IMMEDIATE EFFECTS:
Children watching a lot of violence on television are less aroused than those who watch only a little. For example, children who have finished watching violent films are less likely to call for help when they see younger children fighting. Another study (Huston et al, 1992) showed that children watching violent cartoons were more likely to hit out, argue, disobey rules, and leave tasks unfinished compared to children who watched non-violent TV.
FUTURE BEHAVIOUR:
Eron (1987) did a longitudinal study and found a significant positive correlation between the amount of aggression viewed at age 8 and later at age 30 – children who had watched a lot of TV at 8 years old was more likely to break the law.
Philips (1986) has found correlations between highly publicised incidents of aggression, such as murder, boxing matches, and the number of corresponding incidents in society at large.
Correlation is not causation however.
FURTHER RESEARCH:
Bandura’s experiments showed that aggressive behaviour could be learnt and imitated from live, filmed or cartoon role models. It has been shown that violent programmes results in an increase in aggression in children (Liebert & Baron, 1972) but laboratory experiments may be too artificial.
Field experiments have higher ecological validity than lab experiments. Parke et al. (1977) showed that aggression in delinquent boys rises if they watch violent films at home. No change in aggressive behaviour is observed if they view non-violent films.
Natural experiments show that the introduction of televisions to a town increases the aggressive behaviour of the inhabitants (Joy et al., 1986). However, it is not possible to be sure that the change in behaviour was a result of violence on television.
Yet most scientists say children learn aggressive behaviour from TV but parents can moderate the behaviour by limiting the amount of hours they watch, discussing violent incidents and exploring non-violent solutions with their children. People are also able to distinguish what is real and isn’t – TV lacks mundane realism therefore murders become desensitised.
LINK TO SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY:
Social Learning Theory states that aggression is learned through reinforcement of direct experiences and imitation of aggressive models, such as parents, peers or even TV/film characters. Aggressive behaviours may not be imitated simply because they have been learned - vicarious reinforcement is required.
Support for this comes from studies using large, inflatable “Bobo dolls”: Children were more likely to behave aggressively towards the doll if they had observed an adult hitting and throwing the doll (Bandura et al., 1963), particularly if they had seen the adult being rewarded for the behaviour (Bandura, 1965).
When looking at the Social Learning Theory, it was also claimed that children also model for example, their parents. Therefore it is suggested that parents can do something to reduce the likelihood of their children modeling on TV aggression - e.g. suggesting alternative (non- violent) solutions to problems being portrayed on TV.
MEDIA INFLUENCES ON PRO-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR:
According to some researchers, media violence may have a positive effect on behaviour:
The cathartic effect of television violence may only be true for certain personality types, particularly imaginative and fantasy-prone people (Singer, 1989).
Evidence exists that pro-social behaviours can be learned from observing positive role models on television, especially if the models are rewarded for their behaviour. In fact, it seems that the influence of television on pro-social behaviour is stronger than antisocial behaviour (Hearold, 1986). This may be because programme makers try to get across pro-social messages, which is not the case for anti-social behaviours.
