Children And Television Violence example essay topic

When you turn on the TV on Saturday morning to watch cartoons, statistics show that on average you will view at least twenty to twenty-five acts of violence per hour (Murray). During prime time you will view about five violent acts per hour (Murray). I define violence as any violent act. This can be as minor as one person hitting another, or as serious as murder. People are constantly saying that there is too much violence on TV and that it is negatively affecting our kids.

This has been proven to be true that TV violence does have a negative impact, but the question is exactly what are the effects. The media has gone so far as to blame crimes, like the shooting at Columbine High School on television violence. I believe that there is quite a bit of violence on TV, and that it does have an effect on society in particular on children's behavior, but I do not believe that TV is to blame for all violence. Questions and Hypotheses What are the effects of television and film violence on children?

Firstly, children are less likely to cooperate and share and are more aggressive. Secondly, children become desensitized to violence and are therefore more likely to commit violent acts when they become older. Thirdly, children dont understand the consequences of violence and learn to accept violence as a way to solve problems Children are less likely to cooperate and share and are more aggressive. When looking at this hypothesis, I read an article on the Internet called Children and Television Violence by John P. Murray, a professor and the Director of the School of Family Studies and Human Services at Kansas State University. In this article it talked about a study that was conducted with children enrolled in a special nursery school at Pennsylvania State University.

The children were broken up into three groups, and each group was assigned a specific type of television program to watch. One group was assigned to watch Batman and Superman cartoons, another was assigned to watch Mister Rogers Neighborhood, and the third group was assigned to watch shows that were neither violent nor pro social. Each group watched 12 half hour shows of the show that they had been assigned. The researchers observed that the children that had viewed the batman cartoons were much more active, and were more apt to get into fights with each other. They also did not cooperate and share with the other children as well as the children that had watched Mister Rogers. The children that watched Mister Rogers Neighborhood not only cooperated more, but they were more aware of others needs and even offered to help the teacher on occasion.

The children that viewed the neither violent nor pro social shows were not more aggressive or helpful. I thought this study was interesting because it really showed how just one television show could make such a difference in a child's behavior and whether or not they cooperated and shared with others. In addition to reading Children and Television Violence I also read Impact of Televised Violence by the same author. In this article they talked about an experiment conducted where they interviewed boys and girls ages 9 to 13. They gave them a scenario where they were riding their bike, and another person came up and pushed them off their bike. They asked them how they would react giving them options from trying to reduce conflict to yelling or hitting the other child.

Researchers found that 45 percent of the heavy violence television viewers chose aggressive responses. While only 21 percent of light violence viewers chose the same response. The experiment again suggests that viewing television violence can lead to less cooperative and aggressive behavior. Hypothesis: Children become desensitized to violence and are therefore more likely to commit violent acts when they become older When looking into this hypothesis I came across the transcripts from a PBS interview, which aired on February 8, 1996 with Dale Kunkel of the University of California Santa Barbara and Winston Cox of the National Cable Television Association. The simple fact that violence is often portrayed with out consequences worries them. When violence is shown, it rarely describes or includes any depictions of long-term negative consequences, stated Dale Kunkel.

Another concern is that oftentimes the victims of the violence do not depict pain or harm and do not demonstrate that violence hurts. In 47 percent of all violent acts shown the victims do not become harmed in any way, and in 73 percent of violent scenes the perpetrators suffer no consequences (Kunkel).