Exam 9: Theories of Social Development

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Extensive reviews of the vast amount of research on this issue have led many researchers to conclude that media violence increases aggression and violence and is therefore a risk factor for positive youth development. However, a recent meta-analysis by Ferguson suggests that video games in particular may have only minimal effect on children's and adolescents' aggression. However, this work was heavily criticized by other scientists who argue that the analysis suffered from methodological weaknesses and underestimated the negative effects of video games. The presence of such heated debate in the pages of a major scientific journal clearly demonstrates the high stakes on both sides of the issue, as well as the societal importance of better understanding the effects of media violence on children. Exposure to media violence has an impact in four different ways. First, seeing actors engage in aggression teaches aggressive behaviours and inspires imitation of them. Second, viewing aggression activates the viewer's own aggressive thoughts, feelings, and tendencies. This heightened aggressive mindset makes it more likely that the individual will interpret new interactions and events as involving aggression and will respond aggressively. Furthermore, when aggression-related thoughts are frequently activated, they may become part of the individual's normal internal state. These factors may lead to a hostile attributional bias. Third, media violence is exciting and arousing for most youth, and their heightened physiological arousal makes them more likely to react violently to provocations right after watching violent films. Finally, frequent long-term exposure to media violence gradually leads to emotional desensitization. Emotional desensitization is a reduction in the level of unpleasant physiological arousal most people experience when observing violence. Because this arousal normally helps inhibit violent behaviour, emotional desensitization can render violent thoughts and behaviours more likely. These factors, taken together, can help to explain disturbing findings like those from a recent longitudinal study in New Zealand: individuals who watched more television during childhood were more likely to engage in antisocial behaviours later in their lives, including criminal convictions, and receive diagnoses of antisocial personality disorders.