NCJ Number
109159
Journal
Journal of Social Issues Volume: 42 Issue: 3 Dated: (1986) Pages: 125-139
Date Published
1986
Length
15 pages
Annotation
A developmental theory is presented to account for the relation between increased exposure to media violence and increased aggressive behavior.
Abstract
It is argued that the effect of media violence on individual differences in aggression is primarily the result of a cumulative learning process during childhood. Aggressive scripts for behavior are acquired from observation of media violence and aggressive behavior itself stimulates the observation of media violence. In both childhood and adulthood, certain cues in the media may trigger the activation of aggressive scripts acquired in any manner and thus stimulate aggressive behavior. A number of intervening variables may either mitigate or exacerbate these reciprocal effects. If undampened, this cumulative learning process can build enduring schemas for aggressive behavior that persists into adulthood. Thus, early childhood television habits are correlated with adult criminality independently of other likely causal factors. It is concluded that interventions directed at mitigating the effects of media violence on delinquency and criminality should focus on the preadolescent years. (Author abstract)