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INFLUENCE OF VIOLENCE MOVIES ON ADOLESCENT SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background to the Study

Media effect has been one of the dominant issues in mass communication, psychology and other related disciplines particularly on how it affect children. Various researches and theories have offer ample evidence stating that mass media is affecting our perceptions and attitude.  There is consistent evidence that violent imagery in television, film, video, and computer games has substantial short-term effects on arousal, thoughts, and emotions, increasing the likelihood of aggressive or fearful behaviour in younger children, especially in boys (Kevin and Catherine, 2014).

Anaeto, Onabanjo and Osifeso (2008) in Gerbner, et. al. (1976) posit that heavy Tv viewers will cultivate the perception of reality portrayed by the television, adding that heavy tv viewing, no doubt, distorts our perception of the world we live in, making it seem more like ‘an utopian world’. Similarly, Aggressive Cue Theory by De Fleur et. al. (1998/1975) cited in Anaeto, Onabanjo and Osifeso (2008) established that telvision is a source of aggressive cue, it increases aggressive behaviour in audience members.

Aggression is usually defined by behavioral scientists as behavior that is intended to harm another person. Common forms of aggression are physical (for example, punching), verbal (for example, saying or writing hurtful things to another person), and relational (for example, intentionally and publicly not inviting someone to a party to harm his social relationships).

Violence usually is conceived as more extreme forms of physical aggression that are likely to result in physical injury. The most extreme form of violence is homicide, but any form of aggressive behavior that is likely to result in an injury serious enough to warrant medical attention is considered violence. Thus, fights involving weapons as well as fistfights by adolescents old enough to be able to inflict serious injuries are considered acts of violence.

The relation of these terms to violent “crime” requires some comment. The vast majority of media violence research focuses on aggressive and violent behaviour as defined earlier. Violent crime is a much more restrictive category and is applied only in cases where someone has been arrested for a crime classified by police as a major crime against persons, such as murder, rape, and assault.

U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics (2005) reports that youth violence resulting in deaths and injuries has direct and indirect costs in excess of $158 billion each year. Only accidental injury (frequently auto accidents) consistently leads homicide as the cause of death of U.S. youths between one and twenty-four years of age. For youths between the ages of ten and twenty-four, homicide is the leading cause of death for African Americans, the second leading cause for Hispanics says U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics (2007)

Young people not only suffer but also commit a disproportionate share of violence. Although twelve- to twenty-year-olds made up about 13 percent of the U.S. population in 2005, they were responsible for some 28 percent of the single-offender and 41 percent of multiple-offender violent crimes. (Anderson,2003).

Therefore, Film is a story recorded as a set of moving pictures to be shown on the television or at the cinema. It is also a roll on shut of flexible plastic that is sensitive to light for the use of in photography.  According to Cook (2007) Films are made up of sources of individual images called frames. When these images are show rapidly in succession, a viewer has the illusion. Film as medium of mass communication has its major role to play in 

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