Do violent movies and music create violent children?

[Cleverfield]

Originally Posted by Vic 2.0

You just have to counter it with more positive influences to foster compassion (and communication skills!) in other ways. And make no mistake, the mere lack of violence at home or elsewhere is not a positive influence; it's a lack of influence in either direction. The reason we're finding that "violence in the media increases aggression in children" is that most parents do not exhibit radical kindness to offset the influence of radical violence/hostility in the media... or at school, everywhere, really Adults in general tend to be very moderate in their behavior, which gives all the power of influence to movies, music and video games. Think of it in terms of simple mathematics. When you add 2 to 0 (that moderate behavior most parents exhibit), you get 2. When you add it to -2 (a notable absence of hostility), you get yourself closer to a perfect balance between two extremes.

That's the problem with society in general. The most destructive influences are usually the loudest, the ones that stand out 90% of the time. Kids look for that; they learn from it. They do not and will not learn kindness from watching you refrain from killing someone. I'm afraid the correct answer is the one no parent really wants to hear: We must do - instead of forbid or restrict, we must do - more

How do you know the things you are claiming are true, that "radical compassion" sets off the influence violent media? I think this would have to be studied before you could make such a claim.

[Vic 2.0]

Originally Posted by Cleverfield

How do you know the things you are claiming are true, that "radical compassion" sets off the influence violent media? I think this would have to be studied before you could make such a claim.

No "claim" to be made; it's supported by the same reasoning behind research that finds watching media violence increases aggression. Observational learning is the basis of it all. But to the extent that doing harm and doing good are mutually exclusive, there have been studies (on adults, mind you) that confirm that it isn't just observing bad things that can shape behavior. Observing good things can as well. Who'da thunk it?

The UBC team conducted a series of tests that exposed individuals to phenomenal acts of compassion in news articles, music videos, and stories. They found a positive relationship between a subject experiencing “moral elevation” and the likelihood that he or she would donate the $15 received for participating in the study.

Witnessing Acts of Compassion Prompts People to Do Good | Inspiring Discoveries | Science | Epoch Times

I suppose I jumped ahead, figuring most of you had already concluded that if violence in the media could bring about violence in real life, compassion in the media could bring about compassion. My post was about addressing the disparity between truly memorable acts of violence and truly memorable acts of compassion in a child's field of vision growing up.