My topic is television violence and how it effects children. I have found five references all dealing with this issue. I will give a brief summary and then an analysis on the references that I have chosen.The first reference that I will be talking about is a section from the book "Children and Television the One Eyed Monster". The section is called "Children's Perceptions of TV Violence". This section tries to justify whether children's perceptions of TV violence is different from an adults perception. A researcher named Van der Voort conducted a study at three schools in Holland to determine the children's perceptions of TV violence. Crime drama's were seen as realistic and were viewed w ...view middle of the document...
TV Guide tallied up 1,845 violent acts in every 18 hours of television viewing, one violent act per 36 seconds. (Lamson, 1995). There have been more violence recently and even more sources of violence such as cable, videos, broadcasts etc"¦Cartoons were proved as having the most violent scenes (471 in a day). Some people say that the impact of television violence is being exaggerated and that ratings of violent TV shows have gone down, forcing the networks to mainly show sitcoms. The other side of the coin is also shown in this section. They say that children would have seen 8000 murders and 10 0000 other violent acts by the time they finish elementary school (assuming they watch 2-4 hours daily). They say that the amount of television violence has stayed the same since over the past twenty years except cable TV may have even added to it. They say that the most violence in morning and afternoon TV is seen by children. Violence sells and generates large audiences.I found this section biased because it had shocking statistics but they seemed exaggerated. They don't prove that all the violent acts seen on cartoons are harmful. It just gives off the impression that they are very harmful. It did show both sides of the story however it seems to favor the side that says violence has increased and it harmful, without giving solid proof. It did not use emotional language.The third reference that I found is also from the book called "Television and Child Development" it is called "Television Violence as a Cause of Aggression". In this section it explains that researchers have found that television does increase aggressive behavior. It also states that TV violence decreases social behavior. Centerwall(1995) says that his research proved that television is responsible for doubling homicide rates ten to fifteen years after the television was introduced to the world. Other researchers Viemero and Paajanen (1990) found that TV can have two results. One, it can have a significant positive influence of boys however it can also have a bad influence provoking fear and aggression. This study wasn't as effective for girls. The researchers say that the more TV children watch, the more they fantasize about what they saw. They replay the scenes in their heads, which can lead to aggressive behavior. Paik and Comstock did a study that confirmed the idea that television violence is related to aggression and antisocial behavior. Media violence is associated with aggression towards friends, strangers and classmates, however the study wasn't consistent. They have reached a conclusion that there is a "causal relation" with TV violence and aggression however more studies are needed to view the long-term impact on TV violence.I found this reference a little bit repetitive. It seemed to mention the same things over and over without actually coming to as solid conclusion. This subject is obviously a controversial one because different researchers have different views....
