I took a communication research class my sophomore year of college, and one of our assignments was to conduct a group study on a certain issue in communication. We chose media violence - with somewhat of a focus on cultivation theory - and it's effect on people. We wanted to know if media violence made people a) more aggressive, b) more likely to perceive the world as a violence place, and c) whether or not other factors, like personality traits, were at play. Our results were mostly inconclusive because we couldn't get enough people to take the survey. I think we actually had about 50 people take it.
Cultivation Theory, originally presented by George Gerbner, is the idea that violent content on television leads to a view of the world as a more violent place. It is also known as "mean world syndrome."
http://www.thepci.or...nt Behavior.pdf
^ This is a good article to help define media violence and violence behavior. It's also has some great research on the topic.
What I'm asking is:
Do you think that violence in the media can cause aggressive behavior? Do other factors come into play (environment, upbringing, etc.)?
Do you agree with the cultivation theory? Are you more likely to see the world as a bad place if you're frequently exposed to violent content?
We could also add desensitization into the mix as well, I suppose.
I also just generally want to know your opinion on the effect of violence in the media on people. If someone who plays video games for hours a day and/or watches tons violent tv/movies goes on a killing spree, is the violence he's been viewing at all to blame?
Here are some other articles if you're interested:
http://www.nytimes.c...thing.html?_r=0
http://piersmorgan.b...-can-relate-to/
http://america.aljaz...dsince1950.html
http://www.scienceda...81119122632.htm
Discuss.