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Aggression biological and social factors
Negative impact of media as agent of socialization
CAUSE EFFECTS of media violence
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Recommended: Aggression biological and social factors
The topic I have chosen to discuss is the relationship between media violence and aggressive behavior. Violent behavior is thought to be influenced by environmental foundations and media sources such as television and video games. Studies have shown a link between aggressive behavior and being exposed to large amounts of violence in the media. Is behavior really influenced by the media? In my opinion children who are subjected to media violence and a violent environment do have a greater chance of being aggressive. It is my belief that aggressive behavior in children is linked to the media, but also to the behavior portrayed by the people around them. Many studies have been targeted toward the link between aggression and viewing violence in the media. One well-known study was conducted by Albert Bandura and is known as the Bobo doll experiment. Research has shown that a child will mimic the actions of others if the actions are reinforced. “Albert Bandura argued that aggression in children is influenced by the reinforcement of family members, the media, and the environment” (Bandura, 1976). Psychologists have discovered that some cartoons tend to contain violence and may cause children to demonstrate aggressive behavior. “Children who have a high degree of exposure to the media may exhibit a relatively high incidence of hostility themselves in imitation of the aggression they have witnessed.” (Berkowitz, 1962) There have been numerous violent episodes that have been determined to be copycat cases of violence on television. In situations like this, the media exposure is considered to be reinforcement of the behaviors. Children that are raised in a violent environment are more likely to grow up and become violent. “Albert Bandura ... ... middle of paper ... ...c the hero’s actions to be rewarded also. The same applies for older adolescents too. A teenager may mimic the behavior of an actor/actress that they find to be attention-grabbing even if the behavior is not desired by others. However, the environment also plays a strong role in the modeling of a child’s behavior too. A child is influenced not only by the elements of their environment, but also by the actions of their peers and family members within their environment. Repeated exposure to undesirable behaviors of peers and family members will begin to “rub off” on a child. It’s always best to try to set a good example for all children because they are very impressionable. References: Psychology and Your Life, Robert S. Feldman, Pages 187-188 Theorist—Albert Bandura http://tinyurl.com/mx7ay Wikipedia—Media violence research http://tinyurl.com/6t2jnul
The controversy over whether or not violence portrayed on television actually affects children or not has been playing itself out for nearly three decades. When some of the first results came out in the 60s and 70s that made the first connections between aggressive behavior and viewing televised violence, the TV and movie industries denied that there was a connection. When studies found the same thing in the 80s, the FCC opposed any regulation (Hepburn). A writer for Direct Ma...
Working-class children, minority children, unpopular children and children doing poorly in school seem to be the ones more susceptible to imitating the aggression that they see on television. This may be partly because they watch more hours and are exposed to more television violence…Television may or may not contribute to their aggressive behavior, but their aggressive nature does play a major role in what they choose to watch.
Thesis Statement: Unsupervised children who watch violence on television exhibit violence in their everyday lives and develop into aggressive adults.
There is a strong agreement among American society that violence in the country is on the rise. It is easy to see why this is a strong argument among the American people, especially because of the rising popularity of violent video games and television programs. However, as these violent video games and television shows are creating their own place in our society, the reports of violence among children are escalating. This correlation has been studied extensively in the scientific community in an attempt to discover whether media violence does negatively impact children but there has yet to be a consensus. There is a split between those that believe that children are becoming more violent because they are exposed to violent media and those that believe that correlation is not causation, who argue that media violence does not have any notable effect the youth.
Media Violence and its negative impact has been discussed and debated for many years As children grow into teens they encounter as vast amount of violence in the media, negatively impacting today’s youth. Teenagers who are exposed to media violence will fail to develop effective socialization strategies and resort more readily to violence, which makes society a more dangerous place.
Media violence is a topic that has warranted much discussion from active citizens, critics, and scientific researchers on both sides of the argument. In order to better understand the media violence debate a clear definition of violence, or aggression, must be established. However, one of the reasons that the heated discussion over media violence even exists is because of the difficulty in accomplishing this task. “Aggression is a highly complex phenomenon, whose etiology includes a wide variety of psychological, social, and circumstantial factors. 'Measuring' aggression in relationship to such an equally complex substance as the media is incredibly difficult” (Trend 45). Various sources offer different interpretations of aggressive behavior. One of the most popular references which excels in organization and categorization is the National Television Violence Study of 1998. “Violence is defined as any overt depiction of a credible threat of physical force or the actual use of such force intended to physically harm an animate being or group of beings. Violence also includes certain depictions of physically harmful consequences against an animate being or group that occur as a result of unseen violent means” (Federman 18). The importance of this study is that it highlights key aspects of media violence: involvement of animate beings, clear intent to harm, and harm that is physical in nature. Although the American society tends to believe that violent images in the media have powerful negative effects on viewers, especially children, which causes people to commit crimes and demonstrate aggressive behaviors, media violence actually produces minor effects at most, and can even prove advantageous.
...e in by watching and imitating), yet they progressively want to watch considerably more savage movies and play even more blood-stained video games. The influence of media on the psychological development of children is profound. While most researchers are completely certain that children can take in violent behavior from media, they call attention to all the parents who have a huge power in lessen that influence. In today’s world, parents should be acquainted with all sorts of media their children are exposed to. When it comes to kids, parents should limit the use of media. There have been many studies that show that there is a direct correlation between reduction of media as well as reduction in aggressive behavior of children. Parents should realize that remaining silent and doing nothing will just empower the children to take the perilous path of aggressiveness.
...ommon sense conclusion that there is some link between aggressive behavior among children and the violence that they see on television.
television has gradually become the most influential media in the development of different patterns of behavior of the viewers, children and adolescents worldwide have grown together with the evolution of the television market. Various studies indicate that the relationship between television and behavior exists, but it has been difficult to identify any causal link. the effects are many and mostly negative. Much of the research has been conducted to test the relationship between television and aggressive behavior, because in some studies on social learning summits conducted by Bandura, Ross and Ross (1963) found that when children were exposed to aggressive models, imitate this kind of behavior in later game situations, especially when involving toys similar to those that were in the televised scenes. Most agree that further research there is a high correlation between exposure to the environment and the aggressive and violent behavior, so does the acceptance of violence of others (Bandura, 2002). Laboratory studies also indicate that when children are exposed to violent programs later act more aggressively (Paik & Comstock, 1994), it raises blood pressure (Huesmann et al., 1994) and fight more with playmates . In this direction, a study by Boyatzis and Matilla (1995) focused on the effects of a popul...
Pretend you are a parent. You are at home and you see your child acting in a hostile and aggressive manner. You ask him where he picked up on this behavior. He replies, “I saw it on Television.” Television violence had a role in the child's behavior. Media violence can have a lasting impression on children, teenagers and adults not only through television, but also through video games. In the past two decades, there has been a significant increase in violent behavior in the United States (Merino 1). This is the result of exposure to violence. More than half of television programs and video games contain some type of violence. Perez Daly says, “’... children are likely to see 8,000 murders and at least 100,000 other acts of violence prior to leaving elementary school at age 12 years. ‘” (1). Exposure to media violence leads to aggressive behavior in children. With the right information about media violence, video games violence, and how parents can decrease aggressive behavior, people will understand the major effects violence can have on behavior.
Machine gun fire, explosions, and screams for help are only a few of the sounds that can be heard emanating from a child’s bedroom today, while his parents listen nervously just outside his door. Horrified, these parents shake their heads ruefully, wondering at the power of entertainment available for kids nowadays. Sometimes they even argue whether it is right for their child to have access to this sort of violence: the kind found in most video games, television shows, and movies all over the world. But honestly, does it make a difference in the child’s development as a productive member of society, and if so, can a parent really do anything about it? These are the questions that researchers of the subject hope to answer conclusively
Freedman, Jonathan. "Television Violence Does Not Contribute to Aggressive Behavior in Young People." April 2007. Opposing Viewpoints. .
There’s an ancient chinese proverb that states “A child’s life is like a piece of paper on which everyone who passes by leaves an impression” (Great-Quotes.com.) People blindly believe that children are easily influenced by violent cartoons on television. From generation to generation parents are always warned not to allow their kids to watch too much violent cartoons. What kids watch- and not just how much- matters when it comes to television viewing (Rochman.) But just how true is that? Research on the negative influences of cartoons on children is inconclusive and complex.
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).
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.