Books

Grimes, T. (2008). Media violence and aggression : Science and ideology. : Thousand Oaks : Sage Publications.

This source is a book that studies the science of media and their effect on violence and aggression. Tom Grimes is a professor of journalism at Texas State University and his expertise include the effect of violent media on children with common mental ailments. He is knowledgeable in my topic and using a book by him as a source would be very advantageous as he is an expert in the field. The book includes a short history of media effects and how people try to make the ideology of media aggression a science. Grimes asserts that people may have the best intentions but “scienctizing” the effects of media violence is not a good thing. In essence, this work argues that one can say the media do or do not affect violence and aggression, but one can not say that science can prove it.

Levesque, R. J. (2007). Adolescents, media, and the law : What developmental science reveals and free speech requires. New York: Oxford University Press.

Levesque is a psychology and law professor and has done much research regarding adolescents and criminal justice. This book takes a look at media and adolescents during a changing time. It does speak to violence and media, but it also focuses on other things like smoking in media, body image and media, which are less important for my topic. Its main focus is free speech and how the media affect teenagers’ lives. There is a substantial part that is about aggression in teenagers. The most useful part of the book would be its biographical section, which offers references that could be helpful if I were to do even more research into aggression and teenagers.

Cooper, C. A. (2007). Violence in the media and its influence on criminal defense. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co.

Cynthia A. Cooper is a professor in the Department of Communication and Theatre Arts at Salisbury University in Maryland. This book is a look into how the idea of media causation for violent behavior has become relevant in courtrooms. It examines how media influence has become a part of the public discourse as it looks at certain court cases. Cooper’s discussion of media influence is focused only on court cases and does not look at society as a whole. This source would be best if one were to write about how media violence has become relevant in legal proceedings.