ABSTRACT
The violence, sexual content, and other adult themes that comprise a large part of the content in movies, television, music, and video games are cause for concern for parents and society at large. Cognitive theory suggests that habituation will decrease the abhorrence for socially unacceptable behavior if it is viewed constantly in the media (Cantor, 2000). Meta-analyses have found that a variety of behavioral effects are linked to media violence, ranging from trivial imitative behavior during play, to aggressive behavior and hostility, to serious criminal violence (Bushman & Cantor, 2003).
