This literature review is based on the effects of television violenceon children. More specifically, it deals with the relationship foundbetween television violence and aggression found in young children. I chosethis topic because I found it interesting to learn that studies have indeedfound a connection between television viewing and the behavior of people,especially children.
The first study reviewed is entitled “Television Violence andChildren’s Aggression: Testing the Priming. Social script, andDisinhibition Predictions,” by Wendy Josephson. Josephson begins her studyby commenting on other studies which pertain to the idea of televisionviolence leading to aggressiveness in children’s behavior. She acknowledgesthat, in fact, there are still differing views over whether or not behavioris affected by the violence. However, Josephson tends to rely more on theidea that it is affected and feels that more research should be directed tothis area.
Mostly, attention is focused on factors such as the disinhibitioneffect and cue-triggered aggression. Josephson aims to differentiate thesetwo areas and how they are affected by television violence. The overallpurpose of her study is to research the effect this violence has on boys’aggression. Special emphasis is placed on factors such as teacher-ratedcharacteristic aggressiveness in the boys, timing of frustration (before orafter watching the televised violence, and violence related cues.
Josephson’s study is detailed and technical. However, sometimes itgets very difficult to understand the study due to the many advanced,technical terms used. The purpose of the study is somewhat easy todetermine, and the three hypotheses on which she bases her research on areoutlined clearly in the end of the review. It is understandable, from thereview, how she came to her hypotheses.
The second study reviewed is by Leonard D. Eron. Titled “Interventionsto Mitigate the Psychological Effects of Media Violence on AggressiveBehavior,” it begins with Eron’s realization that although many studieswere conducted which support the link between violence on television andaggressive behavior, very few studies have been conducted which attempt tointervene between the two. Interventions between television violence andaggression could be useful because, then studies could be conducted onreducing the effects of violence on the viewer.
Also, the results of such a study could be helpful in researching thecause and effect relationship which may exist between the two. However,this would require that the interventions pertain exclusively to televisionviewing and that any other areas of intervention are controlled. If theaggressive behavior is reduced, it could support the theory of a causaleffect as convincingly as a study performed in a carefully controlledlaboratory experiment.
The literature review is clear and easy to understand. Eron states atthe beginning what his study is about. However, it is not clear in thereview, at first, that his study deals with young children. This shouldhave been more apparent since different results are expected depending onwho the study involves. It is apparent, however, that his intentions are tostudy the results which would come from a study involving interveningvariables between television violence and aggressive behavior.
“Effects of Realistic TV Violence vs. Fictional Violence onAggression” by Charles Atkin is the third study to be reviewed. Atkin’sstudy starts off by stating that much evidence supports the theory thattelevised violence contributes to rising amounts of aggression found amongyoung people. He focuses his literature review on the aspect of reality vs.
fantasy in violence. More realistic forms of violence are said to lead togreater aggression.
His study deals with the comparison of aggressive responses in pre-adolescents to real news violence and fictional entertainment violence.
Reality, in the case of these studies, is perceived by the viewer. Theviewer determines whether or not the violence appears real by the extent towhich the events really did or could exist in the real world or throughsimilarities which the event holds with the viewers social or physicalenvironment.
If a violent situation appears real, the viewer is more likely toidentify with it. Therefore, it is said to lead to more aggression thanviolence in unrealistic situations. Atkins seeks, in his study, causalevidence of impact which takes into account reality violence, fantasyviolence, and no violence treatments.
Atkin gives a clear, understandable idea of what his study is about.
This lit review was very well done. His purpose was clear and hishypotheses were well explained at the end of the review. By explaining theinformation lacking in previous studies, it was easy to see how he came tothese hypotheses and what he intends to accomplish.
The fourth and final study to be reviewed is titled “InterveningVariables in the TV Violence-Aggression Relation: Evidence from TwoCountries” by L.R. Huesmann, K. Lagerspertz, and L. Eron. These researchersattempt to determine the boundary conditions under which the theory oftelevision violence leading to aggression pertains. They also set out tostudy the impact intervening variables, such as age, culture, and sex, haveon the tv violence-aggression relation. Finally, they attempt to furtherexamine how the viewing of television violence relates to aggression.
Most of their study focuses on children imitating what they observe.
However, they acknowledge the fact that these observations may be altereddue to the society in which they live, their age, or their sex. Therefore,Huesmann, Lagerspertz, and Eron stress the necessity of conducting similarmethods of study in various kinds of cultures to gain the necessaryinformation for obtaining a general view of the effects of televisionviolence on children.
Their hypotheses, which pertain to the question of why televisionaffects males more than females, are clearly stated. In fact, the wholeliterature review is pretty clear and straightforward. The purpose, however,of the study is not really clear until close to the end. It is difficult tofigure out where the actual study begins and where the review ends. Most ofthe other reviews clearly mark where the methodology starts.
In conclusion, the studies all basically aim to learn more about theconnection between television violence and aggression among young children.
However, the majority of the studies deal primarily with the effect of theviolence on males. Therefore, females seem to be hardly ever thought of asa different category in this area. Only one of the studies even mentionedthe use of females to achieve different results. Most of the studies wereeasy to comprehend, and the researchers were fairly straightforward in whatthey expected to accomplish with their studies.
