Violence in the media promotes aggression in children. That is the stance of my opponent. However, today I will be demonstrating that aggression is primarily learned from individuals present in a child’s life and violence in movies are television can actually reduce the possibility of aggressive behavior. First, let’s define some key terms.
According to Rowell Huesmann, media violence is defined as “visual portrayals of acts of physical aggression by one human or human-like character against another”. Psychologists commonly define aggression as a “behavioral act that results in harming or hurting others”. (cite) However, there are numerous types of aggression, depending on the intentions of the aggressor and the situation that stimulated the …show more content…
The social learning theory developed by Albert Bandura states that “behavior is learned from the environment through the process of observing the action of others” (cite). According to Bandura people learn aggression by experiencing and observing it. In the early stages of development, children learn aggression and aggressive behavior primarily from their parents, and media not necessarily from the media.
In 1963, Bandura designed the “Bobo doll experiment” to support theory that children copy the behavior of adult role models in their lives. He randomly assigned young children to watch a violent and nonviolent film. One group of children saw adults showing aggression towards the doll while the other group saw little to no aggression. The group that saw the adult playing more aggressive with adult responded more aggressively when allowed to play with the doll while the second group that did not see much aggression showed less aggression.
The media industry has become an easy target for parents to point their finger at when children misbehave. Just like a young girl likes to play dress in her mother’s make up and high heels because she associates them with her mother, the reverse will give the same result. If she sees her mother exhibiting aggressive behavior towards another person, she is likely to believe that behavior is normal and will replicate
According to Rowell Huesmann, media violence is defined as “visual portrayals of acts of physical aggression by one human or human-like character against another”. Psychologists commonly define aggression as a “behavioral act that results in harming or hurting others”. (cite) However, there are numerous types of aggression, depending on the intentions of the aggressor and the situation that stimulated the …show more content…
The social learning theory developed by Albert Bandura states that “behavior is learned from the environment through the process of observing the action of others” (cite). According to Bandura people learn aggression by experiencing and observing it. In the early stages of development, children learn aggression and aggressive behavior primarily from their parents, and media not necessarily from the media.
In 1963, Bandura designed the “Bobo doll experiment” to support theory that children copy the behavior of adult role models in their lives. He randomly assigned young children to watch a violent and nonviolent film. One group of children saw adults showing aggression towards the doll while the other group saw little to no aggression. The group that saw the adult playing more aggressive with adult responded more aggressively when allowed to play with the doll while the second group that did not see much aggression showed less aggression.
The media industry has become an easy target for parents to point their finger at when children misbehave. Just like a young girl likes to play dress in her mother’s make up and high heels because she associates them with her mother, the reverse will give the same result. If she sees her mother exhibiting aggressive behavior towards another person, she is likely to believe that behavior is normal and will replicate