Television violence and aggression: The debate continues.

VioLit summary: OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study by Friedrich-Cofer and Huston was to provide a literature review and critique of the debate over the relationship between viewing violence on television and actual aggression and violence. This study supported the majority of the literature which claims that a relationship does exist and discussed the theoretical and social policy implications of this relationship. METHODOLOGY: This literature review was divided into two main areas of research: experimental studies (both laboratory and field studies) and correlational studies (primarily longitudinal studies). Within each of these areas, methodological issues were addressed, as well as results, trends and potential sources of bias. FINDINGS/DISCUSSION: Laboratory studies have had high internal validity because of their random sampling techniques and their ability to manipulate the independent variables. However, three major questions were raised about their external validity: the degree to which the stimuli used reflected actual television programming; the degree to which their artificial settings lead to experimenters' influencing the subjects' responses; and the degree to which the measures of aggression in the laboratory actually mirror real aggression. This study refuted these questions by explaining that a content analysis of laboratory studies showed that most use actual television programming; that aggression seemed, in most studies, to increase when experimenters' left the room not when they remained; and that a variety of measures were used in studies for aggression, many of which reflected real-life situations. Field experiments were considered a good methodological choice because they utilize the random assignment and experimental manipulation of variables in a natural setting, increasing both internal and external validity. However, questions again were raised in the same three areas of stimuli, setting and measures of aggression: there has been the problem of finding control (nonviolent) stimuli which the subjects would voluntarily watch on a regular basis; most of the settings of field research have been within residential institutions for adolescents where often their television viewing is monitored or controlled, not voluntary; when measuring aggression, problems arose in distinguishing between serious and playful aggression, as well as distinguishing between aggression related to group dynamics (within a group home setting) and individual aggression. Correlational studies have been primarily very large and involving a diverse range of subjects in terms of race, ethnicity and socioeconomic status. They have had high external validity but low internal validity. Longitudinal studies have allowed for analysis across time and have seemed to support a small but consistent positive relationship between violent behavior and violent television viewing. Problems with these studies, however, were pointed out such as the possibility of selection bias; bias caused by other variables not being statistically controlled; or self-reporting biases. This study pointed out, however, that most correlational studies have rigorously controlled for as many other variables as they could and have attempted to find as many alternative measures of aggression to self-reporting as possible. This study claimed that the literature overall supported a bi-directional model of relations between viewing television violence and aggressive behavior. In other words, there appeared to be both a tendency for violent television viewing to positively influence aggressive behavior and a tendency for violent behavior to positively influence the desire to watch violent television shows. AUTHORS' RECOMMENDATIONS: The authors suggested that social scientists must acknowledge that the dialogue about violence on television must broaden to include a discussion on societal values. They also stressed the urgent need for connecting policy issues with theoretical and research issues. (CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado) KW - Television Viewing KW - Television Violence KW - Literature Review KW - Media Violence Effects KW - Aggression Causes KW - Violence Causes KW - Child Aggression KW - Child Offender KW - Child Violence KW - Juvenile Aggression KW - Juvenile Offender KW - Juvenile Violence KW - Exposure to Violence Language: en