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Popular culture is something, which affects us all. With the information revolution and the advent of new technology - such as the Internet and mobile communication, popular culture can be easily accessed by many groups in society. Therefore, it has become an increasingly significant area of study for todays world. This section looks at the ways in which popular culture can influence violent behavior and examines a number of theories, which infer that popular culture - in the form of film / television and music - can influence deviant behavior. A lot of figures illustrate the vast amount of violence shown on TV. What affect could this have on the viewers behavior?
A variety of studies have been carried out to ascertain the possible affects. Experimental Studies: Linking Popular Culture with Violent Behavior The first major studies conducted on popular culture and violence were undertaken by Albert Bandura and his colleagues in the early 1960 s. They looked at the relationship between visual violence and aggressive behavior. Initial studies concentrated on young children and their responses to on-screen violence.
The young participants were shown a film of a model that kicked and punished an inflatable plastic doll. The child was subsequently placed in a playroom setting and the incidence of aggressive behavior was recorded. The result was that children shown the violent images were more aggressive in the playroom than those children who were not. Bandura's findings highlight a definite link between popular culture, in the form of television and film, and violent behavior, showing that the relation is a real one. Upon his findings, Bandura commented that: People who watch television for any length of time will learn a number of tactics of violence and murder. Television is a superb tutor.
Bandura's research underlines a young childs inability to choose what they will watch and to discern between fantasy and reality in their concurrent social background. Using the same technique as Bandura, Liebert et al discovered a relationship between cartoon violence and violent behavior in young children by subjecting the participant to visual stimuli and subsequently putting them into a social environment with children who had not been subjected to the cartoon violence. Lieberts experiment supported Bandura's finding that the participants subjected to the violence displayed more aggression and violent behavior as well as a greater willingness to hurt another child. The outcome and shocking nature of many violent acts linked to popular culture are immeasurable and the effects cannot be recreated in a laboratory as was seen in Littleton, Colorado on April 20 th 1999, where 25 students were killed by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, members of the consequently infamous Trench-coat Mafia.
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Research essay sample on Violent Behavior Popular Culture
