IS THERE A causal connection between violence depicted in the entertainment media and real-life violence? Does watching numerous acts of on-screen violence cause children to behave more aggressively or hold more antisocial attitudes and values? Since the 1950s, researchers have sought to answer questions such as these.

"The debate is over," the American Psychiatric Association declared in 2003. "Over the last three decades, the one overriding finding in research on the mass media is that exposure to media portrayals of violence increases aggressive behavior in children."

But not everyone agrees with that assessment. Some critics have found fault with the studies that purport to show a definitive connection between media violence and real-life violence. And even among those who concede that such a connection does exist, there is wide disagreement on how important a role media violence...