Does media violence lead to aggression?

In my personal opinion, I feel as if violent tv and video games lead to children who are familiar with this angst and violence. Now I’m not one to say absolutely no video games or violence but I do feel like the ratings for the games are there for a reason. I think with age you should start introducing such games if they want but I also think if you want to get out your anger, you should try sports. There needs to be a healthy way to get out what you feel, I don’t think that way is playing with guns or fighting if you’re mad. I feel like what your kids see and absorb at a young age has an effect on their brains later on.

The American Psychology Association says Children may become less sensitive to pain and suffering of others, may become more fearful of the world around them, and may be more likely to behave in an aggressive or harmful way towards others when seeing violence on television. Since video games are fairly new, there aren’t as many studies on it. Though in 2010, a review by psychologist Craig A. Anderson and others concluded that “the evidence strongly suggests that exposure to violent video games is a causal risk factor for increased aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, and aggressive affect and for decreased empathy and prosocial behavior.” ( https://www.apa.org/action/resources/research-in-action/protect.aspx )

Back in the 1960’s there was a study where researchers showed preschoolers a video of an adult playing with an inflatable doll. In the video, the children watched as the adult sat on the doll, punched it in the nose, hit the doll on the head with a mallet, and kicked it repeatedly. After watching the video, the children were brought into a playroom with the same doll and lots of other toys. As predicted, the kids who watched the aggressive video imitated what they saw—they beat the doll with a mallet, and they punched and kicked it. What was most surprising was that the children found new and creative ways to beat up the doll, and they played more aggressively with the other toys in the room as well. This was their argument to why there are now many school shootings and aggressive behavior towards other students. ( https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-baby-scientist/201801/violent-media-and-aggressive-behavior-in-children )