If you flip through any cable service long enough, you are bound to find a program containing a certain level of violence. Whether it is a movie about war, the local news covering a shooting or an angry music video, violence in the media is inescapable. Without a doubt, this violence has an effect on some children, though the extent and the impact may vary greatly according to research published in the journal, "Psychological Science in the Public Interest."
Modeling
Experiments by psychologist Albert Bandura throughout the late 1970s demonstrated that children will acquire and model observed behavior when they identify with the model, believe the situation is realistic and view the behavior as leading to desirable consequences. For example, if a young boy wants to be a wrestler, he may view a wrestling program, identify with the men in it, observe the attention of "cool" wrestling moves and try it out on his sister, inadvertently hurting her. Of course, not all children practice what they observe on TV, and you can decrease the likelihood of them doing so by inoculating, or pre-warning, them about what is acceptable behavior. To impressionable children who have yet to learn better, violence in the media can have severe effects.
Priming
During the 1980s, most psychologists focused on how aggressive cues, such as guns, violence in the media and displays of violent behavior, may evoke feelings of hostility and aggression, especially drawing attention to, or priming, memories associated with violence. As a result, children who observe violence in the media become more prone to act out violently, or aggressively, through acts of vandalism, fighting or arguing. This effect is probably strongest for children who are naturally aggressive, where perceived violence provokes innate tendencies of aggression. That is, aggressive children become increasingly aggressive after viewing violence in the media.
Emotional Desensitization
The repeated effects of violence in the media, or violence in the surrounding world, can result in decreased sensitivity to destructive behavior. Consequently, children become more likely to view aggressive acts as tolerable, or normal, and are less disturbed by their presence. This desensitization reduces the likelihood that children will help victims of aggression. In fact, children may become more likely to hurt others without feeling any sympathy toward them. When you repeatedly view death and destruction, it begins to no longer have as powerful an impact on you. For this reason, limit the amount of violence your children can view, particularly if you do not wish to impair their view of the world.
