The Impact of Toxic Media on the Infants Psyche and Actions - Research Paper Example

Can Violence In The Media Influence Young Children And Cause Them To Emulate What They See? RESEARCH QUESTION This paper seeks to establish whether violence in the media can influence young children and cause them to emulate what they see. This research will seek to relate the research question the cultural and historical themes discussed during the first part of this unit. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES This research will seek to establish a strong correlation between media violence and aggressive behavior where prolonged exposure to violence in television, movies, video games, cell phones, and on the internet increases the risk of being more likely to display aggressive behaviour among children in the short-term and the long-term. This aims at showing how televised violence results to aggressive behavior and how young children will imitate aggressive acts on TV in their play with peers. The research has an objective of showing how children may view violence as an ordinary occurrence or as a fact and be tempted to use violent means to solve problems. Indeed, the research also seeks to show how children lose their ability to empathize with both the victim and the victimizer after continued exposure to violent media. The research also seeks to use academic literature to review the impact of media violence as seen on violent video games on young children. In doing so, I will use personal interviews with parents and juvenile delinquents. I will also carry out an experimental study and criterion scores to analyze how violent video games influenced violent and general aggression among children. I will carry out a quantitative analysis of the parent/guardian, and teacher/staff reports on children behaviors screened over a five-month period (December 2013- April 2014) in our local school. LITERATURE REVIEW According to Huesmann (2009), most researchers refer to media violence as “visual portrayals of acts of physical aggression by one human or human-like character against another.” Nevertheless, it is worth noting that this definition and the effects of media violence has evolved with time and portrays an aim to define the type of media violence exposure that can influence the viewer to develop aggressive behaviors. To this effect, the study refers to violent movies and violent television programs that have been available to most children for many years. The study reckons that such movies include the Maltese Falcon, Dirty Harry, Natural Born Killers, and Kill Bill while violent TV programs include Gun smoke and Miami Vice (Huesmann, 2009). According to Huesmann (2009), various researches confirm that, “exposure to violence in television, movies, video games, cell phones, and on the internet increases the risk of violent behavior on the viewer’s part just as growing up in an environment filled with real violence increases the risk of them behaving violently.” Indeed, the study analyzes how exposure to violence leads to adverse effects in the short-term and long-term. This helps in creating an understanding on how media violence influences children. To cement the significance of the “media violence effect,” the study compares it with popular threats in the society (Huesmann, 2009). The study notes that the “media violence effect” emanates from radio, television, movies, videos, video games, cell phones, and computer networks that have significant effect on the children’s daily lives (Huesmann, 2009). Indeed, this study confirms that media violence influences the beliefs, values, behaviors of the young children who seemingly enjoy this exposure (Huesmann, 2009). The study seeks to explain these effects by categorizing them into short term and long-term effects of exposure to media violence. Notably, many theorists claim that priming processes, arousal processes, and the immediate mimicking of specific behaviors foster the short-term effects of exposure to media violence on children (Huesmann, 2009). This explains how media violence exposure causes children to emulate what they see. On the other hand, they believe that more lasting observational learning of cognitions and behaviors, activation, and desensitization of emotional processes enhance the long-term effects of exposure to media violence on children (Huesmann, 2009). However, it is clear that long-term effects of exposure to media violence are more prominent among young children. Nevertheless, it is common knowledge that people derive diverse effects from what they observe on the media. As such, the study reckons that reliable research confirm that situational characteristics of the presentation including how well it attracts and sustains attention, personal characteristics of the viewer, and characteristics of the physical and human context in which the children are exposed to violence define the effects of media violence on individual children (Huesmann, 2009). The study concludes that even initially unaggressive children become aggressive after the exposure on media violence. Huesmann et al (2009) argue that there is good reference on the long-term development and short-term expression of aggressive behavior resulting from exposure to violence in the media. Nevertheless, the study notes that there exists a gap in literature on the influence of violent media exposure in shaping violent and other serious antisocial behavior (Huesmann et al, 2009). To address this gap, the study used criterion scores to explore violent media and its relation to violence and general aggression (Huesmann et al, 2009). Conveniently, the study established that childhood and adolescent violent media preferences lead to the prediction and development of aggression among individuals. Qayyum et al (2013) seeks to explore the parents’ perceptions on the exposure to violent television programs and its effect on siblings’ aggressive behavior. The authors agree that mass media draws huge influence on various aspects in the society. Indeed, the authors argue that mass media is a vehicle of mass culture that play a fundamental role in creating, shaping, and promoting consumerist culture (Qayyum et al, 2013). According to the study, cultural patterns of behavior and bringing up the changes in standardization, habits, verbal rules, and tastes emanate from the advancement and adoption of mass media (Qayyum et al, 2013). Children are prone to the effects of media violence since they are very curious, active, and explore all media avenues that derive meaning. This emanates from the fact that mass media depicts violence as the remedy to all societal problems thus encouraging children to rely on it. This perception promotes the acceptance of violence on television by the siblings. The study reckons that in most cases, action and violent television programs fascinate children as they find such actions entertaining. Moreover, the children assume that action and violent television programs provide an insightful understanding on the moral and social problems of the adult world (Qayyum et al, 2013). In asserting this position, the study refers to various theories that include the cultivation theory, the cognitive theory, the magic built theory, and the social learning theory that establish that children having more exposure to television programs tend to learn what they have seen and adopt behavior that they watched (Qayyum et al, 2013). In investigating, the effects of violent television programs on children the researchers used a non-probability sampling the actual method to conduct a study on 100 parents of the siblings in Lahore district (Qayyum et al, 2013). The study established that there might be other reasons that cause sibling aggressive behavior and clashes between them apart from the media violence exposure (Qayyum et al, 2013). The listed theories in this study explain the other factors that cause sibling aggressive behavior and clashes between them. According to the American Psychological Association (2014), early research on the effects of viewing violence on television-especially among children-found a desensitizing effect and the potential for aggression. This emanated from the quest by parents, teachers, legislators, and mental health professionals to explore the significance of the emergence of television and the influence of television programs on young children. The American Psychological Association (2014) reckons such a quest will enhance a better understanding of the research problem. The major point of concern in this source is the aspect of violent media among children. This study explores the works of psychologist Albert Bandura who discussed social learning in relation to the tendency of children to imitate what they see (American Psychological Association, 2014). This study equally quotes the formation of the Surgeon General's Scientific Advisory Committee on Television and Social Behavior that was established in 1969 with an aim of assessing the influence of violence on the attitudes, values and behavior of viewers especially children (American Psychological Association, 2014). The study documents the findings of the National Institute of Mental Health report of 1982, which establishes the major effects of watching acts of violence on television. The report asserts that exposure to media violence makes the children lose their ability to identify and empathize with the pain and suffering of both the victim and the victimizer. The report also derived that violent media exposure leads to a sense of fear of the environment among children (American Psychological Association, 2014). Ultimately, the National Institute of Mental Health report established that children are more likely to develop aggressive or harmful behaviors upon the continued exposure to media violence. This relates to the research question and objectives. Moreover, the American Psychological Association (2014) reckons that the National Institute of Mental Health report correlates with the findings of psychologists L. Rowell Huesmann and Leonard Eron who derived that children exposed to long hours of media or television violence in their elementary schools are more likely to portray higher levels of aggressive behavior upon reaching their adolescence. Ideally, not all aggressive children choose to watch more violent TV when they became adolescents. This leads the study to conclude that watching violent television programs enhances the development of aggressive behavior. This finding correlates with the assertions of a research by psychologists Douglas Gentile and Brad Bushman who established that the exposure to media violence is one of the factors that foster aggressive behavior among children (American Psychological Association, 2014). This study quotes other research that found that exposure to media violence can desensitize people to violence in the real world and that, for some people, watching violence in the media becomes enjoyable and does not result in the anxious arousal (American Psychological Association, 2014). This source addresses media violence by addressing the video game technology that supports violent media exposure. The study argues that there are very few empirical studies of video game violence as compared to other forms of media violence (American Psychological Association, 2014). However, the study quotes several meta-analytic reviews that derive adverse effects of continued exposure to violent video games. Indeed, the study quotes a 2010 review by psychologist Craig A. Anderson and others that ascertained that exposure to violent video games is a causal risk factor for increased aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, and aggressive affect (American Psychological Association, 2014). Worth noting, Beresin (2014) appreciates the existence of violence as a societal problem by arguing that violence is common in the human race. Beresin (2014) argues that the availability of firearms and the development of complex violent behaviors derive significant effects in the society. The author supports his position on the magnitude of violent behaviors in elementary schools by quoting the recent school shootings and the rising levels of youth homicides in the society (Beresin, 2014). The author argues that there is enough research literature that confirms that media violence exposure among children plays a significant part in the formation of violent behavior among young children. Indeed, various researches establish a strong correlation between media violence and aggressive behavior among children and adolescents (Beresin, 2014). Beresin (2014) argues that longitudinal, cross-sectional, and experimental studies have all confirmed this correlation. Indeed, the author of this study refers to the extensive research relating to the relationship between media violence and aggressive behavior among children and adolescents. According to this study, more than 50 % of all children in America have television sets in their bedrooms where they can view violent programs in absence of parental supervision (Beresin, 2014). The author argues that children spend more time watching violent programs than studying. According to Beresin (2014), a typical American child views about 200,000 acts of violence before reaching adolescence (Beresin, 2014). This confirms that violent acts dominate the mindset of most children. The study notes that various researchers derived that very young children will mostly imitate aggressive acts on TV as they play with their friends (Beresin, 2014). As such, media violence influences the basic life of many children. The study reckons that before age four, children are likely to consider violence as a norm in the society since they lack the capacity to differentiate between fact and fantasy (Beresin, 2014). Indeed, children who experience television violence are likely to accept violence as a fact and lose their capacity to sympathize with the victim or victimizer. The study details others forms of media violence that can influence the life of a young child. Indeed, Beresin (2014) argues that a recent study demonstrated that 15% of music videos contain interpersonal violence (Beresin, 2014). The study also quotes access to the internet and video games as significant sources of media violence among young children. Because of this prevalence, the author recommends that physicians should advice parents and teachers to seek media literacy with an aim of reducing the children’s exposure to media violence and helping the children to interpret the media. On the other hand, Lemmens et al (2010) seeks to divulge the effects of pathological gaming on aggressive behavior. In doing so, the authors confirm that there is a correlation between pathological involvement with computer or video games and excessive gaming binges and aggressive behavior (Lemmens et al, 2010). To support their assertion, the researchers carried out a two-wave panel study on pathological involvement among different groups of people. The study established that increased levels of pathological gaming predicted an increase in time spent playing games, which equally increases physical aggression (Lemmens et al, 2010). However, it is worth noting that the higher levels of pathological gaming mostly influenced boys where they became more aggressive. This assertion is quite relevant to this research since we can derive that the pathological gaming effect only applies to boys since they are the dominant players of violent games and prone to pathological involvement (Lemmens et al, 2010). Hence, the argument that pathological gaming predicts an increase in time spent playing games, which equally increases physical aggression is valid. The study by Lemmens et al (2010) quotes other studies that confirm that a small group of boys spends a lot of time playing games, which portray pathological involvement. Notably, pathological behaviors that define aggressiveness include preoccupation, withdrawal, loss of control, and interpersonal or intrapersonal conflicts (Lemmens et al, 2010). As such, this study establishes the effects of pathological gaming on aggressive behavior. Moreover, a study by Deanne et al (2010) sought to establish the potential effects of television commercial violence on children. The study argues that previous researches proved that a significant amount of television ads targeted at children have violent content (Deanne et al, 2010). Nevertheless, the study establishes literature gaps on the potential adverse effects of television commercial violence on children. The parents and children who participated in this study were wary of the potential adverse effects of violence in television ads. Ideally, the study notes that ads with violent content derive aggressive cognitions among children aged between ages 8 to 12 (Deanne et al, 2010). The study established that the response of children to ads with violent content depends on the developmental stage of a child where older children had the capacity to process ad information compared to younger children (Deanne et al, 2010). Indeed, the study noted that even brief exposures to violent content in television ads or films might lead to the development of aggressive behaviors and aggressive personality traits among children (Deanne et al, 2010). This assertion relates to the findings of trusted research that depict repeated exposure to media violence as the cause of changes in children's knowledge structures regarding aggression (Deanne et al, 2010). Nevertheless, the study appreciates contrary findings from other authors that suggest that the effects of media violence do not apply universally among the children. Indeed, the study argues that media violence has the capacity to allow children manifest their frustrations and aggression without harming their peers and offer a secure environment for the children to practice unacceptable activities (Deanne et al, 2010). As such, many studies confirm that media violence is one of the fundamental factors that influence young children and cause them to emulate what they see. References American Psychological Association. (2014). Violence in the Media — Psychologists Study TV and Video Game Violence for Potential Harmful Effects. Retrieved from: http://www.apa.org/research/action/protect.aspx Beresin, E. (2014). The Impact of Media Violence on Children and Adolescents: Opportunities for Clinical Interventions. Retrieved from: http://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Medical_Students_and_Residents/Mentorship_Matters/DevelopMentor/The_Impact_of_Media_Violence_on_Children_and_Adolescents_Opportunities_for_Clinical_Interventions.aspx Boxer, P., Huesmann, L. R., Bushman, B. J., O'Brien, M., & Moceri, D. (2009). The role of violent media preference in cumulative developmental risk for violence and general aggression. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 38(3), 417-28. Brocato, E. D., Gentile, D. A., Laczniak, R. N., Maier, J. A., & Ji-Song, M. (2010). TELEVISION COMMERCIAL VIOLENCE: Potential effects on children. Journal of Advertising, 39(4), 95-107. Huesmann, L. (2009). The Impact of Electronic Media Violence: Scientific Theory and Research. Journal of Adolescent Health, 41(6 Suppl 1), 6–13. Lemmens, J. S., Valkenburg, P. M., & Peter, J. (2011). The effects of pathological gaming on aggressive behavior. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 40(1), 38-47. Qayyum, S., Malik, N., Mian Muhammad, A. I., Haq, N. A., & Malik, M. S. (2013). Exposure to violent television programs and its effect on siblings aggressive behavior: Parents' perceptions. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 4(7). Read More