Media Violence and Social Deviance

Paper Summary:

This paper addresses the concern regarding media violence and its influence or potential influence on behavior. A literature review comprises most of the paper, with the author citing numerous studies that evaluate the impact of television and movies on youth. The majority of researchers agree that exposure to media violence results in aggressive behavior and desensitization. The paper further describes how access to violent Internet sites may impact young people. Also considered is the link between viewing violent television and movies and acts of sexual aggression.

From the Paper:

" According to Potter, the differences in definitions lead to a problem of ecological validity, which can make the public distrustful of the results of scientific research studies. For example, from a scientific view point, cartoons such as the Road Runner and Bugs Bunny are very violent, in fact, cartoons are consistently rated as the most violent of all programs on television because the characters are continuously getting "stabbed, shot, hit with heavy objects, blown up, rocketed into the sky, and flattened into the ground," however the characters always recover and never die (Potter). Therefore, social scientists who make strong statements about the harmfulness to children of viewing Tom and Jerry, Road Runner and the Three Stooges put themselves in danger of being regarded as being "fuzzy-headed academics wasting their time with silly research," because the majority of viewers would not regard any of these programs of violent (Potter). Critics who look at this situation conclude that social scientist use poor definitions of violence, and if the results of these studies are viewed as silly by the public, then those findings will not help them make meaningful changes in their children's exposure behavior that could protect them from unwanted effects, and if these findings are not trusted by policymakers, then it is unlikely that they will expend political capital to force changes in programming (Potter). Thus, researchers need to understand more about how the public interprets violence in programming and media scholars must do a better job of highlighting the differences in interpretations and convincing the public about the faulty nature of how it makes its interpretations (Potter)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Barak, Azy. "Internet pornography: a social psychological perspective on internet sexuality." The Journal of Sex Research. November 1, 2001. Retrieved December 23 2006 from HighBeam Research Library.
• Benenson, Blanche S. "Exposure to violence and psychosocial adjustment among urban school-aged children." Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics. December 1, 2003. Retrieved December 23 2006 from HighBeam Research Library.
• Comstock, George. "A Sociological Perspective on Television Violence and Aggression." Syracuse University. January 2004. Retrieved December 23 2006 from:http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:z3S3CFmvDTAJ:www.sidos.ch/method/RC28/abstracts/George%2520Comstock.pdf+Media+Violence+and+Social+Deviance&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=20
• D'Andrea, Michael. "Comprehensive school-based violence prevention training: a developmental-ecological training model. Journal of Counseling and Development. June 22, 2004. Retrieved December 23 2006 from HighBeam Research Library.
• Jensen, Gary F. "Social Learning and Violent Behavior." Department of Sociology Vanderbilt University. Retrieved December 23 2006 from: http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:J1DuL4pCzQ8J:sitemason.vanderbilt.edu/files/l/l3Bguk/slviolrev.pdf+Media+Violence+and+Social+Deviance&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=45

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