace, Conan ...
Film Analysis
Film Analysis - "A History of Violence" Analytical Essay. "A History of Violence" is a 2005 American thriller movie that is based on a novel bearing the same name and it tells the story of Tom Stall (Viggo Mortensen), a restaurant owner in the small town of Millbrook, Indiana, who lives with his lawyer wife Edie (Maria Bello), son ...
Violence in the media: Psychologists study potential harmful effects
The advent of video games raised new questions about the potential impact of media violence, since the video game player is an active participant rather than merely a viewer. 97% of adolescents age 12-17 play video games—on a computer, on consoles such as the Wii, Playstation, and Xbox, or on portable devices such as Gameboys, smartphones, and tablets.
Essay about violence in movies
Decent Essays. 580 Words. 3 Pages. Open Document. If you watch movies these days you know you're sure to see some sort of violence whether it be a killing, beating, or some kind of cruel act. Now every time you watch TV, you are likely to see a commercial promoting a new movie with a catch title such as "Scream" or "Fear.".
Exploring How Quentin Tarantino Uses Violence in His Films
This video essay by Julian Palmer of The Discarded Image examines Tarantino's use of violence in his work to find out. So, just how violent are Tarantino's movies? A quick Google search will tell you just how many characters Tarantino has killed since Django Unchained , and even though the death toll reaches over 560 , it doesn't even make it ...
Violent media use and aggression: Two longitudinal network studies
Violent media and aggression. In 2015, the American Psychological Association published a press release stating that playing violent video games is linked to aggression (APA, Citation 2015).This decision proved controversial, as some believe that there is no link between violent media and aggression (Ferguson et al., Citation 2020).In particular, it has been argued that experimental studies of ...
Ti West Loved The Homesman So Much He Wrote an Essay About It
While steeped in the horror genre, the most off-brand movie West has made thus far in his career is the 2016 western In A Valley of Violence, starring Ethan Hawke and John Travolta.
Toronto Hidden Gem Village Keeper Director Domestic Violence Taboo
Village Keeper. Chapman adds that she deliberately chose to show Beverly-Jean's dark emotions and paranoia after escaping an abusive marriage, rather than the domestic violence itself.
Violent Movies and Children
Major effects. The effects of violent movies on children vary massively. This is evident in numerous occasions. Firstly, it is notable that children who spend a most of their times watching violent movies develop some unwarranted aggressions in their behaviors (Tompkins 1). The need to imitate major actors and scenes watched in the concerned ...
What we know about preventing mass shootings in schools : NPR
What we know about preventing mass shootings in schools Experts on school violence say a key to preventing such tragedies is identifying and supporting students in crisis before they hurt others.
Media Violence and Aggressive Behavior Essay
Media Violence and Aggressive Behavior Essay. It is said that television and media brought about new problems that are evident in the modern day and age. Mostly, these influences are harmful in relation to violence and people's general behavior, which is characterized as careless, destructive and unpredictable.
Justin Baldoni Pens Letter to Domestic Violence Survivors
Justin Baldoni has penned a letter to domestic violence survivors amid reports of a feud between him and his 'It Ends With Us' co-star Blake Lively.