Research on the effects of violence in mass media

The studies of violence in mass media analyzes the degree of correlation between themes of violence in media sources (particularly violence in video games, television and films) with real-world aggression and violence over time.
Many social scientists support the correlation. However, some scholars argue that media research has methodological problems and that findings are exaggerated.(Ferguson & Kilburn, 2009; Freedman, 2002; Pinker 2002; Savage, 2004)
Complaints about the possible deleterious effects of mass media appear throughout history; even Plato was concerned about the effects of plays on youth. Various media/genres, including dime novels, comic books, jazz, rock and roll, role playing/computer games, television, films, internet (by computer or cell phone) and many others have attracted speculation that consumers of such media may become more aggressive, rebellious or immoral. This has led some scholars to conclude statements made by some researchers merely fit into a cycle of media-based moral panics (e.g. Gauntlett, 1995; Trend, 2007; Kutner & Olson, 2008). The advent of television prompted research into the effects of this new medium in the 1960s. Much of this research has been guided by social learning theory developed by Albert Bandura. Social learning theory suggests that one way in which human beings learn is by the process of modeling.
Media effects theories.
Social learning theory.
Social learning theory originated with Bandura's which suggests that children may learn aggression from viewing others. Modeling of behavior was observed in Bandura's Bobo Doll experiments. Bandura presented children with an Aggressive Model: The model played with 'harmless' tinker toys for a minute or so but then progressed onto the Bobo doll, the model lay the Bobo doll down and was violent towards it; punched its nose, hit it with a mallet, tossed it in the air, and kicked it. In addition, verbal comments were made in relation. They then put the children in a room with a Bobo doll to see if he/she would imitate the behavior previously seen on the video.
The findings of this experiment suggest that children tended to model the behavior they witnessed in the video. This has been often taken to imply that children may imitate aggressive behaviors witnessed in media. However, Bandura's experiments have been criticized (e.g. Gauntlett, 1995) on several grounds. First, it is difficult to generalize from aggression toward a bo-bo doll (which is intended to be hit) to person-on-person violence. Secondly, it may be possible that the children were motivated simply to please the experimenter rather than to be aggressive. In other words, the children may have viewed the videos as instructions, rather than incentives to feel more aggressive. Third, in a latter study (1965) Bandura included a condition in which the adult model was punished for hitting the bo-bo doll by himself being physically punished. Specifically the adult was pushed down in the video by the experimenter and hit with a newspaper while being berated. This actual person-on-person violence actually decreased aggressive acts in the children, probably due to vicarious reinforcement. Nonetheless these last results indicate that even young children don't automatically imitate aggression, but rather consider the context of aggression. Children with aggression have difficulty communicating compassionately. Overtime, "teen gamer's" can become unaware of their surroundings and lack social interaction in real life. According to the article by Hygen Beate in 2019 mention the video game violence can impact an individual’s essential social skills such as their emotions, behavior towards others, listening and understanding ability, responding or communicating, knowing verbal and non-verbal cues, sharing their thoughts, and cooperating with others. According to the survey in medical journal Jama network open written by Chang published May 31st, 2019, kids who repeatedly played violent video games learned to think viciously that could eventually influence their behavior and cause them to become aggressive in nature.
Given that some scholars estimate that children's viewing of violence in media is quite common, concerns about media often follow social learning theoretical approaches.
Social cognitive theory.
Social cognitive theories build upon social learning theory, but suggest that aggression may be activated by learning and priming aggressive scripts. Desensitization and arousal/excitation are also included in latter social cognitive theories. The concept of desensitization has particularly gotten much interest from the scholarly community and general public. It is theorized that with repeated exposure to media violence, a psychological saturation or emotional adjustment takes place such that initial levels of anxiety and disgust diminish or weaken. For example, in a study conducted in 2016, a sample of college students were assigned at random to play either a violent or non-violent video game for 20 minutes. They were then asked to watch a 10-minute video of real life violence. According to the website www.apa.org American Psychological Associations report titled technical report on the review of the violent video game literature written by Caldwell in February 2020, the revision to the 2015 resolution, playing video games, is often popularly associated with adolescence. “Children younger than age eight who play video games spend a daily average of 69 minutes on handheld console games, 57 minutes on computer games, and 45 minutes on mobile games, including tablets.” The students who had played the violent video games were observed to be significantly less affected by a simulated aggressive act than those who didn't play the violent video games. However the degree to which the simulation was "believable" to the participants, or to which the participants may have responded to "demand characteristics" is unclear (see criticisms below). Nonetheless, social cognitive theory was arguably the most dominant paradigm of media violence effects for many years, although it has come under recent criticism (e.g. Freedman, 2002; Savage, 2004). Recent scholarship has suggested that social cognitive theories of aggression are outdated and should be retired. Some scholars also argue that the continuous viewing of violent acts makes teenagers more susceptible to becoming violent themselves. Children of young age are good observers; they learn by mimicking and adapting the behavior. Playing violent video games created a fear in everyone's heart of violence in real life, which was only valid for adolescents with underlying psychological problems. According to the journal article titled Triple whammy! violent games and violent controllers: Investigating the use of realistic gun controllers on perceptions of realism, immersion, and outcome aggression from the journal, Journal Communication and written by McGloin in 2015 media violence can trigger aggressive behavioral change in the highly characterized aggressive individual. An individual can face severe consequences with media violence, which can increase "bullying behavior."
Catalyst model.
One alternative theory is the catalyst model (Ferguson et al., 2008) which has been proposed to explain the etiology of violence. The catalyst model is a new theory and has not been tested extensively. According to the catalyst model, violence arises from a combination of genetic and early social influences (family and peers in particular). According to this model, media violence is explicitly considered a weak causal influence. Specific violent acts are "catalyzed" by stressful environment circumstances, with less stress required to catalyze violence in individuals with greater violence predisposition. Some early work has supported this view (e.g. Ferguson et al., 2008). Recent research with inmates has, likewise, provided support for the catalyst model. Specifically, as suggested by the catalyst model, perpetrators of crimes sometimes included stylistic elements or behaviors in their crimes they had seen in media, but the motivation to commit crimes itself was unrelated to media viewing.
Moral panic theory.
A final theory relevant to this area is the moral panic. Elucidated largely by David Gauntlett, this theory postulates that concerns about new media are historical and cyclical. In this view, a society forms a predetermined negative belief about a new medium—typically not used by the elder and more powerful members of the society. Research studies and positions taken by scholars and politicians tend to confirm the pre-existing belief, rather than dispassionately observe and evaluate the issue. Eventually the panic dies out after several years or decades, but ultimately resurfaces when yet another new medium is introduced.
Criticisms.
Although organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association have suggested that thousands (3500 according to the AAP) of studies have been conducted confirming this link, others have argued that this information is incorrect. Rather, only about two hundred studies (confirmed by meta-analyses such as Paik and Comstock, 1994) have been conducted in peer-reviewed scientific journals on television, film, music and video game violence effects. Critics argue that about half find some link between media and subsequent aggression (but not violent crime), whereas the other half do not find a link between consuming violent media and subsequent aggression of any kind.
Criticisms of the media violence link focus on a number of methodological and theoretical problems including (but not limited to) the following (see Bryce & Kaye, 2011; Freedman, 2002; Olson, 2004; Tedeschi & Quigley, 1996; Pinker, 2002):
A small study published in "Royal Society Open Science" on 13 March 2019 found that "both fans and non-fans of violent music exhibited a general negativity bias for violent imagery over neutral imagery regardless of the music genres."
Media violence and youth violence.
On average, children in the United States spend six hours a day connected to media. However, several scholars (e.g. Freedman, 2002; Olson, 2004; Savage, 2004) have pointed out that as media content has increased in violence in the past few decades, violent crimes among youth have declined rapidly. Because the violence being portrayed in media especially TV is usually punished, it does not have an effect on producing violent behavior. While it may seem to be evident that reducing exposure to media violence will reduce aggression, it is less clear what sorts of interventions will produce a reduction in exposure. Analysis from this study show that violent media consumption as well as various forms of nonempathetic parental behaviour led to slightly more violent delinquency and to considerably more violence-approving normative beliefs. As Children advance into teen years evidence for violent acts in relation to violent media becomes less consistent. Although most scholars caution that this decline cannot be attributed to a causal effect, they conclude that this observation argues against causal harmful effects for media violence. A recent long-term outcome study of youth found no long-term relationship between playing violent video games or watching violent television and youth violence or bullying.
Relationship between media violence and minor aggressive behaviors.
Given that little evidence links media violence to serious physical aggression, bullying or youth violence, at present most of the debate appears to focus on whether media violence may influence more minor forms of aggressiveness. An article done in 1987 reviewing a history of court cases dealing with violent acts of youths showed that the courts were hesitant to hold media at fault for the violent acts. At present, no consensus has been reached on this issue. For example, in 1974 the US Surgeon General testified to congress that "the overwhelming consensus and the unanimous Scientific Advisory Committee's report indicates that televised violence, indeed, does have an adverse effect on certain members of our society." However, by 2001, the US Surgeon General's office, The Department of Health and Human Services had largely reversed itself, relegating media violence to only a minor role and noting many serious limitations in the research. Studies, have also disagreed regarding whether media violence contributes to desensitization
Media violence and cultural studies.
Much of the research on media and violence derives from the United States, particularly the related research fields of psychology and media/communication studies. Research in Europe and Australia on the relationship between media and violence is far broader and is much more clearly embedded in politics, culture and social relationships. Jeff Lewis' book "Media Culture and Human Violence" challenges the conventional approaches to media violence research. Lewis argues that violence is largely generated through the interaction of social processes and modes of thinking which are constantly refreshed through the media, politics and other cultural discourses. Violence is continually presented as 'authorised' or 'legitimate' within government, legal and narrative media texts. Accordingly, Lewis disputes with the proposition that violence is 'natural' or that violence is "caused" by media of any sort. Rather, media interacts with culturally generated and inherited modes of thinking or 'consciousness' to create the conditions in which violence can occur. These forms of 'violence thinking' are embedded in historically rooted processes of hierarchical social organisation. These hierarchical organisational systems shape our knowledge and beliefs, creating a ferment in which violence is normalised and authorised by governments and other powerful institutions. The link between violence and the media is therefore very complex, but exists within the normative framework of modern culture.