DOES WATCHING VIOLENCE ON TELEVISION MAKE PEOPLE MORE VIOLENT?
The average child in the United States spends about two and one-half hours each day watching television, and much of what he or she sees is violent programming. The average child will see 8,000 murders and 100,000 other acts of televised violence before finishing elementary school, and twice that number by age 18. Would watching so much violence make children desensitized to violence, or more likely to learn to behave violently? What am I being asked to believe or accept? Exposure to television violence results in increased aggressive behavior, both contemporaneously and over time. Is there evidence available to support the assertion? Some evidence comes from anecdotes and case studies. In correlational studies, children who watch more violence on television are more aggressive, even twenty years later. Experiments show that children shown violent television shows display more violent behavior than children shown nonviolent shows. Can that evidence be interpreted another way? Anecdotes
Estimations are that the average child in the U.S. has spent more time watching television than attending school and that prime-time TV programs present an average of five violent acts per hour (Saturday morning cartoons include nearly 20 per hour). Before graduating from elementary school, the average American child will have watched about 8,000 murders and more than 100,000 other acts of televised violence. Psychologists speculate that watching televised violence might be emotionally arousing, making it more likely that viewers will react violently to frustration in the environment and the violence might also provide models that viewers imitate. Recent research suggests that exposure to media violence can trigger or amplify viewers aggressive thoughts and feelings, thus increasing the likelihood that they will act aggressively. Television violence might provide models that viewers imitate, particularly if the violence is carried out by the good guys. In addition it might desensitize
