FREE ESSAY ON INFLUENCE OF VIOLENCE ON CHILDREN

INFLUENCE OF VIOLENCE ON CHILDREN

Many children's television programs involve a substantial amount of violence in one form
or another. What impact if any, might these programs what impact, if any might these
programs have on the development of aggression?
Since the advent of television there has been growing concern about the apparent effects
of violence on the attitudes, values and behaviours of children. Much of the research has
focused on the effects of violence on television and aggression expressed by children.
Some researchers and theorists believe that violence on television is inextricably linked
to human aggression while do not believe a conclusive body of evidence exists to justify
this view. The debate surrounding whether violence on television influences children's
aggressive behaviour has typically occurred within a social learning framework. There
have been two major criticisms of the current debate. The first of these attacks
questions the validity of applying effects found in laboratory studies to the real-world.
More specifically, these criticisms address the artificial and unrealistic nature of the
laboratory evidence used to illustrate an effect between viewing violence on television
and expressed aggression in children. The second argument attacks the use of the social
learning framework as it ignores any evidence which might suggest a biological or genetic
component to human aggression. (eg Miles & Carrey, 1997). Social learning theory however
manages to successfully address these criticisms thus maintaining its status as the major
single theory used to explain the influence of viewing violent programs on children's
levels of aggression. (Neapolitan, 1981; Walter & Aubrey, 1971; Bandura, 1965 ;Berkowitz
& Alioto, 1973)
Social learning theory explains human behaviour in terms of continuous reciprocal
interaction between cognitive, behavioural and environmental influences of the
individual. A prominent proponent of social learning theory is Albert Bandura, The social
learning theory of Bandura emphasises the importance of observing and modelling the
behaviours, attitudes, and emotional reactions of others. Two basic principles are
involved in observational learning: acquisition and performance. Acquisition describes
the response by which the behaviour is learned through observation. Performance is the
process by which the observer acts out the newly learned response. Acquisition of a
behaviour however, does not automatically lead to its performance. Whether or not
aggressive behaviour acquired will be acted out depends on the perceived consequences of
the actors behaviour for the actor and the consequences of aggressing for the observer.
Furthermore, whether a learned aggressive response is performed depends, to some extent,
to whether the observer and/or actor is rewarded for doing so. 
The effect of reinforcement on aggressive behaviour has been illustrated by numerous
researchers, (Singer, Singer, Desmond, Hirsch & Nicol,1988; Sanson & Di Muccio, 1993;
Neapolitan, 1981). One of the most noted being a series of "bobo doll" studies conducted
by Bandura. In a 1965 Bandura study, children saw aggressive behaviour of a model being
either rewarded, punished or suffering no consequences. Children who observed a model
being punished subsequently had fewer imitative aggressive responses than did those who
saw the model rewarded or treated indifferently. Later, however, each child was offered a
reward for performing the response carried out earlier by the model. The addition of this
incentive cancelled out the effects on imitative aggression of reward and punishment of
the original model.
Children in all three treatment conditions had apparently learned the model's behaviour
equally well with reward acting as a facilitation for performance of these learned
responses. Other studies also illustrated that children are more likely to model
behaviour if they identified with the model and if the model had an admired status and
the behaviour expressed had a functional value. (Bandura, 1969)
These findings have direct bearing on the implications for the effect of violence shown
on television. In a recent study in the Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media
(1995), it was found that good characters, or heroes, commit 40% of violent acts; More
than one third of programs feature bad characters who aren't punished and physical
aggression that is condoned; and that more than 70% of aggressors show no remorse for
their violence and experience no criticisms or penalty when violence occurs. This
suggests, working within a social learning framework, that violence viewed on television
by children will result in increased levels of expressed aggression in children. Since
according to this theory it is under these conditions, where violence is seen as
desirable and unpunished, that modelling is most likely to occur.
Bandura's studies, amongst others, imply that environmental influences moderate and
control the expression of aggression. One of the most influential environmental
influences on a child's life is parental. A number of researchers are of the opinion that
that any negative effects imposed by viewing violence on television can be negated
through parental reinforcement . Singer, Singer, Desmond, Hirsch & Nicol (1988), found
that the effects of watching filmed violence are lessened if an adult is present to talk
over the content with the viewing child. The impcat is lessened by the parent encouraging
the children to be more analytic and critical in their viewing habits and therefore more
resistant to modelling behaviours. (Sanson & Di Muccio, 1993). It has also been shown
that parents increase aggression through the use of physical punishment and supporting
and encouraging such behaviour (Neapolitan, 1981). However, this evidence, while having
real impact on the realities of children's viewing habits, does not directly address the
existence of a link between children's viewing habits and aggressive behaviour.
In sum, according to the social learning theory, television violence has an impact on
expressed levels of aggression in children by the following proces; children learn to be
aggressive by watching actors on television and then model the actors aggressive
behaviours. Television violence can make children more accepting of aggressive behaviour,
that is, they become desensitised to the effects of violence (possibly through
habituation). (Lande, 1993). There is a corresponding increased acceptance of violence as
an appropriate means of conflict resolution (Collins, 1973). An Alternate way of
presenting this is that children learn new violent behaviours by encoding, rehearsing,
storing and retrieval of scripts for aggression (Hauseman & Erron, 1986). 
Criticisms
However, the studies proposing these models of increased aggressive behaviour have been
challenged on the basis of methodological problems. (Green, 1984, Cook, Kendziersky &
Thomas, 1983)
One of the major criticisms put forth by Freedman (1984) concerns the external validity
of laboratory experiments. (eg Bandura, 1965). He argues that the viewing environment set
up in experiments is artificial and cannot be generalised to real-world television
experiences. This is an important point since, as already mentioned, according to the
social learning theory a key determinant of the likelihood to model behaviour is the
extent to which a child can identify with a particular model. This is supported by
research illustrating an effect of realistically filmed violence on children's levels of
aggression and no effect when unrealistically filmed violence was viewed by children.
(Noble, 1973). An explanation for performance of modelled aggression during laboratory
experiments could be explained by experimental demands for imitation rather than
aggressiveness per se. Friedrich-Cofer and Huston maintain that although such demand may
occur, there is no evidence that it accounts for the effects of violent television. On
the contrary, their work found that violent television is more likely to produce
aggressive behaviour when the experimenter leaves the child alone than when the adult
remains during the test for aggression. (Stein & Friedrich, 1975).
It has also been argued that the stimuli used in laboratory experiments were not typical
of normal program viewing. Most children's television diet consists of pro-social as well
as aggressive models. It is therefore difficult to isolate the effects of violent
television programs on children. However, content analyses have shown that since 1968
there have been 5 or 6 incidents of violence per hour in prime television and 15 to 16
incidents per hour in cartoons (Signorielli, Gross, & Morgan, 1982)
This suggests that laboratory studies do not misrepresent levels of violence shown to
children in the real world. This concern is however legitimate and should be investigated
in further research. 
While concerns remain over the atypical nature of stimuli, strong arguments exist to
support the studies conducted within the social learning framework . Friedrich-Cofer, et
al., maintain that the potential biases in the laboratory method are both positive and
negative. On one hand, the effects of television violence could be magnified since the
effects of other variables are minimised (eg pro social models). On the other hand
however, effects could be underestimated as stimuli used in laboratory experiments are
brief and often less violent than the programs typically viewed on television. 
Researches have consistently shown a genetic influence on aggression. (Miles, & Carey,
1977; Carey, 1994; Bouchard, & McGue 1990). A potential weakness in research emphasising
the importance of environmental influences, such as television on aggression, is that
biological and genetic evidence could be ignored. From a biological perspective, it may
be that children who are predisposed to aggression watch violent television. That is,
there could be a bidirectional relationship between violence viewed on television and
levels of aggression in children. (Freedman, 1984). This perspective is consistent with
the arousal theory of human aggression. This states that aggressive individuals are
internally under aroused and therefore seek compensatory stimulation from their external
environment. It is this need for extra stimulation which leads the individual to become
more aggressive.
This criticism has been addressed by Friedrich-Cofer et al., on two levels. Firstly,
random assignment of subjects to treatments ensures that any differences shown between
groups are not a function of other unmeasurable variables such as naturally occurring
violent tendencies. Secondly, the theory and research supporting a bidirectional
relationship between television violence and aggression is consistent with social
learning theories which articulate the reciprocal effects of environmental variables and
qualities of the individual. (Mischel, 1979). Independent assessment of each direction of
causality supports the conclusion that there is a small though positive correlation
between viewing violent television and later aggressive behaviour (Fredrich-Cofer et
al.).
In conclusion, the weight of social learning theory and convergent evidence supports the
likelihood that television contributes to aggression in many children. 
Social learning is great
Should consider evidence presented with policy making and also maybe in terms of
behaviour modification.
Bibliography
References
Bandura, A(1965). Influence of models' reinforcement contingencies on the acquisition of
imitative responses. Journal of Personality and Social psychology, 1, 589-595.
Bandura, A. (1969). Principles of Behavior Modification. New York: Holt, Rinehart &
Winston.
Berkowitz, L., & Alioto, J. T.(1973) The meaning of an observed event as a determinant of
its aggressive consequences. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 28, 206-217.
Cofer, L. F. & Huston, A. C. (1986). Television violence and aggression: the debate
continues. Psychological Bulletin, 100, 364-371.
Collins, W. A. (1973). Effects of temporal separation between motivation, aggression and
consequences: A developmental study. Developmental Psychology, 8, 215-221.
Cook, T.D., Kendziersky, D., & Thomas, A. (1982). The implicit assumptions of television:
An analysis of the 1982 NIMH Report on Television and Behavior. Public Opinion Quarterly,
47, 161-201.
Drabman, R. S. & Thomas, M. H. (1974). Does media Violence increase children's toleration
of real life aggression? Developmental Psychology, 10, 418-421. 
Freedman, J. L. (1984). Effect of television violence on aggressiveness. Psychological
Bulletin, 96, 227-246.
Friedrick-Cofer, L., & Huston, A. C., (1986). Television Violence and Aggression: The
Debate Continues. Psychological Bulletin, 100, 364-371.
Lande, G. R., (1993) The Video Violence Debate. Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 44,
347-351.
Miles, D. R. & Carey, G. (1997). Genetic and environmental architecture of human
agression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72, 207-217.
Mischel, W. (1979). On the interface of cognition and personality: Beyond the
person-situation debate. American Psychologist, 34, 740-754.
Neapolitan, J. (1981). Parental influences on aggressive behaviour: a social learning
approach. Adolescence, 56, 833-840.
Noble, G. (1973). Effects of different forms of filmed agression on children's
constructive and destructive play. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 26,
54-59.
Sanson, A. & Muccio, C. D. (1993). The influence of aggressive and neutral cartoons and
toys on the behaviour of preschool children. Australian Psychologist, 28, 93-99.
Signorielli,N., Gross, L., & Morgan, M. (1982). Violence in television programs: Ten
years later. In D. Pearl, L. Bouthilet, & J. Lazar (Eds.), Television and behavior: Ten
years of scientific progress and implications for the eighties: Vol 2. Technical reviews
(pp. 158-173). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Stein, A. H., & Friedrich, L.K. (1975). Impact of television violence on children and
youth. In E. M. Hetherington (Ed.), Review of Child Development Research (Vol. 5, pp.
183-256). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.