According to Leonard Eron, one of the country’s foremost authorities on media, “There can no longer be any doubt that heavy exposure to televised violence is one of the causes of aggressive behavior, crime and violence in society” (Levine, 1996, 4). There are a variety of reasons one might expect viewers to learn aggressive behavior from the media. First, viewers may model their behavior after ideas on television that they otherwise might not have considered. Second, the frequency and legitimacy of violent acts on television may increase the tendency of viewers to model their behavior after what they see. Third, viewers may become desensitized by the abunda

The studies of Bandura, Berkowitz, and Jung have stressed the tendency that viewers model their behavior after instances viewed on television. However, this is not the only reason one might believe viewers learn aggressive behavior from the media. The frequency and legitimacy of violent acts on television also influences viewers to model their acts after what they have seen on television. Prime-time television, on average, offers us five acts of violence per hour (Levine, 1996). The American Psychological Association estimates that the average child witnesses eight thousand murders and over one hundred thousand other violent acts by age twelve (Bennetts, 1996). A study conducted by four universities and financed by the cable industry analyzed nearly 2,700 shows in a twenty-week survey of 23 channels. The results of the study showed that 57% of the shows contained at least some violence (Zoglin, 1996). In addition, The National Television Violence Study found that 85% of shows on premium channels such as HBO and Showtime contain violence (Szaflik, 1998). The frequency of violent acts on television is amazing. Theoretically, a person could turn their television on at any given time and view an act of violence. However, the frequency of violence on television isn’t the only problem. A big part of the problem is the way in which violence is portrayed on television.

In real life, when a person is found guilty of committing a violent act they are punished by some authority figure whether it is their parents or the police. However, this is not the case on most television shows. According to The National Cable Television Study, in 73% of the violent acts observed on television the perpetrator went unpunished (Zoglin, 1996). In this way television is sanctioning violence. They are sending the message that it is okay to be violent because you will not be punished. Television producers are sending out the message that not everyone suffers from violence. For victims and their families, violence on television is depicted without much attention to the pain and suffering, both long term and immediate (Wartella, 1996). Less than half of television’s violent interactions show the victims experiencing some signs of pain, and only one in six programs depict any long-term negative consequences such as physical suffering or emotional harm (Wartella, 1996). Due to the fact that television glamorizes violence, viewers get an unrealistic look at the negative effects of this brutality. When no consequences exist it is easier for a person to rationalize and accept violence.

Another highly regarded specialist in the area of media violence is Leonard Berkowitz. Berkowitz has suggested that, “the aggressive ideas suggested by a violent movie can prime other semantically related thoughts, heightening the chances that viewers will have other aggressive ideas in this period” (Bushman, 1998, 538). In simpler terms, Berkowitz hypothesizes that television is a guide for behavior. Viewers learn conditioned responses to similar situations as those that they view on television. According to Berkowitz, the observation of violence can result in a complex sequence of associations that might be used in future situations.

Besides the frequency and legitimacy of violence on television increasing the tendency toward aggressive behavior, viewers are becoming desensitized by the constant viewing of violence. Desensitization is a type of learning that makes people increasingly less reactive to a particular thing. Someone who becomes desensitized to violence may be more likely to engage in violence (Felson, 1996). By viewing violence everyday on television, it is possible that people will become more accustomed to seeing

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