Questions and Topics We Can Help You To Answer: 

Resource:  The 11 Myths of Media Violence Text (Potter, 2003)

Context: Violent messages and images pervade our daily media experiences; yet, there continues to be disagreement about the influence of those messages on individual outcomes and societal norms. James Potter’s The 11 Myths of Media Violence will serve as the foundation for our exploration of this issue; he suggests that there are numerous stakeholders (i.e., media producers, the public, researchers, and policymakers) who contribute to the conflictual discourse surrounding effects of media violence. Our goal is to develop a more complete and flexible understanding of this complex issue. 

Writing Task:

The term “myth” can be defined as a widely held (but false) belief or idea. Your task is to analyze your assigned myth by: (1) summarizing the key points of your myth, (2) explaining whether the information presented in your chapter dispels (resolves) the myth, and (3) voicing your opinion about whether media violence influences real-life behavior, affect, and cognition.