(March 2001)

There have been well over 1,000 studies on violence in motion pictures or television and aggressive behavior in young people. Taken together, they appear to show a clear relationship between viewing violent scenes and subsequent aggressive, often violent, behavior. Those studies have been of three types:

• Cross-sectional in which those who commit aggression are compared with a control group in regard to past viewing patterns of television and motion picture violence (number of hours spent, content of programs or movies).

• Longitudinal in which young people with different viewing patterns (again, number of hours per day or week, violent content of programs and movies) are followed for up to twenty years to analyze aggressive behaviors.

Violent video games are relatively new, so only a small number of studies have been performed. Most, but not all, the studies have found that violent videos promote aggressive behaviors in a significant percentage of viewers. To the list of positive results add a well-conducted study by Craig Anderson and Karen Dill that appeared in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in April 2000. They did two separate studies. In the first, they administered a questionnaire with multiple subcomponents to 227 men and women average age 18 years,. A greater exposure to video violence predicted a greater amount of aggression and delinquent behavior.

In the second study, 210 students were shown either a violent or a non-violent video and then put in an experimental game-playing situation; those who had just viewed the violent video behaved more aggressively towards their opponents.

Interestingly, in Study 1, the evidence suggested that those who were innately more aggressive were more likely to be influenced to express that aggression.

Critique: This is a solid study. Study 1 was based solely on questionnaire answers and, therefore, does not measure the effect of video violence on the severity of the aggressive or delinquent behaviors, and the behaviors were not confirmed by direct observation, or by public or school records of delinquency. Still, these studies are well conducted and give additional substantial support to the notion that all this violence in the media will increase aggressive feelings, thoughts, and actions, including violent behaviors, in at least some of the frequent viewers.

Ratings:

for the effects of violent video games on viewer aggression.

for the evidence that visual media violence increases aggressive and violent behaviors in some viewers.

It is patently ridiculous to claim that viewing violence does not increase aggressive feelings and behaviors in some viewers. The real question is what percentage of viewers will develop aggressive feelings and what percentage of those will act on those feelings with resulting serious antisocial, aggressive, or violent behaviors. Some of the media apologists say the percentage of those who act aggressively after viewing violence is very small. They are probably correct. But, if only one percent of 20,000,000 young viewers commit serious aggression as a result of viewing movie, television, or video violence, that translates to 200,000 acts of aggression and violence.

The bigger problem is that no matter how persuasive the evidence, it is very difficult to change public policy or reduce the incredible amount of gratuitous and explicit violence in motion pictures, on television, and in video games.

Anderson, C.A. and Dill, K.E. Video games and aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behavior in the laboratory and in life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Vol 78. (April) Pgs 772-790. 2000.