Violence On Television example essay topic

A beautiful young girl is found dead, blood all over her face, wrapped in a plastic garbage bag. A mill goes up in flames, trapping two people who were lured there by the killer who hopes they burn to cinders. The bullet-ridden body of a detective lies on the floor, the deed done by a mysterious killer. A purported drug dealer is strangled to death; his body flailing and contorted with pain. Two people commit a brutal rape and leave the victim for dead. Why the fascination with violence?

The Amount of Violence on Television According to the renowned psychiatrist Karl Menninger, ' We not only tolerate violence it is part of our life. Why over one third of our television programs use it for amusement. There are more than 200 million television sets in America. The average American watches over seven hours a day.

For many children, this is more time than they spend in school. The world of television has been alternatively called entertainment and a vast wasteland. It serves as a model of the world around us. What kind of world does it depict?

The message is often one of violence. In 1973, the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Pennsylvania, devised a 'violence profile' to measure the amount of violence shown on television. The analysts watched over 33 hours of entertainment programs in a sample week and monitored specific acts of violence. The results indicated that some violence was contained in 70 percent of the programs! The violence could be categorized into three types: - Violence for its own sake - Overtly graphic views of brutality and human suffering - The portrayal of anti-social behavior Later studies found that even shows specifically geared towards children have violence in them. Cartoons averaged eight episodes of violence a show.

The Effect of Television Violence on Children What effect does television have? Television acts as a cross-cultural influence cutting across nationalities and class. It gives people with different values and background common information. Because of the immediacy of the message, it is often seen as another member of the family. What a person sees in terms of images is bound to have an impact on their beliefs and attitudes.

Concern about violence on television began in the earliest days of the medium in the late 1940's. Killings and violence were staples of the early television shows, which featured cowboys and Indians, cops and robbers, detectives and murders. As television became more popular, the rivalry for ratings led to more violence. Of major concern was the fact that children were watching TV much later then anyone had predicted and more often. Children were being exposed to more violence then ever before. The first television code written in 1951 had a paragraph on violence in the section of children's programming.

There was to be no violence for violence sake and it was never to be shown in an attractive light. Unfortunately, the admonition was not heeded. In 1954 and 1955, television was considered a factor in a Senate Juvenile Delinquency Subcommittee. The report issued by the subcommittee said it was unable to find a direct and casual relationship between viewing violence on television and any criminal behavior. However, it found programming in large doses could be potentially harmful to young viewers.

Since then, study after study has been conducted with controversial results that add to the debate. By 1964, another Senate Subcommittee found that television content produced anti social behavior among juveniles. This report charged that television was becoming a school for violence. Concern continued and a landmark three year study was conducted by the government that commissioned 23 different projects on the effects of television violence.

The report was issued through the Surgeon General and it concluded that television viewing could indeed be dangerous to one's health. One study continued the experiments of the Bobo doll studies. Some children were shown a segment of a television program, which had not only commercials but also a chase, two fist fights, two shootings and a knifing. Other children were shown the same commercials but a sports event instead of the violence. The children were then lead to an 'aggression machine'. Each child in the experiment was given twenty opportunities to press a button that would either help another child or hurt him.

In reality there was no other child. The results indicated that those children who saw the violent show were more likely to be aggressive and push the hurt button then those children who viewed the neutral button. Moreover, researches could also predict which children would actually be more aggressive. The children's facial expressions were watched to see how they reacted to the program.

There were no consistent correlations for either violent or non-violent viewing for girls. However with boys it was a different story. Boys who showed pleasure or happiness during the violent action sequences were more inclined to press the hurt button. Researches concluded that in order to understand the effects of televised violence on aggression the child's emotional reaction to the violence had to be considered. Data collected by the government study was used in other experiments through out the country. An independent study conducted by the University of North Carolina looked at the effects of television in a natural setting.

Children at nursery school were observed playing and were rated for their aggressive behavior - kicking, hitting, choking and throwing objects at another child. The children were placed in pairs according to the amount of television they watched. One member from each pair was then shown an aggressive television show on 11 different occasions. In every matched pair, the child who saw the more violent show became more aggressive then his partner. A longer term study conducted by Chaffee-McLeod-Atkins from Wisconsin looked at three sets of factors. These included adolescent aggression, television viewing and the family's social environment such as punishment, affection and communication patterns.

The Wisconsin researchers found a number of items correlating television viewing with aggressive behavior. They also found that children who did poorly in school were more likely to watch violent television and approve of aggressive behavior. Surprisingly socioeconomic status was not a clear predictor of violence viewing and agg reside behavior as previous research had suggested. A long term study 10 years later using new data and existing data from the Surgeon General's report confirmed some of these findings. This study asked does violent television really affect young children when school activities or the home environment balances them out? Er on and Lefkowitz found among boys that the measure of a child's aggressiveness depended more on the amount and kinds of violence seen on television then on school achievement or socioeconomic status.

Mounting evidence during the 70's indicated there was a strong connection between children's viewing of television violence and their subsequent aggressiveness, whether immediately afterwards or years later. Certain conclusions were made: television could be and often was instructional as regards behavior patterns, it could and sometimes did produce children's imitation of behaviors learned, it could affect attitudes and it could correct attitudes and behaviors. Studies in the 80's continued to support these conclusions. One of the most chilling findings related to ' copy cat' crimes.

A study by ABC indicated that TV programs suggest 22% of crimes committed by juveniles. His lawyer saying the child got the idea from television defended one nine year old accused of robbing a bank with a toy gun. Results from a study conducted by the Foundation for Child Development found that heavy viewing children were more fearful for the world and more likely to have bad dreams then children who watched less television. The Annenberg School of Communication confirmed these findings.

They found that children who watched a lot of television had an exaggerated sense of danger and mistrust. Another problem children have is the confusion of real life with television life. Teachers report that first, second and third graders assume much of what they see to be on television is real and true. This adds to their anxiety. Studies have found this stress causes nightmares, bedwetting and increased illness in children. One study found that 37% of children reported having unwanted memories of violence and horror from which they could not free themselves.

Violence in television has been found to affect social attitudes as well. A study conducted by Yale University found that children who were the most prejudiced against black children were those who watched more violent programs. Other studies have found that children who were heavy television watchers were less imaginative and less successful in their relationships as well. There is some solutions turn off the TV or get v-chip. The V-Chip reads information encoded in the rated program and blocks programs from the set based upon the rating selected by the parent.

This rating chart is taken directly from: web View Level Audience V (Violence) 0 E none 1 G comedic 2 PG mild 3 A brief 4 R violence 5 graphic (Exempt) Includes sports, documentaries, news etc. G (General Audience) Suitable viewing for all ages. PG (Parental Guidance advised below 13 years of age) Themes may not be suitable for children. May contain strong violence, coarse language, mature themes and / or suggestive scenes. A (Suitable for 16 years of age and older) Parents are strongly cautioned. Those under 16 should view with an adult.

Will likely contain graphic violence, vulgar language, and / or full nudity. R (Restricted to 18 years of age and older) Content not suitable for those under 18 years of age. Contains graphic or gory violence, foul language and / or sexual activity. Violence 1. Comedic: Generally this would apply to any program in which the violence is clearly dealt with in a comedic manner. The key criteria here is that there is violence, i. e., fistfights, gun battles, etc. but no one gets hurt and the viewer is not meant to take it seriously.

Often this will mean that the violence is exaggerated or spoofed. It is important to note that just because a program may be considered a comedy, it doesn't necessarily mean that any violence in it is comedic. The violent acts must be judged on their own. 2. Mild: This would be a program with a low-level of violence; fist fights / slapping / hitting / slugging /hold-ups / gun -shot wounds for example. The fact that there is some violence should be noted for viewers; however this is not hard-core, non-stop action with violent deaths.

3. Brief violence: This classification would apply to programs that may only have one or two short scenes of violence. Nevertheless the viewer should be made aware of this; it will not be mild violence because neither the violent act nor its consequences were mild... for example someone may have died as a result of the violence. If there are more than two or three brief scenes of violence then it should have a higher classification. 4.

Violence: This would be any program where one of the dominant elements is violence. It means that the violence is pervasive and an integral part of the story. Basically, if the violence isn't mild and it isn't brief, then it should receive this advisory. 5. Graphic: This is violence that leaves nothing to the imagination. This classification does not pertain to how many such scenes there are in a program nor how briefly it is shown on screen.

If it is graphic, the viewer should be so advised. Examples include guts spilling out... decapitation... impalement... bodies being blown up... throats being sliced... close-ups / slow motion shots of gun wounds, etc. The key definition is, as previously stated, that the violence leaves nothing to the imagination... you see it all. Often the viewer's reaction is an involuntary grimace or a 'yeah' response! In conclusion please regulate what children watch on TV.

Its there is proof of significant amount of damage to be done to our fragile youth. Get info on the v-chip or just turn it off!

Bibliography

Bailey, Ronald. Violence and Aggression. New York: Time Life Books, 1976.
Carter, Douglass, and Stephen Strickland. TV Violence and The Child. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1979.
Gillen, Todd. Watching Television. New York: Pantheon Books, 1986.
Singer, Dorothy, Jerome Singer, and Diane Zuckerman. Teaching Television. New York: Dial Press, 1981.
Turchscherer, Pamela. TV Interactive Toys, The New High Tech Threat To Children. Bend, OR: Pinar oo Publishing, 1988.
Wilkens, John. Breaking the TV Habit. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1982.
Media awareness network, web 2000.