Violence In The Media And Its Effect On Society Essay

Violence in the Media and Its Effect on Society
As evidenced by the creation of the Parents’ Music Resource Center in 1985 and the policy of labeling music products containing violent lyrics, many people are concerned with the potential negative effects of listening to songs with violent lyrics. A large body of scientific research spanning four decades supports the idea that exposure to violent media is related to expressions of aggression in both short- and long-term time frames (Anderson & Bushman, 2001; Berkowitz, 1993). The vast majority of this research has focused on violent television and movies (Huesmann & Miller, 1994). Recently, a small but relatively consistent research literature has shown that exposure to explicit song lyrics causes increases in aggression and aggression-related variables (Anderson & Bushman, 2002).
There are numerous differences between watching violent television, playing violent video games, and listening to popular music. One is the lack of a video component to audio-only music. Another is that aggressive lyrical content of popular music is often discernible only to the most attentive of listeners. Some rock music songs have such garbled lyrics that they have given rise to debates about what the lyrics are ( “Louie, Louie”; “Inna-Godda-Da-Vida”; Marsh, 1993).  A large proportion of time spent listening to music involves paying attention to the music (not the lyrics) or to other tasks. Thus, effects of violent lyrics may generally be lessened simply because the lyrics are not processed by the listeners. Nonetheless, there are valid reasons to worry about potentially harmful effects of violent music lyrics. Numerous studies have shown that aggressive words can cause aggressive thoughts, perceptions, and behavior (Anderson, Benjamin, & Bartholow, 1998; Bargh, Chen, & Barrows, 1996;). Such effects can occur even when the lyrics has not been consciously recognized.  Furthermore, listeners are capable of recognizing themes of music...