Media Aggression

Some people believe that behaviors like aggression may be partially learned by watching and imitating the behavior of others (social learning theory) . Some scholars have concluded that media may have some small effects on aggression. However there is evidence against this idea, for instance, a recent long-term study of youth found no long-term relationship between playing violent video game and youth violence or bullying. One study suggested there is a smaller effect of violent video games on aggression than has been found with television violence on aggression. This effect is positively associated with type of game violence and negatively associated to time spent playing the games. The conclusion was that there was insufficient evidence to show a link between video game violence and aggression. However, another study suggested links to aggressive behavior. One study suggested that adults (i.e. parents) suffering from dissociative symptoms related to post-traumatic stress disorder may be more likely to expose their children to violent programs and video games. There were also links between poverty and how much a child would be exposed to more violent media sources.