TELEVISION VOILENCE AND AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR

Television Violence and Aggressive Behavior



Television Violence and Aggressive Behavior

Definition of the problem

In many parts of the world, the impact of television violence on children has become a topic of interest since many years. The main question which arises while defining the problem is the impact of television violence on the children? There is no doubt an aggressive behavior is expected from children when they are exposed to Television Violence. The only thing which needs research is the extent of aggressive behavior in the children. Researchers agree that there is a bidirectional link rather than a linear link which gives an idea that it is better to understand the relationship between television violence, aggression and other individual environmental factors. The rate of violent crime in the whole world is increasing and more importantly young people are getting more involved in all the criminal activities. This particular development is going to be very harmful for the children in the future. This is quite alarming because aggressive behavior in childhood is good predictor of criminal behavior in adulthood. (Anderson, 1997)

TV violence is even greater than seen in society. Before entering school, child would have seen nearly 8,000 murders and 100,000 other violent acts. There are children from two to eleven years who spend an average of 28 hours per week watching television: it's more than any other activity except sleep. In the underdeveloped areas, it's even more since they have few opportunities to enjoy alternative recreational activities. Understanding the role of television in the development of aggressive behavior and how to mitigate its negative effects is needed. There are many countries such as US and UK whose law is quite cautious about the censorship of programming because researchers have different views about the importance of the impact of television. There are various authors who identified a multitude of topics on this subject. Many laboratory studies have shown that children who watched violent movie heroes imitated behavior and were more aggressive during their free time. The Correlation research has shown that aggressive behaviors are multi-determined and that the viewing of violent programs contributes significantly and independently of other variables. Longitudinal studies have revealed that preference for violent programming by the children is a good predictor of violent behavior when he or she will enter adulthood. The results of multiple investigations are consistent. It can be easily said that aggression and television violence are mutually determined, that is to say that the child chooses more aggressive and violent programming that maintains and increases its level of initial aggression. This particular phenomenon goes to the same direction according to developmental theories and theories of social-cognitive disorders. (Bandura, 1973)

According to the developmental perspective, aggression in children is the result of the interaction of internal factors (temperament, intelligence) and environmental (family, neighborhood, school). Early socialization experiences are critical to the learning of aggression as a means of resolving conflict with peers. The child who uses aggression behavior may obtain short-term outcomes of ...