Psychology 101 Research Paper
Violent media & Children
May 2011
Nouf Al Babtain
Prince Sultan University, College for Women
INTRODUCTION
I believe television is going to be the test of the modern world, and that in this
new opportunity to see beyond the range of our vision we shall discover either a
new and unbearable disturbance of the general peace or a saving radiance in the
sky. We shall stand or fall by television. —Author E. B. White.
Television and other media represent one of the most important and under
recognized influences on children and adolescents' health and behavior in the
1990s. Their impact should be eliciting serious concern, not just from parents
and educators but from physicians, public health advocates, and politicians as
well. Although objections to various programming and advertising practices can
exist on common sense, philosophical, aesthetic, humanistic, or public health
grounds without strict scientific data, to increasing numbers of studies document
that a serious problem exists. Therefore, the big question is “What can I do to
keep the media from being a bad influence on my child?”
It's hard to understand the world of early adolescents without considering the
huge impact on their lives of the mass media. It competes with families, friends,
schools and communities in its ability to shape young teens' interests, attitudes
and values.
Literature Review
We know from research such as that conducted by George Comstock and Erica
Sherrar that seeing too much TV violence appears to increase aggressive
behavior in children and that regular viewing of violence makes violence less
shocking and more acceptable.
U.S. Department of Education reported that the mass media infiltrate kids lives.
Violent Media & Children
Most young adolescents watch TV and movies, surf the Internet, exchange emails, listen to CDs and to radio stations that target them with music and
commercials and read articles and ads in teen magazines.
First, look on the bright side. The new media technologies can be fun and
exciting. Used wisely, they can also educate. Good TV programs can inform, good
music can comfort and good movies can expand interests and unlock mysteries.
Additionally, many forms of media are being used in classrooms today-computers, cable-equipped TVs and VCRs are all part of the landscape. Indeed,
recent years have seen a commitment to connecting every classroom to the
Internet and providing a reasonable number of computers to each classroom for
student use. As a result, children need to be exposed to media, if only to learn
how to use it. The problem is that young adolescents often don't--or can't-distinguish between what's good in the media and what's bad. Some spend hours
in front of the TV or plugged into earphones, passively taking in what they see
and hear--violence, sex, profanities, stereotyping and story lines and characters
that are unrealistic. Moreover, students who report watching the most TV have
lower grades and lower test scores than do those who watch less TV. "In any
classroom discussion I have, it is very apparent whose watching [a lot of]
television and who's not," explains teacher Sherry Tipps. "For the kids who are
not motivated in the classroom, mention TV and suddenly they perk up."
As young teens mature, high levels of TV-viewing, video game playing and
computer use take their toll. On average, American children spend far more time
with the media than they do completing work for school. Seventh graders, for
example, spend an average of 135 minutes each day watching TV and 57 minutes
VIOLENT MEDIA & CHILDREN 3
doing schoolwork. Moreover, add to these negative psychological and academic
effects, negative physical effects. Recent reports by the U.S. Surgeon General
show that the number of overweight teens in American has increased greatly
over the past two decades. Being overweight, in turn, can contribute to serious
health problems, such as diabetes. Negative influences also come from other
media. For example, a growing number of ads in magazines, including some for
harmful products such as alcohol and tobacco, are targeted at young adolescents.
Participants
I have distributed a survey on 25 students at Prince Sultan University, all
females, their age group is between (18-25).
Instruments
I used Microsoft Word to write the research paper, Microsoft Excel for the graphs
and charts, and Kwiksurvey. to make a survey and get the results.
Method
The method that I’m using in this research is the correlational method. I have
distributed a survey among Prince Sultan University students, and I used books
and the web to support my research,
Results
By conducting how many people thinks that media has a bad influence on
children, the result was a very large number of 79% who have said yes. And also
big number has agreed that media promotes violence to children. Which has
inspired me and motivated me to choose this subject as my topic.
The survey questions and the results will be attached with the research papers.
Matthew A. Lapierre, M.A., and colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia, evaluated 80 children between the ages of 4 and 6 years (average
Violent Media & Children
age 5.6 years), to determine if using a licensed spokescharacter on food
packaging affects the child choice. Children were shown boxes of cereal labeled
Healthy Bits, some boxes featuring media characters. Participants were asked to
rate the taste of the cereal on a scale of one to five. So those who saw a popular
media character on the box reported liking the cereal more than those who
viewed a box without a character on it. "The results of this experiment provide
evidence that the use of popular characters on food products affects children's
assessment of taste, which is a good way of using media to stimulate them to eat.
So we should focus on this kind of media other than focusing on violence.
Discussion
As you can see the media has a great way to teach our children things they need
to know in life, and help us to make the kids desire healthy food and life style .
Moreover, The bad media has affected the children and they started to act violent
according to what they see and sometimes they become out of control as they
imitate their favorite character in a violent movie.
To avoid all of the bad behavior media has influenced on the children, they will
benefit from our guidance in helping them to balance media-related activities
with other activities such as reading, talking with family and spending time with
friends. Here are some ways that I found on a report for the U.S Department of
Education, which can help the children to make good media choices:
* Limit the amount of time children spend viewing TV. It's impossible to protect
the child entirely from the media. Let them watch only special programs that are
agreed upon.
* Monitor what children watch and listen to. Former principal Carole Kennedy
VIOLENT MEDIA & CHILDREN 5
advises, "Don't just listen to how loud the music is, but to what
the words are.
*the parents can also watch or listen with their child. This allows them to spend
time with him and to learn more about the programs.
* Suggest TV programs that you want your child to watch. Encourage children to
watch TV programs about a variety of beneficial subjects.
* Talk with children about the difference between facts and points of view. Young
teens need to learn that not everything they hear or see is true.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the media can be highly beneficial and a perfect source of getting
information and knowledge if it was used in a good way. Otherwise, it will harm
and affect the way the children think and act according to what the media is
offering to them if it was used in a bad way. So we should avoid the bad and
violent media our children watch as much as possible to prevent accidents and
violent behaviors.
Violent Media & Children
References
Mediated: How the Media Shapes Our World and the Way We Live in It by
Thomas De Zengotita (Feb 21, 2006).
The Problem of the Media: U.S. Communication Politics in the Twenty-First Century by Robert Waterman McChesney (Mar 1, 2004).
Media/Society: Industries, Images, and Audiences by Dr. David R. Croteau,
William Hoynes and Dr. Stefania Milan (May 17, 2011).
Media, Crime, and Criminal Justice by Ray Surette (Aug 3, 2010).
Gentile, D A, Mathieson, L C, & Crick, N R (May 2011). Media Violence Associations with the Form and Function of Aggression among Elementary
School Children. Social Development, 20, 2. p.213(20). Retrieved May 30,
2011, from Academic OneFile via Gale:
http://find.galegroup.com/gtx/start.do?prodId=AONE&userGroupName=cwpsu.
Timmer, J. (Spring 2011). Restricting portrayals of film violence to reduce the
likelihood of negative effects in viewers: did the framers of the Motion Picture
Production Code get it right?. Journal of Popular Film and Television, 39, 1. p.2936. Retrieved May 30, 2011, from Academic OneFile via Gale:
http://find.galegroup.com/gtx/start.do?prodId=AONE&userGroupName=cwpsu.
-Cartoon characters beat health claims. Jan-Feb 2011 v27 i1-2 p24(1)Pediatrics
for Parents, 27, 1-2. p.24(1). Retrieved May 30, 2011, from Academic
OneFile via Gale:
http://find.galegroup.com/gtx/start.do?prodId=AONE&userGroupName=cwpsu.
VIOLENT MEDIA & CHILDREN 7
Survey (Questions & Results)
1. Do you think TV effects how violent children behave?
20%
Yes
No
80%
2. How often do children in your home sit beside TV?
24% 8%
68%
Always
Most of the
time
Sometimes
Violent Media & Children
3. After watching a violent TV show, have you ever noticed any change in the
behavior of children in your home?
8% 32%
Always
Sometimes
Never
60%
4. Do you think decreasing the amount of violent media children watch will
decrease their bad behavior?
12%
Yes
16%
No
72%
I don’t know
5. Do you think media has a bad influence on people?
8%
13%
Yes
79%
No
I don’t
know
VIOLENT MEDIA & CHILDREN 9
6- Please explain your answers for 5 below.
- There is an immediate effect on the behavior of people across ages.
- Hate and racism.
- Because it may change their way of thinking and they might behave badly
- People talk or believe the things in the media and consider it a fact. It affects the
way they react and copy their trends and attitudes.
- Because media sometimes talk about something that isn’t true and that will
lead to a huge impact on children’s belief.
- Because people are highly effected by media. So when something bad kicks in,
they will absolutely respond to it.
- It shows the children a bad behavior and actually teaches them how to do it. Its
extremely dangerous.
- 1-it sets stereotypes (e.g. blondes are stupid) 2- promotes violence and bullying
and anorexia.