The twenty-first century is the golden age of media. Following the widespread of technology in the late twentieth century, media has become a constant presence in people’s lives. New innovations in technology have led to blockbuster movies, music at the touch of our fingertips, weekly television programs and a vast array of video games available on various devices. With new consoles and devices constantly being released, everyone, no matter their age, can readily access media. However, over time, media has taken on a violent transformation.
The games kids of past generations played such as Tetris and Pac-Man were soon replaced by violent video games like Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto. The comical sitcoms of the 90’s such as Friends and Full House have now been replaced by violence filled shows such as Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead. And the classic songs of Journey and Queen have been forgotten and replaced by the sometimes violent and inappropriate lyrics of Eminem and Drake. This increased use of violence in media has had many negative effects on avid media users such as teenagers and adolescents.
By analyzing various psychological studies, it is evident that exposure to media violence has led to aggressiveness, desensitization and various other negative behaviours as a result of the exposure to violence in media platforms such as video games, music, TV and movies. The increased use of violence in all forms of media has resulted in a negativeimpact on people of all ages. With the constant exposure to media, it is hard for people not to be influenced by the violence they see in movies, hear in music or take part in while playing video games.
In the popular Bobo doll experiment by Albert Bandura, we’ve already learned that children often model the behaviours of others. Likewise, recent studies have showed that exposure to violent media can lead to actions and feelings of aggression. Video game violence is one that is very influential. When playing video games, the player is in control of the actions done by their character. In games like Call of Duty, violence is encouraged as players are supposed to shoot enemies.
Bruce Bartholow, a psychology professor at MU College did a study on 70 young adults who played either a violent or non-violent video game for 25 minutes. They were then showed violent and non-violent images while their brain responses were being recorded by researchers. Those who played the violent video games showed a reduced brain response when viewing the violent pictures, a sign of aggressiveness. Additionally, the participants also took part in an activity where they could blast a controlled amount of loud noise at an opponent.
The researchers found that those who played the violent games set louder noise blasts which indicated a higher level of aggression. However, it is not just violent video games that lead to aggressive behaviour, TV shows do the same. In a 17-year study by a group of 4 psychologists from the University of Michigan, a group of 557 children aged 6-10 were asked about the amount of violent TV shows they watched, whether they identified with the aggressive characters and whether or not they found the situations realistic. Of the 557 children, 329 were resurveyed 17 years later while they were in their early to mid-20’s.
The participants were asked about their current TV habits and aggressive behaviours. To get more information, the researchers also interviewed friends and family of the participants and retrieved data such as criminal records and traffic violations. After analysing the answers and data, the researchers found that both men and women who watched violent TV as children were more likely to be violent to their spouses and others, be convicted of a crime and have more traffic violations. The men in this study were convicted of crimes at a rate 3 times higher than other men.
And, the women in this trial reported to having punched, beaten or choked another adult at a rate 4 times higher than other women. Additionally, aggression is evident in people who listen to violent music as well. In a study by Craig Anderson, several experiments were conducted to find a link between violent lyrics and aggression. In one experiment, students were asked to listen to either a violent or nonviolent song and fill ot a questionnaire about their feelings. Those who listened to the violent song recorded higher levels of hostility in their questionnaire.
In another experiment, college students were asked to listen to 4 violent songs and read words on cue cards. For those who listened to violent songs, they read aggressive words faster than nonaggressive words. We may think that a little exposure won’t harm us but as Craig Anderson puts it, “Anything that increases the extent to which a person is thinking in aggressive terms will tend to increase aggressive behavior”. Besides aggression towards others, violence in media also leads to the desensitization of people. Desensitization can be described as being made less sensitive to something.
In several studies of violent media, the results have shown that exposure to violence in media have led to desensitization to the pain of others as well as general violence. In a study by Brad Bushman and Craig Anderson, both psychology professors, they studied the correlation between violent video games and movies and the likelihood of helping others. In one part of their study, the researchers focused on 162 adult moviegoers. The researchers created a minor emergency outside the theater where a young woman with a bandaged ankle and crutches dropped her crutches and had difficulty retrieving them.
Half of the movie goers were tested before they went in to determine the average helpfulness of people entering the movie theater. The other half was tested after watching their movies. The results showed that those who just watched a violent movie took a 26% longer time to help the woman than the people who watched a nonviolent movie or none at all. In the other part of their experiment they had 320 college students play either a violent or non-violent video game for about 20 minutes.
Several minutes after the participants would overhear a staged fight where the victim is left groaning in pain with a sprained ankle. While observing the participants, they found that those who played the violent video game took longer (73 seconds) to help the victim compared to those who played non-violent video games (16 seconds). Observations also showed that those who played the violent video games were less likely to notice or report the fight. Additionally, of those who did report the fight, those who played violent video games judged the situation to be less serious than those who played the nonviolent games.
Similarly, in the previously mentioned study by Bruce Bartholow, while observing the brain response of people who were highly exposed to video games, they had little brain response which was a sign of desensitization to violence. Similarly, music lyrics and videos have led to desensitization in people as well. However, this desensitization is based on respect towards other people. In a study by Peter Fischel and Tobias Greitemeyer, they found that violent and misogynistic lyrics can lead to desensitization towards the feelings of members of the opposite sex as well as increased hatred and hostility towards them.
In their study, a group of males and females were told they would partake in 2 studies. The first study was based on music preferences. In this study the participants listened to 8 songs (4 neutral and 4 misogynistic) and were asked to rate the songs based on how much they liked it. Then, they were asked to participate in a chili sauce marketing study. During the chili study, a confederate, either male or female entered the room and stated their dislike towards spicy food and preference for sweet chili.
With this in mind, the participants were asked to taste some chili and then pour in an amount into a plastic cup. The participants were told that the confederate would have to consume all of the chili they were given. After analysing the amounts administered, the researchers found that the male participants gave the female confederate more chili sauce than the male confederate despite her claim of dislike towards spicy food. By contrast, the female participants were found to administer equal amounts to both the male and female confederates.
In addition, from the first study, the male participants rated the misogynistic songs higher than female participants. This study showed that violent and negative lyrics, such as misogynistic lyrics, can lead to desensitization towards others. Through these three studies it is evident that violent and aggressive media desensitizes people to the needs and feelings of others. Among other things, violence in media has many other negative effects on people. For example, in a study by Brad Bushman, he studied the effects of violent video games in relation to self-control.
In his experiment, 172 high school students played either a violent video game like Grand Theft Auto or a nonviolent game like Pinball 3D for about 45 minutes. While playing the kids were given a bowl containing 100 grams of M&M’s. The kids were told they could eat as much or as little as they wanted but that a high consumption of candy was unhealthy. The researchers found that those who played the violent game ate 3 times more candy than those who didn’t. After that, the teens were asked to solve a 10-item logic test where they would be rewarded raffle tickets that could be redeemed for prizes.
After completing the test and being told how many tickets they could have, the students were left alone with the envelope of raffle tickets and expected to take the appropriate number of tickets. However, when checking how many tickets were taken, the researchers found that those who played the violent games were 8 times more likely to cheat, or take more, than those who didn’t. So even if you don’t become aggressive or desensitized because of video games, even a short exposure to the violence in video games can lead to bad behavioural abits such as a decrease in self-control.
In addition, violent media, such as TV shows, have negative impacts on ourselves whether or not we can see it. In a study by Tom Hummer, 65 men between the ages of 18 and 29 were surveyed about their TV watching habits annually. Then they were asked to keep a detailed diary of their TV watching habits for a week. After that, they completed various psychological tests that measured things like inhibitory control, attention and memory while researchers used MRI scans to measure their brain volume and structure.
Of the people who recorded watching more violent TV, they performed worse on tasks that required attention or cognitive control. Additionally, those who watched more violent TV had less white matter connecting their frontal and parietal lobes which showed less maturity in brain development. The researchers in this study also found that these were results of exposure to violent TV and that the amount of time spent watching TV had no effect on the participants.
From this study it is evident that violence in media is worse than the amount of time spent on media. In a different study, We live in a time period where media and technology are glorified. Often times, people will wait outside stores like Apple or Best Buy to get the newest technology available. With new technology constantly being developed it makes accessing media so much easier. From a single device, a person is able to play video games, stream movies or television shows and listen to music.
However, few people realize that this constant exposure to media violence has led to many negative impacts on our thoughts, feelings and behaviour. After reading and analyzing all of the articles mentioned, it is quite evident that violent media, no matter how exposed you are to it, will have some sort of negative impact on a person even if it’s for a short period of time. So, while people should continue to enjoy their favourite video games, songs or TV shows, it is important to reduce exposure to violent media and understand the effects it could have on oneself.
