Does Exposure to Violence Lead to Violent Behaviour - Assignment Example

Does exposure to violence lead to violent behaviour? Abstract This paper discusses the ways in which exposure to violence affects children and young adults. These include physiological arousal, community and environmental influences, and social learning. Because children are still developing cognitively, they are not able to reason abstractly like adults do and so physiological arousal is a very important factor. It is thus dealt with in the most depth in this paper. In terms of intervention and prevention, children must be protected from witnessing violence whether in real life or the media. In addition they need to be given the chance to discuss with adults (such as community psychologists, parents and teachers) how they feel and what it means when they do see scenes of violence. Introduction In this paper I will discuss some of the research about whether children and young adults are affected by witnessing violence. My main concern as a community psychologist working with adolescents and young adults is to know whether or not I should recommend that they stop watching violent movies or playing violent video games. I will review the research findings and then give my conclusion about this. When reviewing the research literature about the effect of exposure to violence, there are some key issues that come out of the studies. I will discuss each of these points in turn. I will look first at the most physical levels, namely genetics and neurological arousal, then I will look at environmental influences, and finally at social learning. Genetics This category includes the person’s brain and nervous system functioning as well as their genetics. Some studies have shown that a tendency to be violent, or to be victimised by violence, runs in families. For example, twin studies have shown that twins who share all of their genetic makeup (monozygotic) are more similar on these traits than twins who share only half of their genes (dizygotic) (Hines & Saudino, 2009). Other studies have shown that close relatives are more similar in these traits than distant relatives, and the similarity still shows up even when the relatives have been raised in different home environments, such as in adoptive homes (Hines & Saudino, 2009). In this way the influence of home environment and parenting styles can be separated out from the genetic influence. Despite the effect of other influences, there can be no doubt that genetics do play a role in predisposing some people towards violence (Loeber & Pardini, 2008; Hines & Saudino, 2009). There has been some evidence that males and females react differently when it comes to a tendency to be violent because of being exposed to violence (Loeber & Pardini, 2008; Browne & Hamilton-Giachristis, 2005). Most of the studies reviewed in this paper used samples that were both male and female. In general males are more inclined to be aggressive, which is linked to their higher levels of testosterone (Reber, 1985). They are also physically stronger so their violent tendencies may be more dangerous to victims. One study also found that men become desensitised to violence more quickly than women (Browne & Hamilton-Giachristis, 2005). The question of whether both genders are affected in the same way by exposure to violence is a separate issue. The answer from the research seems to be that females as well as males are more inclined to be violent after witnessing violence (Huesmann & Kirwil, 2007; Greitemeyer, 2009; Anderson & Bushman, 2001). Although fewer women are violent than men to start off with, women are still affected in the same way as men. One question which most researchers do not look at is why the level of violence may change over the course of the same person’s lifetime (Loeber & Pardini, 2008). For example children with violent tendencies typically become more delinquent during adolescence, but then the level drops back down in early adulthood and changes again later in the lifetime. These longitudinal studies show that neurobiology is not as fixed as we may think it is. A person’s temperament or genetics may not be constant, and the state of nervous system arousal is not constant. It is therefore important to understand what others factors may interact with physiology or biology (Loeber & Pardini, 2008; Hines & Saudino, 2009).). Neurological arousal The other aspect of biology which comes up repeatedly in the research literature is that of neurological arousal. This is what happens when a person is highly stimulated by being exposed to a very emotional stimulus. Violence is one stimulus by which most people get very emotionally aroused. It could be that this is related to people’s levels of stress hormones such as adrenalin. This puts you into a state of emotional and physiological arousal and gears one for action like hitting or running away (Anderson & Bushman, 2001; Browne & Hamilton-Giachristis, 2005; Bushman & Huesmann, 2006; Huesmann & Kirwil, 2007). Another highly arousing stimulus for a child is rough-and-tumble play with their father. One very interesting study has examined the effect of whether a father takes a dominant or submissive role with his child during such play. Children whose fathers were dominant had a better chance of growing up to be less aggressive or violent, while children whose fathers submitted (to the child) grew up to become more violent and less self-controlled. The reason is that a dominant father can contain the child’s arousal and model ways of learning to control oneself (Flanders, Simard, Paquette et a.l, 2009). The research has consistently found that it makes no difference whether the violence is happening in real life or on a movie, TV or video screen (Anderson & Bushman, 2001; Browne & Hamilton-Giachristis, 2005; Bushman & Huesmann, 2006; Huesmann & Kirwil, 2007). The response of becoming highly aroused is the same in each case. Being in this state of high arousal will make people act more violently or aggressively. Some of the things used to measure a person’s level of physical arousal are skin conductivity and pulse rate. Interestingly there have also been several studies that have found that some people who are prone to violent behaviour actually seem to be under-aroused by seeing violence. There are different theories about this. One of the main explanations is that these people do not experience the same kind of fear that normal people do, so they do not feel inhibited by the kinds of things that inhibit normal people. For example most people are shocked and distressed by the sight of blood or injury. These low-arousal subjects, on the other hand, don’t seem to be as badly affected, they are less sensitive. This also means they have less empathy for the victims. This may be why they are less inhibited when it comes to carrying out acts of violence themselves (Loeber & Pardini, 2008; Hines & Saudino, 2009). It also appears from the research that repeated exposure to violence makes a person less sensitive to violence. This means they don’t react as strongly to scenes of violence, and they may also be less inhibited about behaving in violent ways themselves (Huesmann & Kirwil, 2007; Loeber & Pardini, 2008; Bushman & Huesmann, 2006). It becomes a normal way of life for them. One of the main debates in the area of arousal and neurobiology is about how long the effect lasts after one has been exposed to a violent scene (Busghman & Huesman, 2006). Some of the findings are inconsistent, while others suggest that the effect lasts only a short time in adults but a longer time in children. In other words, straight after seeing a violent movie or video game, adults will be more inclined to behave violently themselves (Browne & Hamilton-Giachristis, 2005; Anderson & Bushman, 2001). Children are more permanently affected because of social learning. The environmental level Environmental influences which affect how aggressive or violent a child becomes are many. They include the home, school, on the streets, in places like video game arcades, and in more extreme cases gangs. Some communities present the child with more exposure to violence, both in real life (e.g. witnessing crimes) and in the media (TV, movies, video games etc) while others are more protected (Loeber & Pardini, 2008). Many children are allowed to watch violent movies and TV or play violent video games without parental guidance (Browne & Hamilton-Giachristis, 2005; Anderson & Bushman, 2001). These children are more at risk for becoming violent, because of social learning and arousal. In other communities the children may still be exposed to violence but they are helped to deal with it because the adults discuss these events with them (Loeber & Pardini, 2008; Browne & Hamilton-Giachristis, 2005). One thing that is still not clear from the research is whether children with violent tendencies choose to mix with friends who are also violent, and choose to watch more violent movies and video games (Hines & Saudino, 2009). It is not yet known whether such children are more aggressive because they have higher exposure to violence, or whether they choose to have higher exposure to violence because they are already more aggressive than most children. The reason this is unclear is that the research looks at correlations rather than causes. In other words, it shows what factors are associated with violence, but it cannot say for sure that the one actually caused the other. Social learning This is the last level which I will discuss and it interacts with the previous two levels. It is a very important factor, but given the limited scope of this paper it is not possible to discuss it in great detail here. A lot of research shows that children who are exposed to violence learn by imitation (Huesmann & Kirwil, 2007; Anderson & Bushman, 2001; Bushman & Huesmann, 2006). They see someone else doing something violent and this teaches them that it is an acceptable way to solve conflict. It could be one of their parents hitting the other parent, or it could be a superhero in a video. The risk of the child imitating these violent patterns of behaviour is higher if they identify with the perpetrator and see the actions as being justifiable, and if they see some kind of reward taking place which reinforces the violence (e.g. the person gets their own way and gets what they wanted). It makes no difference whether they are watching violence in real life or in the media (Huesmann & Kirwil, 2007; Anderson & Bushman, 2001; Bushman & Huesmann, 2006). Some studies have shown that children with less intelligence are more prone to becoming violent (Huesmann & Kirwil, 2007; Loeber & Pardini, 2008). It is hard to know what the reason for this is. It could be that these children are educationally deprived, for example if their parents do not stimulate them intellectually when they are very young. The same set of circumstances may mean that the same child is growing up in a more violent culture or community, where people get what they want by force rather than a more educated approach to life. Once again it is easier to show the correlations between a tendency to violence and a lower IQ, but this does not necessarily mean that a low IQ actually causes more violent behaviour (Huesmann & Kirwil, 2007; Loeber & Pardini, 2008). The most important aspect of the cognitive level is that a child who is exposed to a lot of violence is more likely to think about the world as a dangerous place, a hostile place in which one has to be violent in order to survive. Conclusion In this paper I have discussed three key ways in which witnessing violent events affects children and young adults. I paid particular attention to the physiological level because children are very susceptible in this area. They have not yet fully developed their cognitive skills, which means that social learning theories (which focus heavily on cognition) cannot explain the whole picture alone. As a community psychologist, if I was dealing with children or teenagers who have aggressive or violent tendencies, it would be very important to find out whether they are being exposed to violence. It could be that their parents are violent towards each other or the child is seeing the activity of gangs in the area, or it could be that they sit and watch a lot of violent movies or play violent video games. I would intervene on two levels, firstly by trying to limit the child’s exposure to violence. This is done in the same way that one would not expose a child to toxins, medication or pornography. Secondly I would talk with the child about how they experience violent events which they have witnessed. It is impossible to protect them from all violent exposure, so listening and counselling become very important. You can also go into schools to talk to children as a group about the problem of violence and how it affects them. By doing this, you are giving children a way of dealing with the events which no-one can protect them from. In this way, you help them to learn a skill which will strengthen them for the rest of their lives. References Anderson, CA & Bushman, BJ (2001). ‘Effects of Violent Video Games on Aggressive Behavior, Aggressive Cognition, Aggressive Affect, Physiological Arousal, and Prosocial Behavior: A Meta-Analytic Review of the Scientific Literature’ Psychological Science 12 (5): 353; American Psychological Society Kevin D Browne, KD & Hamilton-Giachritsis, C (2005). The influence of violent media on children and adolescents: a public-health approach. The Lancet, 365; Feb 19-25, 2005; www.thelancet.com 9460. p 702 Bushman, B. J., & Huesmann, L. R. (2006). ‘Short-term and long-term effects of violent media on aggression in children and adults.’ Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 160(4), 348-52. Flanders, JL, Simard, M, Paquette, D, Parent, S, Vitaro, F, Pihl, RO and Séguin, JR. (2010). ‘Rough-and-Tumble Play and the Development of Physical Aggression and Emotion Regulation: A Five-Year Follow-Up Study’. Journal of family Violence. 357-367 . DOI 10.1007/s10896-009-9297-5. Published online: 28 November 2009 # Springer Science Business Media, LLC 2009. Greitemeyer, T. (2009) interpersonal relations and group processes: Effects of Prosocial Video Games on Prosocial Behavior {I can’t find the rest of the details for this article – please add them in} Hines, D. A., & Saudino, K. J. (2009). How much variance in psychological and physical aggression is predicted by genetics? In K. D. O'Leary, & E. M. Woodin (Eds.), Psychological and Physical Aggression in Couples: Causes and Interventions (pp. 141-162). Washington, DC, US: American Psychological Association, US. Huesmann, L. R., & Kirwil, L. (2007). ‘Why observing violence increases the risk of violent behavior by the observer.’ Chapter 28 in D. J. Flannery, A. T. Vazsonyi, I. D. Waldman (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Violent Behavior and Aggression (pp. 545-570). New York, US: Cambridge University Press. Loeber, R & Pardini, D (2008). ‘Neurobiology and the development of violence: common assumptions and controversies’. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society 363, 2491–2503. Published online 23 April 2008. The Royal Society Reber, S.S (1985). Dictionary of Psychology. London, Penguin Read More