Media violence and its effect on aggression : assessing the scientific evidence / Jonathan L. Freedman.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

"In this work, Jonathan Freedman argues that the scientific evidence does not support the notion that exposure to TV and film violence causes aggression in children or adults. Based on his findings, far fewer than half of the scientific studies have found a causal connection between exposure to media violence and aggression or crime. In fact, Freedman believes that, taken to an extreme, the research could be interpreted as showing that there is no causal effect of media violence at all." "Media Violence and Its Effect on Aggression offers a provocative challenge to popular wisdom and various public statements by professional and scientific organizations. Freedman begins with a comprehensive review of all the research on the effect of violent movies and television on aggression and crime. Having shown the lack of scientific support for the prevailing belief that media violence is connected to violent behaviour, he then explains why something that seems so intuitive and even obvious might be incorrect, and provides plausible reasons why media violence might not have bad effects on children. He contrasts the supposed effects of TV violence on crime with the known effects of poverty and other social factors." "Freedman concludes by noting that although in recent years television and films have been as violent as ever and violent video games have become more and more popular, there has been a dramatic decrease in violent crime. He argues that it is thus unlikely that media violence causes an increase in aggression or crime and that both increases and decreases in violent crime are the result of major social forces."--BOOK JACKET.