by Barbara Frazier,
M.S.W.
One has only to turn on the TV to observe the growing proliferation
of violent and aggressive content in today's media. A regular offering
includes daytime talk shows, some of which are characterized by
blatant emotional, psychological, and physical abuse by panel guests
toward each other. WCW (World Champion Wrestling) is viewed by a
growing number of Americans, many of whom include young children
and adolescents who watch along side of their parents. Network news
is littered with graphic renderings of murders, kidnappings, traffic
accidents, international war scenes, and the like of which violence
is the key component. Prime time TV sports a number of shows that
promote violence as a sanctioned means for settling conflicts. The
good guys kill the bad guys, most often with an arsenal of weaponry
that has become a commonplace possession for today's TV characters.
How does all of this affect our children? What do we know about
the impact of TV violence on our children's values, attitudes, and
behavior? Actually, we know a lot. There is a growing body of research
that has tackled these very questions, and the results are in. TV
violence can negatively effect our children on a number of levels.
Let's begin with some general statistics, and then I will review
the main research that has been conducted along with their findings.
STATISTICS
The Nielson
data collected in 1993 reveals that the American child watches TV
21 to 23 hours per week. On the average this includes about 2½
hours per day for children up to the age of five, about 4 hours
per day for children between the ages of five and twelve, and then
viewing drops off to 2 to 3 hours during adolescence. Furthermore,
98% of American households have TVs, making television the single
most important source of media in the lives of children and adolescents.
In terms of violent content, prime time portrays 3 to 5 violent
acts per hour, and children's Saturday morning programming offers
20 to 25 violent acts per hour. According to a report from the American
Psychiatric Association (1996), adolescents will have viewed 16,000
simulated murders and 200,000 acts of violence by the age of 18.
Worse yet, the current portrayal of violence is highly graphic and
realistic, offering anatomically detailed simulations of killings,
maiming, and other physically violent acts. At the same time, violent
acts go unpunished 73% of the time. The "good guy" is
often the perpetrator of violence, which sends the message that
violence is justified and a viable method for dealing with problems.
PRIMARY EFFECTS
OF TV VIOLENCE
The research
on the effects of TV violence have been summarized by the National
Institute of Mental Health (1982): " . . . violence on television
does lead to aggressive behavior by children and teenagers who watch
the programs. This conclusion is based on laboratory experiments
and on field studies. Not all children become aggressive, of course,
but the correlations between violence and aggression are positive."
NIMH goes on to say that there are two other deleterious effects
of TV violence on children. One is that chronic exposure to violent
depictions can cause desensitization to violence. This means that
children may become more willing to accept violence from others
as well as perpetrate violent acts themselves. Secondly, overexposure
to violence, and particularly realistically portrayed violence,
may lead children to believe that the world is primarily a dangerous
and unsafe place. They may begin to overestimate the possibility
that they will be victims of violence, leaving them with undue anxiety
and stress.
RESEARCH FINDINGS
There are a number of studies that have linked the viewing of TV
violence with aggressive behavior. One of the earliest and most
well-known studies was conducted by Bandura in 1963. He had a group
of children view a TV video of a model who kicked and punished an
inflated plastic doll. After the viewing, the children were placed
in a playroom with other children who had not seen the video. Those
that saw the video displayed significantly more aggressive behavior
than those who didn't. A second study (Liebert & Baron, 1972)
confirmed Bandura's findings. This study investigated children's
willingness to hurt other children after viewing aggressive TV programs.
Two groups of children watched a different TV program, one of which
had aggressive content and one of which was neutral. Those who saw
the aggressive program (The Untouchables) were found to be more
willing to hurt another child after viewing the program than those
who watched the neutral program (a track race). Several other studies
found that the same held true for viewing violent cartoons, and
additionally that children were less likely to share their toys
after viewing violent cartoons. One of the most convincing studies
compared the incidence of aggressive behavior among children both
before and two years after TV was introduced into the Canadian community
where they resided (Joy, Kimball, Zabrack ,1986; Williams, 1986).
There was a significant increase in both physical and verbal aggression
after two years of viewing TV. What's important about this study
is that it was easier to isolate the variable being tested, which
was the effect of TV, since television had never previously been
available to these children.
Other studies
have focused more on the question as to whether all children have
the same reactions to TV violence. For a long time, it was believed
that only certain types of children and adolescents were adversely
affected by violent programming. These are termed high trait aggressive
individuals, or those whose personalities are characterized by aggressive
tendencies. These children seem to be aroused (or excited) by aggression.
As such, they seek out aggressive television programming more than
other children and are at the same time more prone to be adversely
effected by viewing it. In fact, high aggression children view action
and adventure TV programming four times as often as low aggression
children (Singer & Singer, 1986). These same children have also
been found to be more prone to aggressive behavior toward other
kids as a result of viewing televised violence.
Most researchers agree that aggressive children and adolescents
are more prone to the negative effects of TV violence than those
who are not aggressive. However, many studies such as the Canadian
study show that all children are susceptible to harm from exposure
to TV violence.
Moreover, the
harm is much greater for children who are preadolescent, especially
those younger than eight years of age. This is because children
younger than eight still may have some difficulty in separating
fantasy from reality. Further, these children have not yet developed
enough abstract thinking to be able to evaluate what they see and
measure it against reality. They are more in what I call the "sponge"
stage. That is, they tend to soak up what they are exposed to rather
than analyze and evaluate their exposure and experience. One study
was able to make an important link between heavy viewing of TV violence
by 8-year-olds with serious criminal behavior by the same group
at the age of 30 (Huesmann, Eron, Lefkowitz & Walder, 1984).
At the same time, this correlation did not hold true for 18-year-olds
who preferred TV violence, i. e., the 18-year-old group did not
display any significant increase in aggressive behavior resulting
from viewing violent programming. This study verifies that younger
children are likely to experience more profound negative effects
from viewing TV violence, especially a steady diet of it, than are
older teens who have some capacity for evaluating what they see
and for distinguishing fantasy from reality.
The final finding
has do to with the effects of chronic exposure to TV violence as
opposed to the occasional viewing. According to a study conducted
by Bushman (1998), it has been found that when we view violent programming,
we store in memory a perceptual and cognitive representation of
the event. That means we can draw it up in our thoughts, and also
visually. Then when we are in a real situation that is similar to
the memory we have stored (the violent vignette we saw on TV), that
memory is activated and the memory or script becomes available to
us. This fits in with the research on 8 year-old-boys. At a much
later age, the violent vignettes they had stored in their memories
were pulled up and activated when they were adults and influenced
their behavior. They were in fact more aggressive. Bushman's research
takes this a step further. He believes that chronic exposure to
TV violence results in chronic accessibility to these stored memories,
which he calls "primed aggressive constructs." In other
words, the more exposure to TV violence, and the younger the child,
the more harm done.
WHAT PARENTS
CAN DO
In trying to
decide what steps to take to protect your children from the negative
effects of TV violence, it is important to realize that in today's
modern culture they will be exposed to a certain amount of this
type of programming even if they don't see it at home. So we must
adjust ourselves to that reality and figure out what can be done
in view of that. We suggest the following:
- Try and restrict
television time to one or two hours per day, however, keep in
mind that quantity is not as much an issue as quality. In other
words, it's what is watched more than how much is watched that
is most important.
- Preview ahead
programs that your kids want to watch and make an informed decision
as to whether they are appropriate or not.
- Substitute
your children's favorite videos for network programming. Most
kids like to watch favorite videos repeatedly.
- Frankly discuss
any violent content with your children. Be sure that they have
a firm grasp on the difference between fantasy and reality. Focus
on the suffering caused by violence as opposed to messages that
portray violence as acceptable. Research has found that one of
the best ways of avoiding the negative effects of TV violence
on children is to involve them in discussions about how children
can be fooled or hurt by what they see on television.
- Encourage
viewing of pro-social and educational TV programming. Some research
suggests that viewing television programs that enhance learning,
teach moral lessons, and model caring behavior (such as Mister
Rogers' Neighborhood) can be a positive influence.
- Find alternatives
to watching TV. Encourage reading, participation in sports or
extracurricular activities, or simply more creative play that
occurs when the TV is off.
- Don't use
television as a babysitter. This is sometimes hard, especially
for working parents. It's quite tempting to sit kids in front
of the TV so you can get dinner on the table, or attend to chores
that need to be done, or even have a few moments to yourself.
Be sure that the TV viewing is going to be a positive experience
for your child no matter what the circumstances.
- Finally,
and this is probably the most important one - you want to be sure
that you have a close relationship with your child that is nurturing
and caring. You must spend adequate positive time together. Also,
take the time to teach the values you want them to internalize.
Help them learn to solve problems and conflicts through nonviolent
means and effective communication. Children who have strong attachments
to their parents, and feel loved and secure in those relationships,
are much less likely to be negatively effected by television than
those who feel isolated and neglected. Be sure that you are the
primary influence in your child's development rather that the
TV.
________________________________________________________________________
AC Nielsen Company (1993). 1992-1993 Report on Television.
New York, NY: Nielsen Media Research.
Bandura, A.,
Ross, D., & Ross, S. H. (1963). Imitation of film-mediated aggressive
models, Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 66 (1),
3-11.
Bushman, B.
(1995). Priming effects of media violence on the accessibility of
aggressive constructs in memory. Personality & Social Psychology
Bulletin, 24 (5), 537-549.
Huesmann, L.
R. & Eron, L. D., Lefkowitz, M. M., & Walder, L. O. (1984).
Stability of aggression over time and generations. Developmental
Psychology, 20, 1120-1134.
Joy, L. A.,
Kimball, M. & Zabrack, M. L. (1986). Television exposure and
children's aggressive behavior. In T. M. Williams (ed.) The Impact
of Television: A Natural Experiment Involving Three Towns. New
York: Academic Press.
Liebert, R.
M. & Baron, R. A. (1972). Short term effects of television aggression
on children's aggressive behavior. In G. A. Comstock, E. A. Rubinstein,
& J. P. Murray (eds.) Television and Social Behavior, vol.
2, Television and Social Learning. Washington, DC: United States
Government Printing Office.
National Institute
of Mental Health (1982). Television and behavior: Ten years of scientific
progress and implications for the eighties (vol. 1), Summary report.
Washington, DC: United Sates Government Printing Office.
|
