the effect of the media on anti social behaviour in children?

Question

how do people feel about violent video games or films affecting young people and children. do you think that they encourage or incite violence or anti social behaviours or do you think it is something else that causes young people to commit crime etc

Answer 1

i think most adults underestimate the intelligence of children. most children know the difference between good and bad. i.e. hitting another child. they know that its wrong. the only difference is that they havent got the self control to stop and are less able to concieve the potential consequences. however, exposing them to certain behaviours repeatedly cannot be a good influence in any way.

tv is frequently used as a teaching tool, suggesting that its effects in divulging information are very strong, and it can be argued that negative images being repeatedly shown are inevitably picked up to a greater or lesser degree

Answer 2

I think that it is mainly music, celebrities and the influence of friends that causes young people to commit crime. A lot of the songs in the radio are about drugs, thugs, guns, knives and crime. Maybe this entices some kids. Some of my friends hold 50cent as their role model, an ex-gangster that has been shot at millions of times, and is mainly seen wearing a hoodie- some people want to be like him. A lot of people I know think that stealing and intimidating people is fun, and it is also a way to show that your 'cool'. Some peoples up bringing is also a problem- dismissive parents don't teach their kids what's right and wrong from the beginning, and being a really strict parent may force kids off the right path.

Answer 3

The media plays a big part in violence and influencing children the watershed has almost evaporated. Both Coronation Street and East Enders have shown violence recently that would never have been allowed a few years ago. This coupled with falling education standards caused by government constantly interfering is going to be a recipe for disaster. They should clamp down on the media and leave teachers to teach without being bogged down my paperwork and PC regulations!

Answer 4

In Social Psych there is a huge debate on the influence of media. A fundamental problem is trying to define the violence itself (ie. does verbal aggression have the same effects as physical)?

The majority of research conducted into media affects on children (done through laboratory experiments) have shown that children subjected to violent images in the media are more prone to acting aggressively. Bandura would argue that this is due to observational learning.

In order to try and answer your question sufficiently would be difficult in just a few paragraphs but i am going to describe 3 effects of media influence and why it IS believed to influence children:

1. The Zombie effect- children are unable to distinguish fact from fiction and are often mindless, uncritical individuals who don't realize the difference between violence on tv and reality

2. Cultivation- tv constructs a distorted view of reality. The excessive use of violence in the media may lead to the belief that there is more violence than there actually is which leads to feelings of aggression

3. Catharsis- the release of tension/anxiety resulting in a calming effect. Watching violent tv allows us to release pent up aggression, but sometimes this aggression is too much and we are influenced by the acts of others (ie. in the media).

However, in answer to your question about inciting violence or anti social behaviour there is one view you may find interesting. ERON (1987) stated that it is children who already have anti-social tendencies that watch violent telly, but large levels of it will result in these anti-social behaviours being exhibited.

Answer 5

There are so many arguments and debates on this so it all depends on how you want to look at it, there is the "hyperdermic syringe" view that the mass media message is just "injected" straight into the viewer and any message portrayed will be absorbed, there is the "2 step flow model" that means there are kind of social leaders that expose themselves to more media and are respected for their opinion and feed this back to other people, the Uses and Gratification approach shows that people only expose themselves to media that appeals to them so an lonely widower may use soap operas as a form of companionship for example. I personaly thik it is a mixture of all of these and what is often forgoton about is that we are not completly passive and watching a film or playing a game is an interactive experience, for instance I will watch a horror film and sypmathise with the victims and root for them to get away, where as the man next to me maybe watching it as they like seeing people in pain and the man sat next to him may indentify with the killer and his motivation for killing, so i think is a mixture of the amount of exposure to something, why you are watching it in the first place and what moral and social values you use to interpritate or read any message with in it

Answer 6

The socialization process is far more complicated than the influences of media. I agree that the media can influence some behavior in people, but there is more to it. The initial socialization process falls on the shoulders of the parents. The child, in turn, learns its identity and social coping mechanisms from its parents. Like I said the media is partially to blame...but when parents fail in the child rearing process it is easier to blame external variables. Anti-social behavior is partially genetic and a child's environment can grow the problem.

Answer 7

I'm a teenager myself and I personally don't think this. Many teenagers are influenced by siblings or if they are from a violent background. I think violent films encourage swearing but not violence.

Answer 8

Children commit crime, because they are growing up unsupervised by criminal parents. It's just a fact- many kids don't have the loving, stable home that provides an environment which will produce good moral standards. Too many babies and uneducated people having babies....

Answer 9

no i don't think so if 100 kids play video games then only one person becomes violent its was probably because there parents did not tell them it was in appropriate or their siblings are violent. just like your mom would tell you if someone jumped of a bridge would you do it to? the video games don't force anyone to be violent, the people choose for themselves.

Answer 10

advertisers spend millions of dollars on tv commercials because they know you can sell a product by showing it to us on tv.if visual stimulation works on adults why not on children. What you see you act out, this is how children learn to talk and act . Why would not acts of violent be acted out and influence a childs behavior.