Media as a Source of Aggression

“All television is educational. The only question is: what does it teach?” — N. Johnson, Chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, 1978.

The current rise in violent crimes, especially among children and adolescents, prompts us to consider the social conditions that contribute to this trend. Is the increase in violence due to growing individualism and materialism in society? Or is it the widening gap between the power of wealth and the powerlessness of poverty? Perhaps the persistent depiction of violent scenes in mass culture is a factor? This last hypothesis arises because the surge in physical violence coincides with the increased frequency of bloody scenes in the media, especially on television. Is this correlation merely coincidental? What are the effects of realistic portrayals of violence in movies and on TV?

Canadian psychologist Albert Bandura conducted numerous studies on aggressive behavior, its acquisition, and modification within the framework of social-cognitive theory. This approach suggests that modeling influences learning primarily through its informational function. In other words, by observing a model, learners acquire symbolic images of the modeled activity, which serve as prototypes for appropriate or inappropriate behavior. This process, called “observational learning” by Bandura, is regulated by four interrelated components:

• Attention (understanding the model): The individual observes the model’s behavior and accurately perceives it.
• Retention (remembering the model): The observed behavior is stored in long-term memory.
• Motor reproduction (translating memory into behavior): The individual converts the encoded memories into new forms of their own behavior.
• Motivation: If there is potential positive reinforcement (external, indirect, or self-reinforcement), the individual adopts the modeled behavior.

Clearly, not all observational learning leads to socially acceptable outcomes. People can learn undesirable and even antisocial behaviors through the same processes that foster cooperation, empathy, altruism, and effective problem-solving skills.

Bandura believed that people “learn” aggression by adopting it as a behavioral model through observing others. Like most social skills, aggressive behavior is acquired by watching the actions of others and evaluating the consequences of those actions.

Bandura’s Experiments

One of Bandura’s experiments, conducted in 1961, involved a Stanford preschooler sitting on the floor making things out of paper and clay. In another part of the room, an experimenter surrounded by toys played with cars for a few minutes, then stood up and began hitting an inflatable doll named Bobo with a hammer, shouting insults. After the child observed this outburst, they were taken to another room with many interesting toys. After a couple of minutes, the experimenter told the child that these toys were for other children. The frustrated child was then sent to a third room with more toys, including the Bobo doll and a wooden hammer.

If the children had not previously observed an adult model aggressive behavior, they rarely acted aggressively and played calmly despite their frustration. However, those who had watched the aggressive adult often picked up the hammer and took out their frustration on Bobo, sometimes exactly imitating the experimenter’s actions and words. Thus, observing aggressive behavior not only reduced their inhibitions but also taught them specific ways to express aggression.

In further experiments by Bandura and Richard Walters, children sometimes watched adults attack the Bobo doll on film instead of in person, with similar effects.

Television and Modeling Social Behavior

Television is now a fixture in most households, running up to seven hours a day in the average family. What types of social behavior are being modeled during these hours?

American psychologist George Gerbner of the University of Pennsylvania studied U.S. television programming starting in 1967. He found that two out of every three programs contained violent plots (“acts of physical coercion, accompanied by threats of beating or killing, or actual beatings or killings”). By the time a child finishes high school, they will have seen about 8,000 murders and 100,000 other violent acts on TV.

Reflecting on his research, Gerbner noted:

“There have been more bloodthirsty eras in human history, but none so saturated with images of violence as ours. And who knows where this monstrous stream of visible violence will take us… seeping into every home through the flickering screens of television as scenes of impeccably staged cruelty.”

Do viewers imitate on-screen behavior? In a survey of U.S. prison inmates, nine out of ten admitted that TV crime shows could teach new criminal tricks, and four out of ten confessed to attempting crimes they had seen on television.

Scientific Findings on Media Violence

Since Bandura’s laboratory studies in the 1960s, a significant body of data has accumulated on the impact of televised violence on social behavior. These studies show that prolonged exposure to TV violence can:

• Increase viewers’ aggressive behavior
• Reduce inhibitions against aggression
• Dull sensitivity to aggression
• Shape a social reality that does not accurately reflect the real world

Most evidence that on-screen violence promotes aggressive behavior comes from laboratory studies. Typically, participants watched either violent or exciting but non-violent programs, then were given the opportunity to express aggression toward another person, often by administering a painful electric shock. Researchers usually found that those who watched violent programs acted more aggressively than those who watched non-violent ones.

However, these studies have limitations. The effects of viewing violence tend to be short-lived, and the experimental methods (such as pressing a button to deliver a shock) are far removed from real life. So, how relevant are these findings to everyday behavior?

Longitudinal Studies

A longitudinal study by Eron and colleagues in 1960 examined 875 third-grade students in a small town in upstate New York, assessing their behavior, personality, and home environment. They found that eight-year-olds who preferred violent TV programs were among the most aggressive in school. Ten years later, 427 of these children were re-examined. The frequency and content of violent TV watched at age eight predicted aggressive behavior at age 18. In fact, the only predictor of male aggression at 18 (even after controlling for other factors) was the amount of violence in the TV programs they liked as children.

In 1987, Eron and colleagues published data on 400 individuals from the same group, now about 30 years old. Aggressive behavior remained stable over time. Those who were aggressive as children not only had legal troubles by age 30 but also showed cruelty toward their wives and children. Moreover, there was a strong link between the amount of violent programming watched at age eight and the likelihood of committing serious crimes as adults.

These findings raised public concern and drew the attention of the U.S. Surgeon General. Further studies confirmed the earlier conclusion: watching violence leads to aggression.

Comparative analyses in 1986 and 1991 of correlational and experimental studies concluded that viewing films with antisocial scenes is closely linked to antisocial behavior. Experimental work supports a causal relationship. As the American Psychological Association’s Commission on Youth Violence concluded in 1993: “We cannot avoid the conclusion that viewing scenes of violence increases the overall level of violence.” The research does not claim that television is the sole cause of social violence, but rather one of several contributing factors.

Why Does Media Violence Affect Behavior?

Researchers have proposed three explanations:

1. Social violence is triggered not by observing violence itself, but by the arousal it causes, which can energize various behaviors.
2. Observing violence reduces inhibitions. In Bandura’s experiment, the adult’s actions demonstrated the acceptability of such outbursts, weakening the child’s restraint. Watching violence activates related thoughts, priming viewers for aggressive behavior.
3. Media violence encourages imitation. Children in Bandura’s studies copied the specific behaviors of adults. The commercial TV industry promotes a model for consumption. For example, in action movies, police officers fire their guns in almost every episode, while real-life studies in Chicago (1989) show that actual police officers fire their weapons on average once every 27 years.

Cognitive Effects and Desensitization

What are the cognitive effects of watching violent scenes? Does prolonged exposure to such scenes reduce sensitivity to cruelty or distort perceptions of reality? According to psychological laws, repeated exposure to emotionally charged stimuli (like a swear word) leads to a fading emotional response over time. There is every reason to believe that repeated viewing of violence makes observers indifferent to it in the future.

In experiments by Ronald Drabman and Margaret Thomas, participants’ emotional states were measured (using galvanic skin response) while watching either a violent TV program or an exciting volleyball championship. Both recordings caused emotional arousal. In the second phase, participants observed a real-life confrontation threatening physical violence. Those who had watched the violent program reacted less emotionally to aggression than others. Clearly, watching violent TV programs made them less sensitive to real-life violence.

Media and Perceptions of Reality

How does the imaginary world of television influence people’s perceptions of the real world? Gerbner believes that television’s influence is powerful and that any program can have such an effect. Studies show that people who watch TV for four or more hours a day are more vulnerable to aggression from others and perceive the world as more dangerous than those who watch two hours or less.

Reports of violence have a significant impact on people’s fears. In his research, Heath classified newspaper reports of robberies by randomness (lack of clear motivation), sensationalism (strange and gruesome details), and location (near home or far away). Readers were then asked about their feelings. People were more frightened by local crimes described as random and sensational than by those lacking these features.

Media Consumption Among Children

Studies in the U.S. in 1988 showed that the average ten-year-old spends more time in front of the TV than in the classroom, a trend unchanged for over 20 years. The average American child watches about 30 hours of TV per week. What social behaviors are modeled as a result? According to a 1982 National Institute of Mental Health report, by age sixteen, the average viewer has seen about 13,000 murders and countless other acts of violence. Gerbner’s data since 1967 show that children’s entertainment programs average five acts of violence per hour, and Saturday morning cartoons about twenty per hour. This suggests that watching TV violence at least indirectly fosters aggression and directly leads to interpersonal problems. Statistical and experimental studies indicate that watching TV violence reduces viewers’ sensitivity to aggression, weakens internal restraints, and alters perceptions of reality.

The Situation in Russia

Why is it now necessary to pay serious attention to the issue of violence in the media in our country?

After the fall of the “Iron Curtain” in Russia, a flood of American and Western European action movies and horror films appeared on TV. Russian cinema quickly responded by producing films filled with graphic scenes of cruelty. News programs compete to see who can frighten viewers more. Computer games, increasingly accessible to children and teens, often promote violence as well. Could this be one reason for the rise in crime in Russia over the past decade? Studies in the U.S., Canada, and South Africa from 1957 to 1989 show that the introduction of television is always accompanied by an increase in murders.

It seems appropriate to conduct new research on the impact of violent scenes on the human psyche, especially among children and adolescents, considering new factors such as computer games. The results should be widely publicized to protect the younger generation from excessive and unjustified exposure to cruelty. In this context, Plato’s question to his fellow citizens in the 4th century BC remains relevant: “Can we so easily allow children to listen to and absorb any myths, invented by anyone, most of which contradict the truths we believe they should hold as adults?”

References

• Grinshpun I. B. Introduction to Psychology. Moscow: Institute of Practical Psychology, 1996.
• Myers D. Social Psychology. St. Petersburg: Piter, 1997.
• Hjelle L., Ziegler D. Theories of Personality. St. Petersburg: Piter, 1997.
• Yaroshevsky M. G. History of Psychology from Antiquity to the Mid-20th Century. Moscow: Academy Publishing Center, 1996.