The Mental Effects of Media Violence on Children

One of the most hotly contested debates in public discourse is the level to which depictions of violence in the media--be it in movies, television shows, video games, comic books or on the Internet--affect the psychological make-up of children and adolescents. In an age when depictions of this sort of violence are more commonplace than they have ever been before, parents have a reason to be worried. Becoming aware of what has been scientifically proven can be useful in making decisions.

Increased Aggression

• One of the largest questions surrounding media violence is whether it promotes aggression. Mainly, the fears are that the children will attempt to mimic behaviors they see in the media, since a lot of psychological research shows that learning happens mainly through mimicry. Most research has shown that media violence does promote an increase in aggressive behavior. One incident in particular involved the introduction of World Wrestling Federation programs on Israeli television, after which incidents of violence on the playground spiked considerably.

Desensitization to Violence

• Desensitization to violence is also an effect of media violence. The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Psychological Association, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Family Physicians and the American Psychiatric Association all attest to this threat. Desensitization occurs when the emotional response to violence is provoked so many times that it is no longer seen as relevant to children. Independent psychological studies have found that this is a documented effect of media violence. Another study has found that people exposed to media violence are less likely to feel sorry for those exposed to violence in real life.

Effect on Worldview

• Children's worldview can also be affected by exposure to media violence. For instance, one study has 9-to-11-year-old children play both a violent and a non-violent video game. After playing the video game, the children were read five stories involving ambiguous but potentially violence-provoking incidents. For instance, in one story, a child gets hit in the back with a ball, but it is unclear whether the child who threw the ball meant to throw it or not. The children who had played the violent game were more apt to see the other child as having intentionally thrown the ball.

Violence as More Acceptable

• Another effect of media exposure to violence is the higher likelihood of children seeing violence as an acceptable manner of handling disagreements with their peers. A 2001 study showed that children who play violent video games are more likely to behave violently in the real world.