Children are great imitators. Imaginary play and modeling their favorite characters are commonplace among the young. There has been overwhelming evidence that suggests viewing violent and aggressive behavior on television, does indeed directly affect children.
Children can readily imitate what they see. Just ask any parent whose child has learned their ABC's by watching Sesame Street. After repeated viewing, their child began reciting their ABCs from memory. Learning violence is no exception. It can be imitated and learned in the same manner as how the alphabet was committed to memory. The only difference is when children watch negative behavior, it is that negativity that they learn and mimic. It is not something as harmless as the ABCs.
Authorities on child behavior agree that what a child watches do indeed affect their behavior. Young children see violence on television and they have a difficult time differentiating between what is real or what is make believe, thus they imitate all that they see equally. Studies show that children who watch too much violence on TV appear to be more unwilling to cooperate and are less patient with both their peers and adults.
On the other hand, violent television does not lead to violent children. Virtually everyone in our society watches television, yet we don't have rampant violent crime rates. Violence has existed long before the media and although the scope of it has changed, the causes cannot be attributed to media. Humans have been here long before television was invented and violence still happened then. Research shows that some children are more aggressive in general than others and that the more aggressive children prefer violent television, watch and play more aggressive games.
All babies are born with violent tendencies, which most kids learn to control as they grow older. Those who don't or can't learn are the ones who become violent. It's a natural behavior. It's surprising that the idea that children and adolescents learn aggression from the media is still relevant."
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