As credits begin to roll up the theater screen, everyone makes their way down to exit talking about either the amazing graphics of violence or the hunk in the blue T-shirt. Never does one hear another mention how they’ll one day shoot everyone down just the way the violent character in the movie did.
Violence in the media has been around for ages. However, there is no solid evidence to affirm that watching media depicted violence causes mentally healthy people to commit violence in real life.ÿ Conversely, many scholars argue the complete opposite, that it actually prevents people from committing acts of violence.
Reasoning for this claim dates back to ancient times to the philosopher Aristotle. He proposed the cathartic effect in defense of violence in the media. The theory goes that the watching of violence allows individuals to release frustrations that they otherwise would repress and some day dangerously burst out. In other words, those who visually experience media violence are less likely to commit an act of violence in real life.
According to John Vivian, author of “The Media of Mass Communication,” contemporary scholar Seymour Feshbach conducted studies that support the cathartic effect theory and states:
“In one of his studies, he lined up 625 junior high school boys from seven different boarding schools and showed half of them a steady diet of violent television programs for six weeks.
The other half were shown nonviolent fare. Every day during the study, teachers and supervisors reported on each boy’s behavior in and out of class. Feshbach found no difference in aggressive behavior between the two groups.”
Vivian writes that Feshbach’s conclusion carries a lot of influence because of the study’s unprecedented massiveness of 625 individuals.
In addition, a study done by scholars Wilbur Schramm, Jack Lyle and Edwin Parker said, “For some children under some conditions, some television may be harmful. For other children under the same conditions, or for the same children under other conditions, it may be beneficial. For most children, under most conditions, most television is probably neither particularly harmful nor particularly beneficial.”ÿ
The media may influence behavior however it cannot be held accountable as the only reason that violent acts are committed. More studies in fact show that violence is picked up by aggressive friends and family members. A person’s environment is the real suspect here, not the media.