Aggression and Health
...with multiple technologically sophisticated equipment such as: DVD players, computers, video-game machines, and of course multiple TV sets. All of which increases one’s exposure to witnessing violent acts portrayed by the media. Not only has research suggested that there is a trend in violence in American society since the introduction of TV, but research has also demonstrated that watching violent programs on TV or video-games can increase one’s aggression temporarily, as well as having lasting consequences to one’s behavior (Bushman & Anderson, p. 481). If a child has just played a violent game they will be more likely to exhibit aggressive acts after the game is played. If a person habitually exposes themselves to violent media, it was found that the person may be more likely to be “habitually aggressive” as well as have violent tendencies (Bushman & Anderson, p. 481). Both of these findings have negative implications to one’s health behavior. When researchers brought this information to light, the media’s response was that the violence on TV only depicts what is actually going on in real life (Bushman & Anderson, p. 479). This statement is not exactly accurate, when one looks at the statistics of violent crimes portrayed in the media versus violent crimes in real life. It was shown that 50% of “reality-based TV programs are murders” compared to only 0.2% of real life murder crimes (Bushman & Anderson, p. 479). This statistic is just one example of how the media’s portrayal of society is not considered a “mirror image”. Even with all of the research done demonstrating a negative impact on society’s health, this information does not curb people from watching violent shows or from violence being portrayed by the media. This problem is apparent to researchers, which is a problem in itself. It is the public who need to become more informed about the effects violence has on their well-being. As Bushman and Anderson (2002) suggest, “people do not understand psychological processes as well as they understand physiological processes” (Bushman & Anderson, p. 481). Even though certain psychological processes might not be apparent to the public, with the help of researchers, the media should be able to influence the public’s knowledge base on the effects of violence. After all, the media does have the power to influence the public into buying certain commodities. Unfortunately the media has “failed to capture the changes in the scientific state of knowledge as research evidence supporting the causal link between exposure to media violence and aggression has accumulated” (Bushman & Anderson, p. 486). It is up to the researchers, congressmen, and media executives to inform the public of possible health related risks associated with watching violent programming. In order for this to happen the researchers need to be more active in “effectively argu[ing] its case” (Bushman & Anderson, p. 487). The congressmen need to petition for stricter media violence restrictions, and the media executives need to promote healthier, safer programming for the public to watch. By implementing some of these suggestions it would, of course, would be putting lim...