Impact of Television Aggression - Research Paper Example

TELEVISION AGGRESSION Television aggression can create an impact on the child and inspire the progress of aggressivebehaviors and attitude. Violence or aggression on the television has lately induced a concern about the potential negative effects on the kids, and researchers have gathered enough evidence of its possible impairment to the children (Bushman & Cantor, 2003, p 7). Television plays a primary role in the growth of social alignments, global opinions, circulation of morals and images. Therefore, it is easy for the children to practice what they watch on the television and films hence can partially or permanently change their behaviors. Violence/aggression has become a usual event in television programs that the average viewer may develop a callous to its presence. Except the audience creates a conscious determination to identify the vindictive and aggressive performances exhibited, its presence develops diluted and disregarded. To prove hypothesis, three different television programs were watched. The programs had different contents and nature, but their themes were the same. These programs include Sesame Street, Roseanne, and Blues Clues. The programs contained the number of violent deeds, their extent, consequences, and the general outcome to the audience. This analysis will help to conclude if the violence showed extreme and unsafe for the kids to absorb. Violent has different definitions, but for this case, it is defined as an overt expression of physical force against others or self, or the compelling of action against one’s will on pain of being hurt or killed (George Gerbner 1996, p. 3) Observations on the programs Sesame Street has educational subjects and together with resources that target pre-school and nursery viewers. It has only one violent act while the other shows have the greatest amount of violent. From the shows, violent/aggression can be divided into two classes that include physical and verbal aggressions. In Sesame Street, we can see how Big Bird is being bullied by another bird from the neighborhood. The Big Bird feels good, special, and likes himself more than the other birds but later feels the need to change the character especially when the Good Bird Club leader makes fun of how he looks. On the other hand, Roseanne is more of comedy with adult hilarity. It is not only produced for adults but different viewers. Blue’s Clues focuses on social and cognitive conflict resolution skills in kids, especially the pre-school group. There are character dialogs that are portrayed in Roseanne that indicates forms of verbal aggression. For example, a character describes her colleague as a shameless husband, who deserves to die and encourages smoking as a way of reducing the life span of another fellow. This is a harmful statement that not only affects the character, but even to the viewers. From the programs, the number of violent acts varies; Sesame Street had one, Blue’s Clues two, and Roseanne had seven. The episodes had more extent of physical aggression in most of the animated programs, whereas non-animated programs comprise of more verbally aggressive circumstances. For example, in Sesame Street, the Big Bad Wolf issued a threat to cook a pig for an evening meal. This is a harmful statement especially to the pig that is adversely affected. The continuous view will make the kid imitate character traits from the program. In real life situations, every act has a consequence depending on the type of the act committed. However, in the television programs, the consequences vary from the episodes since the programs are made for a purpose such as conveying educational and moral messages to the viewers. For example, in Roseanne, two characters clash over absurd statement made concerning the marriage. The characters fought within a given duration of time but later the conflict is solved. It is always right to punish the wrong doers in everyday life, a situation that may be contrary to the television programs where a viewer is left in suspense without knowing the exact punishment or reward to the characters involved. Too much viewing of a program can change the behavior of the children. If a child is exposed to the program at an early age, there is possibility that the child will adopt the behaviors that come from the program. For example, Sesame Street and Roseanne display themes or subjects that revolve around violent issues. Due to the consequences of the acts, the children develop fewer aggressive characters. On the other hand, kids are also advised on to deal with these issues. Skills for solving problems without using violent acts are developed among the children from the programs. Viewing the programs by the children can bring a different variety of views and attitudes that can create both negative and positive consequences depending on the background of the child. Not all programs are educational to the kids; some programs have ideas which can result in serious negative consequence to the child and other people. Despite the outcome, the programs had educational lessons for the kids; problem-solving skills, learning how to leave in a diverse condition especially where there are people with different opinions. They learn to accommodate each other, as in the case of two brothers who fought concerning the statement that was made concerning the wedding, in Roseanne. The presentation of the of the play was clearly displayed and could be easily understood by the kids hence providing relevant knowledge on how to handle some of the issues that affect them. The number of violent committed varied from one program to the other, however, when rating according to the number of acts committed by characters, Roseanne is the highly rated and can be termed as terrible among the programs. There was a fight between two brothers over a wedding statement. In real sense, fight is not recommended to be shown to kids as this creates adverse impact to them. The violent is a threat to peace within the society; children are considered as future generations and any exposure to such events is harmful to the community. However, after the fight, there was a solution made between the two brothers an action that I would consider as an excellent act especially to the kids. It shows the direction on how to solve conflicts and, therefore, provide a good lesson to our children. In the Sesame Street, the Big Bird who was being bullied by other fellows from the neighborhood birds, but later see the essence change of the behaviors after the Good Bird Club leader made fun about him. The change of behavior is a good example that should be copied by the kids, and, therefore, the lesson conveyed is good to the children. Viewing the televisions by kids may have consequences depending on the content of the material viewed. Therefore, as a good parent, there are regulations that should be put in place within the house to minimize the concentration on the television by the kids. One of the best rules is that kids should only be allowed to watch television only during the meal time and only if there are informative programs that would educate them. The maximum time spent on watching the television should be one hour a day apart from weekends. This is important and enables the child to concentrate on other important issues such as doing homework. In conclusion, violent acts viewed on television can create aggressive and violent characters in children. The primary objective of the study was to provide practical help concerning self-reported acquaintance and insight to television aggression and their apparent behavior. Individual’s characters can either be positive or negative aggression. In positive aggression, the behavior is not meant to harm any individual while negative aggression is harmful intention to individuals. Reference Bushman, B. J., & Cantor, J. (January 01, 2003). Media ratings for violence and sex. Implications for policymakers and parents. The American Psychologist, 58, 2, 130-41 Gerbner, G., Mowlana, H., & Schiller, H. I. (1996). Invisible Crises: What conglomerate control of media means for America and the world. Boulder, Colo: Westview Press. Read More