Television and Violence (From Violent Behavior: Assessment and Intervention, V 1, P 151-166, 1990, Leonard J Hertzberg, Gene F Astrum, et al, eds. -- See NCJ-123057)

• NCJ Number: 123065
• Author(s): L Donner
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 16 pages
• Sale Source: PMA Publishing Corp
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Studies indicate a link between the regular viewing of violence on television and aggressive behaviors by viewers.

Abstract

Rohert Liebert (1972), summarizing findings on the relationship between viewing television violence and behaving aggressively, concludes that children are exposed to a substantial amount of violence on television programming and that they can remember and learn from such exposure. He reports that correlational studies have disclosed a regular association between the viewing of aggression on television and the variety of measures of aggression, using broad samples having a range of economic background and geographic and family characteristics. Liebert reasons that experimental studies preponderantly support the hypothesis that there is a direct, causal link between exposure to television violence and viewers' subsequent aggressive behaviors. Ideally, each sector -- the television industry, sponsors, government, and the public consumer -- should accept responsibility for taking positive steps. The industry should police itself; sponsors should not purchase spots on violent programs; and the Federal Communications Commission should publish periodic statistics regarding violence on TV and identify to the public those TV stations that are showing gratuitous violence. The public should be more thoughtful in viewing selection for themselves and for their children. 30 references.