How Television Influences the Development of Aggression in Children

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Psychology, education, and other disciplines of study are currently particularly interested in media-related concerns, as are other fields of research in general. Television occupies a distinct position in today’s media environment. In addition to being physically and audibly influenced by television, one might be affected in a number of other ways by it. Watching television has been shown to have a significant impact on a person’s psychological well-being. In psychology, there is a school of thought that television material has an impact on an individual’s subconscious and can influence his or her values, attitudes, and worldview.

The inexperience and lack of self-awareness of adolescents make them particularly vulnerable to sexual assault and other forms of sexual violence. It is caused by an unstable value system, which in turn results in an even greater imbalance, that proximity is used to pick programs for students. According to psychologists, some of the negative consequences of watching television include aggressive behavior, diminished physical, intellectual, and social involvement, ambiguous values, and an inability to deal with challenging situations, among other things.

Youthful maximalism, which is quite a common thing for this age, becomes only more and more enhanced by the television. And this situation has two opposite sides — a positive and the negative one. For example, one child can get inspired by the successful people they see on the screen, and there have been cases reported that kids found affordable business plan writing services to make their inspiration come to reality. On the other hand, we all know hundreds of cases when children get «inspired» by violent content, like movies about bullies and hooligans, and do terrible things.

Scientists have discovered that television has a considerable impact on the socialization of teens, notably on the processes of gender socialization and the norms of social behavior. Television, in their opinion, is without a doubt a significant contribution to societal violence.

WHAT IS AGGRESSION ITSELF

Aggression is defined by experts as “any disposition (striving) that manifests itself in real action or even in dreams with the goal of subjugating or manipulating others.” In such a definition of aggression, several of the most widespread kinds of violence, such as self-aggression and aggressiveness against inanimate objects, are expressly excluded from consideration.

Aggressive conduct is typically accompanied by negative sentiments, motivations, and even attitudes, according to research. All of these factors have an impact on behavior, but they are not a need for aggressive behavior. Individuals who are calm and composed may exhibit aggressive behavior, whereas others who are overly emotional may not. Furthermore, the perpetrators of the crimes do not have to carry any ill will against the people who are the objects of their crimes. People who are treated positively rather than negatively suffer from several of these issues in comparison. When one’s actions have undesirable consequences, it is possible that hostility will follow as a result.

TYPES OF AGGRESSION

In the great majority of situations, violent behavior is accompanied by furious, hostile, angry, and resentful sentiments, which are the outcome of a person’s response to frustration. Compassionate aggressiveness, hostile aggression, and instrumental aggression are all examples of sorts of violence. Aggressiveness is seen as a personality trait that is rather consistent in the subject’s personality. Aggression is fueled by a variety of causes, including interpersonal conflicts, emotional bonds in the family that are violated, and the context of family education. Self-harm, self-humiliation, and self-accusation are all forms of self-aggressive conduct, as are suicide and self-humiliation (auto aggression).

There are two main types of aggressive manifestations:

– target aggression;

– instrumental aggression.

Initial acts of hostility are pre-planned acts of injury or damage to an object that is done with the intent of injuring or damaging the object. The second action is not considered hostile because it is carried out in order to attain a goal. For the presence of aggressiveness to be fully explained, it is important to understand the role that the natural environment plays in both encouraging it to occur and shaping and directing its manifestations in various forms and directions.

PSYCHOLOGY OF AGGRESSIVENESS IN CHILDREN

In order to gain a true image of a teenager’s mental health, you must take their level of aggression into consideration as well. In today’s world, teens are bombarded with a plethora of information and socialization patterns that are difficult for them to understand. If we look at how our country is now dealing with its precarious social, economic, and moral conditions, today’s teens are no different than those of any other age group.

With increased self-awareness and critical self-reflection in teenagers, they uncover contradictions not just in their environment but also in their own self-perception.

Knowing that adulthood is a natural transition from childhood, it is important to recognize that it is a period of self-awareness and self-esteem, an interest in one’s own originality, and an appreciation of one’s own abilities and qualities. If the necessary conditions aren’t in place, self-assertion can take on distorted forms, produce bad feelings and repercussions, and result in a range of aberrations. One danger is taking a more aggressive approach to solving the problem.

Age

Children’s self-esteem is especially vulnerable throughout puberty (between the ages of 10 and 11), and this is an especially tough period for them to suffer a setback. An estimated 34% of boys and 26% of girls describe themselves as primarily possessing negative qualities, reflecting the predominance of behaviors such as rudeness, harshness, and aggression among young people. Meanwhile, physical violence is more prevalent among children in this age range, although indirect hostility is less common among this group of children. In their early stages of development, aggression and pessimism are still present. While going through the second stage of puberty (between the ages of 12 and 13), a situationally unfavorable self-perception continues, which is mostly a result of the judgments of others, such as parents and peers. There is an increase in physical and verbal hostility throughout this stage of adolescence, however, indirect violence is still less widespread than it was during the early stages of puberty.

When adolescents reach the third stage of adolescence, they begin to compare and contrast their own qualities and activities with those of their peer groups (about 14-15 years old). Children aged 10-11 who display signs of verbal aggression account for over 30% of those aged 10-11, a figure that is 20% higher than the proportion of 12-13-year-olds who exhibit similar signs.

Manifestation

The structure of various types of aggression may alter significantly depending on the gender and age of the individuals involved. Among a study of violent conduct in boys and girls, researchers discovered that boys were more likely to use direct physical violence and direct verbal aggression, whereas girls were more likely to use verbal and indirect verbal aggression, according to the findings. The conclusion is that males are less interested in “verbal-physical” violence than they are in expressing their aggression in an open and confrontational manner with the opposing individual. Among females, verbal aggression of any kind—direct or indirect (although the latter is more widespread)—is favored, albeit the former is still more popular.

Gender

There are significant disparities between boys and girls when it comes to direct violence, with boys more likely to use physical force, and girls more likely to utilize indirect verbal abuse4. Teenage guys, on the whole, exhibit violent tendencies in their dealings with others, whether at school, during sports, in response to personal threats, or as a result of alcohol misuse. Girls grow more violent as a result of internal psychological events (underestimation of external or spiritual data, ingratitude, psychological oppression). A situation becomes unmanageable as a result of the poor quality of interpersonal interactions.

Between the ages of 11 and 12, both boys and girls show the most evident form of animosity, known as negativism. Unhappiness with the status quo is often represented as an uprising against existing norms, traditions, and practices. Physical aggression is the second most common type of hostility among boys, whereas verbal aggression is the most common among girls. Negativism and verbal aggression are dominant in boys, whereas verbal aggression is dominant in girls. Research shows that boys, regardless of age, are more likely than females to be aggressive.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AGGRESSION AND TELEVISION IN CHILDREN

The mass media are not only a significant part of contemporary culture but also a vital socializing institution. As a result, television has a greater emotional impact than any other medium. As a result, television outperforms all other media in terms of reaching and influencing people. Experts estimate that the average family watches TV for up to seven hours every day. An important topical topic in social psychology and sociology is how television affects viewers’ perceptions and behaviors, as well as the consequences. Many renowned scientific institutes and groups are researching it (UNESCO, the European Institute for the Study of Mass Communication, the US National Institute of Mental Health, etc.).

Children are the most receptive and unskilled viewers of visual media. If their parents cease chatting to them in person, 20% of youngsters aged 9 months to 2 years suffer developmental delays. If children continue to watch TV, they will be a year behind their peers by age three. Between the ages of 4 and 10, boys and girls watch 2.5 hours of TV every day, while those aged 11 to 14 watch 3 hours. Four hours per day on average for people over 15.

Types of risky content

In light of the problems it brings, such as increasing hostility and inappropriate behavior, educational psychologists and parents are paying close attention to the issue. The youngster loses the capacity to distinguish between the virtual and real worlds, leading to violence and a rejection of traditional family values. 58 percent of young people want to mimic performers, especially from foreign films. Television shows a lot of non-socially acceptable behavior and stereotypes. Because of this, kids and teens unknowingly imitate violent conduct, sex scenes, pro-freedom sexual propaganda, and coarse comedy.

After viewing these shows and movies, the youngster is unable to distinguish between the virtual and the actual worlds, and this leads to the development of a vicious way of thinking and a rejection of traditional family values. 58% of young people want to copy the conduct of performers, particularly from foreign films; 37.3 percent of teenagers are willing to do unlawful acts based on their behaviors and deeds, according to sociological research.

The  terrible statistics

Film and television have a significant impact on the criminal behavior of teenagers and young adults. Every year, up to 10,000 violent scenes are shown to teenagers on television. Psychologists say that 45 percent of 14-year-olds who watched more than three hours of television a day at the age of 14 are prone to violence, and 20 percent are typically hazardous to society and morally prepared to commit a crime. Children who spend at least an hour a day watching television are five times more likely to engage in violent and aggressive behavior.

Of the respondents, 55% said yes to the question, “Are you drawn to scenes of violence on the screen?”, 40% said no, and 5% said they couldn’t answer the question. At 58 percent and 42 percent, respectively, the competence of the stuntmen and the entertainment value of the stage drew the most attention in violent sequences on TV. Good mood – 53%, negative mood – 42%, and in spite of parental and teacher restrictions – 5% of kids stated that they watch films and TV shows despite their parents and teachers’ efforts to keep them away from them.

In today’s culture, these kinds of figures are unacceptable, yet that is the situation in which we find ourselves. The problem is serious and must be taken into consideration immediately; otherwise, it will progress in a negative direction and it would be unable to find any viable answers.

CONCLUSIONS

The cumulative effect of the information flow leads to an emotional lack of sensitivity to violence, which is a result of the information flow. Every instance of media violence, whether it’s on television or the Internet, reinforces a person’s tendency to have violent ideas and feelings. As a result, he develops aggressive thoughts, opinions, expectations, and plans. Violence and cruelty in the information flow can contribute to both a short-term (aggressive thoughts, feelings) and long-term rise in aggressiveness in human behavior, according to the general model of aggressive behavior (aggressive attitudes of the individual towards others, the effect of expecting aggressive behavior of others in relation to oneself).

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