Effects of Violent TV Programming on Adolescent Behavior Essay

Violent de dream upour is a central piece of music in many kinds of media. Television and movies depict ramp jump onous behaviors as satis brokery manners of communicating and resolving problematic social situations (Strasburger & Donnerstein, 1999). During the twentieth century, Americans were introduced to a wide variety of media technology, including idiot boxs, digital computers, video cassette players and handheld electronic machines (Anderson & Bushman, 2001). Although tv is but wizard of the many media venues, it represents the predominant intermediate to which very teen boorren atomic number 18 subject.The 1972 report to the Surgeon General found that 96% of American nursing homes have one or more tv set sets and the average home set is on more than six hours a day and everyday believe usually begins at round age 3 and the Great Compromiser relatively high until more or less age 12 (1972, pp. 1-2). Kaisers teaching (1999) found that baberen spend up to 40 hours per week in motion of the television. For tykeren under the age of 7, Wright et al. (1994) found that media picture show averaged just all over intravenous feeding hours per day. Other studies have concurred that the television has become a predominant medium of run into for the child.In a 1990 position paper, the NAEYC stated that the trend toward improver depiction of military group in the media jeopardizes the healthy development of probatory total of our nations children (1990, p. 18). The exhibit experience is highly complex, subjective, and dependent upon the childs level of cognitive and ruttish understanding (Wright et al. , 1994). Social scientists and insurance makers have expressed concern about the potential negative concussion of exposure of furiousness on children (Bushman & Geen, 1990).They have explored the negative shock longitudinally, some(prenominal) experimentally and observationally, and found that children as young as 2 and into adoles cence atomic number 18 adversely affected by televised violence. Studies demonst setd that after viewing unpeaceful programs, the child behaved acutely and imitated the scenes of the barbarian behavior in his play (Anderson & Bushman 2001). This paper explores the current state of investigate in this ara and seeks for the kin in the midst of television watching and childhood violence. Television and ViolenceThe most new-fashioned large-scale longitudinal study was initiated in 1994 by researchers at the Universities of California, Texas, Wisconsin, and northeasterly Carolina. The National Television Violence Study (NTVS) was deemed the largest scientific study of television violence ever undertaken (Federman, 1998). NTVS involved a three-year effort (1994-1997) to review violence in televised schedule. It examined three argonas of concern televised programming context, factors that either positively or negatively alter the essay of viewing violence, and the interactions mingled with programming and the viewers.In this study, n earliest 10,000 hours of televised cross-channel programming were examined using five major groupings broadcast networks, freelancer broadcast, public broadcast, basic transmission line, and premium cable. The authors found that 61% of programs contain violence. By the third year of the study, there was more trigger-happy interaction spy across the programs analyzed. Specific to the junior child, the study found that childrens programs, as a genre, contained the greatest sh ar (50%) of all high-risk fierce interactions, as well as the highest ratio of interactions per hour (. 75) (Federman, Vol. 3, 1998, p. 175).Child-oriented cable programs such as those on Cartoon Network, Disney, or Nickelodeon contained the most high risk crazy interactions (27%), compared to general- enjoyment basic cable (24%), independent broadcast (19%), and premium cable (17%) (Federman, 1998). Early morning viewing, which is primarily child -focused cartoon programming, has at least one high-risk violent presentation every hour. In one week, a child is exposed to at least 20 violent behavior depictions, and in one year over 1,000, if he watches three hours of early morning television a day (Federman, 1997-1998).The authors also found that over the course of three years there was little change in the overall number of violent programs. However, there was a significant increase (8%) in the portrayals of violent incidents per program and childrens programs continued to depict violence in animated stories (Federman, Vol. 2, 1998). In many of these violent interactions, the main character reference did not experience any appropriate consequences for competitive behavior. One of the goals of the NTVS was to advance more responsible television programming and viewing.The study emphasized the put across that understanding the impact of viewed televised violence offers an opportunity to significantly reduce the risks to or der of magnitude that are posed by exposure to televised violence. new-fashioned Childs Experience of Violence The American media is rife with portrayals of justified violence (Federman, 1997-1998). The pricey guy beats up the bad guy, and laughter or expressions of gloating follow hurtful acts. This conveys the message that trespass is an acceptable way to cultivate problems and express frustration.Children of all ages watch television and videos on a quotidian basis and are exposed to acts of violence that potentially shape their way of thinking and behaving (Minow & Lamay, 1995, p. 36) Cartoons feature patterns that are more likely to encourage aggression in children, especially if they are under the age of seven (Boyatzis et al. , 1987). battleful behaviors, very much portrayed in the genre of animation aimed at children, are confusing for the young child. The stories presented as humorous, with laughter accompanying actions that are hateful and rough.This may lead to a decrease in his potential guardianship of danger and may also foster desensitization to harmful situations (Federman, 1997-1998). hearty results revealed that televised violence is changing the behavior of children (Federman, 1997-1998). Individuals of all ages learn through observation. third important factors affect the impact of learning through mannequining. First, the more lovely and attractive the model is, the more the viewer will stay enwrapped the less appealing the character is, the more likely the viewer will be distracted or ignore the experience.The second compelling factor is the perennial exposure of the modeling stimuli. As a result of repeated exposure, modeling stimuli eventually produces enduring, retrievable images (Bandura, 1977, p. 25). The third factor, the complexity of the observed experience, affects the rate of observational learning. It is based on the observers capacity to surgical procedure information. However, the young child may imitate wit hout knowing what his behavior means.Bandura suggests that neighboring(a) exaggeration does not require much in the way of cognitive functioning because the behavioral reproduction is externally scarperd by the models action (Bandura, 1977, p. 27). Banduras research throughout the 1960s and mid-seventies with the inflatable Bobo doll demonstrated a alliance between viewing aggressive acts of behavior and performing them. He found that children would more often choose the Bobo doll to punch after viewing a televised violent program than reading a book or choosing a dim blue. Although Banduras work on modeling has been challenged over the years, there has been pissed support.Later researchers have expanded Banduras initial studies, incuring that the younger the child is, the more likely he will use imitation rather than rational thinking to choose an appropriate, non-violent way of relating. Eron et al. (1972) reported a strong relationship between viewed violence at age 8 an d aggressive behavior. Canton and Sparks (1984) found that preschool children have a greater fear solvent than older children and react accordingly to what they see. Singer et al. (1999) concluded that there was a significant association linking violent exposure with childrens self-reported violent behaviors.Boyatzis et al. s 1995 study of 52 elementary school children with a mean age 7 years, 9 months, showed how children reacted to watching an episode of The strength Rangers. They found that the childs aggressive tendency and lack of fear was adjacent and markedly greater following an exposure to but a wizard episode of The Power Rangers. (Boyatzis et al. , 1995, p. 53). Animated programming such as The Power Rangers, Ninja Turtles characterizes the hero as attractive, strong, and powerful. These characters use violence to solve problematic situations and give up the helpless victim.The NTVS found that a preschooler who watches an average of 2 hours a day of such content will 43 be exposed to at least 10 hazardous portrayals a week, and over viosterol in a year (Federman, Vol. 3, 1998, p. 163). Other studies have documented the relationship between exposure to violence and aggressive thought and action. For example, Josephson (1987) presented two television excerpts, one violent and one non-violent, to 396 third-grade boys from 13 schools. She hypothesized that there was a relationship between viewed violence and aggressive play behavior.Significance was found in increased aggressive behavior in boys who played a game of hockey game after watching a violent program. Boys who scored high on characteristic levels of aggressiveness used more aggressive behaviors in their hockey game if they were in the groups that viewed violence. Furthermore, she found that the boys who watched the violent tape and were not assumption verbal cues about appropriateness of the behavior played more aggressively after the tape than either the boys who watched a non-violent tape, or boys who watched a violent tape but were given verbal cues that commented on appropriateness of behavior(Josephson, 1987).Children are being presented with messages that invite aggressive ways of relating to resolve situations and handle conduct events (Groves 2002). Current televised shows use cartoons, as well as live actors, to expose forms of aggression as a means of relating to others and solving problems. A significant shift in televised programming, though, has occurred with the portrayal of aggressive behavior through more corporeal life characterization, as illustrated in shows like The Power Rangers.The opthalmic experience of aggressive behavior has become more like real life to the child because instead of viewing animated characters using aggressive behavior, the child can now watch individuals similar to himself transmogrify into violent machines (Boyatzis et al. , 1995). In this mechanical state, the portrayed behavior is violent and aggressive with the childs intention of solving a problem. Witnessing these aggressive acts of behavior gives the child a script to construct his social interactions. Since young children create and stash away behavior that they see, viewing violence becomes a potential way of relating to an experience.Whether the televised programming is in the form of cartoons or real life, social scripts are constructed by the child and are then employed in day-to-day experiences (Groves 2002). Mitigating the curve of Violent Television Even though there have been many studies documenting the impact of televised violence on the behavior of children, the television industry has been antipathetical to change violent programming (Singer et al. , 1999). As a result, recent research has focused on how to mitigate the experience of what the child sees rather than wait for the industry to change what is presented to the public.The child uses internal processes, relying on cognitive and emotional capacities, to activel y understand what has been experienced. In his efforts to understand these experiences, the child will find a way to concretize the experience into either emotional or behavioral responses. Younger children have the assistance of another to understand what they experience because they are unable to adjust their viewing and comprehension activities in response to learning instructions (Field & Anderson, 1985, p. 91). Collins, Sobol, and Westby (1981) studied 47 children with a mean age of 7. 8 years.Children who watched a program in the presence of an big(p) who provided on-going exposition showed improved comprehension of the plot and the witnessed experiences. Without adult participation, the younger children remembered notwithstanding the aggressive behaviors without remembering the link to either the motive or the consequence. Huesmann et al. (1983) sampled 169 first- and third-grade children over a biennial period. The focus of the study was to mitigate the relation betwee n aggression and television violence viewing in children through an intervention that altered the childrens attitudes about aggression and violent shows (Huesmann et al. , 1983, p. 899).They found a significant change in how the child responded to violence when the experimenter commented on the violent behavior. More children responded with appropriate answers when they were directly asked, what are the bad things that could happen when a child imitates the aggressive behavior of a character? St. Peters et al. (1991) found that the graphic symbol of co-viewing by the parent with the child is beneficial. This study was conducted over a two-year period and involved the participation of 271 children, ages 3 to 5 years, and their parents.Parental comments about the televised material helped the children understand what they saw. The parents comments differentiated acceptable and non-acceptable behavior for the child. Young children need this clarification and guidance because they ha ve relatively few internal structures to guide them in their behavior (St. Peters et al. , 1991). Kubey (1996) noted that network and cable programming are unsuitable for some children, especially the young child. No amount of adult commenting will completely mitigate what a child experiences.Monitoring and confine a childs resource of television shows to reduce the exposure to violent behaviors is similar to monitoring a childs choice of foods to ensure health and nutrition. Children are victims to the effects of exposure to violence. Parents are critically important as a resource for the child in his sweat to understand the world. Grover (2002) noted that the child who has been exposed to violence responds more favourably to a nurturing, sensitive and caring adult relationship.The more parents know about their childs changing capacities to understand the world, the better able they are to respond empathically and appropriately to the child (Garbarino, 1992). However, it is ess ential, as a parent is a primary resource to buffer, explain and clarify life experiences for the child that are beyond the childs capacity to understand ((Minow & Lamay, 1995). The study by Singer et al. (1980) found that parents influenced their childrens perceptions of the importance of television by the showcase and amount of television viewing they had.Collins et al. (1981) found that agnate commentary helped children understand the implicit program content. The longitudinal study by St. Peters et al. (1991) of 3- and 5-year-olds and their families viewing patterns found that parents viewing choices play a role in determine a childs exposure to television programs. Conclusion Young children often copy the violent actions that they have witnessed. Banduras work on modeling in the field of social learning has been significant in conceptualizing the relationship between viewing violence and subsequent behaviors.The solution for modify the impact of televised violence focuses on change in parental attitudes as well as profound changes in the entertainment industry. Changing parental attitudes and behavior toward media violence is more feasible than changing the way the entertainment industry portrays violence. Educating parents about the childs cognitive and emotional developmental capacities has been recommended widely as one solution to lessen the potential impact of media violence.ReferencesAnderson, C, & Bushman, B. (2001). Effects of violent video games on aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, aggressive affect, physiological arousal, and prosocial behavior A meta-analytic review of the scientific literature. American mental Society, 12, pp. 353-359. Bandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ Prentice-Hall. Boyatzis, C. J. , Matillo, G. M. , & Nesbitt, K. M. (1995). Effects of The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers on childrens aggression with peers. Child Study Journal, 25(1), pp. 45-55.