Media Violence - The Effects on Children - Research Paper Example

Research Paper - Media Violence: The Effects on Children s There is no doubt that the continuing expansion, even explosion, of mass media exerts some influence on the everyday lives of the billions of people across the planet. While adults are sometimes able to think critically regarding the continuing information they are exposed to, and so limit the effects of the negative information they receive, children and adolescents have not developed the cognitive ability to lessen the effect on their own lives, of the images and behaviors they encounter in the media. Hence the current concerns of scientists, governments and parents to understand more fully, and address more effectively, any negative consequences arising from exposure to violence in the media. As long ago as 1932, psychologists began to realize that the effect of images on the human mind was not easily understood. It was also recognized, though, that images were important in creating meaning: “… it is somewhere in the realm between direct sensorial response and the bare use of words, that images have their most important functions.” (Bartlett, 1932) What we see is understood by us as more than just the sum of what our senses perceive individually. According to Gestalt theorists, “… we perceive whole meanings; we do not add up meaningless bits.” (Bolles, 1991) and, “Central to discovering an experience’s perceptual meaning is the recognition of its identity and its individuality.” (Bolles, 1991). Consequently, learning appropriate behaviors and responses to situations is heavily influenced by the images we perceive and the meaning we derive from those images. Consider, then, the influence that, for example, television, has on the forming of the personalities of children, worldwide. A UNESCO survey in 1998 showed that in 23 surveyed countries, children spent on average three hours a day watching television. (Josephson, 1995) Even without taking into large account in this paper media such as Computer Games, the content of Internet sites or cellular telephone technology, and focusing on film and television, the influence of the media, it can be concluded, is both global and pervasive in all current societies. Particularly in the case of children, this influence needs to be understood. Beginning at birth, infants even younger than 18 months, do show some response to television stimuli. While it is not clear that they are unduly influenced by the images they perceive, it has been noted that some imitation of what they see on screen, does occur: hand- clapping, body movement. (Meltzhoff, 1988) The limited attention-span of this age group does, however, suggest that the effects of television are not excessive. The same study by Meltzhoff’s goes further to show that the effect of television on slightly older children – in the category 18 months to 3 years – is more notable. Despite their inability to concentrate on the television for long periods, these children do seem to learn both verbal and non-verbal behaviors by imitating what they perceive on the screen. Nonetheless, owing to their inability to cognitively contextualize this perceptual input well, and, again, their lack of long-lasting concentration on the screen, it seems unlikely that too much damage is done. It is when children are between 3 and 5 years old that their cognitive development allows for the effect of television on them to become clearer. At this stage of their development, children are connecting single events into processes, rather than just perceiving disconnected characters and events. Collins noted, in his study conducted during 1982 and 1983, a number of important observations relating to the reactions of children in this age category while they were viewing television. The programming directed at children of this age by broadcasters is of particular significance: Cartoons feature prominently; vivid production features such as loud music, rapid movement and scene changes, and sound effects characterize it. Such features are geared at attracting the attention of children, and they succeed in doing so. Of concern is the fact that children in this category are not able to put the violence they see into the context of their real-life experience. Consequently, their attraction to violent behaviors is indiscriminate – they do not differentiate that violence is sometimes used as a necessary evil, or that it can be purely the easiest solution to solve a problem. Additionally, the physiological effects of violent imagery and sound (increased heart rate; accelerated breathing; heightened sensory perception) are very evident in this group. In his conclusions, Collins did note an interesting phenomenon, however: children between the ages of 3 and 5, are equally attracted to, and excited by, violent and non-violent cartoons. This may suggest that the impact of violence in media is not profound at this stage of children’s development. The concerns around the influence of media violence on children may stem from the evident effect that violence has on children by the time they are 8 years old. Indeed, it has been proposed that this is a “watershed period” (Eron et al., 1983) in analyzing these effects on children. 8 Year olds are able to distinguish between reality and fantasy. Thus, if they believe that the violence they are watching is possible in real-life, they are more susceptible to it. Children at this age also incorporate the stories they know into their fantasy lives. It appears that watching violence on television, then, causes this group to create more violent fantasies, and that such fantasies may become rehearsals for their behaviors and responses to real-life situations. (Huesmann & Eron, 1984) Valkenburg et al, in 1992-1993, conducted studies on 8 year old Finnish children, that bore out the same conclusions. In the Finnish study, a further proposition was made: boys of this age are more susceptible to television violence than girls. This affirmed the results of an American study by Huston & Wright, 1983. But, girls of this age (and boys, but to a lesser degree) possibly become more fearful in their responses to everyday situations due to their exposure to violence in the media. (Signorielli, 1987) The development of such fear-based responses, and violent fantasy responses, to the situations that face them, may potentially remain with such children, resulting in serious behavioral problems later in life. Adolescents – ranging in age from 12-17 – tend to develop, incrementally in these years, the ability to reason in the abstract, take on roles, integrate their experiences into their own context, select information that is relevant to themselves from all that is presented to them, and create hypotheses. (Dorr, 1983) It seems, consequently, that they are able, to varying degrees, critically to synthesize what they perceive in mass media. They are less likely to accept, or believe in the reality presented by films and television programming. This well- formed ability to distinguish between fantasy and reality is essential in reducing the effect of media violence on children of these ages. There are, despite these generally accepted notions of adolescent cognition, those children who do not clearly differentiate between what is real and what is not. Should adolescents continue to believe in, and identify with, violent heroes presented in the media, they have been shown to become more aggressive. This is also so if their fantasy lives centre around aggressive-heroic themes, such as those presented in the “action hero” genre. Such children will present more violent and aggressive reactions in real- life situations they encounter. Their fantasies may even become rehearsals for real-life, planned acts of violence. (Johnsson-Smaragdi, 1983 and Dominick, 1984) Adolescents, it appears, are capable of admiring the criminal minds and acts they see. Some will go on to imagine and enact the crimes they have watched in the media. (Stanley & Riera, 1976, and Liebert & Sprafkin, 1988) A further conclusion is that the exposure to violence and sexual violence, particularly, in the media, will entrench societal sexual stereotypes. Check et al. (1985) report on a survey of 12-17 year olds, that showed that this group is most likely to watch sexually explicit film material. Subsequent questioning also showed that there is a correspondingly high level of acceptance, among these children, of sexually violent film material, or of material degrading to women. The effects on male viewers: higher incidence of belief in rape-myths and acceptance that punishment of women by men is acceptable; the effects on female viewers: increased levels of fear of men and reduced self-esteem. Thus far, this paper has shown that research and generally accepted beliefs indicate that media violence has a direct and marked effect on creating aggression and prompting violent behaviors in children. Continued exposure to such media also increases the likelihood of fearfulness in children. To varying degrees, this is true for children from infancy to late adolescence. Arguments questioning the validity of research into the effects of media violence on children do persist, however, particularly on the Internet, on general information sites such as Wikipedia. Questions regarding the validity of early researchers’ sample sizes and methodologies continue to cast some doubt on the conclusions drawn. Definitions of “violence” and “aggressive behavior” have frequently been altered and continue to be refined. Criticism of methods employed by researchers include arguments that standardization, and empirical observation methods have not been observed. There is also the view that, because crime statistics in many countries have not risen in direct proportion to the ever-increasing incidence of violence portrayed in the media, no causal link between the phenomena of media violence and societal violence can be established. Researchers have been accused of reporting only on selected statistics – those that support their own hypotheses. Some schools of thought still take the view that violent and aggressive behaviors have their origin in genetic and hereditary factors, only. It is also true that more recent research has taken into account many of these objections and presented more complex hypotheses. Zahoori (1988), Sprafkin et al (1992), and Tangney & Feshbach (1988), acknowledge that media violence cannot account for all the causes of children’s aggression or violent behavior. Their arguments, though, concede that children are more likely to be affected by violence in the mass media that adults. There are also groups among children, who are more likely to develop aggressive and anti-social behaviors after exposure to violence in the media. Most vulnerable of these are: children from minority groups; children who are emotionally disturbed; children with learning difficulties; victims of child abuse; and children in distressed families. (Donohue et al., 1988 and Tangney & Feshbach, 1988) This paper, as previously noted, does not focus extensively beyond the effects of film and television, but it is significant that research into the effects of violence in gaming has become more prominent. According to Josephson (1995), in a Report commissioned by the Canadian Government, (Appendix III: Research on the effects of violent video games), “Most studies have found no effects of video game violence on children’s aggression, but one study did report that both video games and violent cartoons made children equally more aggressive in their play.” She continues, nevertheless, to suggest that “…there are reasons to be cautious about making assumptions that they are harmless … younger children, who do not distinguish so clearly between fantasy and reality, may be more affected.” Thus affected, children do not easily “unlearn” their violent or aggressive behaviors in adulthood. The prescribed text for this course cites the Huesmann et al. (2003) study showing that first and third grade viewers, with above average viewing habits, of violent television programming, were three times more likely to be convicted of crimes in their 20s than viewers who showed a pattern of less frequent viewing of such violence. Further, excessive viewers, even at such a young age, were more likely to abuse their partners or assault others when they reached maturity. It is clear that researchers in the field, the population at large, and the news media find it necessary to continue to examine and investigate the influence of violence in the media. While objections to early methods of research may have been raised, responses to more current research elicit fewer objections. Importantly, the reactions of governments and government-funded institutions to said research are becoming more decisive: … media, including television, movies, music, and video games, (can be viewed) as a significant risk to the health of children and adolescents … media violence can contribute to aggressive behavior, desensitization to violence, nightmares, and fear of being harmed. (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2009) Recognizing that the influence of the media on the daily lives of much of the world’s population is ever-increasing, is essential. An appropriate response is to continue and expand the study of violent and aggressive behaviors and the causes thereof, especially in children. While we may hope for the results of our studies to show that there is no negative effect of media violence on children, it is more likely that the mass media so essential in our societies has been contributing directly to the aggression and violence that threatens us all. References American Academy of Pediatrics AAP Policy Documents (2009) Policy Statement – November 1, 2009 http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics Bartlett, F.C. Imagery in Thought from “Remembering” (1932) in Bolles, E.B. (Ed.) Galileo’s Commandment London. Abacus (2000) 306-309 Bolles, E.B. Gestalt Psychology from “A Second Way of Knowing” (1991) in Bolles, E.B. (Ed.) Galileo’s Commandment London. Abacus (2000) 274-283 Check, J.V.P., Heapy, N.A., & Iwnyshyn, O. (1985) A Survey of Canadians’ Attitudes Regarding Sexual Content in the Media (Report No. 11). Toronto. York University, LaMarsh Research Programme on Violence and Conflict Resolution. Collins, W.A. (1982) Cognitive processing in television viewing. In Pearl, D., Bouthilet, L. & Lazar, J. (Eds.), Television and Behaviour: Ten Years of Scientific Progress and Implications for the Eighties (Vol. 2: Technical Reviews Rockville, MD National Institute of Mental Health. 9-23) Dominick, J.R. (1984) Videogames, television violence and aggression in teenagers. Journal of Communication, 34 (2), 136-147 Donohue, T.R., Henke L.L., & Morgan, L.A. (1988) The impact of television’s role models on physically abused children. Child Study Journal, 18, 233-247 Dorr, A. (1983) No shortcuts to judging reality. In Bryant, J. & Anderson, D.R. (Eds.) Children’s Understanding of Television: Research on Attention and Comprehension. New York. Academic Press. 199-220 Eron, L.D., Heusmann, L.R., Brice, P., Fischer, P., & Mermelstein, R. (1983) Age trends in the development of aggression and associated television habits. Developmental Psychology, 19, 71-77 Huesmann, L.R., Eron, L.D., Klein, R., Brice, P., & Fischer, P. (1983) Mitigating the imitation of aggressive behaviours by changing children’s attitudes about media violence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44, 899-910 Huston, A.C., & Wright, J.C. (1983) Children’s processing of television: The informative functions of formal features. In Bryant, J. & Anderson, D.R. (Eds.) Children’s Understanding of Television: Research on Attention and Comprehension. New York. Academic Press. 35-68 Josephson, W.L. Television Violence Report for Department of Canadian Heritage (February 1995) reproduced by permission of the Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/index.cfm Liebert, R.M., & Sprafkin, J. (1988) The Early Window: Effects of Television on Children and Youth. New York. Pergamon Press Meltzhoff, A.N. (1988) Imitation of televised models by infants. Child Development, 59, 1221-1229 Signorielli, N. (1987) Children and adolescents on television: A consistent pattern of devaluation Journal of Early Adolescence, 7, 255-268 Sprakfin, J., Gadow, K.D., & Abelman, R. (1992) Television and the Exceptional Child: A Forgotten Audience. Hillsdale, New Jersey, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Stanley, P.R.A., & Riera, B. (1976) Replications of Media Violence. In Report of the Royal Commissionon Violence in the Communications Industry. Volume 5: Learning from the Media 59-87. Ottowa. Royal Commission on Violence in the Communications Industry. Tangney, J.P., & Feshbach, S. (1998) Children’s television viewing frequency: Individual differences and demographic correlates Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 14, 145-148 Valkenburg, P.M., Vooijs, M.W. van der Voorst, T.H.A., and Wiegman, O. (1992-93) The influence of television on children’s fantasy styles: A secondary analysis. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 12, 55-67 Zahoor, A.R. (1988) A cross-cultural analysis of children’s television use. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 32, 105-113 OUTLINE Introduction History – background Realisation of the effect the imagined/imaginary image can have on children Historical understanding of images Gestalt psychology and images Extent of the problem – how does it manifest The tested effects of violence in the media on children: by age group and references to differing societies Current thinking Schools of thought; ongoing research; the inconclusive nature of some findings and the critical views on some early research Responses to the problem The reactions of governments and non-governmental institutions Conclusion Read More