Violence and aggression in relations between people and in individuals’ reactions are regarded as psychological and social phenomena. The problem is in the fact that cases of openly expressed violence and aggression are more frequent today than previously, and these factors are directly associated with the development of contemporary society. From this perspective, the problem is also in the necessity to determine the actual causes of the increasing levels of social violence and aggression nowadays. There is a lack of data on the question of what factors can lead persons to develop violence and demonstrate aggressive behaviors. In this context, all factors need to be taken into account and researched to identify the most significant ones.
It is important to pay attention to the fact that the role of media is important in contemporary society, and the media content can be regarded as one of the causes associated with the spread of violence and aggression as psychological reactions and behaviors typical of young people today. Recent researches in the field indicate that the levels of violence and aggression in social interactions increase significantly, and a variety of factors, including the media can influence this tendency (Bradshaw, Goldweber, & Garbarino, 2013). However, despite the findings that media violence can have an effect on people’s behaviors and provoke aggression, the results of studies are still ambiguous (Savage & Yancey, 2011). The actual connection between the violence in the media and aggression in the streets is not proved by researchers despite being actively discussed and propagated.
The problem of violence and aggression in modern society needs to be studied in detail to address the gap in the current research that is associated with the lack of studies on factors. The other reason to research the issue is that the experiences associated with the spread of violent behaviors increase, and the identification of factors leading to them is necessary. The evidence associated with the psychological practice and social relations indicates that aggressive tendencies increase and more persons choose to express their violence actively while harming relatives, friends, and other people through initiating mass shootings or demonstrating violence in reaction to ordinary situations (Bradshaw et al., 2013).
More young men begin to perceive violence as normal in society while using the aggressive reactions and behaviors typical of the unique media and game environments in real-life situations. Savage and Yancey (2011) propose to focus more on researches in the field of violence in the media and its impact on people’s reactions, emotions, and behaviors because the existing information on the problem is deficient. Bradshaw et al. (2013) also focus on the necessity of further research in the field to conduct more experiments and observations while studying differences in individuals’ behaviors associated with various stimuli. Bradshaw et al. (2013) suggest that modern people are more exposed to violence through the active use of different sources of information, and the perception of violence as the normal feature also develops. From this point, the further discussion of the problem of increasing aggression in modern society is important to identify psychological and social factors that lead to the development of these phenomena, and much attention should be paid to the depiction of violence in media.
References
Bradshaw, C. P., Goldweber, A., & Garbarino, J. (2013). Linking social-environmental risk factors with aggression in suburban adolescents: The role of social-cognitive mediators. Psychology in the Schools, 50(5), 433-450.
Savage, J., & Yancey, C. (2011). The effects of media violence exposure on criminal aggression a meta-analysis. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 35(6), 772-791.