Witness Testimony

Professor Dale Kunkel

Dept. of Communication University of Arizona
Communication Building #25
Tucson, AZ, 85721-0025

The Effect of Television Violence on Children: What Policymakers Need to Know
Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet
September 13, 2004
09:30 AM

Thank you for the opportunity to testify today before the Subcommittee.

I have studied children and media issues for over 20 years, and am one of several researchers who led the National Television Violence Study (NTVS) in the 1990s, a project widely recognized as the largest scientific study of media violence. In my remarks here today, I will briefly report some key findings from the NTVS project, as well as summarize the state of knowledge in the scientific community about the effects of media violence on children.

Media Violence: The Importance of Context

Concern on the part of the public and Congress about the harmful influence of media violence on children dates back to the 1950s and 1960s. The legitimacy of that concern is corroborated by extensive scientific research that has accumulated since that time. Indeed, in reviewing the totality of empirical evidence regarding the impact of media violence, the conclusion that exposure to violent portrayals poses a risk of harmful effects on children has been reached by the U.S. Surgeon General, the National Institutes of Mental Health, the National Academy of Sciences, the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and a host of other scientific and public health agencies and organizations.

In sum, it is well established by a compelling body of scientific evidence that television violence poses a risk of harmful effects for child-viewers. These effects include:

(1) children's learning of aggressive attitudes and behaviors;

(2) desensitization, or an increased callousness towards victims of violence;

and (3) increased or exaggerated fear of being victimized by violence. While exposure to media violence is not necessarily the most potent factor contributing to real world violence and aggression in the United States today, it is certainly the most pervasive. Millions of children spend an average of 20 or more hours per week watching television, and this cumulative exposure to violent images can shape young minds in unhealthy ways.

Much of my research has emphasized the importance of examining differences in the ways in which violence is presented on television, and the implications such differences hold for the effects that result from viewing violent material. Simply put, not all violence is the same in terms of its risk of harmful effects on child-viewers. The nature and context of the portrayal matters. For example, consider a violent act that has the following features:

it is committed by a repugnant character who no one would wish to emulate;
it clearly depicts the harms suffered by victims;
and it results in strong negative consequences for the perpetrator.

This type of portrayal would actually minimize the risk of most harmful effects for viewers, because it does not glamorize or sanitize its depiction of violence. In contrast, consider a different type of violent portrayal;

one that is committed by an attractive or popular character who is a potential role model for children;
that depicts unrealistically mild harm to the victim who is attacked,
and that conveys power and status for the perpetrator or attracts the approval of others in the program.

This type of portrayal, by glamorizing and sanitizing the depiction of violent behavior, has a much stronger risk of leading to harmful outcomes in the viewer.

Research conducted by myself and colleagues at four universities as part of the National Television Violence Study documents an unfortunate trend in the context surrounding most violent depictions on TV. Our final report, which was based on the analysis of approximately 10,000 programs across three television seasons, concluded that the manner in which most violence is presented on television actually enhances rather than diminishes its risk of harmful effects on child-viewers. That is, the most common pattern associated with violent portrayals on TV involved contextual features such as:

not showing a realistic degree of harm for victims;
not showing the pain and suffering realistically associated with violence attacks;
and not showing the serious long-term negative consequences of violence.

These patterns were present in the large majority of violent portrayals across all channels, and at all times of day. In contrast, programs that included a strong anti-violence theme accounted for less than 4% of all shows containing violent content.

Implications of the Findings

These data are troubling, though they are not new. They serve to underscore that the way in which most violence is depicted on television poses a serious risk of harm for children. It does not have to be that way. Independent of whether or not violence on television might be reduced in quantity, it could certainly be presented in more responsible fashion, thereby diminishing its risk to child viewers. This is one potential avenue for addressing the concern about media violence that, in my view, has not yet been adequately explored.

In sum, the research evidence in this area establishes clearly that the level of violence on television poses substantial cause for concern. Content analysis studies demonstrate that violence is a central aspect of television programming that enjoys remarkable consistency and stability over time. And effects research, including correlational, experimental, and longitudinal designs, converge to document the risk of harmful psychological effects on child-viewers. Collectively, these findings from the scientific community make clear that television violence is a troubling problem for our society. I applaud this Subcommittee for considering the topic, and exploring potential policy options that may reduce or otherwise ameliorate the harmful effects of children's exposure to television violence.