Violence On Television Essay

Television violence and its effects on viewers has been a controversial issue for many years. Some viewers believe that there is an increasingly large amount of violence on television and this widespread public concern has "led to calls for stricter controls on the depiction of violence in programmes" (Gunter and McAleer 1990:92). Exactly how much violence is there on television though?

Many cultivation theorists have studied this, acquiring data in the form of content analysis. They agree on a definition of a violent act, for example Gerbner in his study used the definition, "an overt expression of physical force against self or other, compelling action against ones will on pain of being hurt or killed, or actually...show more content...

It is clearly obvious from the research already done concerning television and its effects, that violence is quite prevalent on British television. Of more concern however is the effect that those can have on its viewers. Does the violence on television really increase the violent attitudes and behaviour in individuals? Violence on television can do one of three things. The first is make us more violent (Huesmann 1982), the second is make us less violent (Feshbach 1972) and the third is to have no effect at all (Freedman 1984, Kaplan and Singer 1976). Most evidence has supported the first argument namely that television violence does increase our own violent behaviour. There are four main effects that cause this violent behaviour when viewing it on television.

The first of these affects is arousal. It is believed that a violent programme increases levels of arousal and thus causes us to become more violent as we are not only excited by the programme but also agitated and nervous. This effect is not limited to violent programmes however, as a comedy programme may induce arousal in the form of amusement in the same way as a violent programme induces arousal in the form of anger. It is the type of arousal that occurs in the first place that determines the effect the programme has. Condry (1989:11) found that suspense programmes, comedy programmes and sport events

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Television Violence and Its Effects 'Violence on television is a primary cause of violence in real life'

Teenagers my age are constantly being bombarded with so called 'parental warnings' and film 'certificates' which intend to provide us with guidance on what we should and should not be watching, if it be on the 'box' or at the cinema. Politicians and social campaigners try to convince us TV is bad for us, a device which "corrodes the moral fabric of society and corrupts our children with relentless images of violence". Is this a fair and accurate statement? Or merely an unfair and...show more content...

This is where I believe the role of the parent should be more prominent. I believe that content on TV cannot just cater for children and teenagers but for adults as well which is why such programs are shown later at night. I believe it is the parent's responsibility to be able to control what their children watch and politicians should be less forceful in blaming TV on a whole.

Though I believe I have clearly shown television does not constantly corrupt the airwaves with relentless images of violence, can certain programmes cause us to become violent? I can again confidently say that the answer is NO.

A unique study carried out around 1995 suggests that programmes do not affect our behaviour. The study was published in the Observer on Sunday 29th of October 2000 and therefore implies it is a reliable source of information.

1995 was the year that television would finally arrive on one of the most remote habited islands, 'St Helena' in the South Atlantic Ocean. Though the arrival of television caused mass excitement, there was also concern that exposure to television would have an impact upon the islands children, considered to be the best behaved in the world. Such an event provided the perfect opportunity

The Effects of Television Violence

Recent attention in the media relating violence and children has created much controversy and debate. Our society has brought much focus on violence in the media and how it has effected children of all ages and races. High school shootings and increasing crime in small towns all over the country has brought forth the question of whether or not children are exposed or desensitized to too much violence in television, movies, news, and other sources.

Many people feel this violence is causing children to kill children and good towns go bad. Many people are also wondering if this violence could be a matter of survival for our society or if it has to do with the way parents are raising their...show more content...

Theaters have an age system for people who want to see movies but are not quite old enough to handle the violence maturely. This works when children under the age of seventeen are not admitted into certain movies unless accompanied by an adult. This is effective but only when the theaters follow the rules, and when parents who do accompany their children know which movie is acceptable for their children to see.

These systems are effective for TV and movies but what about other forms of media violence such as the news, books, and video games? Video games seem to get increasingly violent and yet parents are still allowing their children to play them, and books are easy to come across as long as you have a library card or a few dollars. The violence in the news seems to be one form of brutality that will not be departing from our society until crime disappears all together. So the parents do have an effect on what their children are exposed to and they have a lot of control over most of the violence their children are witnessing.

Lately, recent crime increases in white upper and middle–class parts of our nation have brought focus to this media violence problem. Many people have stereotyped urban areas as criminally prosperous areas and have only focused on this problem when it began to happen in the areas of our nation where things were supposed to have a lower crime rate. Small towns in our country are

Violence on Television

Most people in our society generally have the opinion that violence on television increases aggression in children and adolescents. Does it ? Who is to say whether television has a positively direct effect or a positive correlation ? However, the majority of the people who have researched this topic have discovered that violence on television is indeed one of the prime factors contributing to the increase in violent and aggressive behavior among the youth in society. That is to say "there has been a growth of strong evidence to suggest that television violence does play an important and contributory part in the learning of aggression." In other words, violence in the media helps promote and encourage...show more content...

"In the minds of young children, television is a source of entirely factual information regarding how the world works." For instance, as a child I could remember imitating violent acts after watching violent movies such as Superman, Star Wars, Star Trek, and Rocky. It felt fun to imitate these so called heroes because it seemed like the characters in the movies were invincible. Moreover, the main characters in the movies were always liked and respected. There are many other examples that confirm that people imitate violence scenes on television. For instance, the cartoon Beavis and Butthead on MTV in the United States was widely criticized for depicting the cartoon characters shaped like cigarettes. The cartoon also gained national attention when a young five year old fan from the United States set fire to his house after watching the show. This was due to the fact that in one of the episodes, Beavis and Butthead were going around setting fires to houses. Furthermore, in a resent incident in Norway, two children beat another child by jumping and kicking the child in the head and other parts of her body numerous times. As a result, the child died from being left out in the cold because she was not able to move due to her injuries. Later the officials had discovered that the barbaric incident was due to the fact that the children had watched the violent cartoon Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. The children thought that the girl would later get up because

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Violence on TV Essay

Violence on TV

For a long time now the debate has been, and continues to be, as to whether or not violence on television makes children more violent. As with all contentious issues there are both proponents and detractors. This argument has been resurrected in the wake of school shootings, most notably Columbine and Erfurt, Germany; and acts of random violence by teenagers, the murders of two Dartmouth professors. Parents, teachers, pediatricians, child psychiatrists, and FCC Chairmen William Kennard andformer Vice President Al Gore say violent TV programming contribute in large part to in violence in young people today. However, broadcasters and majorcable TVproviders like Cox Communication say that it is the parent's fault for...show more content...

Some 2,500 years ago the same essential questions were asked about drama acted by live actors in theatrical presentations.

Let's take a look at the "tale of the tape" of individuals who are involved in this argument. The persons against media violence: parent, teachers, pediatricians, and child psychiatrists have a logos advantage over the persons who say media violence is not a problem: major TV network and cable providers; because of the large amount of statically data that backs up their claim that violence influences violent behavior. The major TV network and cable providers also have statistical data that backs up their claim, but unlike those who are against them their statistical data is often conducted in–house which leaves many wondering about the accuracy of the data. Major TV network and cable providers often use the First Amendment to make up what they lack in statistical data. The parent, teachers, pediatricians, and child psychiatrists support each other where as major TV network and cable providers often pass the blame onto each other as if they were playing a game of hot potato, which once again leaves one wondering about the credibility of their claim that violence on TV is not that big of a problem and there are measures in place to protect children. Parent, teachers, pediatricians, and child psychiatrists also have a pathos advantage over major TV network Get

Effects of Television Violence on Children

Television is the mainstream of our culture. Violence on television has been a topic of conflict since before 1950. There have been repeated debates on how to protect children from the harmful effects of violence on television. Television is one form of modern media that influences the everyday lives of people. Televised violencehas a major effect on how children perceive the world and how they behave. "American television has become the most violent in the world. It is for this reason why researchers have focused their attention toward television violence" (Cantor & Hoffner 424–4–25). Children enjoy watching television and now with the increased technology of cable and movie...show more content...

According to Sr. Elizabeth Thoman, the Executive Director of the Center for Media Literacy in Los Angeles said, the public has produced fear generated by media violence. She calls this the "Mean World Syndrome," in which the impact may not be on potential perpetrators, but on the rest of the population, who begin to believe that violence is inevitable, that crime is everywhere and that they must be afraid. The projection of violence intensifies our views of the real world, making it seem worse than it really is. As the media increasingly reports the gory details of violent acts, the public becomes more immune. It may make the children more fearful as they come to believe that violence is as common in the real world as it is on television and as a direct result children may become less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others.

Viewing violence encourages children to see other people as enemies rather as individuals with thoughts and feelings like themselves. Violent scenes less arouses children whom watch a lot of TV than those who only watch a little. They are less bothered by violence in general and less likely to see anything wrong with it. "For example, in several studies, children who watched a violent program instead of a non–violent one were less quick to intervene or to call for

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...show more content...

According to the National TelevisionViolenceStudy, the context in which violence is portrayed is as important to its impact as the amount of violence. The study concluded that 66% of children's programming had violence. Of the shows with violent content three–quarters demonstrated unpunished violence and when violence occurred 58% of the time, victims were not shown experiencing pain. That makes the children think that violence is just like riding a bike, simple as that (NTVS, 1–2).

Parents try not to let their children watch shows that they would watch due to the fact that there is a lot of violence that occurs. When parents sit down and watch the cartoons that their children are watching, they can notice that the violence is incredibly higher. The level of violence during Saturday morning cartoons is higher than the level of violence during prime time. There are 3 to 5 violent acts per hour in prime time, versus the 20–25 acts per hour on Saturday morning. Media violence is especially damaging to young children (under age 8) because they cannot easily tell the difference between real life and fantasy. Violent images on television and in movies may seem real to young children. Viewing violent images can traumatize innocent children (NTVS, 1–2). There is a strategy to help the children understand that what they are watching is not educational. You can tell your child that you are

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Violence is an everyday occurrence in our society. It affects adults and children but it has a greater impact on children. Children are more moldable and are greatly influenced by things they see and hear. More and more violence is becoming prevalent in daily lives. Children all over the world are becoming victims to the same violent acts they witness on TV and at home. Children fall victim to abuse and neglect at home and at school. Children are bombarded with violence from all angles. With the come of the 21st century violence is fueled by money, racism, drugs, and media. The easiest to change and regulate is media violence. You cannot turn on the news without hearing about a murder, rape, or death. Televisionshows and movies are...show more content...

Also being a five year old, you have a wild imagination. With this imagination you pretend to be a cop killing bad guys, or a bank robber.

Kids get these ideas from watching TV. Stated by Gerbner in a study on children's programs, "Children's programs featured 18.6 violent acts per hour a decade ago and now have about 26.4 violent acts each hour "(Gerbner, 1990). To cut down on these acts police and superheroes could resolve it with words instead of violence. Doing this would help with conflict in school, instead of getting into a fight kids will solve their differences with more civil ways. Another facet to cut down on violent media is to regulate what kind of commercials are aired during kid based shows. The purpose of a movie trailer is to get people to see the movie, what good is advertising Terminator, James Bond, and Friday the 13th on Nick Jr and PBS. Some people are against regulating any kind of TV stating that it is censorship and that media violence is freedom of speech. As stated by a New York teacher, "Restricting violence in children's programming should not be considered censorship, any more than is protecting children from exposure to pornography (Carlsson–Paige & Levin, 1990).

The next up and coming facet of media violence is video games. Video Games have revolutionized personal media entertainment. Video games allow anyone to be a World War II soldier or a racecar driver. In

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American culture is infatuated with violence. Childhood, education, and families

are affected by violent television. News reported a child causing a fire that burnt down their house. While the mother was out to get something from the store, she came back and saw that her son is outside while the house is still burning. The little boy blamed himself for the fire. She said it wasn't her son's fault, but she blamed a cartoon called, "Beavis and Butthead." How could this be? The mother claimed that this cartoon has shown her son a lot of violent actions and aggressive behaviors. Thus, arguments between associations and families in America had grown repeatedly.

Associations in America have studied about aggressive behaviors and...show more content...

If the parents don't do that, the child will end up a violent and a criminal. Who knows?

Education is also affected by television violence. Television and other forms of media are considered entertainment to the children as they grow. They prefer watching television because it is not boring as going to school and learn boring stuff. Then children might not be interested in going to school and do other things other than watching television. We all know that education is important. But we need to educate every single child in America. That's when entertainment in schools comes in. Make children less interested in television and be more interested in school. As the child grows older and matured, he or she would become less interested in school. The department of schools should make the schools more entertaining in an academic way.

Violent in television can change a child's behavior in education. When a child fails in school, he or she might end up in the streets or in jail. All these misbehaving are caused from watching violent television. Television teaches the children bad behaviors and negative things that won't make any good. I know that most parents don't even care about what kind of movie or television their children watch. A few do care about that. They are most likely religious people. I think most successful people are those who don't watch television and those that are religious.

Children are not the only ones

Violence on television has been progressing since television's invention in early 1927. Now that it's the 21st century, violence in the media is considered one of the most critical issues in the mass media. Whether or not the media is responsible for the effects television violence has on young children is heavily debated. Should the media be more conservative when it comes to violence for the sake of better upbringing? Should the parents be responsible for allowing the child to be affected by the violence that's available to them on the screen? Does violence on television even make an impact to the physical and mental growth process of a child? In addition to others, all of these answers could potentially lead to solving this critical...show more content... Also, children exposed to violent programming at a young age have a higher tendency for violent and aggressive behavior later in life than those who are not so exposed. (The Associated Press) The 2003 March issue of Developmental Psychology, released by the American Psychological Association, had a different focus on the violence/children relation. They pin–pointed the major issue is that children view the violent television shows, and easily identify themselves with same–sex television characters. The young children's perception allows them to feel that television violence is realistic and acceptable. Violent scenes that children are most often to replicate are the ones when the perpetrator of the violence is rewarded for the violence. (The Associated Press) A study done during 1977 surveyed 557 children, ages 6–10, on which violent shows they viewed most, whether or not they identified themselves with the violent characters, and whether they thought the violent situations were realistic. A current study re–surveyed 329 of the original boys and girls from the 1977 study. They were asked about their favorite television programs now as adults and also about their aggressive behaviors. The participant's spouses or friends were also interviewed and asked to rate the participant's aggressive behavior. Researchers also obtained the participant's criminal conviction records and moving traffic violations. Their results showed that men who were high

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Violence on Television

Today's society is heavily influenced by television. The violence disrupts a child's learning process and can alter the moral beliefs that an older person has. Children view more violence on Saturday mornings than any other time. The cartoons aimed at little children influence youngsters to mimic violent acts because their parents do not fully explain the effects of the stunts. It is pathetic that in such a technology based society, such a simple thing as television can have a negative effect on people.

Before Television, Americans followed simple laws, believed heavily in God, were honest, and never locked their doors because they felt safe and were happy to help someone in need. TV gradually turned us into...show more content...

It is impossible to do this in real life, but most children can not seem to grasp this concept. TV leads children to want quick solutions to tolerate frustration. Many turn to suicide, thinking that it is the quick solution for them. (Wheeler 34)

Before the 1950's, parents monitored what their child's surrounding was. After TV was introduced, it unlocked a door to an alien that dominated every home. The problem was that the parents did not remain in control. If they did a normal childhood could have taken place. (Wheeler21)

Today, 99% of homes have a TV. More families own a TV than a phone. (Facts about MediaViolence1)

Due to violence on television, children become less sensitive to that pain and suffering of others or to become more aggressive to others. It also makes children more fearful to the world around them. (Abelard 1) Viewing habits of children observed for many decades deduced that violence on TV is associated with aggressive behavior, more than poverty, race, or parental behavior. It also reported that a TV show contains about 20 acts of violence an hour.

Abelard says that children ages 6 to 8 are in critical years, where they learn social behavior that will stay with them forever. (2) A follow up study of aggressive 8 year olds proved that these children grew up to be ever more aggressive 19 and 30 year olds. They had greater troubles in domestic abuse, and traffic

Television Violence

Violence is one of the most primary and controversial issues in today's society. And true that violence is on the rise. A major concern for many parents is the violence within television shows and movies, and the effect on children's aggression. I particularly do not believe that violence in television affects children's aggression, but who am I to say such a thing, for I am not a qualified psychologist. But I have many reasons for my accusation and references to back it up. Now television plays a major role in today's society, and it occupies almost every home in the United States. Parents have such a big concern for the children watching television, but children throughout the U.S watch an average of twenty...show more content...

Cartoons play the majority of the role. They have been around for centuries. So why make such a big deal about them now? Are the cartoons in earlier years any different from newer cartoons? Yes I agree, but there is a purpose. The Monaco 2 newer cartoons attract the newer generation. If parents say that cartoons now are more violent than those of earlier years than why are there so many, and so many different ratings accompanied with the beginning of every show. What about "Bugs Bunny" and "Daffy Duck" with " Elmer Fudd," and how many fights and hunting scenes there was. What about "Road Runner" and how many times "Wylie Coyote" tried to kill him. All these cartoons amused many children in earlier years and present years. So why start complaining now? Can parents not control their children? Maybe parents should pay more close attention to what their children watch, instead of making excuses and blaming others for practically their own decisions. Because it was their decision to have children, right? Like all children's shows and movies, it let's the mind run free, and also let's the children be imaginative within their own realm of mind. So let's not take these away, and just try to limit what they watch. Let us rate these shows and movies. Oh yeah, the government did that. But yet parents still let children watch the movies and shows that they did not want to watch in the first place. Is there something wrong here? Parents complain, laws are passed to limit what

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Violence on Children's Television

Are today's children being exposed to too much violence via television? I think so. From the teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, to the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, kids are always being exposed to the rock–'em–sock–'em heroes of T.V., or the brainless violence of Beavis and Butthead. When we live in a country where our children watch an average of three to four hours of television daily {quote}, That is a large number of punches, kicks, and many other violent acts that our children are soaking up every day. Is that really what we want for the children of our country? Hundreds of studies of the effects of TV violence on children and teenagers have found that children may become "immune" to the horror of...show more content...

If that wasn't enough, Leonard Eron, Ph.D., and his associates at the University of Illinois, performed both laboratory, and field studies which showed that children who watched many hours of violent TV when they were young, showed a higher level of aggressive behavior when they became teenagers, and when they grew to be 30, the ones who watched a lot of TV when they were young, were more likely to be arrested and prosecuted for criminal acts.

The research seems to definitely support the argument that children's television is too violent. This being so, many parents may ask " What can I do?" Scientists who believe that children learn aggressive behavior from TV also point out that parents have the power over what their children watch. Because of this, many scientists recommend a number of things that parents can do.

Reduce the amount of hours of TV that your children watch, watch at least one episode of the shows your children watch, and when they see a violent act on the show that their children are watching, discuss it with your child and tell them that this kind of behavior is not good and not the way to solve problems.

Some other ways to answer the "What can I do" question is to Ban any shows that you think are too offensive for your children to be watching, and Encourage your children to watch shows that demonstrate

Violence in our Children's Cartoons

How Does Television Violence Affect Children's Behavior Does television promote violence and crime among children? Although most people look at television as an entertaining and educational way to spend time, some people think there is too much violence in television and that is influencing our young into becoming aggressive in nature and to tolerate violence.

Cartoons are the most violent programs on television (Johnson, 1999). Mostly all cartoons have consent fighting between hero and villains. Some cartoons have funny looking character torturing another character. Can violence on cartoons make a kid or a young adult to do some kind of violent act? Yes, in Ohio a five year–old boy set his house on...show more content...

The worst cartoon for children is probably South Park. This cartoon has many accounts of violence in it. There is violence such as derogatory language and numerous violence acts with intent to hurt someone. In fact, every show ends up with the one character, Kenny, encountering a very horrible and repulsive death. The show, when viewed by young children, is a sure ticket for disaster. The show is about elementary children and there different adventures with each other. The children have very foul mouths and many prejudices. The cartoon is definitely not a show that should be viewed by children or even early teens. The show is more based for adults but could be confusing to children because if they see cartoons acting in a violent manner then they will think it is all right to mimic the cartoon's actions. How can a parent stop the violence that is seen on television or stop their children from watching violence? Parents can easily stop their children from watching violence on the television. One method is to turn the television off when there is no need for it to be on. A parent can keep a watch of their children's viewing habits. Instead of letting their children watch television, parents can read books or tell stories to their children. Brady, D. "The Power of 'Cowabunga': Does T.V. Violence Influence Behavior?" Get more content

Effects of Television Violence on Children

In our society today, it is extremely important to pay attention to what influences children. One of the biggest influences America's youth may have is the television. It is possible for children to be pulled into the television's realistic world of violence with sometimes devastating results. The impact of television violence on youth behavior has been an issue for many years. Violent programs on television lead to negative behavior by children and teenagers who watch those programs.

"There can no longer be any doubt that heavy exposure to televised violence is one of the causes of aggressive behavior, crime and violence in society. The evidence comes from both the laboratory and real–life...show more content...

Thus, children begin to become less bothered by violence in general and less likely to see anything wrong with it. However, television stations and their executives continue to deny TV's contribution to youth violence.

"Violence on televisionis damaging to children. Forty years of research conclude that repeated exposure to high levels of media violence teaches some children and adolescents to settle interpersonal differences with violence, while teaching many more to be indifferent to this solution" (Levine 3). Psychological research has shown three major effects of seeing violence on television: Children may become less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others, more fearful of the world around them, and may be more likely to behave in aggressive or harmful ways toward others (A.P.A., par. 2).

Many people ask the question, "What are the long–term effects of violent television watching on children?" Research by Dr. James Cantor might help people better understand, the possible damaging effects television has on young children. Dr. Cantor's research states, "Exposure to media violence, particularly that which entails bitter hostilities or the graphic display of injuries, initially induces an intense emotional reaction in viewers. Over time and with repeated exposure, however, many viewers exhibit decreasing emotional Get

Violence on TV

Violence is described in Webster's dictionary as physical force exerted for the purpose of violating, damaging, or abusing. Violence on TV has been steadily increasing for the past few years. It's not very often that you will find a TV show in prime time that doesn't involve some type of violence. According to Hollywood sex and violence sells. The problem with this is that violent programs ontelevision lead to aggressive behavior by children and teenagers who watch those programs. As adults we think that watching TV won't effect us since we are older, but for younger children when they see someone die or get beat up they think it is cool. Children are very easy to mold into what you want,...show more content...

There were twice as many violent scenes in entertainment shows in 2001 as there were four years earlier, according to the Broadcasting Standards Commission. More violence is shown before 9:00 than when most younger children are asleep. There was an average of 5.2 violent scenes per hour on American TV in 2001, compared with 4.1 in 1998, the report said. During Prime time shows, the average amount of violent scenes went up from 1.9 to 3.7 per hour in 2000. This is a huge increase and something needs to be done about it. Television show producers need to understand that children are to easily influenced by the images they see. According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, extensive viewing of television violence by children causes greater aggressiveness. Sometimes, watching a single violent program can increase aggressiveness.

The show on television that has produced the most violent acts is wrestling. There have been countless accounts of kids hurting each other after watching wrestling. Professional wrestling has even influence entire underground scene of backyard wrestling. For example a study was done by Get more content

Violence on TV

Most people in our society generally have the opinion that violence on television increases aggression in children and adolescents. Does it ? Who is to say whether television has a positively direct effect or a positive correlation ? However, the majority of the people who have researched this topic have discovered that violence on television is indeed one of the prime factors contributing to the increase in violent and aggressive behavior among the youth in society. That is to say "there has been a growth of strong evidence to suggest that television violence does play an important and contributory part in the learning of aggression."[1] In other words, violence in the media helps promote and encourage children and...show more content...

For example, one of the most well know studies of modeling aggressive behavior and to determine if children imitate violent acts observed on television is an experiment done by Albert Bandura, Dorothea Ross and Sheila A. Ross. To test their hypothesis, the subjects were divided into three experimental groups and one control group. One group observed real–life aggression, the second group observed the same models but on film and the third group watched an aggressive cartoon. The groups were also subdivided into male and female subjects so that half the subjects were exposed to the same sex models, while the other half viewed model of the opposite sex. After the subjects were exposed to aggression, they were tested for the amount of imitation and non–imitation aggression. As a result, the boys were significantly more aggressive than the girls. Gender was also positively correlated with imitative aggression and the subjects tended to imitate the same sex models more than the opposite sex. In addition, Bandura, Ross and Ross had predicted that the subjects who saw aggressive behavior being displayed would consequently be more aggressive when frustrated than the subjects who were as frustrated but had not been exposed to prior aggression. The experiment confirmed their prediction. One of the finding of the experiment was that the sex of the child and the sex of the model provides

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Television Violence Essay example

Along the coast of Maryland, just inside the state lines of Virginia lies the Quantico Naval Base, home to a fictional investigative team lead by the unpredictable Leroy Jethro Gibbs. The ever popular television show, NCIS, focuses on solving crimes with naval victims. These crimes have one thing in common: violence. In 2005, some workers at Quantico find a "meat puzzle" (C. Schulenburg 9) hidden within barrels of toxic material. During this episode the viewer is able to see a massacred body, sliced into many pieces, displayed on multiple tables in the NCIS morgue (C. Schulenburg 9). A year later, an episode of NCIS aired showing an explosion of characters while golfing (Update: T.V. Violencce). Violence did not originally appear on...show more content...

Torr 64). After near exhaustion of the criminal theme, medical dramas began to dip their toes into the pool oftelevision programming. The seemingly chaotic kindling of crime on television sent the content of programming into a regrettable downward spiral of quality. The same old violence was no longer as entertaining, which caused networks to increase the magnitude of the violence on their shows (J. Torr 66) in order to continue engaging viewers. This progression has brought programming to where it lies now: in trouble. The effects and solutions to the violence displayed on television are important due to the ever increasing viewer base of certain types of programming. Through a sundry of studies, spanning many years, from several sources, comes the debate on just what all this violence displayed for anyone and everyone to see is doing to the viewers and how we can solve it.

Desensitization is a very insidious process which leads one to a greater acceptance of violence with less sympathy for those who become victim to the violent acts (Television Violence). Researchers Comstock and Paik believe there are four areas that decide if what is being watched will affect the viewer (J. Osofsky 82). The first of these four–and the one of the reasons that society is starting to accept violence–is efficacy. "Efficacy relates to whether the violence on the screen is rewarded or punished," (J. Osofsky 83). There is almost no punishment seen in programs after a

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Violence On Television Essay

The issue of television violence and its influence on children's behavior troubles me. Television violence seems to be becoming abundant and violence seems to be increasing. This may be a dangerous form of entertainment, especially when young children become involved. The majority of television programs viewed by children contain large amounts of violence and inappropriate material. Children's vulnerability poses as the main problem due to desensitization. Psychologists' studies report that children become immune to television violence and adopt the behavior as a way of problem solving. Other people argue and say that television can not be blamed for the increase of violence among our society. They believe...show more content...

The problem can be controlled by monitoring the programs children watch, explaining that violent behavior does not pose as a way of problem solving, and limiting amounts of television. For example, during one of my babysitting job's, I recall having to remove a Pokemon video because the child threw all the figures he thought were threatening to Pikachu down the stairs, and he also hit the cat with some of the toys. I informed his parents of his behavior and the next time I babysat, he did not attempt to throw his toys. They talked to him and made him aware that his behavior was wrong and unacceptable

If television does increase aggressiveness among children then why do parents use it as a babysitter? Many parents I spoke with admit to using television as a babysitter and not monitoring all programs their children watch. This becomes a problem because children learn inappropriate behavioral skills and aggressive behavior.

When parents frequently use television as a babysitter, a loss of quality time occurs between parents and children. Many parents said they noticed when their children begin watching a lot of television, they see a loss of creativity occur in playing habits. Children become fixated on the images they have viewed and stop creating their own play themes because they re–enact those seen on television. Also, through extensive Get

Television Violence On Children Essay

The Effect of Television Violence on Children

Television can be a powerful influence in developing value systems and shaping behavior; The violence that children are constantly subjected to on television can have very harmful affects if not monitored carefully. More and more often parents are usingtelevision as a means of entertaining their children when they are unable to, and the amount of television that children are watching is a growing concern in our society. While a large part of the concern is the quantity of television that young people are viewing, a more pressing issue is the quality that is offered to them. While cartoons may seem to be harmless and humorous, that is not always the...show more content...

Television can be a very suggestive influence that should not be taken lightly when young children are concerned. In the average home it is more unusual to find a family without a television then is it is to find one with more than one (Budd, p98). Children between the ages of three and four on average watch approximately four hours of television a day (number 3). This is a large amount and takes time from other activities that would be more beneficial to these children when their minds are in the stages of growth. If a child is inside in front of their television set they are not outside socializing with other children their own age, or spending time with their family doing other activities to stimulate their minds. It is important to realize that children are not born with their personalities and their values, but rather they develop them with the help of their surroundings and environment. If a child is learning these values from a character on a show, a parent cannot always be sure what morals a child is going to pick up.

Society is beginning to recognize the need to monitor the amount of television a child is watching because of the situations it may demonstrate to younger generations. When parents simply sit their child down in front of the screen they are letting characters do part of the raising and they cannot be completely aware of exactly what is being taught.

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