Television and Behavior

Running Head: BEHAVIORAL EFFEECTS OF TELEVISION

Behavioral Effects of Television on Children Abstract
Does television promote violence and crime among children? If a person really thinks about it, it is not all that uncommon to turn on the news or pick up a newspaper and find out that someone’s face has been slashed or someone has been shot. With the advancement of technology, the television has expanded a lot and now can influence the majority of our society. Many of the senseless violent acts that are committed all over the country are now televised nearly instantly. Acts of violence are committed everyday by various types of people, some even by high school and even elementary school students. This short research paper will describe in greater detail this increase in aggressive behavior in children and teenagers and the link with televised violence.

Television can be a powerful influence in developing values and shaping behavior. Although most people look at television as an entertaining or educational way to spend time, some people think there is too much violence in television and that it is influencing our youth to become aggressive in nature and to tolerate violence. Unfortunately, much of today’s television has violence and therefore is negatively shaping the behaviors of children. Violence in television and video games has gone too far and there have been many studies performed as a result. These studies all point toward three main effects. First, an “immunity” to violence is formed. Second, new behaviors begin to form around new ideals. Finally, children often begin to imitate the violence they observe while watching television.
With so much violence in the media, especially the television, children and teenagers begin to develop immunity to it. Another way to put this is saying that children become desensitized to violent behavior. This consequence occurs when children, teenagers, or even adults constantly view violence in entertainment and they begin to accept it as being normal. Because of this children are less and less shocked when they see violence in real life. In turn, this gives people a false sense of what real life is. In this day and age, children’s desensitization to violence has increased numerously and it has been proven that by the time a child is eighteen years old, he or she will witness, on television alone, nearly 200,000 acts of violence; this includes at least 40,000 murders. ("Desensitization due to," 2008) It is easy to tell that today’s society tends to center on watching entertainment that focuses on violence, blood, and gore. Examples of such movies are the popular “Saw” and “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” Studies have also shown that after viewing a lot of media violence, people are less likely to stop violence when they see it occur in real life. ("Can children become,” n.d.) Children do not only learn by observing what is in the media, but they eventually begin to think of violence as an acceptable way to settle conflicts with others, and this shapes their behavior. Researchers have also found that much exposure to violence may decrease normal sensitivity toward aggression. High viewers of violence via television were less responsive in successive exposure to violence. This effect is known as Habituation. Habituation states that strong reactions grow much weaker with continuous exposure to the stimuli. If people become accustomed to violence from seeing it on TV, then they may react less sensitively to real life violence. (Manganello & Taylor, 2009)
Violence in television does not only lead to the desensitization of violence, but is also influences behavior. Today, people rarely watch television and movies for educational purposes anymore; instead, it is most often used as a form of entertainment. It just so happens that this form of entertainment captures the attention of the developing human mind due to its need for visual and audible stimulation. With the gradual acceptance of television making it into every person’s life, there comes a point in time where people in television shows begin to become role models for teenagers and young children. (Raver, 2007) When these “role models” on television use violence as a means of getting what they want, it appears to be acceptable to viewers because the television does not show defined areas of right and wrong. Not only does this add aggressive behaviors into young and teenage lives, but it can also decrease morals the same way.
Many of the researches conducted point toward television violence as the primary influence on children’s aggressive behavior (Warner, 2007). According to Albert Bandura 's Social Learning Theory, people learn from one another through observation, imitation, and modeling. With this in mind, it is easy to piece together how children, and even adults, can easily learn and model their behavior to what they have observed watching television. Children who have watched television programs filled with violent actions have a tendency to imitate those actions, or at least act more aggressive as a result (Gladwell, 2007). Children who view shows in which violence is very realistic are more likely to imitate what they see. It has demonstrated that soon after watching violent programming children are more likely to show an increase in their own levels of aggression (Huff, 2010). As violent content increases children are watching more violence during their viewing hours and in turn they are becoming even more aggressive. This makes the effects of violence on television a great concern to, not only parents, but society as well. As people become a part of the violent television world, they begin to include those violent qualities in how they understand life. This means that there are more and more people who believe violence is just an everyday thing that is no great concern. (Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, 2007)
With the increase of public shootings, from the tragic Columbine shooting to the recent Sandy Hook shooting, researchers are working hard to narrow down ways to help decrease the rising rates of aggressive behavior in children. After much research, it has been proven that nearly one in five parents reported their children having watched two hours or more of television each day, both 2.5 years and at 5.5 years of age (known as sustained exposure). Sustained exposure to television is what is associated with behavioral and aggressive problems. Within a 36 month experimental period, researchers found that, even when taking other factors into account, TV exposure plays a significant role in encouraging childhood aggression. (Huff, 2010) During this extended study, it was also concluded that the average amount of daily TV exposure among participants ' children was over seven hours. The question of how much television it is safe for children to watch without causing aggressive behavior was soon raised. While television is not healthy for children and teenagers to watch all day long, researchers have settled on an amount of time that is okay to view. That time is two hours, and some discretion should be used while choosing movies to watch. Yes, those popular horror thrillers are what everyone is watching, but what if there are small children around? Though all people are susceptible to aggressive behavior from television, the young human mind is the most. At early stages of development, the human mind absorbs everything it can (Warner, 2007). This could be the reason why so many children and teenagers are becoming so aggressive. This could also be the reason why there have been so many public shootings by young members of our society. In conclusion, many studies have been finished and the results are calculated, and many of the results point toward one thing. There should be no doubt in anybody’s mind that television violence changes children behavior and can cause them to act more aggressive. This will not only affect the children and their families, but will affect the society as well. If anything, parents should at least limit how long, and what type of television, their children should be able to watch. With more restriction, maybe this world will become a more peaceful place.

References
Can children become desensitized to violence? . (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.education.com/reference/article/children-desensitized-violence/
Desensitization due to media. (2008, January 3). Retrieved from http://childrensmedia2day.wordpress.com/
Gladwell, H. (2007, August 13). Television impact on children 's knowledge and behavior. Retrieved from http://www.steadyhealth.com/articles/Television_impact_on_children_s_knowledge_and_behavior_a680.html
Huff, E. (2010, February 5). Watching television causes aggressive behavior in young children. Retrieved from http://www.naturalnews.com/028096_television_aggressive_behavior.html
Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health (2007, October 1). Childhood tv viewing a risk for behavior problems. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071001081657.htm
Manganello, J. A., & Taylor, C. A. (2009). Television exposure as a risk factor for aggressive behavior among 3-year-old children. Archives of pediatrics and adolescent medicine, 163(11), 1037-1045. doi: 10.1001/archpediatrics.2009.193
Raver, E. (2007, March 14). The effects of tv violence on teenagers. Retrieved from http://voices.yahoo.com/the-effects-tv-violence-teenagers-237680.html
Warner, J. (2007, October). Too much tv causes behavior problems. Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com/parenting/news/20071001/too-much-tv-linked-behavior-problems

References: Can children become desensitized to violence? . (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.education.com/reference/article/children-desensitized-violence/ Desensitization due to media. (2008, January 3). Retrieved from http://childrensmedia2day.wordpress.com/ Gladwell, H. (2007, August 13). Television impact on children 's knowledge and behavior. Retrieved from http://www.steadyhealth.com/articles/Television_impact_on_children_s_knowledge_and_behavior_a680.html Huff, E. (2010, February 5). Watching television causes aggressive behavior in young children. Retrieved from http://www.naturalnews.com/028096_television_aggressive_behavior.html Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health (2007, October 1). Childhood tv viewing a risk for behavior problems. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071001081657.htm Manganello, J. A., & Taylor, C. A. (2009). Television exposure as a risk factor for aggressive behavior among 3-year-old children. Archives of pediatrics and adolescent medicine, 163(11), 1037-1045. doi: 10.1001/archpediatrics.2009.193 Raver, E. (2007, March 14). The effects of tv violence on teenagers. Retrieved from http://voices.yahoo.com/the-effects-tv-violence-teenagers-237680.html Warner, J. (2007, October). Too much tv causes behavior problems. Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com/parenting/news/20071001/too-much-tv-linked-behavior-problems