c

 
     
 
 

O
 

Maria Sajjad

BSc (hons) Economics

2009-2012

Beaconhouse National University

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J
‘

a
you came and you
ound a strange man...teaching your kids to punch each other, or
trying to sell them all kinds o
products, you'd kick him right out o
the house, but here
you are; you come in and the TV is on, and you don't think twice about it.´ (Jerome
Singer). Media has the potential to generate both positive and negative e

ects on the
youth as well as children. n the present era it is said to be one o
the best educational
tool, but the question that lies here is awhat is it teaching?´
it is displaying violence
then what impact would this have on a child¶s behavior? n our paper we will be
ocusing
on the aspect that does Medias¶ portrayals o
interpersonal violence generates aggression
among the observers, i
so, how? Further we will determine the impact o
media violence
on the youth, and to what extent does it disrupts the behaviors o
the child and gain an
insight into the correlation between media violence and the aggressive behavior within
children, and which e

ects o
violence does the media portray in the
orm o
cartoons or
video games
or the children, which in turn stimulates aggressive and violent behavior.
Our research tools includes the secondary data
rom the web, the newspaper articles as
well as study o
related books and the primary data in
orm o
surveys that we will
conduct on which our research will be based. Through discussing di

erent aspects o
our
topic we have presented a number o
recommendations to the parents, government and
the media organization through which this media violence can be lessen and its increased
impact on children can be reduced.

‘
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Media is de
ined as one o
the primary source o
awareness in the present world. n general,
"media" re
ers to various means o
communication. For example, television, radio, and the
newspaper are di

erent types o
media. There are some advantages as well as the disadvantages
o
televised media, besides the advantages, here we are
ocusing on one o
the unnoticeable
disadvantage o
media that is the violence portrayed by the media, and what impact does it leave
on the children, what behavioral changes are developed within the children and how does the
constant exposure to this violence leads children to develop aggressive behavior. Media violence
is de
ined as the depictions o
physical
orce, threats and harm
ul consequences that occur as a
result o
unseen violent acts, which are labeled as violent depictions, credible threats, behavioral
acts and harm
ul consequences. t is seen that media violence poses a threat to public health in as
much as it leads to an increase in real-world violence and aggression. t is seen through research
that
ictional television and
ilm violence contribute to both a short-term and a long-term
increase in aggression and violence in young viewers and children. Video games are clearly
capable o
producing an increase in aggression and violence in the short term, although no long-
term longitudinal studies capable o
demonstrating long-term e

ects have been conducted. The
relationship between media violence and real-world violence and aggression is moderated by the
nature o
the media content and characteristics o
and social in
luences on the individual exposed
to that content. Still, the average overall size o
the e

ect is large enough to place it in the
category o
known threats to public health. Extensive research has documented the link between
TV viewing and violent behavior. Thousands o
studies have been done since the 1950s, with all
but 18 a

irming the connection, an analysis posted by the University o
Michigan shows. By the
time a child turns 18, he has seen roughly 200,000 violent incidents and 16,000 murders on TV,
the analysis
inds. Long-term exposure to such images desensitizes viewers to consequences and
reduces inhibitions, making violent behavior more likely. Promoting media literacy is the most

requently recommended solution put
orth by social researchers and child advocates to counter
violent media in
luences. With help
rom organizations that monitor and track these in
luences,
parents can limit exposure to potentially harm
ul music, movies and video games. And can be
done by replacing TV with activities that stimulate mental and intellectual development, such as
reading. ‘
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m
   
For our research on µmedia violence and its impact on child behavior¶ we have complied the

ollowing major research questions
1.‘ s the violence gratuitous or justi
ied? Does it have consequences?
2.‘ Does the introduction o
media violence stimulate the violent behavioral changes in
children?
D ‘ Are Children who watch high levels o
media violence are at increased risk o
aggressive
behavior as adults?‘

‘ Children who consume high levels o
media violence are more likely to be aggressive in
the real world?‘
5.‘ §ow does televised violence result in aggressive behavior?
6.‘ Does the child see television violence as realistic?
7.‘ What role can parents play in order to moderate, mediate and reduce such in
luence?
‘



    


@‘ î   ‘ ‘
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‘‘‘‘

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 ‘‘‘‘ ‘






  

 
     
 
 

m    
n our opinion the research on µ mpact o
media violence on child behavior¶ is important and
crucial due to the reason that our study and in-depths unveils the di

erent aspects o
how media
violence has an impact on the behavior o
children and youth and how does the violence that the
media portray leads to the behavioral changes in people and children leading to the real violence,
and how can this be controlled. Further the purpose o
this paper is to review experimental
studies and short-term
ield investigations designed to assess the in
luence o
violence in the
mass media on aggressive behavior in the viewer. Moreover the research paper is important
rom
the point o
view that it gives analyses o
both childhood and adulthood behavioral changes, and
how certain cues in the media may trigger the activation o
aggressive scripts that are acquired in
any manner and thus stimulate aggressive behavior. Further to investigate the role o
media and
to make them realize their voluntary responsibility o
adhering to an accepted µcode o
conduct¶,
pre
erable chalked out in consultation with regulators/ government agencies. On the other hand
the research paper also
ocuses on the parental attitudes toward media violence can mitigate the
impact it has on children.
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0


@‘ The era o
consideration
or the collection o
research on the topic is 1963 to date. We
have chosen this era because most o
the research was done in this period, experimentally
and non-experimentally.
@‘ We have spent about 21 working days collecting the data, 7 days to analyze it and 4 days
to compile the research paper.

m
   
Our primary source includes the surveys
rom the parents o
children under the age o
12.
Our secondary source includes the web search, review o
the newspaper articles and the detailed
study o
the related books.














 ‰

 
     
 
 

·



n the article µimpact o
TV violence on children and adolescent¶ , Barbara Frazier, M.S.W
analyzed the impact o
the growing violent content in media and the adverse e

ects it leaves on
the audience, here the target audience that he is catering with are children and the adolescents
and what behavioral changes does the media in cultivates in the audience. Then he
urther gave
the example o
the TV shows like WCW (world champion wrestling) that portrays violent
content and certain cartoons that pictures violence and how does this stimulates aggressive
attitudes within the children and adolescents.
Barbara Frazier then
urther provided with the statistics which states that aThe Nielson data
collected in 1993 reveals that the American child watches TV 21 to 23 hours per week. On the
average this includes about 2½ hours per day
or children up to the age o

ive, about 4 hours per
day
or children between the ages o

ive and twelve, and then viewing drops o

to 2 to 3 hours
during adolescence. Furthermore, 98% o
American households have TVs, making television the
single most important source o
media in the lives o
children and adolescents.´
Further he stated that their exists a positive and direct relationship between media violence and
aggression and he states that this media violence have two major e

ects o
the exposure to media
violence can be , the
irst that this could cause desensitization to violence this means that
children will be willing to accept violence and will be themselves perpetrate
or ti, the other
major impact that it will leave is that the due to the continuous exposure children will believe
that this world is primarily a dangerous and unsa
e place.
Barbara Frazier, then conducted a thorough research that how is media violence and aggressive
behavior positively correlated, and he
urther proved it through the experimental work o

di

erent theorists,
n the article amedia violence and youth´ by Nisar Ahmed Khattak published on May 30th,
2010, the man emphasis was on how the violence portrayed by media brings about the behavioral
changes in children and what adverse e

ects does it leave on the youth. n this article the writers
says that children under between the age group 4 t0 12 are more vulnerable to the media violence
and this is due to the
act that they in between this age they are unable to distinguish between the

antasy and the
acts and may take those violent acts that they see in the cartoons or movies as an
ordinary occurrence and start applying them. The writer a
ter studying the child psychology and
a
ter doing a thorough research
urther adds that children are innocent and they start imitating he
 À

 
     
 
 

heroes in the media, and it is seen that un
ortunately the entire hero¶s are rewarded
or
violent/bold actions. So the children when views these aggressive actions and violent acts, then
this has an e

ect that this leads to the behavioral changes in the children. The short term
behavioral changes according to the writer are the aggressiveness in the physical/verbal
behavior, where as the long-term e

ects can be much more adverse a

ecting the society as a
whole. Then the writer provided some o
the recommendations that how can we regulate this
media violence and
urther suggested the role o
parents in this aspect, in order to decrease the
magnitude o
the e

ect o
media violence.
n the article aViolence in the Media-E

ects on Child Behavior´ by Kelly nault, the writes says
that the violence portrayed in media has a negative e

ect on the child behavior, according to the
writer and her research witnessing television violence causes children to become less sensitive to
pain and su

ering
rom others, in addition the constant exposure causes children to have
heightened
ear in the world and causes then to demonstrate highly aggressive behavior and
violent behavior towards others.
Then the writer
urther suggested some steps and policy recommendation that how can this be
controlled,
ew o
the recommendations to the parents are like time limit on the watching TV,
n the article µmedia violence spurs
ear, aggression in kids¶ by Marinda §itti published in Feb.
17th, 2005 the writer says the violence that is portrayed in media that appears in the
orm o

cartoons, movies, video games or on the computer screens can have an e

ect on the thoughts,
emotions and the behavior o
the kids who watch this. The writer
urther in her article says that
over the years there has been a research on how media violence e

ects the child behavior and in
her article the two British experts
rom the university o
Birmingham add to the debate as "There
is consistent evidence that violent imagery in television,
ilm and video, and computer games has
substantial short-term e

ects on arousal, thoughts, and emotions," write Kevin Browne, PhD,
and Catherine §amilton-Giachritsis in 0‘  's Feb. 19 edition.

The two researchers reviewed many researches on media violence and kids, and all o
the studies
were done in North America,
orm the six research papers two o
them comprises o
the TV and
movies, while other
our comprised o
video and computer games.
They concluded that the violent imagery that is shown, stimulates aggression behavior more in
the young boys and children then in girls, the researchers also point out the
act that the e

ects is
more evident in the younger children then the older ones.
 c

 
     
 
 

Now the question that arises is that which kids are more e

ected by the media violence, the
answer to this is that besides the age, the personality and gender also plays a signi
icant role, like
boys are more e

ected then the girls,
urther a little research has been done that how mental
health make a di

erence and how children having mental health respond to media violence and
have more chances to
all prey and develop aggressive behavior. Secondly the writer says that
the children who belong to the dys
unctional
amilies respond to this media violence and develop
aggressive behavior. "For example, growing up in a violent
amily and being a victim o
violence
or witnessing violence between others is known to have a strong e

ect on a person's
predisposition to act aggressively". The writer then says that how can we put media violence in
perspective, that can be done i
the parents monitor their children, this is hard
or them to keep a
check and monitor their children¶s media habits. With movies, cartoons, video games their
parents don¶t know what they are watching. The writer says that this is a serious issue and should
be taken notice o
by the parents in order to save their children
rom ruining their personality. n
the research on the e

ects o
media violence and its e

ects on aggression by Jonathan
L.
reedman, the author studied the di

erent researches on how media violence leads to
aggression in children; the research included the experimental tests in order to analyze the impact
o
constant exposure o
media violence on child behavior. One o
the researches was conducted
n 1956, researchers took to the laboratory to compare the behavior o
24 children watching TV.
§al
watched a violent episode o
the cartoon å‘å, and the other 12 watched the
non-violent cartoon 0‘ ‘‘ . During play a
terwards, the researchers observed that
the children who watched the violent cartoon were much more likely to hit other children and
break toys. n his research paper he supported the argument with certain experiments like his
research included the recent research, exploring the e

ect o
new media on children¶s behavior.
Craig Anderson and Brad Bushman o
owa State University reviewed dozens o
studies o
video
games. n 2001, they reported that children and young people, who play violent video games,
even
or short periods, are more likely to behave aggressively in the real world; and that both
aggressive and non-aggressive children are negatively a

ected by playing. But at the same point
he also pointed out that there are other
actors as well leading to the development o
aggressive
behavior in children, which includes gender, where boys are more vulnerable in developing
aggressive behavior then the girls. And
urther he provided certain measures and
recommendations as well.
 cc

 
     
 
 

V    
We worked on the cross-sectional data, where we re
erred to di

erent research paper/ articles
around the world, and collected data and worked on it.

Some o
the statistics and data on µViolence in the Media¶ are as
ollows:

@‘ §uston and colleagues have estimated that the average 18-year-old will have viewed
200,000 acts o
violence on television M  ‘  ‘   ‘ ‘!‘ ‘ ‘ ‘
"‘å‘#‘# $‘0‘‘‘0 ‘ ‘ ‘#  ‘  ‘% $‘
&  ‘‘%‘'‘())* +
@‘ 41% percent o
American households have three or more televisions M% ‘,‘
‘*---+
@‘ 56% o
children ages 8-16 have a television in their rooms M  ‘'‘'‘
 ‘*--- ‘,‘ ‘ ‘‘*---+
@‘ Percentage o
television-time children ages 2-7 spend watching alone and unsupervised:
81‘M ‘!‘!   ‘())) ‘. ‘ ‘,‘/‘ ‘%
‘,  .+
@‘ Television alone is responsible
or 10% o
youth violence. M#  ‘0‘ ‘
# ‘ ‘())) +
@‘ Average time per week that the American child ages 2-17 spends watching television: 19
hours, 40 minutes M% ‘,‘‘*---+
@‘ Percentage o
day care centers that use TV during a typical day: 70 M0 ‘" ‘
.#‘  ‘0
‘1 2 ‘0  .‘%
‘3‘0 ‘%‘(*‘())
+
@‘ §ours per year the average American youth spends in school: 900 M"‘"  ‘
 ‘%‘())D$‘
(+‘
@‘ §ours per year the average American youth watches television: 1,023 M% ‘,‘
‘*---+

Graphical statistics o
youth violence at school

 c’

 
     
 
 

  0 
A
ter thorough research and analysis o
qualitative and quantitative data, we have tested our
hypothesis and the results are as
ollows,

U‘ We reject aNull §ypothesis´ and accept aAlternate §ypothesis´

   ‘ ‘ ‘
‘‘ ‘ ‘‘ ‘‘ ‘ ‘ ‘‘‘
‘ ‘
‘
m 
The results derived
rom the through research are that the constant exposure to the
televised/media violence have an adverse e

ect on the child behavior, stimulating aggression in
the children.
§ere we get the answer to all the research questions that we complied
or our research paper;
Through our research we came to know that violence portrayed in media has an adverse e

ect on
the child behavior and it is not justi
ied, this has the consequences like development o

aggression in children i
constantly exposed to violent content. A
ter a thorough research we
came to know that the constant exposure to media violence stimulates aggression in children and
these children as more likely to be aggressive as adults. We come to know a
ter the research and
a
ter studying
ew research papers by the di

erent psychologists that the children cannot identi
y
between the
antasy and
acts, so due to this reason they are more vulnerable to media violence.
Further there are some policy recommendations in order to reduce the impact.
O
 m 
We conducted a survey
rom 15 mothers and the
ollowing are the results o
each question, in

orm o
the percentages.
  
From the survey we conducted, 80% were the mother o
boys and 20% were the mothers o
girls
  
20% mothers= option a, that is less than 2 hours
50% mothers= option b, that is 2-3 hours
30% mothers = option c , that is more than 3 hours
  
 cD

 
     
 
 

The mothers o
the boys that is, 80% o
the mothers said that their children watch/play

ighting/arcade cartoons/games. 20% o
the mothers said that their children watch/play
comedy/
amily cartoons/games.
  !
70% o
the mothers said that their children watches WWF, X-men, trans
ormers etc. out o
these
70% mothers o
the boys, 60% said yes their child copy them.10% said sometimes.
30% o
the mothers (which constitute 20% mothers o
girls and 10% boys) said their children
don¶t watch such programs.
  "
65% answered yes
35 % answered no
  #
90% o
the mothers answered yes
10% o
the mothers answered sometimes
  $
100% answered yes
  %
The suggestions given by the parents varied, some o
the parents said that there should be some
strict regulations in order to limit the display o
such content by the media- industries. Some
parents suggested that there should be some time limit imposed on children to watch TV. There
should be some tax imposed on the media-industries displaying violent content, etc. And such
similar suggestions.

‘
´   
Keeping in view the results devised
rom our research and the survey, we have concluded‘that‘
4Children who are subjected to media violence are at an increased risk o
aggressive behavior.´
So now as the alternative hypothesis is accepted and through the through research it is proved
that the media violence stimulates aggressive behavior in children and this i
prevailed in the
society, then this would
urther lead to chaos in the society. So
or that there are some
recommendation policies suggested.
 c

 
     
 
 


m   
Keeping the qualitative and quantitative data in view and the analysis that we have deduced, here
are some recommendations to the parents and the government in order to protect the children
rights; the
ollowing are some o
the recommendations to the children as well as the government
in order to protect children to develop aggressive behaviour.

The list o
recommendations in order to address media/televised violence is as
ollows:

1.‘ Parents should limit television to 1-2 hours daily and watch programs with their children,
enabling them to address any objectionable material seen
2.‘ Physicians should make parents and schools "media literate," meaning they should
understand the risks o
exposure to violence and teach children how to interpret what they
see on television and in the movies, including the intent and content o
commercials. . n
doing so, children may be increasingly able to discern which media messages are
suitable.
3.‘ Schools and homes should teach children con
lict resolution.
4.‘ We should be speaking up to the networks, cable vendors, local stations,
ederal agencies,
and our political o

icials to help insure that programming decisions are made with an eye
open to the potential consequences to the viewing audience, and that when violence is
present, there are adequate warnings provided to the public.
5.‘ Television ratings and installation o
chips to block certain programs.
6.‘ Encourage your child to watch videos you have already pre-screened and
approved whenever you're not around.
7.‘ §elp your children di

erentiate between reality and unreality, and
make sure they can clearly identi
y the
ake and the
iction.
8.‘ The government should restrict the media-industries showing and impose high-tax

 cr

 
     
 
 

m
 
@‘ http://www.pakspectator.com/media-violence-and-the-youth/
@‘ Violence in the Media-E

ects on Child Behavior
@‘ http://www.nation.com.pk The Nation
@‘ http://www.dawn.com.pk DAWN
@‘ http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/violence/e

ects_media_violence.c
m
@‘ http://www.deathre
erence.com/Ce-Da/Children-and-Media-Violence.html
@‘ http://ap.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/
ull/28/2/144
@‘ http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/developmentor/the_impact_o
_media_violence_on_childre
n_and_adolescents_opportunities_
or_clinical_interventions
@‘ http://www.peace.ca/sheet15.htm
@‘ http://www.pakspectator.com/media-violence-and-the-youth/
@‘ http://www.lionlamb.org/mediaviolence
actsheet.pd
http://www.psychology.iastate.edu/

aculty/caa/abstracts/2000-2004/01BA.ap.pd

@‘ http://www.media-
awareness.ca/english/resources/research_documents/reports/violence/tv_violence_child.c

m
@‘ http://www.psychology.iastate.edu/
aculty/caa/abstracts/2000-2004/02ab2.pd

@‘ http://www.indiana.edu/~cspc/ressenate.htm
@‘ http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/resources/articles/violence/toxic_tv.c
m
@‘ http://www.psychology.iastate.edu/
aculty/caa/abstracts/2000-2004/01ba.ap.pd

@‘ https://wiki.uww.edu/other/childdevresource/images/8/85/Publication2.pd

@‘ http://youthviolence.edschool.virginia.edu/violence-in-schools/national-statistics.html







 c 

 
     
 
 


 &
Some o
the charts which helped in deducing results:
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O

This survey is conducted in order to observe that i
exposure to media violence has an adverse
e

ect on child behaviour, leading them to develop aggressive behaviour.
We conducted a survey
rom the parents o
children under the age o
13 years, and asked them
the questions in order to analyze the impact o
media violence on child behaviour.

Q1. what is the gender o
your child?

a. Male
b.Female

Q2. how many hours does your child watch T.V per day?
a. less than 2 hours
b. 2- 3 hours
c. More than 3 hours

Q3.What sort o
cartoons/video games does your child like?

Q.4 Does your child watch WWF or cartoons which contains violent content (e.g. X-men) , i
so
does he copy those characters?
a. Yes
b. No
c. Sometimes

Q5. Did you ever receive any complain o
you child
rom school
or being indulge in some
ights
with other children or bullying other children?
a.‘ Yes
b.‘ No

Q6.
Yes, Do you think that the Violence portrayed in media/television is responsible
or
ound
in child behaviour?
a.‘ Yes
 ’c

 
     
 
 

b.‘ No
c.‘ Sometimes

Q7. Should there be some regulations in order to limit the amount o
televised violence shown in

orm o
cartoons/video games?
a.‘ Yes
b.‘ No

Q8. What other measures do you suggest in order to reduce the impact o
media violence on
child behaviour?


 ’’