Media violence causes only a few acts of imitation, but it has a considerable share in the development of aggressive attitudes and behavior patterns. Since the portrayal of violence influences human behavior indirectly and in concert with other, stronger facts, its harmful qualities are difficult to prove; nevertheless, several studies, one of which covers more than 30 years, clearly show a connection between violence in the media and violence in reality. In the United States, media violence became the subject of scientific scrutiny as early as 1950. As violence became a growing social problem, other countries, such as Great Britain, France, Germany, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, followed. Governmental antiviolence commissions were set up in order to review scientific material and to initiate further studies. All these commissions, acting independently on a national basis, uniformly recommended that the amount of violence shown in the media be reduced and its mode of depiction changed. 53 references