Does Media Influence Violence in the Behavior of Children?

2046 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Effects of media violence on children's behavior essay

Critical Reading in Early Childhood Studies

Does media influence violence in the behaviour of children?

In this assignment, I will be writing about whether or not media such as television, comic books, music, video games, internet and movies influence violence in the way children behaves.

Media influences violent behaviour in children because they learn what they see, also the heroes in cartoons or movies receive rewards for using violence to solve a situation therefore children might think or believe that this is the right way to solve problems related to their everyday life.

Joseph T. Klapper indicates that the fear of crime and violence in today's media is common amongst parents, guardians and carer.

Most researchers suggests children watch no more than an hour a day to avoid the problems of heavy viewing.(Kundanis 2008). From the research I carried out (graph A) it shows that most children watch up to five hours or more of television daily.

Research on intervention programs has indicated that we can reduce some of the impact of media violence by empowering parents in their roles as monitors of children viewing programs (Geen 1998). this shows that in as much as there is violence in the media, parents can minimise this violence by monitoring and controlling the programs their children watch by creating time limits on television daily and by watching television programs with their children.

On the other hand the myth about parents' role is that children watch too much violence due to parental neglect or absence. (Kundanis 2008). Parents may have to leave their children due to certain circumstances such as going to work. There are certain restriction that television has that children cannot access without pare...

... middle of paper ...

...Development. 3rd ed. USA: Lawrence Earlbaum Associates. p200-233. Geen,R and Donnerstein, E (1998). Human aggression; Theories, Research, and Implications for Social Policy. USA: Academic Press. Kundanis,R (2008). Children, Teens, Families, and Mass Media; The Millennial Generation . USA: Taylor and Francis. p100-107. Siegel,L (2010). Introduction to Criminal Justice . 12th ed. USA: Thomson Wadsworth. P90-110. Wilson,B . (2002). Violence in Children’s Television Programming: Assessing the Risks. Journal of Communication. 52 (1), p5-35.

Show More
Related

  • Stephen King Research Paper

    640 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are a lot of people who either wonder or believe that violent media is bad for people and mostly children. Not all violent media is bad. Sometimes when people have a stressful day they will play video games to let off steam. A few people like watching horror movies because of the thrill of being scared. But if you’re a kid with no friends or you are alone most of the time, you might enjoy comic books. They are filled with action and heroes. Doing any of these can give off a sense of adventure, thrill, and excitement. It doesn’t mean that you’re going to go off and start hurting people because of it. There is a lot of evidence that states the media affects viewers by encouraging violent behavior and weakening their creative ability. The question is whether the media is truly the problem, or is it the parental role that is the problem.

    Read More

  • Gerald Jones's Article: Violent Media Is Good For Kids

    747 Words  | 2 Pages

    In today’s world there has been huge increases in violent acts being done. Kids are turning into to bullies, murders, thieves and more. This can be happening for many different reasons. One could say it is the way the children are raised, what they see going on in their neighborhoods, what they are watching on television, seeing online, or on their video games. Everyone reacts to things differently and the violent media kids see can have different effects on each of them. According to the article “Violent Media is Good for Kids” written by Gerard Jones, violent media and other forms of ‘creative violence’ help far more children than they hurt. Gerald Jones gives examples through the article on experiences that are personal to him where violent media has been helpful but he does not give enough facts to make the reader believe it helps more children than it hurts.

    Read More

  • Violence Satire Essay

    530 Words  | 2 Pages

    Television plays a big role on violence. Most of us watch television daily. And what do we see daily on television? The news, about our world surrounded by violence? Movies, that only show shootings, death, and more violence? Even cartoons are violent, like the Simpsons, south park, and even Tom and Jerry, shows specially for our young audience. ...

    Read More

  • Violence in Television

    1911 Words  | 4 Pages

    addition the average American child will witness over 200,000 acts of violence on television including 16,000 murders before the age of 18 (DuRant, 445). Polls show that three-quarters of the public find television entertainment too violent. When asked to select measures that would reduce violent crime “a lot”, Americans chose restrictions on television violence more often than gun control. Media shows too much violence that is corrupting the minds children, future leaders of our society. In a study of population data for various countries sh...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Alternative Media

    738 Words  | 2 Pages

    In a research analysis of Media and Violence, studies show that “Although the typical effect size for exposure to violent media is relatively small ... this ‘small effect’ translates into significant consequences for society as a whole” (“Media and Violence: An Analysis of Current Research”, 2015). This states violent behaviors can come from the smallest variables, or clips from videos, which is why it is important for parents to control what their kids see, read, and watch, and limit the amount of violence exposure.

    Read More

  • Television Violence and Children

    382 Words  | 1 Pages

    There have been researches that have shown that the estimated child, once passed elementary, will have been introduced to eight thousand murders, and more than one hundred-thousand acts of some sort of violence on television. Those numbers show a dramatic change in the way television shows have increased their violence rate. With numbers like these, violence can be extremely harmful to a child. In recent studies it has been proven that once children are put in front of a television, their concentration cannot be broken or wrecked. Most children who watch these violent shows have been less patient, more aggressive, and more likely to have lower grades than the children who watch television shows like Mr. Rogers. The more the child watches these violent shows, the faster he or she will unnaturally speed up the impact of the

    Read More

  • Government Censorship

    426 Words  | 1 Pages

    In a book about child psychology titled Infants, Children, and Adolescents, fifth edition, written by Laura E. Berk, several strategies are stated to regulate children’s television viewing and computer use that would fair beneficial in turning children away from committing violent acts depicted by the media. They are limit television viewing and computer use, refrain from using television or computer time to reward or punish children, encourage child-appropriate television and computer experiences, view television with children, helping them understand what they see, link televised content to everyday learning experiences, model good television and computer practices, and use a warm, rational approach to child rearing. These approaches should help children be able to understand the differences between what is right and wrong in regards to what they are viewing.

    Read More

  • Impact of Cartoons on Children's Behavior

    1505 Words  | 4 Pages

    American Psychological Association. "Violence on Television. What Do Children Learn? What Can Parents Do?" APA Online. www.apa.org/publicinfo/violence.html. Accessed October 23, 2001.

    Read More

  • Protecting Children from Television Violence

    1390 Words  | 3 Pages

    Summary #1 Television violence, and media violence in general, has been a controversial topic for several years. The argument is whether young children are brainwashed into committing violent real-world crimes because of violent and pugnacious behavior exposed in mass media. In his article “No Real Evidence for TV Violence Causing Real Violence”, Jonathan Freedman, a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto and author of “Media Violence and Its Effect on Aggression: Assessing the Scientific Evidence”, discusses how television violence, claimed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), does not cause real-world aggression among adolescents. The FCC determined to restrict violent television programming to late night hours only because their “scientific research” proves of increasing aggression among young viewers (Freedman Par. 2).

    Read More

  • Cause and Effect Essay - Causes of School Violence

    2261 Words  | 5 Pages

    A widely accepted cause of the murders committed by children is violence in the media. The parents of three students killed at a high school in Padukah, Kentucky filed a $130 million lawsuit against the entertainment industry because they believe that violence in the media inspired the boy, Michael Carneal, who killed their children ("Media"). To some extent, these parents are correct in their assumption. On average, children watch television 16 to 17 hours per week, beginning as early as age 2 (Strasburger 129). Furthermore, when video games are added, some teenagers may spend as many as 35 to 55 hours per week in front of the television set (Straburger 129). Within these many hours of television viewing, there are many violent scenes. The National Television Viole...

    Read More

  • Influence of Cartoons on Children

    1226 Words  | 3 Pages

    But just how much does it affect them? If they affect children at all? Separating other factors that can influence violent behavior is almost impossible. Can you really separate media violence from all the other factors that can influence violent behaviors? (Rochman.) Real life has more of an effect than fantasy violence (Cutler.) For instance, children who have a parent who went to jail are more likely to go to the jail than children who watch the violent animated cartoon Happy Tree Friends.If a child has have abusive parents or siblings, ther...

    Read More

  • Media Violence Essay

    1082 Words  | 3 Pages

    By the time a child reaches the age of one, they see about 200,000 acts of violence on television. (Nakaya, 3). The Media has been becoming more and more violent over the years. A poll in an issue of Times Magazine, from 2005, showed that 66 percent of Americans think that there is an abundant amount of graphic acts of violence on televisions (Nakaya, 18). People are exposed to thousands of acts of violence through video games, television, and movies. Many studies show that media violence increases violent behavior in in humans. Studies show, violent video games, and graphic television have physiological effects on children. The government has very few regulations on media violence. Some people believe the government shouldn’t limit content because others might be insulted by its material. Media violence is such a broad topic and has such a large presence in daily lives, so we cannot simple get rid of it. The Federal Communications Commission stipulates, “By the time most children begin the third grade, they will have spent the equivalent of three school years in front of a television set.” Even though the government shouldn’t censor the media, Media violence is becoming a serious issue because it is becoming more violent, it makes people behave violently, and it has little regulations.

    Read More

  • The Effects of Media on Anti-Social Behavior

    645 Words  | 2 Pages

    This argument assumes that, under normal conditions, worry about violence reduces its use. Media may, however, inspire aggressive behaviour by desensitising children to the effects of violence. The more televised violence a child watches, the more acceptable aggressive behaviour becomes for that child. Frequent viewing of television violence may cause children to be less anxious about violence.

    Read More

  • Effects of Television Violence on Children and Teenagers

    661 Words  | 2 Pages

    Furthermore, television violence causes aggressive behavior in children. Many people believe that children who watch violent television programs exhibit more aggressive behavior than that exhibited by children who do not (Kinnear 23). According to the results of many studies and reports, violence on television can lead to aggressive behavior in children (Langone 50). Also, when television was introduced into a community of children for the first time, researchers observed a rise in the level of physical and verbal aggression among these children (Langone 51). The more television violence viewed by a child, the more aggressive the child is (“Children” 1).

    Read More

  • Essay On Effects Of Violence In Movies

    2129 Words  | 5 Pages

    No single factor can cause children or adults to act aggressively. Instead, it is the accumulation of risk factors that leads to an aggressive act. Hundreds of studies look into the issue of violent media, it always seems to end up the same place with three major effects including increasing aggressive behavior in a variety of forms, desensitization, and spurs fear. Not every viewer will be affected noticeably, but we know that every viewer is affected in some way. Some have argued that violent media are the primary cause of mass shooting. Others have argued that there is no solid evidence of any harmful effects of violent media. But it is clear is that exposure to media violence is one of risk factors increased aggressive behavior, desensitization, and fear.

    Read More

More about Does Media Influence Violence in the Behavior of Children?

Open Document