Social Aggression Essay

As aggression in the media increases, studies examining its effects on human behavior do as well. It is widely accepted that physical aggression is characterized by physical violence. On the other hand, social aggression is characterized by both verbal and nonverbal actions typically ranging from gossip and rumors to ignoring peers. While a plethora of studies have focused on physical aggression, there are some that indicate pertinent information relating to social aggression. One study conducted by Crick, Bigbee, and Howes, indicates that there is a higher prevalence of social aggression among females than males, while another conducted by Coyne and Archer found 92% of programs popular among adolescents aged 11-14 contained acts of social

In one lab study, children mirrored physical aggression immediately after exposure, thus directly illustrating social cognitive theory. This theory states that children will mirror a model’s actions in the short term, especially when the actions are rewarded rather than punished. Results in a longitudinal study show an overall increase in adult aggression when the participant was exposed television violence as a child (Martins & Wilson, 2011, p. 49-51). This study directly relates to the information processing theory, which states that the child will create his or her own scripts based on the acquired material and use the processed information in social situations. Popular television shows seemingly normalize social aggression through humor and attractive actors. Martins and Wilson have used this information to explore whether this repeated exposure to nonphysical aggression leads to mirroring and the perception that these behaviors are normal in social

Boys reported using significantly more physically aggressive behaviors at school than girls and higher overall exposure to physically aggressive programs than girls. They also reported higher overall television exposure than girls but this data fell short of significance. Girls reported higher overall exposure to socially aggressive programs than did boys, but there was no significant sex difference in the perpetration of socially aggressive behaviors (Martins & Wilson, 2011, p. 59).

Additionally, exposure to total TV was not a significant predictor of why some children were more socially aggressive than others. Conversely, exposure to televised social aggression was a positive predictor of children’s social aggression, specifically stronger for girls than boys (Martins & Wilson, 2011, p. 62). This data allowed Martins and Wilson to conclude that rather than TV as a whole, TV that illustrates social aggression specifically, is correlated with socially aggressive behavior in young