TV VIOLENCE & PRESCHOOL CHILDREN.   Term Paper ID:19897 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Analyzes six studies & their relevance to Bandura's modeling theory on aggression.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Analyzes six studies & their relevance to Bandura's modeling theory on aggression. Paper Introduction: This research will examine six studies concerned with the impact of television violence on preschool children. An analysis will be made as to how these studies are relevant to Bandura's modeling theory on aggression (Bandura, Ross, & Ross, 1961) and as to how these findings apply in preschool classrooms. The first study, the Montreal Longitudinal Study of Disruptive Boys (Tremblay, et al., 1991), was designed to understand boys who were considered disruptive in kindergarten. One aspect of the study involved assessing effects of a preventive treatment program carried out during the boys' early years in primary school. Disruptive boys were randomly assigned to a treated group and two nontreated groups. Treatment consisted of parent training and training of boys for social skills, fantasy play, and television viewing. After assessing a Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Another important concept advanced by these studies, however, hasbeen that child-oriented television viewing negatively influences familysocialization (Brody et al., 198 ). Subjects in theaggressive condition also displayed more partially imitative and non-imitative aggressive behavior and were generally less inhibited in theirbehavior than subjects in the non-aggressive condition. Half the subjects in the experimental conditionsobserved same sex models, and half viewed models of the opposite sex.Subjects were then tested for the amount of imitative as well as non-imitative aggression performed in a new situation in the absence of models. The data also suggeststhat the younger children's errors in perception reflect a failure todifferentiate conceptually between television images and their referentobjects, rather than a conviction that real objects populate televisionsets. 473) it was found that gender differences in visual attention werestrong, with the boys being more visually attentive to television than thegirls. In these experiments (Bandura et al, 1961, p. The age and sex of the child are other factors. (1986). 1991, pp. 235) advanced several hypotheses: abused children would report viewingmore hours of television than non-abused children; abused children wouldidentify more violent programs as favorites than non-abused children;abused children would identify more violent or aggressive favoritetelevision characters than non-abused children; and abused children wouldbe less able to identify normal or admired television families than non-abused children. Based on Bandura's theories, other researchers (Donohue et al., 1988,p. Treated boys reported that in the year afterthe study ended they were less likely to be fighting outside the home andin the home. In the study that focused on gender differences (Alvarez et al.,1988, p. Can disruptive boys be helped to become competent? Additionally, this difference was particularly marked onhighly masculine-typed behavior. Transmission of aggression through imitation of aggressive models. Theseeffects, however, were not immediately present but took place a year ormore after the study ended. Aggression: A Social Learning Analysis. Youngerpreschool children tend to think of objects seen on television as real, butafter repeated viewing, they soon learn that objects on the screen cannotbe touched or modified. The study which focused on whether children think of televisionimages as real objects (Flavell et al., 199 ) is relevant to Bandura'shypotheses because it found that the younger the preschool children are,the more they will interpret television images as physically real objects.While it might be argued, from Bandura's point of view, that the youngerpreschool children are, the more they would be inclined to imitate violentcharacters on the screen, that was not the hypothesis advanced in thisstudy. Regardless of programtype, this study revealed that families who do not rely on television havemore positive socialization patterns than those who do. After assessing a child's fantasy play habits andtelevision preferences, training was introduced in the child's home withhis siblings. The reasons for this were unclear.It may be that violence viewing stimulates aggression (Bandura, 1973). For half of this period, the child in each family selected atelevision program. The Montreal Longitudinal Study (Tremblay et al. Twenty-seven families were observed for 2 minutes in a familiar living roomsetting. Therewas no discernable difference in the behavior of the mothers during eitheractivity. Bandura's study on how aggression is modeled (Bandura et al., 1961,p. Researchers also concluded thattheir findings may underestimate the importance of violence because, forethical reasons, relatively nonviolent programs were used and these did notrepresent the variations available on children's home televisions. One experimental groupobserved aggressive adult models, a second group observed inhibitednonaggressive models, while subjects in a control group had no priorexposure to the models. (1984). What they found was that abused children watchedsignificantly more television than non-abused children. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 9, 459-475.Bandura, A. The results of this study revealed that subjects exposed toaggressive models reproduced a good deal of aggression resembling that ofthe models and that their mean scores differed notably from those ofsubjects in the nonaggressive and control groups. The impact of television's role models on physically abused childrenwas the subject of another study (Donohue, Henke, & Morgan, 1988). Gender differences in visual attention to television form and content. Family Relations,29, 216-22 .Donohue, T.R., Henke, L.L., & Morgan, L.A. Girls, however, had a higher auditory attention. The basis for thesex difference was less clear. Four-year-olds gave clear evidence of making merepictorial representations of objects, whereas three-year-olds interpretedthese images as real, physically present objects. While it may be unrealistic forfamilies to disallow all television viewing, it is important to note thatin this study more interaction among fathers, mothers, and children andbetween children and their parents occurred when the families relied ontoys, magazines, and newspapers for entertainment. This effect would be reflected in adifference between the non-aggressive and the control groups, with subjectsin the control groups displaying significantly more aggression. 157-158)reinforces some of Bandura's findings. Also, as shown in the Montreal Longitudinal Studyof Disruptive Boys (Tremblay et al., 1991), a change in the televisionviewing habits of disruptive boys can lead to less aggressive behavior. Results revealed, thatduring television viewing, children were less responsive to their parents,talked less, and were less active. There is, however,not enough evidence to suggest that a reliance on violent programs wouldfurther strain family socialization patterns. (1961). It was found that abused children watched significantlymore television than non-abused children and reported being allowed towatch as much as they wished more often than non-abused children. Television violence has been identified as one factor increasing thelikelihood of aggressive behavior, but this violence does not produce asimple, unidirectional causal effect on aggressive behavior. The study found that when three-year-olds viewed a televisionprogram, while they did not actually believe the object images they saw onthe screen were real objects located inside the set, they could not easilyshow that they did not believe that because they were unable toconceptually distinguish images from their referents. (199 ). Effects of televisionviewing on family interactions: An observational study. Naturalistic studies of the long term effects of television violence. The third study considered in this research (Turner et al., 1986,p.p. An analysis will be made as tohow these studies are relevant to Bandura's modeling theory on aggression(Bandura, Ross, & Ross, 1961) and as to how these findings apply inpreschool classrooms. Girls are less likely than boys to respond toviolent programs. Changes in television viewinghabits for boys in the treated group had some positive effects. EnglewoodCliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.Bandura A., Ross, D., & Ross, S. Results showed that those boys in the treated group werereported less for fighting in school but that their mothers saw moreinattention and disruptive behavior in their sons than did the mothers inthe nontreated groups. (199 ). Since aggression is a highly masculine-typedbehavior, boys were looked at as more predisposed than girls to imitatingaggression, with the difference being most marked for subjects exposed tothe male aggressive model. Alternatively, certaincharacteristics of a child's environment might make both aggressivebehavior and television violence viewing more likely, producing anartificial correlation. Program attributes such as violence andanimation were probably more appealing to boys than to girls and mayaccount for a small part of the difference. To determine the extentthat the children identified with television role models, specificsituations were described and each child was asked to project the behaviorof himself, his parents, a best friend, and a favorite televisioncharacter. Males' greater visualattention did not typically lead to greater recall of content. Imitation was found to be differentially influenced by the sex of themodel, with boys showing more aggression than girls after exposure to themale model. Thishypothesis assumed that subjects had learned imitative behavior as a resultof prior reinforcement. 51). (198 ). (1981) The social cognitivedevelopment of abused children. The content of the training for fantasy play favored activeparticipation and prosocial alternatives to the expression of aggression.The television training program offered themes such as types of televisioncontent, the use of special effects, violence on television, and how tomake choices. It found, thatregardless of the content of the television program, television viewinginterfered with family socialization. Surprisingly, despite their increasedtelevision viewing time, abused children were less likely to nametelevision families and individual characters. Television wasused as a means of avoiding interaction between abusing parents and theirchildren. The Brody, Stoneman, and Sanders study (198 ) addressed howtelevision viewing influenced socialization within the family, rather thanthe relationship of television to aggressive behavior. Psychiatry, 54, 148- 159.Turner, C.W., Hesse, B. Finally,this research found that abused children identify more violent programs asfavorites, corroborating research findings that report positivecorrelations between viewing of violent television programs and aggressivebehavior (Bandura et al., 1961). (1973). The preponderance of evidence as shown in the studies discussed inthis research supports both the concept that the transmission of aggressionthough imitation of aggressive models is a tendency in preschool children(Bandura et al., 1961) and the concept that aggression is a complexphenomenon. Disruptive boys were randomlyassigned to a treated group and two nontreated groups. Researchers in this study found that television produces a long-term increase in aggressive behavior. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 63, 575-582.Barahal, R.M., Wateman, J., & Martin, H.P. While viewing violenttelevision programs can instigate or intensify subsequent aggression,researchers have found that aggressive individuals are likely to watch moreviolence than non-aggressive individuals (Huesmann, Lagerspetz, & Eron,1984; Singer, Singer, & Rapaczynski, 1984). Treatment consistedof parent training and training of boys for social skills, fantasy play,and television viewing. (1988). Doyoung children think of television images as pictures or real objects?Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 34, 399-419.Huesmann, L.R., Eron, L.D., Lefkowitz, M.M., & Walder, L.O. In thisstudy, physically abused children's perceptions of television programs werecompared to perceptions of non-abused children. Despitetheir higher viewing levels, abused children were less able than non-abusedchildren to name television families and individual characters. The study also anticipated that observation ofsubdued non-aggressive models would have a generalized inhibiting effect onthe subjects' subsequent behavior. In the second study, Gender Differences in Visual Attention toTelevision Form and Content (Alvarez, Huston, Wright, & Kerkman, 1988),formal features--such as rapid action, dialogue, and animation--and contentvariables--such as violence, theme, and sex of characters--were analyzed aspossible determinants of gender differences in children's televisionviewing. 51-53)) supports Bandura's argument, at least concerning the behaviorof boys. For the remaining time, the families were free tointeract with toys, magazines, and newspapers. Journal of Communication, 34, 73- 89. The last study concerns itself with how television viewing influencessocialization within the family (Brody, Stoneman, & Sanders, 198 ). This supported previousresearch which documents the retarded social cognitive development ofabused children (Barahal, Wateman, & Martin, 1981) and suggested thatabused children's desire to avoid painful emotional attachments extends toan inability to identify or sympathize with significant others. More researchstill needs to be completed in this field. Developmental Psychology, 2 , 746-775.Singer, J.L., Singer, D.G., & Rapaczysnki, W.S. 575) looked for evidence that subjects exposed to aggressive modelswould reproduce aggressive acts resembling those of their models. From this information it follows that television violence produces along-term increase in the aggressive behavior of boys but not of girls(Turner et al., 1986). Journal of Social Issues, 42, 51-73.----------------------- 3 (1988). The third study, Naturalistic Studies of the Long Term Effects ofTelevision Violence (Turner, Hesse, & Peterson-Lewis, 1986), summarizesfindings from a number of quasi-experimental studies about the effects ofnaturally occurring media violence. Children were also asked to describe the right thing to do ineach situation. Child Study Journal, 19, 233-246.Flavell, J.H., Flavell, E.R., Green, F.L., & Korfmacher, J.E. Additionally, the home life ofthe child is also a factor. (1984).Stability of aggression over time and generations. Journal of Consulting and ClinicalPsychology, 49, 5 8-516.Brody, G.H., Stoneman, Z., & Sanders, A.K. There wassome support for the belief that violent content and animation appeals moreto boys than girls. 582), 24 preschoolchildren were assigned to each of three conditions. Hypotheseswere also made concerning the influence of the sex of the model and the sexof the subjects on imitation. One aspect of the study involvedassessing effects of a preventive treatment program carried out during theboys' early years in primary school. Numerous antecedent and consequent factors cause and maintainthese behaviors (Turner et al., 1986, p. Abusedchildren also identified more violent programs as favorites and were lesslikely to identify an aggressive adult television character they disliked.Additionally, non-abused children reported more consistency in theirresponses of what significant others in their lives would do in specificsituations and what was the right thing to do. This research will examine six studies concerned with the impact oftelevision violence on preschool children. ReferencesAlvarez, M.M., Huston, A.C., Wright, J.C., & Kerman D.D. The first study, the Montreal Longitudinal Study of Disruptive Boys(Tremblay, et al., 1991), was designed to understand boys who wereconsidered disruptive in kindergarten. Additionally, the emotional detachment which abused childrenadopt as a survival strategy may impede their ability to identify withappropriate models of behavior. This study concludes that the balanceof its findings are consistent with the theory that television produces along term increase in the aggressive behavior of boys but not of girls. Onthe other hand, individuals with an aggressive predisposition might preferto watch violent programs; thus, the aggressive predisposition could causethe increased exposure to media violence. Most content and form attributes did not account for the patternof gender differences in attention across or within studies. Family patterns and television viewing as predictors of children's beliefs and aggression. They were also less likely to be stealing in the home. W., & Peterson-Lewis, S. Fathers made fewer positive facialexpressions and were less responsive to their children and spouses. Another study considered (Flavell, Flavell, Green, & Korfmacher,199 ) investigated whether children think of television images as picturesor as real objects. The boys'greater interest in more violent programs and whether this influenced theirbehavior were not explored in this study. Tremblay, R.E., McCord, J., Boileau, H., Charlebois, P., Gagnon,C., Le Blanc, M., & Larivee, S. Abused children tend to identify with moreviolent television programs than with programs modeling normal, positivebehavior. Subjects who observed the non-aggressivemodels, especially the subdued male, were generally less aggressive thanthose in the control group. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.