Do you think the violence on television influences the violence in the society?

Answer 1

Yes, and I think it's more a comment on the IQ of the general population. Any person with average intelligence should be able to handle whatever they see on television, no matter how violent it is. But, as we see on the news whenever someone attempts to copy what they see, quite a majority of the population is just plain stupid.

Answer 2

Television cannot be blamed for all violence in society - that's for sure - but when people are either very, very, young and easily influenced or else when they are not super, solid, emotionally well adjusted; they can and may actually mimic what they see on television.

The fact that mimicking and being receptive to copying others' behavior is one of the ways learning occurs in a small child shows how the immature brainpersonality is just programmed to be receptive to mimicking.

There are also factors related to who is attracted to watching violence as entertainment as well. The mature, well adjusted, individual may watch a violent show here or there if it is particularly well done but will draw the line if the show gets to be too much; but the immature and not-so-well-adjusted viewer may watch nothing but violence because it has appeal to him. Assuming that crossing the line between thinking about violence/finding it appealing and acting out what someone is already attracted to is probably a factor, it is pretty safe to also assume that violence on the television could be directly responsible for some crossing of that line.

Answer 3

No, the violence in society has as much, or more influence on TV, than the other way around. I see you got the usual social science knee-jerk, ideological responses. No one asked why was there a high level of violence before TV? Why are so many pre-state societies so violent? ( the Jivaro, for instances ) I could go on in this vein all night. Social science lives by the correlation that is easily turned on it's head. There is not one scintilla of scientific evidence to suggest any such social science conclusion.

Answer 4

Not just television. Music and movies also play a large role in the influence of crime and violence in our society. The more violent the content, likewise the more violent our society becomes. The children, the elderly, and the animals are the ones that receive the blunt reality of the media, because they are innocent and weaker.

Answer 5

No...Actually I think that Violence in society has influenced violence in television...The news was showed violent images before television show did.

Answer 6

Sure it does. It starts by influencing the mind of young people, specially kids. Look, I have a 2 year old boy and he just likes to fight me when he sees a fighting scene in TV. Now I realise that this is also happening when I tell him to do something he doesn't want or like or when I tell him that it is no time for sweets.
This is symptomatic. And he also learns from cartoons.
In Portugal, a kid 11 y.o. was caught setting fire in a forest. When asked why, he said he would like to see the air planes and helicopters to put the fire off as seen on TV.
And the teenagers, they think they can fool the police with the 'perfect crime' doing it 'better' than in TV.

On the other hand, talking about mature people, TV has almost 0 influence, unless regarding low minded people. It has more to do with one's 'instinct of survival' or lack of patience.

Answer 7

Yes, seeing certain things on television makes young minds think it's okay to do things that normally they would not do. Sometimes, they even think it's a common thing that everyone does. Young minds are easily influenced. Today, I was on a website discussing childhood and people even admitted that when they were young, they believed that Big Bird brought the sun up every day and that monsters really did live under the bed.

Answer 8

Do you remember when you watched Cartoons as kids and they showed Tom & jerry or Buggs Bunny Cartoons hitting eachother, droping things on eachother or even blowing eachother up??

Now, Did you go out and try and do anything you seen on the cartoons when you were a kid? I know I didn't, I was more intelligent and my parents were there to teach me right from wrong.

Now, I do think that depicting violence on TV may contribute to desencitizing our society to more violent acts, but I think its our culture and society in general that has lost its morals and tolerance of other people. We have lost our ability to care and good nature torwards others.

Answer 9

omg.im 17 years old, and i remember when i was younger, when i used to think that television does NOT affect society AT ALL, and that the responsibility belonged to the parents who let their children watch it, which is not incorrect... but now i realize it has a MAJOR effect, even the MUSIC industry plays a big part. where i am, Jamaica, the DANCEHALL music here is very violent and slack, i love it but i just know it is. almost ALL of the artists in the country come from the ghetto, i am lucky enough to live a little better than them,and hav more access to knowledge than them. the music is influenced by the currption of our government...sshhhhhhhh...

Answer 10

There's conflicting evidence--and a dearth of really good information about key questions on this topic.

Studies have shown that violent images do have a short term effect in increasing the liklihood of a violent response to real-world situations--although this is confined to individuals who already have some emotional/psychological problems.

But there isn't a lot of information about long-term effects, other that we know the short-term response is just that. But do such images affect a person's perspective in the long term? A lot more research is needed.

The other area where this is of special concern are children. The above applies to them as well--with the additional consideration that children are more impressionable; the liklihood of long term effects are higher. In addition, such images could be traumatic in other ways, even if they aren't linked to violent behavior later in life.

Answer 11

Definitely. Some people have trouble with and / or don't want to distinquish between true things and make believe. The ones who can't believe that they can go out and shoot someone and that person will raise up, get off the ground, and everything will be fine. Some believe that there is a masked, caped crusader that will save them from all harm--including "the long arm of the law" when they do wrong. This concerns me because those of us like myself who are in the "real world" know better.