Media-violence correlations arise from four causally distinct paths of influence.

Evidence

Correlations involving televised violence can arise through four different paths of influence. Viewing violence fosters aggression. Aggressive viewers are attracted to violent programs. The influence is a bidirectional one: Viewing violence fosters aggression; in turn, an aggressive proclivity increases the attraction to violent programs. In the fourth path of influence, a third factor may influence both aggression and viewing violence, creating a spurious causal relation between the two other factors. They are co-effects of the third factor rather than causally related. The third factor has no fixed content. It could be socioeconomic status, ethnicity, or intelligence. Multiple controls, therefore, must be applied to rule out third-factor causation. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 720 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Observed links between media violence and aggression have four rival causal explanations — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 720; Media violence shapes aggression potential far more than it triggers immediate acts — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 790; Newsworthy crimes act as natural experiments in media-driven aggression contagion. (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Observed links between media violence and aggression have four rival causal explanations #expands (0.93) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 720