Violence in Media and Impact on Students’ Behavior

Introduction

The best means of comprehending why students act in an aggressive manner is looking carefully at their exposure to violent media and employing justifications to interpret their conduct. The suppositions in the social level of analysis are that the systems of the mentality and behaviour are not excellently understandable through a biological or social advance only, a multi-stage integrative assessment could be necessary, and that an ordinary scientific language, based on the formation and operation of the brain, could result in this outcome. Every human conduct, to some extent, is biological, but other aspects come into play (Gentile and Bushman 138). Genetics, as well as neurochemical imbalances, is normally mentioned as the major cause of psychological disorders. Moreover, when people constantly observe aggressive conducts being rewarded in the environment around them, their level of aggression could augment. People whose aggressive behaviours overawe others will normally turn progressively aggressive. Some factors could prevent people from taking the issue of media violence seriously but understanding the levels of analysis could create effective regulatory structures.

Overview of Results on the Impacts of Media Violence on Aggression

Active versus Passive Media

Media violence results in an increased possibility of aggression in some considerable fractions of the school population. The issues of the impact of media violence on aggression encompass both active (for instance, T.V., movie, and music) and passive (such as video and computer games) media. Aggressive thoughts and actions are linked to the level of exposure to media violence. Nonetheless, passive media is more dangerous than active media (Lin 535-543). For instance, unlike in active media, the player in a violent video game must engage in aggressive attacks by planning and controlling the operations of a virtual character. Through actual contribution and identifying with a violent character, the player enhances his/her level of aggression.

Short and Long Term Effects

Short-term contact with media violence results in increased aggression in the instant condition and is greatly associated with priming, apery, and stimulation. Priming effects imply that external motivation could be naturally associated with cognition (for instance, the view of a gun is associated with deliberations of violence). Long-term effects of media violence, constant exposure to media violence for a long duration in the course of childhood, results in an augment in aggression all through the lifespan (Lin 535-543). The long-term effects could be attributed to observational learning, in addition to the establishment and desensitization of expressive practices.

Subtle Effects

Exposure to media violence does not inculcate excellent language proficiencies. Children have a tendency of replicating the things they hear or observe. In this regard, media violence offers children an extremely aggressive means of interrelating with others, expressing their problems, and resolving them (Greenfield 54-56). Such children have problems getting on with others.

Levels of Analysis Framework

Biological Level of Analysis

This level of analysis denotes the belief that every conduct has biological connections. In accordance with the biological level of analysis, when some regions of the brain are electrically aroused, they can augment aggressive conduct (Prot et al. 358-368). Studies affirm that the amygdala in the human brain is the region associated with aggressive conduct. In this regard, aggressive conduct could be genetically determined. The consumption of alcohol can result in violent conduct through the diminution of self-consciousness and lessening the capacity to identify the result of a violent conduct correctly. Apart from causing an augmentation in the possibility of violent conduct, media violence has also been established to boost aggressive thoughts, aggressive sentiments, and physiological desensitization of aggression, in addition to decreasing prosocial conduct. Some individuals could be genetically prone to being more susceptible to impacts of aggressive actions that they observe in the active and passive media. Media violence could release or enhance aggressive conduct in such biologically susceptible people.

Psychological Level of Analysis

The psychological level of analysis denotes the aspects anchored in the manner in which mental progressions, for instance, perception, consideration, language, recollection, and ideas in the brain act on information. It is concerned with the manner in which people receive information, the way they add up that information, and how they apply it. For instance, frustration, the hindrance of goal-oriented conduct, generates motivation for violence. The dread of punishment, condemnation, or defeat emanating from active and passive media could result in the displacement of violent conduct against oneself or other people (Gentile, Coyne, and Walsh 193-206). For children that may already be psychologically or emotionally unsteady, exposure to media violence could stimulate them to find ammunitions, attack their school, and kill their schoolmates.

Environmental/Social Level of Analysis

This level of analysis denotes the scientific study of the manner in which people’s thoughts, feelings, and conducts are affected by the actual or implied existence of other people or things around them. Environmental prompts could enhance the possibility or intensify violent conduct (Prot et al. 360). Since children learn conducts from the social environment, they end up imitating the characters in the media and engage in similar aggression.

Conclusion

To comprehend why students act in a violent approach, it is vital to assess their exposure to media violence and employ validations to realize their behaviours. Media violence creates an augmented probability of aggression in a sizeable portion of the population. Passive media has been proved more hazardous than active media. Short-range contact with media violence increases aggression in the instant circumstance, and the temporary impacts of media violence are significantly associated with priming, apery, and stimulus. Long-term impacts of media violence encompass an augment in hostility all through the lifetime. Exposure to media violence results in children being exceedingly violent while relating with others, articulating their setbacks, and resolving them; such children find problems while trying to get on with others. Aside from causing amplification in the possibility of aggressive conduct, exposure to media violence has also been found to boost aggressive thoughts, as well as decreasing prosocial conduct. The biological, psychological, and environmental/social levels of analysis are effective in understanding the influence of media violence on aggression.

Works Cited

Gentile, Douglas A., Sarah Coyne, and David A. Walsh. “Media violence, physical aggression, and relational aggression in school age children: A short‐term longitudinal study.” Aggressive behaviour 37.2 (2011): 193-206.

Gentile, Douglas, and Brad J. Bushman. “Reassessing media violence effects using a risk and resilience approach to understanding aggression.” Psychology of Popular Media Culture 1.3 (2012): 138.

Greenfield, Patricia M. Mind and media: The effects of television, video games, and computers. New York: Psychology Press, 2014. Print.

Lin, Jih-Hsuan. “Do video games exert stronger effects on aggression than film? The role of media interactivity and identification on the association of violent content and aggressive outcomes.” Computers in Human Behaviour 29.3 (2013): 535-543.

Prot, Sara, et al. “Long-term relations among prosocial-media use, empathy, and prosocial behaviour.” Psychological science 25.2 (2014): 358-368.