Exposure to Violent Media Content - Essay Example

Does Violence in the Media Contribute to Violent Behavior in Children? Affiliation: Introduction Violence is a rising trend inthe modern society. The trend is triggered by an increase in firearms, explosives and has increased the scope and efficiency of aggressive habits in the society. Factors such as poverty, drug abuse, mental problems, child abuse and exposure to domestic violence are some factors that increase violent behavior among the youth. Research shows that exposure to the media influences violent behavior in children. It may be hard to find out which children who have been exposed to the media acquire violent behavior, however, there is a powerful correlation between media violence and the subsequent violent behavior exhibited by children. This paper asserts that media violence ultimately affects and contributes to violent behavior among the children. This is because children learn by watching. Their behavior is influenced by the environment they interact with, be it natural or artificial such as interaction with violent media content (Anderson, 2010). Exposure to violent media content Children are exposed to the media at a very tender age. Researcher used scientific methods to measure the violence in various media content. Research conducted by the National Television Study revealed that 60% of all programs aired on television contained physical violence. The study concluded that within an hour of programming, an average of six different violent scenes are displayed on media. The violence varies with channels and type of programs. Child programs are more violent since all the virtual super hero cartoons contain aggressive behavior. Media products that target the youth contain aggression (Bushman & Anderson, 2001). For example, a study revealed that all the G-rated featured some violent acts, 64% of E-rated video games had physical aggression. American children between 8-18 years spend 6 hours and 21 minutes daily watching entertainment media such as television, movies, video games, and music videos. Televisions are placed in children’s bedrooms and it is impossible for parents to monitor and control the media content that their children are exposed to. Prolonged exposure to violent media results an increase of acceptance of violent behavior among the children. The acceptance of violence is seen as an appropriate method of solving problems and attaining goals. American media portray heroes using aggression as a means of solving grievances and conflicts and overshadowing their enemies. Television programs portray carrying of weaponry as a source of power, glamour and influence. Children in lower Grade often chose Video Games that award them points for aggression against others. 7 out of 10 children are reported to play mature games with 78% of boys owning the M-rated games. Out of 33 popular games, 21% contain violence against women. Since children have great exposure, the media has an opportunity to shape the children’s attitudes and actions than do teachers and parents. The media replaces parents and teachers as role models, educators, caretakers and primary sources of information to the children (Gentile & Bushman, 2012). The tragic shooting at the Columbine High School in 1999 led the Federal Trade Commission to investigate if motion pictures advertised and marketed violent content to children. The commission worked with the industry documents to establish that although the industry had its own program ratings, the materials in the programs were pervasive. Since the parents allowed unrestricted and uncontrolled watching, the children were exposed to the violence in the adult rated programs. This normalizes violence and children don’t feel guilty about displaying aggression to achieve their goals. In fact, a study conducted in 2014 revealed that children behavior change drastically after watching violent television programs. For example, children want to imitate the super heroes found in cartoon programs (Huesmann, 2003). Unfortunately, most super heroes use violence to achieve their goals and retain their power. Children who idolize these heroes were more likely to display anti-social and aggressive behavior. Therefore, media content influence the behavior of children and constant exposure to violent media will influence acceptance of violence as a normal tool to achieve goals. Numerous studies reveal that children are constantly exposed to inappropriate violent media. Although media programs contain different ratings such as general and adult view, there is no strict rules to stop children who are unsupervised from watching the rated content. Most parents find media ratings challenging to use (Murray, 2008). Only a few parents use the movie ratings with the number even fewer for observing video game ratings. This exposes children to unrestricted watching of media content. The children are free to choose what to watch. Unfortunately, most media content including children programs such as cartons contain violence. It is therefore difficult for the youngsters to avoid watching aggressive entertainment content since it is everywhere. Constant exposure to violence shapes their behavior and they accept it as a normal thing in the society. It is thus a wonder that so many children display violent behavior after watching media entertainment. People who argue that violent media entertainment does not result in violence among children give reasons to support this opposition. They argue that violence is caused by many factors such as domestic battery, child abuse, mental problems and drug abuse. They claim that it is unfair to blame violence on media entertainment since watching programs/movies has many advantages and influence positive behavior in children. They say that violent media content can teach children to be more empathetic about society needs, teach them survival skills and help them form strong social relationships that will help them achieve their goals (Anderson, 2010). They also argue that research has not revealed a clear connection between violent media content and aggressive behavior in children. They believe that violence in children is more influenced by the real issues in their environment rather than fictitious characters in screens. For example, the tragic shootings at the Columbine High School were unrelated to violent media content. The two perpetrators had mental problems; one was a psychopath while the other faced violence while growing up. Theories and Learning Principles that Influence Behavior The social cognitive theory explains how children display violent behavior after exposure to violent media content. The theory argues that children learn by imitating their immediate environment or people. Therefore, violent behavior can be acquired by children imitating violent media characters. According to the theory, children will most probably imitate behavior that is rewarded than punished. They will also imitate habits that result to no consequences since lack of punishment especially for anti-social behavior is very compelling (Bushman & Anderson, 2001). The type of role models in the media industry also plays major role in how children learn new behavior. This is because children are more willing to learn from role models who make a difference, rather than those they perceive to be similar to them. The theory explains hoe children get new behavior from watching media characters. It argues that children learn from what they are exposed to and the people they look up to. Consequently, if a child interacts with violent characters who they consider to be super heroes, aggression will shape their behavior. This is because they imitate their super heroes who use violence to gain power, subdue competitors and achieve personal objectives. The principle of learning used argues that a child’s prior knowledge can facilitate or hinder learning. Therefore, children who are exposed to violence learn violent behavior bases on the previous exposure to violence. A child cannot acquire behavior that is not exhibited in his environment. As the social cognitive theory suggests, children learn from their environment and the people they interact with. If the environment contains violent, the child will use this prior knowledge to develop violent behavior. Therefore, it is crucial that young children are shielded from all forms of violent media. This will allow them to form behavior based on positive prior knowledge and thus form acceptable social behavior (Gentile & Bushman, 2012). Implications of Exposure to Uncensored Media Content among Children Physical aggression is the most common result of violent media entertainment among children. This supports the social cognitive theory that argues that children imitate the violent behavior they watch in the media especially if the violence is rewarded, rather than punished. One study exposed lower Grade children to a single episode of Might Power and observed them for verbal and physical aggression. The findings revealed that children, especially boys who watched the episode were involved in 7 acts of violence. Other research studies revealed that elementary and Grade children will imitate the violence displayed by cartoon super heroes as readily as they would human characters. Younger children are more prone to social learning from the media although the older children are equally at risk (Huesmann, 2003). Boys exhibit more violent behavior than girls do although no gender is immune to negative influence of watching violent media entertainment. Evidence that links video games to violence among children is gradually increasing. Experiments and study link violent video games content to aggressive behavior in children. Some people speculate than games because more harm than television. This is because games are more involving and allow players to become perpetrators and strengthen their position against their opponents. Social/ relational aggression is another implication of violent media entertainment among children. Social hostility refers to different forms of hostility that children acquire from watching violent media content. The hostility includes harming other children’s feelings via gossip, social segregation or manipulating friendships (Murray, 2008). The social aggression behavior is more prevalent with girls than boys. The popularity of television programs and movies such as Mean Girls and Lizzy McGuire questions that feature struggles to conform and struggles of friendships raise questions over the role of media in shaping positive behavior among children. Teenagers who watch the above programs and movies segregate others based on how well they can conform to the group of the ‘cool’ kids. They manipulate others in order to achieve their social objectives. These children tend to be mean and very inconsiderate of the feelings of others. All these anti-social habits are learnt from watching media content that advocate and normalize social aggression. Exposure to violence cause mental health problems for children. This includes fear, depression, might mares, and changes in sleeping patterns. Consistent watching of violent media content influences a child’s psychological wellbeing. For example, a child becomes fearful after watching a violent scene that involves killing and shedding of blood. The scene makes the child interpret his surrounding as an unsafe place where he can easily be harmed. As a result, he becomes fearful and very conscious of his environment (Huesmann, 2003). He always looks over his back to find out if there are evil forces that want to claim his life. The fear causes insecurity and the child experience night mares when darkness crawls in. He has trouble sleeping because darkness scares him and makes his fears seem real. The child becomes so mentally disturbed that he can fall into serious depression. A child acquires psychological health problems from watching violent media entertainment because they are unable to differentiate between fantasy and reality. In acute cases depressed children result in extreme anti-social behavior and they become psychopaths. Entertainment media inflates the occurrence of violence in the world and make the world look like a mean place. Fear of being a victim of the mean world causes children to result to violence to protect themselves. The children are then motivated to watch aggressive media entertainment to learn how to protect and subdue their opponents (Gentile & Bushman, 2012). The effect of this is a violent generation that justifies its aggressive behaviour and sees it as a positive attribute. It becomes difficult to convince the children that the world is a safe place and introduce non-violent forms of conflict resolution. The media plays a major role in shaping children behavior. If they display the world as a mean place where people have to be violent to survive, the children will accept violence as a survival tactic. Recommendations Parents should remove television sets, internet connection and video games from children’s bedrooms. This will ensure that children observe the entertainment rules and parents can control the content that they are exposed to. Parents should choose media entertainment content critically and avoid violent content in home entertainment. They should include co viewing of media entertainment media with their children (Murray, 2008). When they view the programs together with their children, parents can control the content and explain any violent scenes found therein. They can teach the children than learning from violent media characters is unacceptable and misleading. Co viewing includes a discussion of inappropriate violent solutions offered in the programs. Parents should be more concerned with violent media content as they are concerned about sexual content because both are equally harmful to children. Parents should limit entertainment time including television, video games and internet to an average of two hours a day using a V-chip. They should avoid buying violent video games for their children including cartoons with violent oriented super heroes. Limiting screen time yields positive results and force children to acquire other healthy hobbies such as reading, sports and music. Children get more time to finish their homework, engage in active play and discover their talents. Engaging in other meaningful activities exposes them to proper social values that minimize the incidences of violence in the society (Bushman & Anderson, 2001). Parents should become role models in terms of their personal media use. Parents should avoid screen media for infants and babies of less than 2 years. Introducing babies to violent media interferes with their learning especially in developing positive behavior. Further studies should be conducted to find out ways of determining with certainty which children result to violence after watching aggressive media content. More research is needed to establish the link between violent video games and aggressive behavior in children, since this area isn’t studied extensively. Conclusion Violent media entertainment can influence and result to violence among children. The social cognitive theory explains that children learn by observing their environment and people who they look up to. Therefore, when they watch violent media entertainment, they imitate the violent behavior displayed by their favorite characters. This results in social and physical aggression and psychological health problem (Anderson, 2010). Parents can control the situation by limiting the screen time to 2 hours per day, introducing co viewing and removing entertainment devices from the children’s bedrooms. Those who pose that violent media result in aggression behavior argue that violence is caused by many factors such as domestic violence, child abuse, mental problems and drug abuse. They claim that it is unfair to blame violence on media entertainment since watching programs/movies has many advantages and influence positive behavior in children. References Anderson, C.A., Ihori, Nobuko, Bushman, B.J., Rothstein, H.R., Shibuya, A., Swing, E.L., Sakamoto, A., & Saleem, M. (2010). Violent Video Game Effects on Aggression, Empathy, and Prosocial Behavior in Eastern and Western Countries. The article articulates the effects of violent video games on behavioral characteristics such as violence, empathy and anti-social behavior. The authors argue that exposure to violent video games triggers violence behavior in children. It makes it for children to view violence. Bushman, B. J., & Anderson, C. A. (2001). Media violence and the American public: Scientific facts versus media misinformation. American Psychologist, 56(6-7), 477 This article explains how the public react to effects of violent media content on children’s behavior. The authors argue that while some people support the belief that violent media content has negative consequences, others argue that violent behavior in children is unrelated to violent media content. Gentile, D.A., & Bushman, B.J. (2012). Reassessing Media Violence Effects Using a Risk and Resilience Approach to Understanding Aggression. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, Vol. 1, No. 3. The authors assess risks and resilience factors in determining how violent media affect children behavior. The article argues that children who are exposed more to the risk of violent media content will most likely develop aggressive behavior. If children develop resilient factors, they will apply what they learn from violent media selectively so that they don’t develop violent behavior. Huesmann, L. R., Moise-Titus, J., Podolski, C. L., & Eron, L. D. (2003). Longitudinal relations between childrens exposure to TV violence and their aggressive and violent behavior in young adulthood: 1977-1992. Developmental psychology, 39(2), 201. The article explains how children relate to their environment to learn and form behavior. The authors claim that learning for a child is influenced by prior knowledge and amount of exposure. A child can only learn from what he has been exposed to. They conclude that, exposure to aggressive media will influence a child behavior formation and result to violent tendencies. Murray, J. P. (2008). Media violence the effects are both real and strong. American Behavioral Scientist, 51(8), 1212-1230. Murray argues that no child is immune to violent media entertainment. All children will display violent behavior if exposed to violent media content, despite the strength of their character. Although, boys display violent behavior more, there is no guarantee that female children will not result to violent behavior. For the girls, violence is displayed in social aggression where the child is mean, manipulative and inconsiderate of other children’ Read More