Does Media Violence Lead to Aggression?
By Courtney Moore, Emma Nason, Teresa Neuman, Daniel Nudelman, and MaryClaire O’Brien
One major question that is commonly asked today is, “Does media violence lead to aggression?” Gun violence is something that is becoming increasingly more common. Every day, 342 people in America are shot in murders, assaults, suicides and suicide attempts, unintentional shootings, and police intervention. Unfortunately, 96 people die from gun violence everyday. It seems like at least once a month we hear of another school shooting or an attempted mass shooting of some sort. We hear of tragedies like this so often that we become immune to them. We watch these tragedies be broadcasted over the news too often. When we watch the news, we hear the argument that violent movies and video games are making children and people more violent. A pioneer of research on this topic was George Gerbner. Gerbner carried out research and created a theory called mean world syndrome. Mean world syndrome is something he defines as: people who watch more media are often more violent and believe that others are more violent. Interestingly enough, studies have shown that people believe that they are not affected by the media, but others are, known as the third person effect. Studies have also shown that those who believe they are not affected by the media are substantially more affected than those who know that media has an effect on them. To this day many people still hold the idea that media have limited or minimal effects. 
Baran argues that violence is a staple in both TV shows and movies. In the 1960s the United States experienced an increase in violence. This happened to be the same time movies started to turn to graphic violence and the television became the country’s dominant mass medium. One argument of the Effects Debate states that media content has limited impact on audiences because it is only play or just entertainment. This argument is flawed because play is important to the way we develop knowledge and the way we see our world. If children grow up watching violence packed movies and video games, than in theory, they will begin to incorporate it into their lives. The media continuously try to prove this, using events such as school shootings done by children as their evidence. The media often blame violent video games and movies to be the cause of these actions. To further refute the Effects Debate argument, news coverage is not for the purpose of entertainment or play. For example, The aftermath of the Columbine High School massacre was not broadcasted across the country to entertain people, it was broadcasted to inform the people. The purpose was to make people aware that unfortunate events like this can happen and encourage everyone to find a solution. After the headlines faded there was a “subculture” that formed around mass shootings. This subculture was in-fact exactly what the media had stated it was during the incident - which was that violent media and video games were the root cause of this horrendous incident.
Gamers Turned Criminal?
accepting of real-world violence because of its constant presence in television fare” (343). By constantly seeing violent behavior exhibited in movies, books, and television, viewers become almost numb to their intensity and horror. Consumers do not experience the same level of discomfort as they may have before since they have been exposed to the content over and over again. Therefore, its severity is taken away, and people may see violent behavior as normal or not a big concern. This is dangerous because if society struggles in viewing violence as a wrong that needs to be corrected, then its occurance will become constant and more accepted. Media literacy is important in this instance because being able to comprehend this content in the right way will determine whether or not an individual will be more likely to have aggressive tendencies. Repeated exposure is likely to increase one’s predisposition or desensitization to violent behavior, so utilizing the content in the right way and viewing it less often may minimize its negative effects.
What Now?
In order to consume media effectively and/or productively, consumers must understand the effect that media has on their daily lives and evaluate how they will use this information. So, understanding these effects, does media violence lead to aggression?
Baran, S. J. (2014). Introduction to mass communication: Media literacy and culture (8
ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
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