Birds are known for mimicking people. Their environment brings them their personality that they relinquish. So let’s say the bird that grew up in a loud home where people are always fighting, they’re going to be more energized and loud, repeating vulgar words that come from their owner's mouth. Children can relate with a bird because, like the bird they do not understand what really is going on. They witness their mom and dad fighting with each other so the child, like the bird mimics their surroundings. If the bird is at home where people resume a calm atmosphere, then it should act calm, cool, and collected as well. Sometimes the birds and children can simply be left alone with the television on. Both might mimic what they witness off the TV. Parents must recognize the media's influence on their child before their child’s bad behavior increases. Children grow up with technology all around them. From the day, they turn two years old the infant will beg to play with tablets. Children are asking mommy to get another “APP” because in reality children’s attention span is very short. Huesmann says, “ Violent scenes that children are most likely to model their behavior after are ones in which they identify with the perpetrator of the violence, the preparatory is rewarded for the violence and which children perceive the scene as telling about life like it really is.”(Potter 82) Children who watch these violent shows do not have the wisdom and understanding to be able to decide what is really wrong or right in the situations. The developing brain is beginning to mimic what is on television with no understanding that hitting one another as proceeds in “Tom and Jerry” is an act of violence and is not funny which this act does have consequ... ... middle of paper ... ...avies, Pamela, Peter Francis, and Chris Greer. Victims, Crime and Society. Thousands Oaks: Sage Publications Inc, 2007. Print. Tonry, Michael. The Handbook of Crime and Punishment. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. Print. Gruber, Enid. Adolescent Sexuality and the Media. Western Journal of Medicine, 3 March. 2000. Web. 4 April 2014. Huesmann, Rowell. Children Exposure to Media Violence Predicts Young Adult Aggressive Behavior. American Psychological Association, 9 March.2003. Web. 5 April 2014. Knorr, Caroline. Impact of Media Violence Tips. Common Sense Media, 13 Feb. 2013. Web. 2 April 2014. Oppel, Richard. Ohio Teenagers Guilty in Rape That Social Media Brought to Light. The New York Times, 17 March.2013. Web. 5 April 2014. Goodman, Amy. Wealthy Teen in Rehab After he Kills four People in Drunk Accident. Democracy Now, 7 Feb. 2014. Web. 2 April 2014.
Eron, L.D., Huesmann, L.R., Lefkowitz, M.M. & Walder, L.O. (1972). Does television violence cause aggression? American Psychologist, 27, 253-263.
Zillman, D. & Weaver, J. Effects of Prolonged Exposure to Gratuitous Media Violence on Provoked and Unprovoked Hostile Behavior.
When families sit down to watch television, they expect to watch family type of shows. Family type shows meaning rated PG or PG13, sitcoms and movies that do not include weapons, killing, foul language, and non-socially accepted actions. When children killing, they start to believe that it is accepted. Do children think that killing and hurting others and themselves have little meaning to the real life, children can become traumatized. Most killers or violators of the law blame their behavior on the media, and the way that television portrays violators. Longitudinal studies tracking viewing habits and behavior patterns of a single individual found that 8-year-old boys, who viewed the most violent programs growing up, were the most likely to engage in aggressive and delinquent behavior by age 18 and serious criminal behavior by age 30 (Eron, 1). Most types of violence that occur today links to what people see on television, act out in video games or cyberspace games, or hear in music. Media adds to the violence that exists today and in the past few decades. It will continue in the future if it is not recognized as a possible threat to our society. When kids go to a movie, watch television, play video games or even surf the web, they become part of what they see and hear. Soaking violence in their heads long enough becomes a part of the way they think, acts, and live. The line between pretend and reality gets blurred.
Violence in the Media — Psychologists Study TV and Video Game Violence for Potential Harmful Effects. (2013). Retrieved December 27, 2013, from American Psychological Association website: http://www.apa.org/pi/vio&tv.html
...ers, Kim. Sexual Teens, Sexual Media: Investigating Media’s Influence on Adolescent Sexuality. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2002.
Brown, J. D., Steele, J. R., & Walsh-Childers, K. (2002). SEXUAL TEENS, SEXUAL MEDIA: Investigating Media’s Influence on Adolescent Sexuality. New Jersey: LAWRENCE ERLBAUM ASSOCIATES, PUBLISHERS.
Watching television programs with a high level of sexual content can shape the patterns of sexual behavior of a teenager. According to Brown (Brown, Greenberg, & Buerkel-Rothfuss, 1993) many teenagers are not able to receive useful information about sex from their parents, this is the reason they usually use the alternative way to find this information through the media. A Kaiser Family research from 1996 (Kaiser Family Foundation, 1996; 1998) shows that a quarter of all the young people have told that they have learned a lot about pregnancy from television shows and 40 percent of them have gotten ideas how to talk about sexual issues. In these modern times media is holding the power to influence the audience and most of all the youngest audience which is developing their view about sex.
Research Questions and/or Hypotheses The research question and basis of the study can be summarized as whether or not the exposure to sexual concepts through the media have significant influences on the sexual practices of teenagers. Similarly, it is proposed that, if proven to be accurate, media can be used in similar formats to encourage safe sex and preventative sexual health practices. The use of focus groups, journal writings, room tours, and interviews allowed teens the opportunity to discuss sexuality which was operationalized as teen views on love, sex, and relationships. Steele, 1999, p. 334.
Media can present content that seems and is more or less real, however, it is our duty as the viewers to be able to distinguish, and differentiate between “reflections of reality, and constructions of reality”. The prime targets of the media are young people because they so unwittingly believe everything the media tells them, from “how to talk, how to dress, and how to relate to others”. This newspaper article, seeing is not believing by Leslie Fruman is essentially explaining that now “for the first time students will take a mandatory course to help separate fantasy from reality in the media.” The mandatory course is referred to as media literacy, and will teach young people the classifications of reality and fantasy.
In an article written by Kevin D. Browne and Catherine Hamilton-Giachritsis out of Lancet, dated 2/19/2005, Volume 365 in issue 9460, on page 702 a collection of research shows short-term effects increasing the likelihood of aggressive or fearful behavior in younger children, especially in boys. It also shows research stating that there is a very weak correlation directly between media violence and acted out aggression. This article basically states that violent media being watched by children does impression and arouse some, but does not associate strongly with violent acts. This would help explain the fact that millions of kids watch violent television shows and remain nonviolent.
Surely there is a correlation between viewing media violence and aggressive behavior, especially in males; but is there a causal connection? Those who produce the media violence that we consume would clearly like to make the argument that violent media does not cause increased aggressive behavior. However, this is not necessarily the case. Although one study highlighted by Jonathan Freedman “produced no evidence of any causal connection between any type of exposure [to media violence] and any kind of violent behaviour,” the study “offers no support for the causal hypothesis, but also no evidence against it” (164). The causal hypothesis is still being researched and may indeed have some truth to
Fisher, Deborah A. "Television Violence Contributes to Aggressive Behavior in Young People." 2007. Opposing Viewpoints. .
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).
“The media may be especially important for young people as they are developing their own sexual beliefs and patterns of behavior and as parents and schools remain reluctant to discuss sexual topics (p.26)”.
An in depth study done by Lefkowitz, was a ten-year longitudinal study. Questionnaires and interviews were used and the children and parents were asked to rate each other on their display and use of aggression. The results showed that the habits if 8 year-old boys were good predictors of their aggressive behavior through childhood and adolescence. The more the boys watched violent TV at the third grade level the more aggressive they were 10 years later. This study showed a strong correlation between these factors but proof of causation is not possible.