Violence On Children Essays - Dispute Resolution,

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 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 Sanson 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