A. Look at any Social Psychology textbook. ANY psychology textbook and you will find that.
B. Did I say Correlation=Causation? Please don't misinterpret what people say. Human are naturally violent, but certain stimuli act as catalysts to activate said violent behavior.
Shion pretty much covered what I was going to say, but I'll make one addendum. NAME ONE. I said cite your sources, not say that there are sources. I've looked at a number of psychological texts (seeing as how I took a few psychology and sociology courses in high school and my freshman year of college). I haven't seen anything that shows a relationship between violent entertainment and violent behavior, much less a causal link.
On the other hand, I have numerous sources I can name. Before you argue that these sources are mostly about video games, the argument is roughly the same: violent media inspires violence (not to mention a lot of hentai presents in the form of a video game). Games are generally considered to be more immersive than other mediums, so the link should be stronger for video games, right?
Vastag, B. "Does Video Game Violence Sow Aggression?" Journal of the American Medical Association. 2004.
Summary: "If video games do increase violent tendencies outside the laboratory, the explosion of gaming over the past decade from $3.2 billion in sales in 1995 to $7 billion in 2003, according to industry figures would suggest a parallel trend in youth violence. Instead, youth violence has been decreasing."
Baldaro, B., et al. "Aggressive and Non-Violent Videogames: Short-Term Psychological and Cardiovascular Effects on Habitual Players." Stress and Health, Vol. 20, pp. 203-208. 2004.
Summary: study showed no correlation between playing violent games and hostile tendencies.
Bensley, L. & Van Eeenwyk, J. "Video Games and Real-Life Aggression: Review of the Literature." Olympia, WA: Washington State Department of Health. 2002.
(...)after controlling for psychosocial factors, association between aggression and playing video games was not statistically significant.
Self-explanatory.
Williams, D. & Skoric, M. "Internet Fantasy Violence: A Test of Aggression in an Online Games." 2005.
Research on violent video games suggests that play leads to aggressive behavior. A longitudinal study of an online violent video game with a control group tested for changes in aggressive cognitions and behaviors. The findings did not support the assertion that a violent game will cause substantial increases in real-world aggression." The results determined that, "...game play controlling for gender, age, and time one aggression scores - was not a significant predictor of aggressive cognitions. Compared to the control group, participants after the experiment were not statistically different in their normative beliefs on aggression than they were before playing the game.
In other words, despite numerous claims to the contrary,
there is no correlation between violent media and aggression. SURPRISE! But why is there no link? To answer that, let me give you a few more texts.
Sternheimer, K. "Do Video Games Kill?" Contexts, Vol. 6, Issue 1, pp. 13-17, Winter, 2007.
"It is equally likely that more aggressive people seek out violent entertainment. Aggression includes a broad range of emotions and behaviors, and is not always synonymous with violence. Measures of aggression in media-effects research have varied widely, from observing play between children and inanimate objects to counting the number of speeding tickets a person received. Psychologist Jonathan Freedman reviewed every media-violence study published in English and concluded that "the majority of studies produced evidence that is inconsistent or even contradicts" the claim that exposure to media violence causes real violence." (Page 15)
Violent people seek out violent entertainment. It's not the entertainment that makes them violent; they're already violent.
Tremblay, R. "Physical Aggression During Early Childhood: Trajectories and Predictors." Pediatrics. 2004.
Summary: "Most children have initiated the use of physical aggression during infancy, and most will learn to use alternatives in the following years before they enter primary school. Humans seem to learn to regulate the use of physical aggression during the preschool years. Those who do not appear to be at highest risk of serious violent behavior during adolescence and adulthood."
Most people have some violent tendencies, but learn ways to cope with such urges. Violent media is one way of doing this.
Sternheimer, K. "It's Not the Media: The Truth About Pop Culture's Influence on Children." 2003.
"violent video games are a lot like dreams where we work out our fears or anxieties without actually ever engaging in them." (p.114)
Self-explanatory. Replace "violent video games" with "violent sex simulators;" the concept is the same.
