Gender Differences-Impact of television on child's aggressive behavior

Natalia ShabbirBSC 5Institute of PsychologyBNU

Gender Differences-Impact of television on

child’s aggressivebehavior.

Table of ContentsAbstract................................................2Introduction:...........................................3Literature Review:......................................4Method:.................................................6Sample:....................................................6Material:..................................................7Research Approach:.........................................7Procedure:.................................................7

Results:................................................8Discussion:............................................13References:............................................14Appendix...............................................15

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Abstract

The research question of the paper states: Does the

increased use of television affect the child’s aggressive

behavior? And gender differences on the exhibition of

aggressive behavior. A repeated measures design has been

used to analyze the relationship between television

exposure and the aggression in children. A sample of 20

children (both males and females aged 8-12 years old) was

randomly selected from the Educators School. They were

viewed 2 cartoon clips of 30 minutes each and were then

asked to express their reactions with the help of words

presented to them in a worksheet. Their behaviors were

then observed in another situation (in a room playing

with toys) and inter-rater reliability was ensured with

he help of 4 observers. Parents were also interviewed.

The results positively responded to the research question

stating that television viewing does have an impact on

the aggressive behavior of children. It was also analyzed

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that the males exhibited more physical aggression as

compared to females who exhibited more verbal aggression.

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Introduction:

One of the notable changes in our social environment in

the twentieth century is the advent and saturation of

mass media. In this new environment, radio, television,

movies, videos, videogames and computer networks have

assumed central roles in our daily lives. For better or

for worse, the mass media are having an enormous impact

on our values, beliefs and behaviors. Unfortunately, the

consequences of one particular element of the mass media

exposure have particularly detrimental effects on

viewers. Research evidence has accumulated over many

years that exposure to violence on television increases

the risk of violent behavior on the viewer’s part just as

growing up in an environment filled with real violence

increases the risk of violent behavior. In this research

paper, we critically assess the research evidence that

leads to this conclusion. Finally, we also compare the

size of the media violence effect with some other well-

known threats to public health to estimate how important

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a threat it should be considered. In our society,

extensive viewing of television violence by children

causes greater aggressiveness. Sometimes, watching a

single violent program can increase aggressiveness.

Children who view shows, in which violence is very

realistic, frequently repeated or unpunished, are more

likely to imitate what they see. Children with emotional,

behavioral, learning or impulse control problems may be

more easily influenced by television violence. The impact

of television violence may be immediately evident in the

child’s behavior or may surface years later. Young people

can even be affected when the family atmosphere shows no

tendency toward violence. While television violence is

not the only cause of aggressive or violent behavior, it

is clearly a significant factor.

Literature Review:

This article consists of different studies and researches

about the relationship between Television viewing and

Aggression in Children. Television is becoming

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increasingly popular with every generation and has become

a staple activity in everyone’s home. The purpose of this

paper is to determine the effects that viewing television

portraying aggression has on the social and behavioral

development of children. Research studies measuring the

effects of television on behavior have been conducted on

all ages of children and almost every study shows

television-portraying aggression negatively impacts a

child’s social and behavioral development. In one study,

three thousand and twenty-eight mothers completed an in-

home survey about their three-year old child. This survey

provided information about the amount of television that

their child was exposed to, their child’s behavior, and

any other possible risk factors that might predispose the

child to aggressive behaviors. The study found that even

when accounting for risk factors, watching more

television was associated with more aggressive behaviors.

The same findings were found in multiple studies for

third, fourth and fifth graders when their television

viewing/ content and behavior was measured. In every

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study, the researchers found a significant relationship

between exposure to media violence and overall physical

and relational aggression. The results of a fifth study

showed that being exposed to television containing

aggression even one time was significantly correlated

with resulting aggressive behaviors. In this study,

researchers showed 58 preschoolers two pictures from

cartoons and two cartoon video clips and then asked what

the child thought would happen next. A parent survey of

the child’s television exposure and behaviors was also

taken and researchers found that children who had been

exposed to violent television shows tended to predict

violent endings to the cartoon pictures and video clips

when asked what they thought would happen next. These

results indicate that even mere exposure to cartoon

violence can cause children to develop aggressive mental

models that are used even when aggression isn’t present.

Gender may also be a factor in the effects of aggressive

behavior towards television. However, they also found

that girls tended to use more relational aggression

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whereas boys tended to exhibit more physical aggression.

Apart from watching television, there are other factors

that also influence aggressive behavior.

This research paper is done to see the effect of the

television violence can have on children and encourage

the development of aggressive behaviors and attitudes

this study adds to the research which focuses on people’s

self-reported exposure and perception to television

violence and their perceived behavior. A survey was

administered to 130 undergraduate students from the

university of Texas at Arlington on their perception and

knowledge of television viewing habits, programming

content, and behavior from when they were a child until

the present time. Nonprobability sampling was employed

for this study. With restrictions from time and

resources, convenience sampling was employed instead of

probability sampling. The instrument that was used to

measure students’ perception s of their exposure to

television violence and their perceived behavior was a

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survey and it contained 39 items. This study concludes

that there is a correlation between an individuals’ self-

reported exposure and perception to television violence

and perceived behavior by using pearson correlation and t

test. When examining the correlation between childhood

exposure and perceived childhood behavior, there are

correlations to both exposure to television violence and

perceived positive aggressive behavior, and exposure to

television violence and perceived negative aggressive

behavior. Correlation to positive aggressive behavior can

be seen with the variables of participating in a contact

or extreme sport. This study concludes that a person who

watched programs that contained images of fighting or

that were violent in nature is likely to have

participated in a contact sport or extreme sport. This

suggests that a person who is exposed to violence on

television as a child could possibly have an impact on

their behavior in that they act aggressively in a

positive way. This study also concludes that a person who

watched the majority of programs with images of fighting

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or that were violent in nature is also likely to get into

trouble at school more than three times a year. This

suggests that a person exposed to violence on television

as a child could affect a person’s behavior in that they

act aggressively in a negative manner. Another study was

carried, on a ten-year follow-up of girls and boys in the

third grade, found that one of the single best predictors

at age nine of whether a boy will be aggressive ten years

later is the amount of violent television programming he

watched.

Method:

Sample:

A group of 20 children (10 boys and 10 girls) ranging

between the ages of 8 to 12 years old were selected from

the Educators School.

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Material:

2 video clips of cartoons- Tom and Jerry and barney,

each of 30 minutes.

Worksheets- containing verbs expressing physical and

verbal aggression.

Recordings of the behaviors observed in the

playroom.

4 hidden observers.

Several toys.

Research Approach:

Both Quantitative and Qualitative.

Procedure:

A sample of 20 children ranging between the ages of 8 to

12 years old, were selected from the Educators school.

They were randomly selected- 10 boys and 10 girls.

Firstly, these 20 children were shown the cartoon “Tom

and Jerry” for 30 minutes. After viewing the cartoons,

they were asked to express their emotions in reaction to

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the cartoons through their selection of words presented

to them in the form of 2 worksheets. One worksheet

included words expressing physically aggressive and

physical non-aggressive verbs, whereas the second

worksheet included verbs expressing verbal aggression and

verbal soft words. They were given 15 minutes to complete

the 2 worksheets.

Then the sample of 20 children was made to watch another

cartoon “Barney” for 30 minutes. The same procedure was

repeated about expressing themselves through the

selection of verbs provided in the 2 worksheets. After

this, the children (both males and females) were taken in

another room where they were asked to play with toys and

among themselves. There were fewer toys as compared to

the number of children in the room. This way their

behavior with their fellows was observed. Inter-rater

reliability was ensured through the 4 observers who were

secretly observing the behavior of the children in the

room. Later, the parents of the children were also

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interviewed in order to verify the aggressive behavior

exhibited by them after watching the television.

Results:

The results obtained from the experiment proved the

hypothesis that the increased use of television does

affect the child’s aggressive behavior. It also supports

the hypothesis that boys exhibited more aggressive

behavior as compared to the girls. The experiment showed

that boys portrayed more of physical aggression whereas

girls showed more of verbal aggression. When the group of

children was shown the cartoon “Tom and Jerry” the boys

responded more towards physical aggression (kicking,

hitting, punching) and the girls responded more towards

non-physical aggression (playing, hugging). When asked to

fill in the questionnaire related to the verbal

aggression, the boys showed less response compared to

girls, they chose words such as screaming, shouting and

verbal abuse. Similarly, when the children were shown the

cartoon “Barney”, they exhibited less of aggression- both

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physical and verbal. This means that the type of programs

viewed on the television affects the level of aggressive

behavior exhibited.

The results are as follows:

Tom and Jerry

Table 1: Physical Aggression (Males)

Table 2:

Physical

Aggression

(Females)

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Kicking 20%

Hitting 52%

Punching 25%

Biting 3%

Bullying 0%

Playing 0%

Hugging 0%

Kissing 0%

Kicking 1%

Hitting 5%

Punching 2%

Biting 1%

Bullying 0%

Playing 85%

Hugging 6%

Kissing 0%


Figure 1: Physical Aggression

Males Females0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

Kicking HittingPunchingBitingBullyingPlayingHuggingKissing

Table 3: verbal Aggression (Males)

Table 4: Verbal Aggression (Females)

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Figure

2:

Verbal Aggression

Males Females0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

ScreamingShoutingVerbal AbuseLaughingSmilingSingingSweet talking

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Screaming 30%

Shouting 30%

Verbal

Abuse

40%

Laughing 0%

Smiling 0%

Singing 0%

Sweet

talking

0%

Screaming 50%

Shouting 20%

Verbal

Abuse

30%

Laughing 0%

Smiling 0%

Singing 0%

Sweet

talking

0%


Barney

Table5: Physical Aggression

Table 6: Verbal Aggression

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Males Female

s

Kicking 0% 0%

Punching 0% 0%

Hitting 0% 0%

Bullying 0% 0%

Biting 0% 0%

Playing 70% 80%

Hugging 20% 10%

Kissing 10% 10%

Males Female

s

Screaming 0% 0%

Shouting 0% 0%

Verbal

Abuse

0% 0%

Laughing 40% 50%

Smiling 20% 10%

Singing 20% 10%

Sweet

Talking

20% 30%


Figure 3: Physical Aggression

Males Females0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

kickingpunchinghittingbullyingbitingplayinghuggingkissing

Figure 4: Verbal Aggression

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Males Females0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

ScreamingShoutingVerbal AbuseLaughingSmilingSingingSweet Talking

Discussion:

To conclusion of this research paper is that there is a

positive relationship between viewing television and the

aggressive behavior of the children (both males and

females). As there are also gender differences, as to how

female use verbal aggression more than males and males

tend to use physical aggression more. The interviews of

parents suggested that the child did perceive the actions

shown in the cartoons and perceived it in a negative way

and unconsciously they started to act upon those actions

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that they imitated from the cartoons shown to them.

Although the body of research on the effects of viewing

television violence is extensive and fairly coherent in

demonstrating systematic patterns of influence, we know

surprisingly little about the processes involved in the

production of these effects. Although we know that

viewing televised violence can lead to increases in

aggressive behavior or fearfulness and changed attitudes

and values about the role of violence in society, it

would be helpful to know more about how these changes

occur in viewers. It does not mean that television is the

only factor that causes aggression; other factors also

contribute such as social economic status, gender

differences, parenting style and the environment where

you live.

While discussing the experiment conducted on young

children (both males and females), there are several

limitations. Firstly, the sample size (20 children-10

boys and 10 girls) is limited which results in the lack

of generalization to the general population of the young

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children. Secondly, there is a high likelihood that the

children, after going through various steps in the

procedure, may face the fatigue factor resulting in

aggressive behavior. In this way, the exhibition of

aggressive behavior may be due to the fatigue factor and

not due to the impact of television.

References:

Slotsve, T., Carmen, A.D., Sarver, M. & Watkins, R.J.

(2008). Television violence

and aggression: A retrospective study. Southwest Journal of

Criminal Justice, 5(1), pp. 22-49.

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Appendix

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Gender Differences-Impact of television on child's aggressive behavior

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