Few studies have been conducted on effective
media violence intervention techniques. Interventions
that appear to be the most promising are those that
stress children and adolescents engaging in active
antiviolence message construction and being able to
observe themselves and others in social situations that
advocate antiviolence problem solving. Strategies that
emphasize parent–child coviewing of television and
movies may also be effective in reducing media
violence/aggression effects.
An extensive ratings system that includes warnings
about both violence and sex has been developed by
the television industry in response to political pressure
partly generated by the large and consistent body of
data developed by researchers. The introduction of the
“V-chip,” a device in every new television now sold in
the United States, permits parents to bypass programs
whose ratings indicate violent content. However,
overwhelmingly, most parents in most households
report not using the device.Legal Implications
Despite overwhelming scientific evidence of a link
between media violence and aggressive behavior,
criminal and civil legal actions against the producers
of violent content have been extremely limited by the
“incitement” standard articulated in Brandenburg v.
Ohio(1969). In this case, the U.S. Supreme Court
stated that the government has a right to regulate any
expression that is “directed to inciting or producing
imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or pro-
duce such action” (p. 1829). Thus, for violent media
content to pass the incitement test, it would need to be
shown that viewing the depiction (e.g., via television,
movies, or playing violent video games) is likely to
lead to imminent lawless action. Furthermore, the
Supreme Court said in Brandenburgthat the expres-
sion falling into this category must be specifically
intended to bring about the lawlessness.
The most prominent legal case involving the idea that
media violence incites violence involved Florida resident
Ronny Zamora, whose lawyer unsuccessfully argued in
1977 that “television intoxication” led him to murder an
elderly neighbor at the age of 15. Mr. Zamora’s lawyer
tried to portray him as a youngster driven criminally
insane by years of watching violent television.
Since the tragedy at Columbine in 1999, there has
been a great deal of interest among state legislatures in
regulating the access minors have to violent videogames. Illinois, Washington, and Michigan have
passed limits on what types of games minors can rent
or buy. This legislative interest is partly the result of a
belief that social scientists have convincingly demon-
strated that exposure of minors to such games pro-
duces effects such as increased aggressive attitudes
and emotions and aggressive behavior. Although still
in the early stages of litigation, nearly all federal courts
have blocked or struck down these state and local laws
that would ban the sale of violent video games to
minors, and no court has upheld such statutes. The
courts have also questioned whether there is evidence
that violent video games cause aggressive behavior
and thus need to be regulated by the government.Daniel LinzSee alsoObscenity; Pornography, Effects of Exposure toFurther Readings
Anderson, C. A., Berkowitz, L., Donnerstein, E., Huesmann,
L. R., Johnson, J. D., Linz, D., et al. (2003). The
influence of media violence on youth. Psychological
Science in the Public Interest, 4(3), 81–110.
Anderson, C. A., & Bushman, B. J. (2001). Effects of violent
video games on aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition,
aggressive affect, physiological arousal, and prosocial
behavior: A meta-analytic review of the scientific
literature. Psychological Science, 12,353–359.
Bandura, A. (1994). Social cognitive theory of mass
communication. In J. Bryant & D. Zillmann (Eds.),Media
effects: Advances in theory and research (pp. 61–90).
Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Berkowitz, L. (1984). Some effects of thoughts on anti- and
prosocial influences of media events: A cognitive-
neoassociation analysis. Psychological Bulletin,
95,410–427.
Brandenburg v. Ohio,395 U.S. 444 (1969).
Huesmann, L. R., Lagerspetz, K., & Eron, L. D. (1984).
Intervening variables in the TV violence-aggression
relation: Evidence from two countries. Developmental
Psychology, 20,746–775.MEGAN’SLAWS
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