The Impact of Television Violence on Aggression in Children
Introduction
The latest example of school violence in the United States at Virginia Tech and the killing of Jordan Manners in Toronto demonstrate a new type of learning which is becoming increasingly popular. Children are learning from television that the easiest way to resolve personal problems and conflicts with others is through violence. Children learn very rapidly and they are exposed to numerous scenes of violence on television every day. To a lesser extent, children also learn from violence in video games. There seems to be a clear connection between increasing violence in schools and society generally, and the content of television programs. It also appears that the majority of parents do not believe that this continual exposure to violence is harmful to their children’s development. This attitude on the part of parents exists for many reasons (Browne & Hamilton-Giachritsis, 702). Many children imitate the aggression that they learn from television and such learning can lead to their becoming young offenders. At the same time, TV is “not merely “a one-eyed monster but can play an important role in children’s social and intellectual development” (Tulloch 111). Parents often do not realize that children are constantly exposed to violent programming while not having the ability to understand the nature of the violence. Many programs contain needless violence but parents tend to trust the media as being much more conscientious than is the case. There is a significant increase in children’s tendencies to aggression as a result of TV violence, which is demonstrated by social psychology research, the very strong evidence of longitudinal studies relating to children’s aggression, and evidence from other types of research.
Social Learning
Violence is increasing in schools and colleges all across North America, and our whole society is accepting of violence. Children learn rapidly...