How does media influence violence and aggressive attitudes in young people?

Answer 1

That's a subjective question overall, and one that has a wide array of opinions in response to it.

Generally speaking, the media does tend to report on violent acts and they do tend to show increasingly graphic images when doing so. This in turn can be directly attributed to higher ratings for the show, which further increases the propensity to be graphic.

Essentially, yes. Viewers tune in to see the violence, so that's what the media shows, which increases the viewers exposed to violence. Those exposed to violence have a tendency to become more interested in it (it is interesting after all), and they may seek out more violence to view.

It does have a cyclical affect.

Which came first or to what extent these functions of human nature build off each other is up for debate, but that they function together and lead to an increased display of violence - and that people are interested in seeing the increased displays of violence is fairly well documented.

Answer 2

Media can influence violence and aggressive attitudes in young people through repeated exposure to violent content, desensitization to violent acts, and the normalization of aggressive behavior as a solution to problems. Additionally, media can also shape perceptions of social norms and influence behaviors through observational learning, where young people may imitate aggressive behaviors they see in media.

Answer 3

The short answer is: "It doesn't." That, however, is not what many people believe. Since the earliest days of radio, it was claimed that listening to crime dramas could cause kids to become gangsters. When television came along, it was claimed that watching violent westerns could cause kids to go out and shoot someone. And even rock and roll got some blame-- there were people in the 1950s who tried to establish a link between listening to rock and becoming juvenile delinquents, much as people in the 1980s and 1990s tried to establish this link between listening to rap and hip-hop and delinquency. But studies do not show conclusively that any such link exists, no matter how many times people have blamed the popular culture or the popular media for aggressive or violent behavior.

That said, of course the media can be a factor in how kids behave. But so can poor parenting (lack of supervision, allowing TV to be the "baby-sitter," not explaining to kids that TV shows aren't real and you can't do that stuff in real life, allowing kids to watch programs they are really too young to watch, etc); so can a violent environment, where guns or drugs or crime or gangs are prevalent and kids see violent acts on a regular basis; and so can a culture that glorifies and excuses violence, and does not focus on ethical or courteous behavior. I am sure that some kids are influenced by violent imagery in movies or on TV or in music; but those kids undoubtedly have other factors in their life that turned their media use into just one more reason to act aggressively towards others.