by Kimberly Blaker

The abundance of violence that’s become the norm in television, video games, and music has had me heavily contemplating its influence in recent years. With dozens of TV channels available, one can easily find violent content at any given moment.

So when I happened across the headline of a recent Reuters report on the effects of violent music, I was hardly surprised. I’ve been of the mindset that reports in the mainstream media and other literature, on the effects of media violence, are likely true. After all, the studies, purportedly, reveal a strong relationship between media violence and aggressive behavior.

The headline I discovered was: “Study: Violent music boosts aggressive thoughts.” It was immediately followed by the claim, “Violent lyrics in songs increase aggression-related thoughts and emotions and could indirectly create a more hostile social environment . . .”

So, it was much to my dismay when I read the details, which included five experiments, conducted by Iowa State University and Texas Department of Human Services researchers. In comparing responses to a control group (that had just listened to nonviolent music), it was found that those in the experimental group (who had just listened to violent music) interpreted ambiguous words, such as rock and stick, in more aggressive terms. And in another experiment, the experimental group read aggressive words at a faster rate than the control group.

From this, it was concluded by one of the researchers, Craig Anderson, “Such aggression-biased interpretations can, in turn, instigate a more aggressive response, verbal or physical, than would have been emitted in a nonbiased state, thus provoking an aggressive escalatory spiral of antisocial exchanges.”

I admit I’ve been one of those willing to go along with the view that media violence is a very bad thing. I’ve limited how much violence my kids see on TV and have argued with my husband about allowing our now 10-year-old son to view the violence contained in some PG-13 movies, including violent monster or alien flicks that most kids his age have seen. Big time wrestling is also been banned in our home; and most recently, I canceled our extended cable (which didn’t even include such premium channels as HBO), leaving us with only 23 basic channels.

But such a radical conclusion based on experimental subjects’ word interpretations and their speed in processing such terms really threw me for a loop. That’s like saying that because someone recognizes sexual terminology more readily, like “sodomy” or “masochism,” or ambiguous terms in a more sexually explicit way (just after viewing a sexual film) is more likely to participate in those sexual behaviors.

In fact, those words came to my mind with great ease, perhaps faster than some would retrieve them. Does that, alone, mean I’m more likely to begin exhibiting those behaviors? Knowing my own sexual limitations, I can only see the absurdity of the logic.

Typically, after watching a terrifying thriller or even reading or hearing of a real life account, I have horrible nightmares or visions of various scenarios where someone is coming after me or my family and how I will protect us. I become more cautious about my children’s safety, in general. As a result, I’d likely make interpretations very similar to the experimental group above. But that hardly means I now have a propensity toward violence.

It more likely proves how we store information in our memory and how it’s retrieved. Whatever we watch, read, or hear (including specific words and various meanings) comes to the surface and, therefore, is easier and quicker to retrieve. The information stored in our brains and whether or not it’s on the surface is not, alone, a predictor of specific behaviors, good or bad.

Surely I haven’t suddenly determined that watching an abundance of violent TV, especially graphic, is a healthy endeavor for children. But closely examining other studies that have concluded that media violence increases aggressive behavior leaves me in question of the sweeping claims.

A significant number of studies that have “proven” media violence is linked to actual violent behavior were similar to the study on violent music. Unlike one would expect, neither short or long-term studies of the actions of those watching violent TV, compared to those who don’t, seem to be available.

Even in the relatively small amount of evidence that has supported the linkage of media violence to actual violence, the support is not statistically significant. It also doesn’t take into account that those who are already more aggressive, for a wide variety of other reasons, may have a propensity for violent media. There’s even been suggestion, although only minimal support to date, that it might be a safe outlet for aggression.

At this point, the cards are not all in, and further study is needed. It would be reasonable to use caution in the amount and type of exposure kids have to media violence—but there’s a lack of evidence for the claims that have been made calling for a response that would seriously erode the First Amendment.
 

Kimberly Blaker’s The Wall™ appears weekly. She is editor and coauthor of the The Fundamentals of Extremism: the Christian Right in America. Send your comments to Kimberly Blaker: TheWall@TheWall-OnChurchAndState.com  © 2002, Kimberly Blaker