SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

Social Psychology: Television Violence and its Contribution to Aggression of Children

Social psychologists take violence as a great concern since it is creating a negative impact on the mental conditions of the young generation. In the United States, children watch television shows that comprise 60% of violence in any form, and even 40% of them consist of substantial violence (Huesmann, 2007). Even the video games that are a form of entertainment for kids are now involving violence that is exciting to play and arouses emotions of aggression. This paper aims to highlight the issue of television violence and its contribution to childrens aggression along the lines of social learning theory.

According to researchers, aggression means the behavior that inherits the intention of harming another person. In contrast, violent behavior is the kind of behavior that inflicts harm to others to the extent that the victim might need serious medical attention (Anderson, 2016). The type of media violence that shows in which the characters kill each other, harm one another, or say bad words to people around them, the young generation is directly affected by this behavior, deeming it mostly cool and modern.

The short-term and long-term impacts of television or media violence have been under study for ages. Short term effects include immediate copying of the aggressive action that has been recently watched on the television, heightened exciting behavior that is not evident in normal routine, the ways of childs thinking and emotions could be relevant to aggressive behaviors and learning by observing similar attitudes deeming it is beneficial (Anderson, 2016). The results of one of such studies revealed that short-term effects also include priming, arousal, and mimicry (Huesmann, 2007). Priming could be considered a form of excitement created from one stimulus within the brain to another, traveling along with the brain nodes for cognition, behavior, and feelings. For instance, the vision of a gun can arouse feelings of aggression just by watching the weapon. The second short-term, arousal, provokes emotion on impulsive terms, which could be risky for a young mind. Arousal of anger, for example, of a villain is hitting the hero would not be useful for a young mindset, even if it is in a cartoon movie. Also, the third form, mimicry, is the humans natural tendency to mimic someone they have seen or observed recently, such as children do about their class teacher funnily. The same behavioral pattern could be repeated after watching television shows containing violent actions.

On the other hand, long-term effects could be evident up to three years, comprising being frequently involved in physical fights (Anderson, 2016). Long-term effects also include social cognitive learning that is evident from the said theory. The theory deciphers that the children in their childhood days observe their family members, friends, and community people, even those they see on television (Huesmann, 2007). Social, behavioral change is brought due to changes in cognitive schemas that they observe in the world they live in, which stands true for television and media. Therefore, the extensive contact with violence in television and media would not be valuable for the childs upbringing. The inappropriate behaviors reflected in aggression and violence on television shows would be crystalized within their childhood behaviors, inside their brains that would be lingering onto their maturity years, limiting them to cat acceptably within their social circle.

Additionally, when negative emotions are watched or experienced repeatedly, such as watching a killing scene several times in various movies, the sensitivity level to that violence decreases, making it a normal routine for the viewer as it would no longer create an effect on his mind....

…while watching violent scenes, leading to the desensitization factor. Rather, they believed it was alright to be engaged in violent behavior sometimes. The type of aggressive behaviors they were engaged in at schools included verbal and physical fights three to five times.

Special studies have been conducted for the children who already have a medical background for behavioral and emotional difficulties (BED), causing a rise in public and medical concerns. One of such investigations was based on children aged 7 to 11 years having challenging antisocial behaviors, problems resulting from aggression, disruptive moods, and hyperactivity issues (Mitrofan et al., 2014). The study was considered interesting in terms of another aspect that demographic factors were also taken into account for an aggressive display of behaviors resulting from media violence. For example, children who belonged to low-average income families showed higher scores in the use of weapons and aggression measures. Initiation of verbal aggression and physical fights were also observed. Even children studying in secondary schools and obtaining higher levels of formal education living with lone parents exhibited greater scores on violence and use of weapons.

In conclusion, despite age-appropriate programs on television and mentioning age limits onvideo games, the children are still being exposed to the most violent form of content that is not useful for their social, behavioral, and psychological conditioning. The adverse effects are most likely to linger on to adulthood, causing problems in their careers and family lives. Children distinguish between the fiction and human-like characters showing aggression; however, it is upon our childcare model. That combination of inner and environmental care should be given to the children, specifically those experiencing BED. The children should be given enough awareness about normalization and desensitization of violent behaviors for eliminating barriers to treating childrens complex mental health complications and consequent burden on…