The Effect of Media on Children With Different Psychological Patterns - Essay Example

Violence In Children: Result Of The Behavior Pattern And Not The Media Aggression is an innate behavior trait Violence is not a learned behavior trait but is innate in nature. People who commit violent crimes like stabbing and shooting do not learn to be violent in just one day. It was found that people acting violently are aggressive in their behavior right from their childhood and hence, the potential for violent act is present in their behavior since childhood. (Kirsh, 2006, p.35). The violent tendency begins in early childhood with mild form of aggressive behavior like throwing tantrums, annoying behavior etc. and when it is not treated, it becomes a strong part of the personality (Kirsh, 2006, p.35). Brame, Nagin and Tremblay (2001) found that people who display highly aggressive behavior in childhood also display highly aggressive behavior in their adolescence (Kirsh, 2006, p.35). In the same way, children who are not aggressive in the childhood do not display aggressive behavior in their adolescence or adulthood (Kirsh, 2006, p.35). In fact, Blackburn (1993) found that the influence of the innate nature is so strong on the behavior pattern that, only a strong and intense external force can make an adolescent or an adult, who is not aggressive as a child, to behave violently or aggressively in later life (Kirsh, 2006, p.36). Without an intense force, the childhood behavior pattern is developed as it is. Media is not such an intense force as it does not have a capacity to influence the viewer so strongly as to change the behavior pattern of his. There are some important things to be considered before assuming that the violent TV programs or violent video games causes children to become violent. According to studies conducted by Berkowitz et al. (2003), the increase of aggressive behavior in the later life of a human being is a result of the exposure to the violent media in the childhood (Kirsh, 2006, p.36). However, before blaming the media for the increased violent behavior in children, it is important to ask what makes children to watch violent TV programs or play violent video games. Why is it that instead of watching fairy tales, comedies, cartoons and informative TV programs, some children choose to watch violent TV programs or play violent video games? As not all the children like to watch violent TV programs or enjoy playing violent video games, there has to be ‘some’ explanation behind the choice that children make while watching TV or playing video games. The explanation is in the innate behavior pattern of children. In the surveys of children regarding the choice of the video games, it was found that two third of the children’s favorite video games are those that have violent content (Gentile & Anderson, 2003, p.132). Aggression is an innate behavior trait. Hence, only those children and adolescents who are highly aggressive by nature like the programs that show violence than the children and adolescents who are not aggressive by nature (Kirsh, 2006, p.36). This shows that the aggressive behavior pattern is ‘already’ present in children and adolescent and is not caused by the violence in media. Instead of understanding the real cause behind the anti-social behavior displayed by the children and adolescents, their parents and teachers try to brush off the responsibility by putting the blame on the media. Children who are aggressive by nature get attracted by things and programs that are aggressive (Kirsh, 2006, p.36). The effect of media on children with different psychological pattern The amount of aggression in children and adolescent depend on their psychological health. For example, children who are diagnosed with psychological disorders like disruptive behavior disorder (DBD), display excessive aggression in their childhood (Kirsh, 2006, p.41). It was found that children suffering from DBD are affected by the violent images, programs and visuals more than the children who are not suffering from DBD (Kirsh, 2006, p.41). This shows that the influence of media is not an independent thing but depends on the psychological state of a child. Starker (1989) was right when he said that “as the popularity of a particular form of media grows, the perceived negative influence on the youth grows with it” (Kirsh, 2006, p.276). In 280 independent studies conducted by Anderson and Bushman (2002), involving 51,000 participants, it was found that children with different psychological and behavior pattern are affected differently by watching lot of violent entertainment programs (Gentile & Anderson, 2003, p.133). One of the effects of media violence is the ‘aggressor effect’ which states that children and adolescent become meaner, more aggressive and more violent when exposed to violent TV programs and violent video games (Gentile & Anderson, 2003, p.133). However, it is important to know that the study does not state that watching violent programs ‘causes’ violent behavior in children. It states that watching violence in media ‘increases’ the violent behavior pattern in children who ‘already’ have aggressive and violent behavior tendencies. Also, it was found that violent video games have less effect on children because of the reasons described below(Gentile & Anderson, 2003, p.134): 1. According to Silverman and Willimason(1987), the poor and unrealistic graphic quality of the video games weakens the effect of violence on children. 2. The abstract violent actions like shooting the space ship and shooting the missile decreases the chances of these actions getting imitated by children in real life. 3. The creatures getting killed in the video games are not humans but are unrealistic creature like aliens, zombies etc. Hence, the unrealistic situations and characters involved in the video games have less effect on the behavior pattern of the children. Moreover, thinking that children cannot distinguish between the reality and fantasy is wrong as they have the ability to make accurate judgment (Potter, 2003, p.71). The motive behind the violence Any action by children or adults needs a motivation behind it. No human being act randomly. Collins (1983) found that children are not able to understand the motive behind the aggression shown in the media and hence, are less likely to imitate the violent behavior displayed by the media characters (Potter, 2003, p.75). Even if their real life situations generate the motives to be aggressive, the lack of understanding of the use of violence as a tool for solving the problem keep them away from imitating the violence shown in the media (Potter, 2003, p.75). This shows that the child’s cognitive limitations in fact, protect the child from the negative effects of the environment (Potter, 2003, p.75). Also, the effect of violence in media on children’s aggressive behavior is not an independent phenomenon. The family environment and the parental influence also determine the amount of effect of violent media on children. For example, Heath et al. (1989) found that children who are raised by abusive parents watch and enjoy more violence in media and identify themselves with the violent characters (Potter, 2003, p.75) to feel an outlet to their anger. Tagney & Feshbach (1988) found that children who get less support from their family and grow in stressful environment become more vulnerable to the effects of violence in media (Potter, 2003, p.75). Heath et al. (1989) also found that children who grow up in peaceful and harmonious family environment are less affected by the violence in the media (Potter, 2003, p.75). This shows that the aggressive and the violent behavior in children is not caused by the violence in media but is a result of the innate personality traits and the environment in the family. The belief that media violence causes children to behave aggressively and violently is a wrong belief. People have started relating the violent incidences by children to the TV programs and video games even without checking if it ‘really’ is related or not. For example, in October 1992, an eight-year-old boy set a fire to the trailer in which his sister died (Freedman, 2002, p.5). The print media blamed a TV program showing the character setting a fire, which was aired just a day before the incidence to be the cause of the incidence (Freedman, 2002, p.5). However, on deeper investigation, it was found that the boy had not seen the program and in fact, he was a child who had behavior problems and was in the habit of setting fire since a long time (Freedman, 2002, p.5). The fact that the rate of violent crimes has increased since the introduction of television makes people think that violence and media is connected (Freedman, 2002, p.5). However, there is no connection between the two. Along with America and Canada, the television was also introduced in countries like France, Japan and Germany (Freedman, 2002, p.5). However, the rates of crime increased only in America and Canada and did not increase in other countries. If violence on television was the cause of increase in crime rate then it should have increased in other countries also (Freedman, 2002, p.5). Hence, the belief that the violence in video games and violence in television causes violence in children is a wrong belief. It lacks the scientific evidence. Children with strong and harmonious family background are not affected by the violence in media, no matter how attractive and intense it is. Hence, instead of blaming the media for children’s violent behavior, people should take the responsibility of providing a nurturing and peaceful environment to their children, because, what makes children aggressive and violent is the lack of nurturing environment and not the violent TV program or the violent video games. References: Freedman, J.L. (2002). Media violence and its effect on aggression : assessing the scientific evidence. Toronto : University of Toronto Press Gentile, D.A., & Anderson, C.A.(2003). Violent Video Games: The Newest Media Violence Hazard. In D.Gentile (Ed.), Media Violence and Children: A complete guide for Parents and Professionals(pp. 131-152 ). CT: Praeger Publishers. Kirsh, S.J. (2006). Children, Adolescents, and Media Violence: A Critical Look at the Research. CA: Sage Publications, Inc. Potter, J.P. (2003). The 11 Myths of Media Violence. CA: Sage Publications, Inc. Read More