Media and Society: Television - Essay Example

In the case of children, Chaves describes that children who have greater exposure to violent movies choose to play violent games whereas others who do not watch television do not follow the same pattern. This clearly indicates that there is a very strong relationship between a person's behavior and his exposure to media. To further evidence this Wilson's researches are also very useful. Wilson in his research has referred to the Social cognitive theory according to which a child learns and absorbs whatever he sees and is exposed to and modifies his behavior accordingly.

Wilson supported his statement by saying that children are really impressed by the superheroes and they try to act like them and as the superheroes have an aggressive behavior hence the children also do. These findings are even more supported by the experiments carried by Hussmann who collected two groups of children exposing one of them to violent movies whereas the other group was not. It was then analyzed that the children exposed to violent movies developed an aggressive behavior whereas the others did not (Wilson).

Media not only affects the behavior of a person but also his habits. Attractive advertisements of different foods attract a person and hence drive a person to eat different types of junk foods. Hence according to Chaves such exposure has led to greater instances of obesity. According to Chavez experiments, media has also played a role in the increased number of smokers belonging to all age groups. The different promotions in magazines, internet, and the televisions have grabbed the minds of many viewers and especially children who easily get fascinated while watching people they adore smoking and hence develop such habits themselves.

In a similar manner, this has also led to an increase in alcohol consumption and use of drugs. Though there is not much evidence to support the fact that media has also driven into early sexual activity but Chaves believed that this is also one of the negative impacts that the media has created.