(Microsoft Internet's explorer) The implication is that people are passive beings easily influenced by what they see. Another implication is that all people have shared experiences and will think and react alike. Neil Postman advances the thought that television viewing is our way of knowing ourselves and the world ( Postman, 1985).
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E.B. White wrote "I believe that television is going to be the test of the modern world, and in this new opportunity to see beyond the range of our own vision, we shall discover either a new and unbearable disturbance of the general peace or a saving radiance in the sky. We shall stand or fall by television." (Murray, 1995) White was correct. Television is either beneficial or detrimental to society, perhaps both. Certainly, there exist studies that would equally support both theories. A series of studies conducted by Seymour Feshbach and Robert D. Singer suggests that television violence does not promote violence in children, they explicitly state that the issue "arises from a concern over an important contemporary social issue." (Feshbach & Singer, 1977) After analyzing several social and experimental psychology studies David Howitt and Guy Cumberbatch arrived at a similar conclusion. They concluded that many studies didn't specify reasons for why correlation was made between television violence and violence in society. (Howitt and Cumberbatch, 1975) Albert Bandura on the other hand set the precedence with his studies correlating the viewing of television violence and promoting violence among viewers. His various studies provided strong evidence of televised violence producing aggressive and/or violent behavior in viewers. (Bandura et al. 1963) The innumerable and varied studies on this subject suggest that there exist no definitive answer.
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The examples cited suggest the potential and very real impact on the viewing public. However, the lack of research suggests this type of extreme behavior is more the exception and not the norm.
