Social Learning Theory and TV Violence essays

Social Learning Theory and TV Violence essays DON-RAY TV Violence on Children In the United States children watch an average of three to fours hours of television daily (Cantor and they identify with certain characters, good or bad. Therefore, extensive viewing of television violence by children causes greater aggressiveness (Rosenthal, 1986). Typically, children begin watching television at a very early age, sometimes as early as six months, and are fervent viewers by the time that they are two or three years old (Murray, 1997). The amount of time that American children spend watching TV is remarkable, an average of four hours a day, 28 hours a week, 2,400 hours a year, nearly 18,000 hours by the time they graduate from high school (Chen, 1994, p.23). In comparison, they spend a mere 13,000 hours in school, from kindergarten through twelfth grade (Chen, 1994). It appears children spend more time watching TV than any other activity. Studies have shown that children, in the hours between school and dinnertime, spend nearly 80 percent of the time watching television (Chen, 1994). Children living in poverty watch even more television than average some up to seven hours a day. By the time a poor child graduates from high school, he or she may have watched as many as 22,000 hours of TV (Chen, 1994). Bandura, (1973) indicates that sometimes, watching a single violent program can increase aggressiveness. Children who watch television shows in which violence is very realistic, frequently repeated or unpunished, are more likely to imitate ...