Children's Adaptation to Media Violence

Manuel, ReiouRegie

English 10 WFR7

Report - Initial Draft

Children's Adaptation to Media Violence

Media violence is often seen as itself a form of violence against children, committed by adults whose only motivation is that of financial greed. According to many campaigners, it represents a form of electronic child abuse, which is all but indistinguishable from physical abuse and 〖"cruelty." 〗^"1"

This has been the primary cause of what is seen as a rising tide of youth crime. Imitative violence is largely arising among the children as they "copy what they see on television and see only through the illusion of reality which the medium provides" (Buckingham).As they are more exposed in fictional violence, they tend to cope with it and apply it in real-life situations. Violence involved on such issues make them more anxious, thus, unfortunately, unconsciously adapting to these, leading to a growing number of violent accidents in home, school and community.

Violence on television, for example, may have behavioural effects - for example, in leading to aggression, or in encouraging people to take steps to protect themselves. It may have emotional effects - for example, producing shock, disgust or excitement. And it may have ideological or attitudinal effects - for example, by encouraging viewers to believe that they are more likely to be victimized by particular kinds of people, or in particular kinds of situations, and hence that specific forms of legislation or social policy are necessary to prevent this. These different levels of 'effect' might be related - emotional responses might lead to certain kinds of behaviour, for example - but the connections between them are likely to be complex and diverse.^2

Bandura et alii (1963b) establish experimentally that children who saw aggressive behaviour rewarded in a film tended sooner to imitate this behaviour than children who had seen the model punished. He did an experiment by showing short film versions in children: A boy playing with attractive toys; then, a second boy trying to borrow these but rejected by the former. This rejection led to a physical, verbal and aggressive violent reaction. Vengeful scenes followed, showing violence that is not a suitable action for children.

Children who are exposed to this kind of media are inclined to imitate what they saw and believe that they are doing the right thing. They found the model behaviour interesting by experiencing "enormous fun imitating the model behaviours".Social media touched children's hearts virtually and greatly affects their personality. The closer to reality models are, the more they are imitated (Kunczik 1994, 100).

Studies have shown that children who viewed the most violent programs