Deceptive appearances: Television violence and aggressive behavior

VioLit summary: OBJECTIVE: The intent of this article by Constock and Strasburger was to identify the effects of televised violence on adolescents. METHODOLOGY: The authors employed a non-experimental design by reviewing research on the effects of televised violence; they also identified an intervention strategy from this research which reduced the negative effects of watching televised violence. FINDINGS/DISCUSSION: Although some research on adolescents from the 1960's identified a greater degree of aggressive behavior among those who watched violent programming, the dilemma of causality remained; were violent people predisposed to watching violent programs or was the content of the programs effecting the viewers? Subsequent research, however, identified two general conclusions about the correlation between televised violence and actual aggression: 1) There was a positive relationship between exposure to televised violence and aggressive or antisocial behavior. 2) Exposure to violent programming was associated with a decrease in altruistic behavior. The evidence for these two conclusions emerged from research around four general theories: 1) Social Learning Theory identified the effects of demonstrated behaviors on children, noting their abilities to model healthy as well as unhealthy behaviors. Bandura's (1963) experiment with children who watched a filmed sequence on a television set was reflective of this theory and Bandura's experiment also indicated that 6-8 months after viewing the material, the children could reproduce the aggressive behavior when asked to recall it. Various other field studies and laboratory studies echoed Bandura's findings (Singer & Singer 1980). 2) Instigation and Cue Theory suggested that behavior was not only a function of observation, but also of perceived efficacy. Bandura (1963) provided another experiment to support this theory when he had several children watch a film where one child aggressively dominated the other in a play room, while other children watched a similar film where the aggressive child was punished for his behavior; 60% of the children watching the first film said they wanted to be like aggressive child, while only 20% of the children watching the second film identified the aggressive child as worth emulating. Berkowitz (1963, 1973), Gerbner (1980), and Singer & Singer (1980) also supported the findings that after observing a successfully aggressive television character, children were more likely to exhibit aggressive behavior when dealing with dilemmas. 3) Arousal Theory (Tannenbaum & Zillmann 1975) posited that a general emotional arousal among adolescents, as a result of viewing certain types of programming, would drive children beyond their normal thresholds of behaviors; the frenzied pace and loud music of commercials, game shows and other types of programming were linked with aggressive behavior, possibly because children could not process some of this information as rapidly as adults. 4) Catharsis Theory suggested that the viewing of aggressive films could actually purge negative feelings and therefore act as a therapeutic mechanism, but more recent studies suggested that the Catharsis Theory did not hold up to careful evaluation (Ellis 1972; Williams 1986). Tests of these 4 theories were conducted through lab experiments, field experiments, correlational studies and longitudinal studies. The vast majority of this research indicated that the effects of viewing violent television depended on whether the violence was rewarded or punished, whether it was justified or consequenceless, whether it was pertinent to the viewer and whether the viewer was susceptible to it. One study identified 169 first and third graders for a two-year study in which half were taught about the unreality of television violence and were required to reflect on the issue and write papers about it; these children demonstrated significant improvements in their attitudes and peer-rated aggressiveness. AUTHORS' RECOMMENDATIONS: The authors argued that by making television less relevant to adolescents and by making adolescents less susceptible to the effects of televised violence, significant improvements could be made in the aggressive tendencies of young adults. Because federal agencies showed no signs of initiating any type of regulation on televised violence, according to the authors, intervention strategies on the part of families and schools should be implemented whenever possible. (CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado) KW - Television Viewing KW - Television Violence KW - Media Violence Effects KW - Aggression Causes KW - Juvenile Aggression KW - Social Development KW - Problem Behavior KW - Intervention Recommendations KW - Literature Review Language: en