Media Born Killers
Mass media such as newspapers, books, magazines, and movies have been criticized as the cause of violence in society. Television has had the most research done as the cause of violence. The pictures viewed by billions of people throughout the world are processed in different ways. Most people just pass them off as make-believe and go on with their life. On the other hand others process these images as real life and tend to imitate the characters' actions. As a result many people commit violent acts against others imitating the actions shown on television. This is why television violence is an influence on real life violence. The critique offered by Cumberbatch has been applied were relevant and his views on some major problems evident in research in this field are also highlighted. The question is whether these generalized lab finding can be equated with real life. The experiments done in this field are controlled. They do not correlate with real life problems. While these experiments support the argument, many do not live up to good research. Cumberbatch (1989) examined the main methodological problems he felt were evident in many major studies of the relationship between television violence and aggression.
These adolescents had watched excessive amounts of television during their childhood. Fredric Weatheran made a name for himself by attributing all manner of delinquencies to the mayhem depicted in comic books. If one were to ask a child what is their favorite television show is, very often the child will respond with a television show that contains a lot of violence. According to the American Psychological Association, even before leaving elementary school, the average child has seen 8,000 murders and 100,000 acts of violence on television (Hattemer 63). What is seen as playing "make believe" is really a demonstration of aggressive behavior as a result of watching violence on television. This shows that children especially are vulnerable to the images projected on television. The children were then put in a playroom with the Bobo doll. This study can show the most effects on not only children but also adults and teens (Thompson 112). One control group contained children who had not witnessed any events involving a Bobo doll, a toy clown. But people are individuals and it is therefore difficult to generalize behavior. The numerous studies of aggression and violence have proven that outside media is the determining factor in a person's behavior. Whether it's a horror movie with a killer, or even the local news, violence is all over the media.
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