Causality and Media Violence

Allison Brown STATS 2000 Dr. Bird 3 April, 2020 Thought Paper 3: Causality and Media Violence 1.) I found this article to be particularly interesting, I feel like the idea that using video games and watching violent media leads to acts of violence to be a common thought in today’s society to explain the increase of mass shootings and violent tendencies of some young people. The article made it clear that they researched and experimented with three different outcomes of this increased aggression: aggressive thoughts, angry feelings, and through psychological arousal. Ultimately, it was determined that there is both a short and long term increase to aggressive behaviors to those exposed to media violence. I think that this article reinforced what I already believed to be true, especially the notion that violent video games can lead to more aggressive thoughts and even behavior, that this exposure led to both short and long term effects however was new information personally. 2.) With a topic such as this dealing with violence and aggression, I would have assumed observational data would be the most beneficial in finding/understanding the relationship between violent media and aggressive acts. However, those who conducted this experiment were able to create scenarios to expose youth: “ … delinquent boys who were shown violent films every night for five nights were more likely than those shown nonviolent films to get into fights with other boys” (Bushman/Anderson 1815). I think that this method of testing was highly efficient given the study’s more difficult topic to prove and the ways that statisticians were able to measure what violence is. 3.) I found the finding from this study that long term effects of violent media effects are the most troublesome: “Longitudinal studies offer evidence of a relationship between exposure to violent media as a child and aggressive and violent behavior many years later as an adult” (Bushman/Anderson 1816). The article then goes to explain the longitudinal study that was conducted, by children exposed to violent media from the ages of 8 to 10 years were found to have more violent tendencies in fifteen years as young adults. From this study and others researchers were able to determine from a convergence of evidence (triangulation) that exposure to violent media increases aggression. Secondly, this wasn’t specifically addressed in the reading but I am curious if different types of violent media, the difference between video games and violent television/films, on the impacts of aggression. Violent video games give players the perspective of those who initiate the violence whether by shooting or attacking another in the game that person is seeing it through that perspective, similar to what an individual who committed an act of violence with a firearm would see. I feel as though experiencing violence like that rather than watching someone else on the screen committing a violent act could maybe rationalize the act of committing a violent deed more. Lastly, I found the section titled “Other Violent Media Effects” to be particularly interesting. The research indicates that those that are “heavy viewers of television”, or who watch 4 or more hours per day, are more likely of becoming victims of violence, more distrustful of others, and are more likely to view the world as a more dangerous and risky place then those who watch less than 4 hours of television per day. Not discussing the violence of media violence often: “… people who consume a lot of violent media become desensitized, numb to the pain and suffering of others. After consuming violent media, people are less physiologically aroused by depictions of real violence” (Bushman/Anderson 1817).