Effect of Screen Violence on Aggressive Behavior
Throughout the program, you should be thinking of a research topic you would like to explore. In the capstone course (PSY-693), you will create a research proposal. To assist you in the creation of that proposal, you have decided on a research topic and begun collecting empirical studies to support the need for research. Your topic must relate to a basic social psychological principle; however, it can fall into one of the applied subfields (forensic psychology, psychology of religion, industrial organization, health psychology, etc.).
For this assignment you will begin analyzing the current research around your chosen topic.
Using the empirical articles you have collected thus far, compare the current research for your chosen topic, in 1,250-1,500 words. The following information will assist in the analysis of the literature:
1. Introduction: This section should include your research question with a brief explanation of why the research is needed.
2. Compare and analyze the literature in the articles collected.
3. Compare the limitations of the studies you have collected.
4. A conclusion that includes how your research will add to the current field of research.
Prepare a document that includes your research question(s), including how your research will add to the current research in your chosen field (from your Topic 3 assignment). Your document will include five scholarly, peer reviewed, empirical studies from the past 5 to 7 years. This section should include APA formatted citations for each article.
Sample Answer
Effect of Screen Violence on Aggressive Behavior
In the past decade, a minimum of 5 mass shootings were reported across the US annually, with 2018 topping the list with a reported 12 mass shootings (Statista, 2021). This rising prevalence of violence across the US has therefore drawn the attention of scholars, including psychologists, who want to understand the factors contributing to this phenomenon. One of the arguments that have been provided to explain incidences of violence such as mass shootings is the influence of screen violence on aggressive behavior. In contemporary times, most individuals spend a lot of time on different media channels such as television, video games, and the internet. Individuals are therefore exposed to a significant amount of screen violence that may trigger aggressive behavior. This research paper focuses on the research question ‘what is the effect of screen violence on aggressive behavior among individuals?’ Therefore, the results of such a research study are important in helping determine whether exposure to screen violence can contribute to the onset of aggressive behavior in individuals and eventually make them be involved in violent public acts such as mass shootings. The results of the research study can therefore be used to show whether exposure to screen violence contributes to aggressive behavior among individuals or not.
Comparison and Analysis of Literature
In their studies, different scholars explored the effects of screen violence on aggressive behaviors among individuals. Alia-Klein et al. (2014) posit that the reaction to screen violence will vary among different individuals depending on the brain’s composition and structure. The brain structure of an individual will therefore predispose them to aggression or not. Individuals with a brain structure that predisposes them to aggression might therefore report being determined and inspired by violent media instead of being nervous and upset. Individuals who already have an aggressive trait because of their brain structure will be more likely to get inspiration from screen violence to behave aggressively (Alia-Klein et al., 2014). Individuals with aggressive behavior are also more likely to have their own autonomic and behavioral reactions to screen violence, leading them to perform aggressive actions such as mass shootings. Alia-Klein et al. (2014) therefore suggest that exposure to screen violence will not result in aggressive behaviors among all individuals with people who have a predisposition to aggression due to their brain structure being the most likely to be influenced by screen violence.
Shao & Wang (2019) make similar conclusions as Alia-Klein et al. (2014) that screen violence such as video games can contribute to aggressive behaviors among adolescents. However, Shao & Wang (2019) focus on the mediating effect of the family environment of the adolescents who are exposed to screen violence and how it affects aggressive behaviors. According to Shao & Wang (2019), a poor family environment in combination with exposure to screen violence such as violent video games is, directly and indirectly, related to aggressive behaviors among adolescents. Conversely, a good family environment limits the effect of screen violence on aggressive behaviors (Shao & Wang, 2019). These results show that though screen violence may contribute to aggressive behavior, the environment in which individual lives will also contribute significantly to the onset of aggressive behaviors or not.
Akçay & Akçay (2018) agree with Alia-Klein et al. (2014) that screen violence can result in aggressive behavior among some people, especially adolescents. According to Akçay & Akçay (2018), the constant exposure of adolescents to violent media such as through movies, DVDs, television, computer games, internet, and mobile games results in higher aggression. Adolescents who have a higher screen time and spend more time consuming violent content are more likely to be more aggressive than adolescents with less consumption of violent content. In their study Akçay, & Akçay (2018) insinuate that screen violence contributes significantly to aggressive behavior, especially among adolescents. Therefore, parents, educators, and health professionals should be more attentive to how adolescents utilize media and the negative health effects that may result from the uncontrolled use of such media platforms. Akçay, & Akçay, (2018) study results also suggest that screen violence has contributed significantly to the recent increase in violent events in the US, such as mass shootings. The perpetrators of mass shooting events might have drawn inspiration for their heinous acts from different forms of violent media content. Zafar & Chaudhary (2018) agree with Akçay & Akçay (2018) by concluding that parents observe changing attitudes and behaviors of their children after significant exposure to screen violence. This shows that screen violence is correlated to aggressive behaviors among children. Thus parents need to limit the exposure of children to screen violence to control the onset of aggressive behaviors and make such children less likely to commit significant violent acts in the future, such as mass shootings.
