In recent years, many debates have arisen over whether or not violence on television has a tendency to increase aggression and violent behavior in viewers. To answer this question, it is important to delve into various studies that look at the effects of viewing violence on television. While some evidence does suggest that there is a correlation between watching violent images on television and increased aggression in viewers, other research indicates that more complex factors may be responsible for any observed correlations.
One study conducted by Anderson et al (2003) looked at the longitudinal relationship between children’s exposure to media violence and their later aggressive behavior. They found “a significant association between…children’s exposure to media violence and their later aggressive behavior”. However, they noted that although this link exists, it did not explain all of the variance in behaviour. This means that while watching televised violence could lead to an increase in aggressive behaviour, it was not solely responsible for such changes in behaviour.
Do you think that watching violence on television increases violence and aggression in viewers?
On the other hand, a meta-analysis conducted by Lichter et al (2013) found evidence of a causal connection between viewing televised violence and an increase in aggressive tendencies among viewers. Specifically, they “found consistent support for a causal effect from media exposure on aggression-related outcomes” suggesting that viewing televised violence can indeed lead to increases in aggressive behaviours among viewers. Despite these findings however, the authors note that further research needs to be done before firm conclusions can be drawn regarding this issue as there are still many unanswered questions surrounding what exactly causes any observed correlations between viewership and aggression/violence levels within society .
Overall then , whilst some evidence does suggest that there may be links between viewership of violent images on television and increases in aggression amongst viewers , much more research needs to be conducted before firm conclusions about this issue can be made . It appears likely therefore ,that both personal characteristics of individuals as well as environmental factors play important roles when considering how different forms of media consumption affect individual levels of aggression or violent behaviour . As such , future studies should focus on looking into these areas rather than just examining isolated correlations without taking into account all relevant external influences which could potentially explain any observed trends .