Child Behavior

American children watch an average of four hours of television daily. Television can be a powerful influence in developing value systems and shaping behavior. Unfortunately, much of today's television programming is violent. Television shows that allow the character that commits the crime to receive no punishment, teaches children that it is all right to commit a crime because nothing will be done. Criminals and violent acts do not get punished. Television is a powerful teacher and if children are always viewing their favorite characters using violence or aggression to get what they want, children will do the same. While TV violence is not the only cause of aggressive or violent behavior, it is clearly a significant factor. Parents can protect children from excessive TV violence in the in different ways pay attention to the programs their children are watching and watch some with them, set limits on the amount of time they spend with the television; consider removing the TV set from the child's bedroom. Studies have shown on numerous occasions that the violence on television and video games have lead children and young adults to be more aggressive, and temperamental. Over the last several years there have been quite a few instances where acts of violence has happened either reenacting a video game or a result of a violent television show. For example, the columbine shooting was moves reenacted from several video games. ~ Two kids shot and killed 13 people and wounded 23 more and then turn the gun of them reenacting the video game Doom. ~ A 13 year old jumped from a 24 story building after playing World of War Craft for 36 hours straight.
~ A teenager killed three men and two officers after playing Grand Theft Auto.
~ A 17 years old boy killed his mother after taking away his game Halo 3. ~A 15 year old ran away after his parents after they took away his Xbox controller. His body was found a month later.

Through several studies conducted on the similarities to violent behavior on Television and in playing violent video games, Www. Science Daily.com reports that Dr. Grafman arranged 60 four second clips that that were mildly violent and and 20 clips there were very violent and rated the aggression in the boys after that. By testing energy levels, anger levels, and sweet levels Dr. Grafman found that the 22 boys that he tested were higher in the entire test that he gave to compared to the other boys. Recently researchers have challenged the positive view that violent video games and violence on television are not harmful to kid’s behavior. In an article appearing in the Review of General Psychology in 2010, Dr. Christopher Ferguson of Texas A&M International University argued that many studies on media violence measure aggression in ways that don't correspond with real-world violence. Even more important, these associations don't prove cause and effect. He also cited data from federal criminal justice agencies showing that serious violent crimes among youths have gone down since 1996, even as video game sales have soared. Other researchers have challenged the connection between violence on television and violent video game use and school shootings. They note that most of the young shooters had signs of anger, mental illness and aggression before the shootings, and that these factors made them more likely to commit violence. So it's harder to accept that playing violent games is a direct cause of violent behavior. When the U.S. Secret Service and Department of Education looked at targeted school violence, they cautioned that no particular behavior, including interest in violence, could be used to produce a “profile” of a likely shooter. The U.S. Department of Justice has funded research at the Center for Mental Health and Media at Massachusetts General Hospital to better determine what impact video games have on young people. This research and several other studies suggest that only some youths may become more aggressive after playing violent video games. However, in most cases, playing violent video games may be part of normal development, especially in boys and a legitimate source of fun, too. I agree because no two children are alike, that a youngster's personality, motivations and his or her situation influence behavior rather than the games or television themselves. Psychologists at Villanova and Rutgers Universities have presented evidence that watching and playing violent video games does not affect most children. After reviewing the research, they concluded that certain personality traits might make an individual more likely to act and think aggressively after playing a violent video game: These include a tendency to: * Be angry and depressed * Be highly emotional and easily upset * Be disagreeable, cold or indifferent to other people * Act without thinking, fail to keep promises, break rules Cheryl Olson, cofounder of the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Mental Health and Media led a study of 1,254 students in public schools (most were ages 12 to 14) in South Carolina and Pennsylvania. The results showed that certain situations increased exposure to violent video games. These included, for example, locating game consoles and computers in children's bedrooms, and allowing older siblings to share games with younger ones. In this study, children who played video games often with older siblings were twice as likely as other children to play mature-rated games (considered suitable for ages 17 and older).
A youth's peer group also influences behavior. In a three-year study done at the University of California, Irvine, researchers interviewed and observed the online behavior of 800 youths. They concluded that video game play and other online activities have become so common among young people that they have changed how young people socialize and learn. In closing while adults tend to view video games as isolating and antisocial, most youngsters describe the games as fun, exciting, something to counter boredom, and something to do with friends. Thus, for many youths, violent content is not the main draw. Boys, in particular, are motivated to play video games in order to compete and win. In this context, playing violent video games may be similar to the roughhousing play that boys do as part of normal development. Video games are just one more way boys compete for status or to establish a pecking order.

References
Boyse, K (2010) Television and Children, retrieved from http://www.med.umich.edu/yourchild/topics/tv.htm
EQI (n.d.) Importance of Emotions, retrieved from http://eqi.org/emotions.htm
Josephson, Ph.D., W (1995) Television Violence: A Review of the Effects on Children of Different Ages, retrieved from http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/resources/research_documents/reports/violence/tv_violence_child.cfm
Lawson PhD, (n.d.) The Connections Between Emotions and Learning, retrieved from http://www.cdl.org/resource-library/articles/connect_emotions.php
Nemours (2010) How TV affects Your Child, retrieved from http://kidshealth.org/parent/positive/family/tv_affects_child.html
Szaflik, K (2000) Violence on TV: The Desensitizing of America, retrieved from http://www.ridgenet.org/szaflik/tvrating.htm
Willard, N (2004) I Can’t See You – You Can’t See Me, How the Use of Information and Communication Technologies Can Impact Responsible Behavior, retrieved from rhttp://www.csriu.org/cyberbully/docs/disinhibition.pdf