Aggression and Media Violence

Finish Aggression Lecture!
See PPT slides and lecture notes linked on the Docs page.

Violence in the Media
In your assigned groups, get out your violence and the media tracker.  Discuss the following questions:

1. Highest number of acts of aggression?  Lowest?  What patterns do you see in your data about…
2. Amount and type of violence for specific types of programs?
3. Types of aggression overall (was instrumental or hostile more prevalent?)
4. Were you surprised by the numbers?  Were they higher or lower than you expected them to be?
5. What type of program do you think would have the most negative impact on viewers’ aggressive behavior?  Why?  Connect this back to at least one of the lecture concepts!

Step 1: Overview
Read this summary of research compiled by the APA (American Psychological Association) on Violence and the Media.  As you read, create a T-Chart.  On one side, list evidence for the view that yes, there IS a link between watching/playing violent media and increased aggressive behavior.  On the other side, list evidence for the view that no, there IS NOT a link between watching/playing violent media and increased aggressive behavior.

Step 2: Dig Deeper
Okay, now you need to read one more piece about this.  Continue adding to your T-Chart.  This will be the basis of discussion on Friday, and will be necessary to answer a long-response question on the quiz.  Consider choosing from this list, or find your own!

1. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/reading-between-the-headlines/201309/violence-the-media-and-your-brain
2. http://www.apa.org/pi/prevent-violence/resources/tv-violence.aspx
3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2704015/
4. http://time.com/3478633/media-violence-children-study/
5. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/science/studying-the-effects-of-playing-violent-video-games.html
6. http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/violgametime.htm
7. http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2010/06/violent-video-games.aspx

HOMEWORK:
None- we'll finish this in class on Friday.