What is aggression Does watching violence in television, film and Essay

What is aggression Does watching violence in television, film and video games ake people more aggressive and more likely to commit violent acts in society - Essay Example The resulting changes in everyday social relations may lead to steady escalation in aggressive actions. Because of the powerful way in which the television media has focused on violent and antisocial behavior, the media deliberately misinforms, making the viewers fearful, suspicious and cynical. Because of its bias toward bad news, the media feeds a perception that the world is a violent, dangerous place. As a result, the viewers come to overestimate the rate of violence. With these images flashing in their minds every evening, the viewers become negative, mistrustful of others and withdrawn, and cease to believe in progress. Children, who are not mature enough to distinguish fantasy from real life, television from life on the street, come to assume that acts of violence are acceptable in real life and become incapable of making appropriate judgment calls in times of conflict. Children who are repeatedly exposed to entertainment violence are also more likely to see violence as an effective way of settling conflict. However, playing violent video games may be more detrimental than view ing violent television shows or movies because they are especially enthralling, interactive, and necessitate the player to associate on a personal level with the violent character of the game. Infamous events have generated extensive debate regarding the effects of video game violence. For example, a nationwide conversation ensued regarding what connection video games had to the 1999 Columbine High School (Littleton, Colorado, U.S.) massacre where two students murdered 13 and wounded 23 before killing themselves. While many motivations were likely involved, it is not possible to identify precisely what provoked these teenagers to shoot their classmates and teachers but violent video games have been mentioned as one possible contributing factor. The two students had often played