TO WHAT EXTENT DOES MEDIA VIOLENCE TRIGGER
AGGRESSION IN SCHOOL-AGED CHILDREN?
Name: Alyssa San Jose
IB Number: 000046-137
Subject: Psychology
Date: January 9, 2013
Examination Session: May 2013
Word Count: 3999
Table of Contents
Abstract ............................................................................................................................... 1
Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 2
Investigation ........................................................................................................................ 5
Media Violence: Television............................................................................... 5
Media Violence: Video Games .......................................................................... 7
Other Causes of Violence .................................................................................. 9
Fixing the Problem .......................................................................................... 10
Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 12
References ......................................................................................................................... 14
Appendices ........................................................................................................................ 17
Appendix I—Bouchard et al (1990) ................................................................ 17
Abstract
This extended essay investigated the research question: To what extent does media
violence trigger aggression in school-aged children?
To deal with this issue, the amount of violence present in television programming and
video games is first established while evaluating evidence of the effects from observation of
these programs and partaking in these games. The aims of the sociocultural level of analysis of
psychology are defined with reference to the Social Learning Theory proposed by Bandura
(1961) and Script Theory proposed by Huesmann (1986). Evidence from studies is presented
explaining the correlation between television or video games and violent, aggressive behavior to
support these theories. The results from these studies support a relationship between media
violence and aggression among children and increasing amounts of hostile behavior.
Criticisms of the Social Learning Theory (Bandura, 1961), which supports the influence
of a behavior stimulus from an external source, are presented and discussed. They suggest that
violence has a genetic factor, in contrast to the studies supporting media violence triggering
aggression, since it seemed that a strong environmental influence of the media on violent
behavior exists but the genetic inheritance of behavior cannot be disregarded. The results from
these studies support a relationship between genetics and intelligence, and therefore violence as a
genetically inherited trait.
It was concluded that psychology may not yet understand to the full extent of how
television programs or video games influence a child’s behavior (Gunter & MacAleer, 1990);
however, the studies conducted which investigate the effects of violence in television and video
games on aggressive behavior in children cannot be discounted. In conclusion, violence present
in television and in video games has been shown to be a substantial contribute towards
aggressive behavior in school-aged children.
(281 words)
1
Introduction
The average American youth spends 900 hours in school per year (Barber, 1993). In this
same year, he or she will watch 1,023 hours of television (Nielsen, 2000) and play 1,040 hours of
video games (Barnett, 2004) on average. 40% of the top grossing non-animated PG and G rated
films include at least one main character with a gun. In one week of animated cartoons on
television, 26% will also include a gun (Pelletier et al, 1999). On average, children viewers see
two gun related violent incidents for every hour they watch television (Smith et al., 2001). In
addition, children will see 7,954 violent incidents televised in one year (Huston et al., 1992).
Within these television programs alone, young people are bombarded with relentless violent
content. Increasing media violence such as murder, rape, or aggravated assault broadcasted over
television or through electronic games has been seen to encourage aggression in school-aged
children (Centerwall, 1993). This hostility can be seen in the increasing destructive acts in
children watching television violence and playing games incorporating aggression.
On April 20, 1999, two high school students rampaged through their school and killed
twelve students and one teacher, making Columbine the United States’ deadliest high school
shooting in history. Interest in the motivations and psyche of the culprits initiated an
investigation of their mindsets, specifically finding what drove them towards the shooting and
how they were able to rationalize their actions. The aspect of motivation was researched in depth
to find causes such as family issues, over exposure to violence, or mental instability within the
shooters. In the process of this research, however, a discovery was uncovered that the Columbine
massacre happened as one of myriad other shootings. March 5, 2001 in Santee, California: two
killed and thirteen wounded by a fifteen year old boy. April 16, 2007 at Virginia Tech: thirtythree dead and fifteen wounded by a twenty-three year old man. February 27, 2012 in Chardon,
Ohio: three killed and six injured by a former classmate. July 20, 2012 in Aurora, Colorado:
twelve murdered by a graduate student at a premiere of The Dark Knight Rises. These acts of
violence are becoming widespread through the news every year, even showing up on Facebook
Newsfeeds. Research of these incidents poses the suggestion of a correlation between the real
acts of crime and the increasing levels of media violence present in video games and television
programs. The level of violence broadcast in the media seems to be the correlation between these
crimes as many of the shooters emulated video games or movies, such as the shooter dressing as
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“the Joker” during the shooting at the Colorado Dark Knight movie premiere as well as the
actions of the Columbine shooters mimicking the video game Doom. However, these crimes
show that it is not just a video game or a television program displaying this violence, these brutal
acts are present in society.
The aim of psychology is to understand, predict, control and explain behavior of human
beings. Through the sociocultural level of analysis, the way social and cultural environment
influences affect an individual’s behavior can be studied. By investigating the environmental
stimulus of the media and violence resulting from it, the effects on behavior can be used to study
and form an understanding, prediction, control, and explanation for psychology. This correlation
between violence present in the media and succeeding violent events is necessary to investigate
to be able to understand, explain, and eventually predict human behavior. The number of violent
acts broadcasted through media in society pushes for an investigation of this correlation. This
results in a number of studies investigating the extent of the impact from the correlation between
media violence and aggression. Studies in support of the correlation show that watching
television with multifarious violent acts increases the aggressive behaviors and apathetic
emotions of children. However, studies that refute the correlation show the individual differences
of children and their biological and genetic make-up. As media violence may contribute to
aggression, the question of how much violence present in the media leads to violent behavior as
opposed to other factors that play a role in aggressive behavior is suggested. To what extent does
media violence trigger aggression in school-aged children?
To deal with this issue, one must first confront the level of violence present in television
programming and video games while evaluating evidence of the effects from observation of
these programs and partaking in these games. The aims of the sociocultural level of analysis of
psychology must be defined with reference to the Social Learning Theory proposed by Bandura
(1961) and Script Theory proposed by Huesmann (1986). Evidence from studies will be
presented explaining the correlation between television and video games and violent, aggressive
behavior to support these theories. The results from these studies support a relationship between
media violence and aggression among children and increasing amounts of hostile behavior.
Evidence will also be presented from studies that do not support the findings of afore mentioned
studies. Discussion of the influence of genetic inheritance of behavior will be presented as a
counterclaim to the Social Learning Theory (Bandura, 1961). Alternative methods of decreasing
3
the amount of violence and eliminating the link between violence and praise will then be
examined. Through this investigation, a causal relationship between violence existing in media
and increasing aggression becomes present such that media violence influences children’s
behaviors.
4
Investigation
Media Violence: Television
Television has become increasingly ingrained in society today. Teenagers follow
television series almost as closely as social events happening outside the artificial world of
television programming. Television is used as a babysitter to keep little kids quiet and behaved.
The combination of meeting for dinner and going out to the cinema to watch movies is a
common practice for adolescents nearly every weekend. This exposure to television
programming and cinematic movie content influences society through its vast presence in the
general public.
Sociocultural psychology investigates how humans think about, influence, and relate to
one another. This level of analysis suggests that social and cultural aspects of the environment
influence the behaviors of individuals in society, rather than by genetic influences. Bandura et al
(1961) proposed that learning could occur through observation. Based on this Social Learning
Theory, it is suggested that watching others and replicating their actions determine the learning
of behaviors. Two versions of learning exist within this theory: vicarious learning, where others
are rewarded or punished for their behaviors in the view of the learner, and pure modeling
learning, where a person models their behavior on someone else. Four elements for observational
learning include attention, retention, motor reproduction, and motivation. Attention requires that
one pay attention to the model. Retention requires that one remember the behavior. Motor
reproduction requires the ability to do the behavior. Motivation requires that one be motivated to
demonstrate what was learnt. These four elements are crucial and observational learning would
not take place without them.
Bandura et al’s (1961) theory of observational learning is exemplified through his study
where children were individually shown into one of three rooms. In each room was one of three
variables: an aggressive model attacking a Bobo doll, a non-aggressive model playing with the
doll, or a control group with no model. The children were left in these rooms with the variable.
The children were then individually shown into another room and were angered and frustrated by
a researcher in order to illicit aggressive behavior. The room contained a one-way mirror to
observe the reactions of the children after the interaction with the researcher. It was found that
the children’s attention was caught by the aggressive model and reproduced the actions of the
model, attacking the Bobo doll and playing violently with the toys while the non-aggressive and
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control group had significantly less destructive and hostile behavior. Bandura et al’s (1961) study
shows that aggression has the ability to be learnt through pure modeling, causing aggressive
behavior to be elicited, an example of observational learning.
Observational learning is present when watching television. Children pay attention to the
television programs and vicariously experience receiving rewards for cruel actions. Because of
the repeated acts of violence in these programs, the retention of behaviors is increased. In
television programs such as Batman or The Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, children observe
praise to the main characters, following their acts of brutality towards other characters. The
children are then motivated to demonstrate what they have learnt from the television
superheroes. Supporting this idea, Boyatzis et al (1995) conducted a study to test aggression after
watching violent programs. Children were randomly assigned to the Power Rangers condition or
a control group. The control group was observed while playing in their classroom and the
number of aggressive acts by each child was recorded in a two-minute interval per child. On the
following day, an episode of The Power Rangers was shown to the Power Rangers group. The
children in the Power Rangers condition were observed to commit more aggressive acts per
interval than control group children. Expressed as a ratio, for every one aggressive act by control
group children there were seven by children who viewed The Power Rangers episode. It can be
concluded from Boyatzis et al’s (1995) study that a correlation exists between the violent
television episodes and aggressive acts committed while playing in the classroom. This study
supports the idea that vicariously experiencing rewards for barbarity through everyday cartoons
or television programs promotes aggression because of the observational learning that Bandura
(1961) proposed.
The results of this study can be supported with the case on July 28, 1999 of a twelveyear-old boy who emulated pro-wrestling moves he had encountered on a television program and
killed a six-year-old girl. Lionel Tate was convicted of first-degree murder although he claimed
it was an accident and he didn’t know the moves would hurt Tiffany Eunick. This incident
supports the conclusion of Boyatzis et al’s (1995) study because, through observational learning
proposed by Bandura (1961), Tate’s attention was caught by the wrestling programs where his
retention of the moves increased as he watched the wrestling program, learning the admiration
for the wrestlers shown on television. By watching the wrestling program on television and
6
seeing the praise and lack of negative consequences, Tate imitated these wrestling moves on
Eunick without realizing the potential harm he would cause her.
However, studies have been conducted that contradict the Social Learning Theory as
proposed by Bandura (1961). Charlton et al (1999) proposes the assessment of impact caused by
the introduction of television to a remote community on a small island in the Atlantic. The
sample consisted of children who were school-aged living in St. Helena. Using a natural
experiment with repeated measures, the behavior of the children was observed before the
introduction of television for the first time as well as after the introduction. Charlton et al (1999)
observed no significant change in aggressive behavior after being introduced to television. This
study shows that behaviors shown on television do not necessarily impact the behaviors of
children, as this study focuses on a community that had not previously been exposed to
television.
Media Violence: Video Games
In video games such as Assassins’ Creed, the player’s aim is to maim or kill your
opponents in different ways to unlock achievements, with higher levels of violence than
compared to video games in previous years such as Sonic, where the player is required to guide
the character between obstacles at a high speed, attempting to collect coins along the way. Video
games today have incorporated escalating amounts of violence, increasing lethal attacks, even
becoming more realistic throughout the years (Grossman et al, 1999). These games are targeted
towards children consumers and have exceeded several billions of dollars worldwide in profit.
Through the sociocultural level of analysis, investigating the cultural and social effects on
behavior, Huesmann (1986) proposes that children develop a script for aggressive behavior
based on video games with no negative consequences.
Behavioral scripts are a set of situation specific expectations and behavioral guidelines
for implementations of a sequence of behaviors. Scripts are a set of behaviors associated with
content that has been repeated, eventually causing action (Abelson 1981). Rehearsing a script
solidifies the links and associated behaviors of the script. For example, a behavioral script of a
restaurant would be entering, being seated at a table, picking a meal from the menu, ordering the
meal by telling the waiter/waitress, eating the meal, paying the bill, and leaving. This script is
7
solidified in the minds of society because every time a person goes to a restaurant, they follow
the same behaviors and a restaurant eventually becomes associated with this script.
Behavioral scripts are present in electronic games when playing, watching, and going
through the actions of killing or targeting an enemy. Calvert and Tan (1994) conducted a study
that compared the effects of playing video games in opposition to observation of video games. It
was concluded that the children playing the video games tended to be in more of an aggressive
state afterwards than the child who observed the video game. The participant playing the video
game also exhibited more violent thoughts than the other group. This increased hostile behavior
is exhibited as the participant follows the character throughout the game and learns the
destructive, violent scripts that the games provide. The lack of negative consequences for the
characters develops a script for the participant. This script consists of aggressive behavior to
react to situations in real life with no negative outcome.
Kirsh (1997) investigated a similar claim of the effects of playing a violent video game
versus a nonviolent one. The participants were asked to play the games and respond to a story
afterwards. The actions of this hypothetical character were ambiguous, and required
interpretation. The participants in the violent game group responded with a more aggressive
response 50% of the time than the group with the nonviolent video game exposure. The
behavioral script that the violent video game establishes is being accessed in these situations to
answer the questions about the actions of a fictional character. The script situation is being
implemented in the fictional character’s situation and therefore the responses are more hostile
and violent than the others.
However, it has also been seen that video games are helpful in decreasing violence in
classrooms as shown in the study conducted by Sherer (1998). Junior and senior high school
students were asked to play a computerized board game that incorporated moral dilemmas
throughout the progression of the game. Before the study, they were asked about six indices of
moral development. After twenty weeks of playing the game, points were accumulated and the
participants were asked again about the six indices. Three of these indices had improved
positively including moral stages, punishment, and posttransgressional reactions. By including
moral dilemmas in his video game, Sherer (1998) implemented behavioral scripts into the
participants by having them follow their character and make decisions in the game, establishing a
script for good behavior.
8
Other Causes of Violence
Some psychologists claim that children are not motivated to be violent because of
exposure to hostility broadcasted on television, but are instead predisposed to the violent
condition because of their genetic make up or chemical imbalances in the brain. Gur et al (1995)
used a PET scan to monitor glucose metabolism in a subject’s brain. The subject was given
radioactive glucose and the particles were detected on the scanner as a colored map of activity.
The PET scan was done on both male and female subjects; however, the male subjects were
found to have a more active metabolism in their brain that controls violence. This study shows a
link between biology and behavior because it shows specific activity in the brain relating to a
specific behavior exhibited. This contradicts the Social Learning Theory because no external
factors are influencing these subjects to be violent. Instead, they are predisposed to this violent
behavior because of their gender.
Bouchard and McGue (1981) reviewed 111 studies of IQ correlations between siblings
from research studies on intelligence from around the world. In these studies, Bouchard and
McGue (1981) found that the closer the kinship, the higher the correlation of the IQ. However
for there to be proper study of the role of genetics in intelligence, participants needed to be
genetically identical, this is where the use of twins in studies started. The studies of identical
(monozygotic) twins can be used to examine the influence of heredity or environment in
behavior as the twins are from a single fertilized ovum, resulting in the exact same genetic make
up (Crane & Hannibal, 2009).
Bouchard et al (1990) conducted a longitudinal study that started in 1979. The
participants of the study were classified as: Identical Twins Raised Apart (MZAs) or Identical
Twins Raised Together (MZTs). Each twin completed approximately fifty hours of testing and
interviews. In the IQ tests given, the correlations between intelligence levels and genetic
relationship are found in Appendix I.
From these figures, Bouchard et al (1990) concluded that 70% of intelligence could be
attributed to genetic inheritance, leaving only 30% to other factors. Violence, like intelligence,
could also be a heritable characteristic. A person’s predisposition to violent, aggressive behavior
could be inherited, similar to intelligence, by genetics, instead of fueled from outside sources
such as the media. These studies of inheritance using identical twins do not support Bandura’s
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(1961) Social Learning Theory, instead they suggest that behaviors are determined genetically
through inheritance instead of stimulated from outside sources.
Fixing the Problem
Television programs and electronic games are a part of an entertainment industry that
contains numerous job fields and employs thousands of people around the world. This industry
has been growing markedly in the U.S. economy, even being predicted to grow at 5% per year
until the year 2015 by PricewaterhouseCoopers. In games alone, every second, approximately
seven games were sold in the year 2010 and 7.3 billion dollars were generated as the revenue for
video games in the year 2011. The high-grossing profit of an ever-growing industry shows that it
would be improbable to suggest that this industry shut down its marketing in order to stop
exposing children to violent acts. It is impractical to modify the media violence, as it would cut
profit from the industries. Even though no action has been put forth to limit media violence,
Hollywood is aware of the exposure to violence taking tolls on children today, a quote from a
producer states:
“I’d be lying if I said that people don’t imitate what they see on
screen… look how dress styles change. We have people who want to
look like Julia Roberts, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Madonna. Of course we
imitate. It would be impossible to think they would imitate our
dress…but not imitate any of our violence” (Auletta, 1993; Gentile,
2003).
This imitation is affecting society, and can be seen in the arrests and imprisonments of
male criminals where 22 to 34% have been reported intentionally emulating crimes they had seen
broadcasted over television programs (Centerwall, 1993)
Accepting that violence will continue to be prominent and prolific in television media
and the video game industry, there must be a way for violent acts replicated by children to be
suppressed as opposed to encouraged through the vicariously learned rewards on television.
Without cutting the profitable and growing industry, other methods must be implicated in our
society to prevent violent acts, such as the shooting at Columbine, from repeating.
Presenting alternative messages that deprive the accustomed glorification of violence
would potentially reverse the effects of the rewards that children experience in television and
10
video games today. The adoration and praise given after hostile acts are committed by characters
would be neutralized by a message that notified viewers of potential harm that these acts could
create, causing vicarious learning of destructive behaviors to be subsided. Exemplifying this,
Huesmann et al (1983) conducted a study where participants aged nine through eleven wrote, as
a school project, about how violence in television programs was detrimental. The subjects were
found to have decreased aggressive acts towards their peers than in comparison to the control
group, who did not write about the violence in television. By eliminating this relationship
between adoration and violence, there was a decrease in aggression.
Television companies also have the option to have watershed times. The term
‘watershed’ in the United Kingdom, and ‘safe harbor’ in America both have the same definition:
a divisor between when content suitable for children to watch airs on television and when
content that includes, but is not limited to, violence, nudity, sexual innuendo, or drug usage.
This would eliminate some impact of hostility on television since children are usually in bed by
safe harbor times, around ten o’clock at night. This would allow children to watch safe television
with fewer acts of belligerence during their day; however, it would not completely eliminate the
issue, as praise for aggression would still be learned.
Video games are at a disadvantage because the user can play on his or her own time,
without limitations on content in their own homes. To limit the ownership of content unsuitable
for children, video game companies could further mark their products with potential harm their
games could cause and rate how much violent or aggressive content is present in their product.
The stores that sell the product could also enforce the age limitations on distribution of these
games and require that a parent or guardian be there to purchase a game if the child is underage.
This could discourage parents from allowing their children to purchase video games that contain
destructive behavior, and therefore limit the child’s exposure to this violence.
Much like observational learning, behavioral scripts can be broken when the link between
praise and violence is severed. By providing feedback of the video game and discussing the
outcomes of the violence with children, impulsivity and violence are reduced as shown in the
study by Kappes and Thompson (1985). Talking about the video game and the real life situations
with violence and aggression can eliminate the correlation established by the lack of negative
consequences in video games.
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Conclusion
Media and the entertainment industry affect our lives by increasing amounts each day.
Psychology may not yet understand to the full extent of how television programs or video games
influence a child’s behavior (Gunter & MacAleer, 1990); however, the studies conducted
investigating the effects of violence in television and video games on aggressive behavior in
children cannot be discounted. In conclusion to the question, to what extent does media violence
trigger aggression in school-aged children, media violence present in television and in video
games has been shown to contribute substantially towards aggressive behavior.
The prominent influence of television in our society is ever escalating as technology
advances. Seeing all these violent images with little to no negative consequence for actions and
often, even praise for their aggression, children will learn vicariously the correlation between
praise and violence, following Bandura’s (1961) social learning theory. Electronic video games
are growing in popularity, as well. Along with that growth is the exposure to more media
violence. By having first-person shooter games, behavioral scripts can be established for the
approval of violence as an acceptable method of solving problems in daily life.
The acts of aggression learned through vicarious and pure modeling as well as behavioral
scripts show how television and video games are extensive contributors to violence in children.
Alternative methods to deprive the accustomed glorification of this violence should be
implemented in our society to sever the relationship between praise and violence. This can be
achieved by exposing the alternative messages to children, utilizing watershed times on
television, enforcing rating systems, and limiting distribution of video games could potentially
lower the amount of violence in our society.
However, television and video games are not the sole cause of violence in society’s
children today. There are implications of violence being a gene that can be inherited or a sexlinked trait as mentioned in Gur et al’s (1995) study of glucose metabolism in the aggression
center of the brain in male and female participants. Inheritance of a violent gene was also
suggested in Bouchard et al (1990) where it was concluded that 70% of intelligence could be
attributed to genetic inheritance, leaving only 30% to external factors. A person’s predisposition
to violent, aggressive behavior could be inherited, similar to intelligence, by genetics, instead of
fueled from outside sources such as the media.
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Media violence alone may not be the sole cause of making a child violent, yet the
violence shown on television and in video games enforces the idea that violence is a normal way
of solving problems without negative consequences and therefore contributes towards the
aggressive, violent behavior found in school-aged children in society.
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Appendices
Appendix I—Bouchard et al (1990)
Results: Correlation between intelligence levels and genetic relationship are as follows:
Similarity in Intelligence
Genetic Relationship
Same Person Tested Twice
87%
Identical Twins Raised Together
86%
Identical Twins Raised Apart
76%
Fraternal Twins Raised Together
55%
Biological Siblings Raised Together
47%
17