"Violent scenes that children are most likely to model their behavior after are ones in which they identify with the perpetrator of the violence, the perpetrator is rewarded for the violence and in which children perceive the scene as telling about life like it really is," Thus, a violent act by someone like Dirty Harry that results in a criminal being eliminated and brings glory to Harry is of more concern than a bloodier murder by a despicable criminal who is brought to justice.
Our paper "Could nursery rhymes cause violent behaviour? A comparison with television viewing" takes a slightly humorous angle at this question. Although there is likely to be a causal association, i would caution against the temptation to blame such a complex societal problem on to a single item. Why are those children being allowed to watch such violent television? Which is the cause then of the violent behaviour? Is this more a marker of poor boundary setting and the level of parental norms?
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