Violence On Tv
TV and Film Violence
By the time the average U.S. child starts elementary school he or she will have seen 8,000 murders and 100,00 acts of violence on TV.
Does the violence in films and on TV contribute to violence in society?
This question has been debated for decades. During that time some 2,500 books and articles have been written on the effects of TV and film violence on human behavior.
In this article we're going to summarize some the latest thinking on this subject.
The results of one of the most extensive studies ever done on the subject of violence and TV were released in 2003.
Researchers followed 329 subjects over 15 years. They found that those who as children were exposed to violent TV shows were much more likely to later be convicted of crime. Researchers said that, "Media violence can affect any child from any family," regardless of social class or parenting.
Girls who watched more than an average amount of violence tended to throw things at their husbands. Boys who grew up watching violent TV shows were more likely to be violent with their wives.
Researchers concluded in Developmental Psychology that, "Every violent TV show increases a little-bit the likelihood of a child growing up to behave more aggressively."
We'll look at more of the research in a moment.
Canada was one of the first countries to extensively research this issue. The results of their studies prompted some of their engineers to devise the "V-Chip." As you may know, the V-Chip allows parents to lock out TV programming they consider objectionable to their children.
Although the concern in Canada was primarily violence (hence the V-chip), in the United States there is also great concern about sexual content -- probably more than in most other industrialized societies. Hence, the V-chip can be programmed to screen out both violence and sex.
The issue of sex, which has resulted in quite different research findings, is discussed here and here, so in...
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