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I am 36. I have been a horror movie geek and extreme metal-head since i was 4. I'm not the brightest or most successful person, but I am not violent nor do I or have I ever thought of harming anyone. I even avoid stepping on ants. Lol. I do admit theres alot of people I dont care for, but I'd never hurt them.
People that do these horrific things like the Batman shooter, Columbine, etc. were damaged inside somewhere in their early youth.
I highly doubt the terrorists who killed thousands on 911 were listening to Slayer or watching Friday the 13th. It was quite the opposite, it was in the name of thier religion.
I don't think violent movies and music were allowed in Jonestown or the Waco Compound either.
You cant always blame the parents either, some people's brains develop differently and that has alot to do with bad decision making. Also environment, go drive around Detroit, shootings everyday there.
It can depending on if you don't explain to a kid the difference between right and wrong, real and fake. I used to sit and watch NYPD Blue with my father, when I was 10 years old of all times. My younger brother liked to watch Power Rangers and Batman. He annoyed me with it alot and we fought. However, that is not why there was fighting. Me and my brother fought because I was a brat who wanted the TV to myself. My brother wasn't naturally violent. He was cool, calm and collected. He never went out and shot anyone. I used to play Killer Instinct on Game Boy. I never went out and emulated any of that. I knew if I ever messed with swords in real life, that would kill someone. My father had guns in the house, for hunting and defense. I knew never to mess with them, period. It is up to the parent to make sure the child doesn't do anything stupid.
If there was any kind of violence I did as a kid, guns were not involved. If there was any kind of violence I was involved, it didn't come from being around violent video games and violent TV. It came from being bullied in school and being around other violent kids. When I was younger, there were other kinds of violence on TV I was exposed to, real stuff, like WWII, the Holocaust, and the Korean War documentaries. That scared me more than NYPD Blue. Why? Because NYPD Blue was a TV SHOW, it is staged. WWII, the Holocaust, and The Korean War were never staged. Those documentaries scared me and gave me nightmares because it was really, it actually happened and there was actual footage to prove it.
Location: Huntersville/Charlotte, NC and Washington, DC
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I do not believe violent music and games create violent kids. I think that seeing violence around them as the only way to deal with an issue will create violent kids. I think the violent music is only a reflection of facts of life for a large group of people in this country. Rapper David Banner said it best I believe, something along the lines of "My music is sick because my people are sick. If you want my music to not be so sick address the reasons my people are sick so they can get better so my music can get better."
I do not believe violent music and games create violent kids. I think that seeing violence around them as the only way to deal with an issue will create violent kids. I think the violent music is only a reflection of facts of life for a large group of people in this country. Rapper David Banner said it best I believe, something along the lines of "My music is sick because my people are sick. If you want my music to not be so sick address the reasons my people are sick so they can get better so my music can get better."
The very thing I just said. The violence that was perpetrated onto me from other kids was much scarier than watching someone get killed on some TV show. Why? I was right there in the thick of it, wondering if I was going to get let go, or get killed.
One thing I think about is this. It isn't a matter of a kid seeing violence on TV. It is a matter of that kid not being able to distinguish real from fake. I could distinguish that because I was taught that. My parents taught me that.
It is the same with the music. I never thought about music in that way. I never listened to alot of rap music as a kid. My parents never bought it, and I barely ever asked for it. I always thought of music as being a reflection of the person who makes it. I remember when Master P's Na Na Na Na came out. I only heard the radio version because my bus driver was playing a radio station that gave it airplay. I thought it was some random party song. I didn't even know what they were saying on there. I only found out last year that the real version had some questionable lyrics.
Do you believe that violent movies and violent music create and are the cause of violent children, or do you think they were already violent to start with?
I am sure some academic types are studying the hell out of this topic and they all have different conclusions. As a personal observation the one thing that will drive me to PREMEDITATED violence is. . . frustration.
It is a natural reflex to respond violently to a life threatening situation. A violent emotional response is totally different.
GL2
This question has in fact been studied extensively by social psychologists. The results of these studies consistently point to violent television and video game playing leading to greater degrees of violent behavior, and desensitization to violent images. One study, for example, took two groups of college students and had one group watch violent films four nights in a row, and a control group that watched non-violent films. They then allowed them the opportunity to harm one of the experimenters. Those in the group that watched the violent films were more aggressive towards the experimenter than those in the control condition (Zillmann & Weaver, 1999). This effect is especially observable in children. In another experiment (I don't have the study, but I remember seeing a video of this in one of my psych classes), a group of preschoolers watched violent programs such as power rangers, while another group watched non-violent shows. The group in the violent show condition were highly aggressive towards one another, while the group in the non-violent shows displayed little aggressiveness, and more sociable and cooperative behavior. There have also been studies that showed that people who play a lot of violent video games are more desensitized to violent images. I used to believe that these findings were not the case, but the fact that the psychological research seems to strongly converge on these results, I have been convinced otherwise.
This question has in fact been studied extensively by social psychologists. The results of these studies consistently point to violent television and video game playing leading to greater degrees of violent behavior, and desensitization to violent images. One study, for example, took two groups of college students and had one group watch violent films four nights in a row, and a control group that watched non-violent films. They then allowed them the opportunity to harm one of the experimenters. Those in the group that watched the violent films were more aggressive towards the experimenter than those in the control condition (Zillmann & Weaver, 1999). This effect is especially observable in children. In another experiment (I don't have the study, but I remember seeing a video of this in one of my psych classes), a group of preschoolers watched violent programs such as power rangers, while another group watched non-violent shows. The group in the violent show condition were highly aggressive towards one another, while the group in the non-violent shows displayed little aggressiveness, and more sociable and cooperative behavior. There have also been studies that showed that people who play a lot of violent video games are more desensitized to violent images. I used to believe that these findings were not the case, but the fact that the psychological research seems to strongly converge on these results, I have been convinced otherwise.
There is still one thing to consider: The role of the parents. If the parents aren't teaching the difference between right and wrong, real and fake, then of course the children will behave more violently.
There is still one thing to consider: The role of the parents. If the parents aren't teaching the difference between right and wrong, real and fake, then of course the children will behave more violently.
Actually, meta-analyses have been done that accounted for variables like these, and they still found significantly higher rates of violence among people who watched violent movies, or played violent video games than among those who didn't.
Actually, meta-analyses have been done that accounted for variables like these, and they still found significantly higher rates of violence among people who watched violent movies, or played violent video games than among those who didn't.
Basically, it found that parental TV watching, education, and social class had a mitigating role on the violent behavior of children who watched aggressive programs, but it did not prevent the violent TV from making the children more aggressive. In other words, if the parents were more highly educated, their children tended to be less violent, or if their parents were more involved in the children's lives, the children tended to be less aggressive, but those who watched aggressive programming were still more aggressive than those who did not.
Also, you're right about the fact that those who were able to distinguish TV from reality, as well as those who identified less with the characters they saw on TV, were less aggressive, however, the same thing applies that it was only a mitigating effect, and did not totally remove the effect.
Last edited by Cleverfield; 08-22-2012 at 10:21 PM..
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