A study by a Johns Hopkins team of 97 boys and girls showed that exposure to photos of real gunshot wounds can significantly influence youths’ attitudes, making them less likely to believe that aggression can solve conflict, and probably also less likely to resort to violence in any instance:
“Our study suggests that the kind of romanticized version of violence shown on television can be countered by more frank and open discussions and displays of what violence really does to the body,” says David C. Chang.
(via EurekAlert!: “Graphic images of violence alter children’s attitudes toward aggression” [May 12, 2004])