Many people have read stories and articles on the Internet about the effects of violent films on peoples' behavior. It was widely studied and made known to all. However, a recent study showed that the effects of these movies are beyond just aggression; this is according to the article written in Indian Express.
Movie buffs are advised to cut down on watching action flicks. A team of researchers found in their latest study that watching action packed or violent movies, reading books with violent content can make a person cheat or lie. The study suggested that having too much exposure to human violence is strongly linked to a higher chance of cheating for things like monetary gain. Study co-author Josh Gubler, professor of political science at Brigham Young University said that the research shows that violent media increases not only the aggressive behavior but there's a lot more beyond that. This is what they want to show in this particular study.
The study did several experiments that included about 1,000 participants. In one part of the study, they were paid to review and edit some sentences. Half of the group was given articles that included violent language. They were all informed that they will be paid whether they correct the sentences that contain those kinds of languages or not. An incentive was provided to mark all sentences "correct" in order to earn money easier and in a much quicker way.
The participants who reviewed the articles with violent sentences were found to have a 24 percent chance to cheat. In the second half of the study, the participants were hired one more time in order to watch and evaluate some movie clips. They were all instructed that they will be paid after they watch the entire clip. After this activity, the researchers found that the participants who viewed those movies with violent scenes showed a higher chance of lying about watching all the videos.
Finally, Gubler said that he and his team hopes that this information can be helpful to parents and communities when deciding which type of media they choose to indulge themselves in.
