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Aggressive Stimulation Theory Many television programs involve a substantial amount of violence in one form or another. What impact do they have on the development of aggression? Research on violent television and films, video games, and music reveals unequivocal evidence that media violence increases the likelihood of aggressive and violent behaviour in both immediate and long-term contexts. The effects appear larger for milder than for more severe forms of aggression, but the effects on severe forms of violence are also substantial when compared with effects of other violence risk factors. Since the advent of television there has been growing concern about the apparent effects of violence on the attitudes, values and behaviours of people.
Much of the research has focused on the effects of violence on television and aggression expressed by viewer. Some researchers and theorists believe that violence on television is inextricably linked to human aggression while do not believe a conclusive body of evidence exists to justify this view. One chilling finding is that aggression increases after watching filmed violence, even if people have not been frustrated or are not under stress. In fact, Leonard Berkowitz' research suggests that all that is needed are aggressive cues. He represents his researches in the aggressive stimulation theory. But Leonard Berkowitz was not the first who investigate this field of sociology.
The roots of his investigation are based on the social learning theory, which has the status as the major single theory used to explain the influence of viewing violent programs on childrens levels of aggression. (Neapolitan, 1981; Walter & Aubrey, 1971; Bandura, 1965; Alioto, 1973) Social learning theory explains human behaviour in terms of continuous reciprocal interaction between cognitive, behavioural and environmental influences of the individual. A prominent proponent of social learning theory, a professor at Stanford University Albert Bandura, proved that performance is the process by which the observer acts out the newly learned response. Acquisition of a behaviour however, does not automatically lead to its performance. Whether or not aggressive behaviour acquired will be acted out depends on the perceived consequences of the actors behaviour for the actor and the consequences of aggressing for the observer. Albert Bandura did one of the first experiments that dealt with trying to prove the relationship between violence on television and aggression in children. Bandura showed a clip of a man beating a bobo doll to a number of children.
He then left the each child alone in a room with a bobo doll. At one point the children would start to beat up the doll, re-enacting what they had saw being done in the clip. Aggressive stimulation theory was worked out and described by Leonard Berkowitz. Leonard Berkowitz is Vilas Research Professor in Psychology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. The internationally known recipient of a distinguished scientist award by the American Psychological Association, he is the author of several books and more than 170 articles. In this wide-ranging discussion of the social psychology of human aggression, Leonard Berkowitz examines the findings of behavioural research about conditions and circumstances that promote anger and aggression.
Emphasizing that aggression takes numerous forms and has many causes. Berkowitz distinguishes between instrumental aggression (assaults carried out to benefit the attacker in some way) and emotional (impulsive or expressive) aggression. He points out that they have different origins and aims and are best controlled in different ways. Although he gives much attention to the conditions promoting deliberate instrumental aggression, Berkowitz also shows that many assaults are highly emotional acts. He therefore considers conceptions of emotion and the nature of anger and offers a new theory of the factors affecting impulsive aggression. The discussion throughout is based on both laboratory experiments and real world field studies.
Berkowitz summarizes what behavioural scientists have learned about the nature of highly aggressive personalities and the family and childhood backgrounds of those who are disposed to violent, antisocial behaviour. He also reports important studies of the effects of violence depicted in the mass media. In discussing conditions that lead to child abuse, spouse battering, and murder, Berkowitz identifies such risk factors as childhood experiences, frustration, poverty, and personal and social stresses, as well as external events and situations that bring hostile ideas to mind. The stimulation-theory means that aggressiveness increases the excitement condition that can be found in all humans.
The concentration of violence among children and adolescents has important intervention implications. Because adolescence is a time of great developmental changes, approaches to understanding and preventing violence among youths should incorporate a developmental perspective that also focuses on the relationship and interactions between individuals and their environments, at the family, community, and societal levels. Violence in the video games increases the possibility that everyone can become more aggressive that they usually would be. American children and youths spend, on average, more than 4 hours a day with television, computers, videotaped movies, and video games but their exposure to media varies considerably, depending on their age, parental viewing habits, and family socioeconomic status.
Most systematic research on childrens exposure to violent media dates back to the 1970 s, when most families did not have access to cable television, music videos, video games, or the Internet. As noted earlier, very few contemporary studies systematically document childrens actual consumption of violent media; this is particularly true for the newer media and violence to be accepted, learned, and imitated. There are the following findings: 61 percent of television programs contain some violence, and only 4 percent of television programs with violent content feature an "anti violence" theme. 44 percent of the violent interactions on television involve perpetrators who have some attractive qualities worthy of emulation. 43 percent of violent scenes involve humour either directed at the violence or used by characters involved with violence. Nearly 75 percent of violent scenes on television feature no immediate punishment for or condemnation of violence. 40 percent of programs feature bad characters, who are never or rarely punished for their aggressive actions. Applying the aggressive stimulating theory to these facts we can foresee the rising of different types of crimes and violence made by TV viewers. It is clear that media depicted violence increases physical and / or emotional arousal, especially as a function of: degree of violence, perceived justifiability of violence.
Televisions effects on our thinking and learns us how to behave. It is estimated that most Americans view 200, 000 acts of violence on TV before they finish high school. That is over 30 hours per day! If you take out 8 hours for sleeping, that's an act of violence every 32 minutes. (If the TV were on for 16 hours a day. ) According to one researcher (Wendy Wood), 13 % of those exposed to a violent program will become more aggressive than usual. The facts mentioned below lead to extreme aggressiveness of the people, children as well. People start to imitate their favourite heros behaviour without realising what is good and what is bad.
If people are not apt to aggressiveness but have some preconditions, their violence wake up immediately. It starts to control the humans nature warming up by newer and newer impressions received from TV programmes or computer games. Everything watched by the people is reflected in our mind and when the circumstances coincide with the watching on, a person begin imitate well-known patterns of behaviour. During years of playing violent computer games, a person develops amore aggressive side to his / her personality. Playing games on a casual basis will not affect person in any way, however, playing violent games in large doses will leave a scar in any personality.
The consensus among social scientists seems to be the following; Media violence is a cause of subsequent aggressive tendencies in viewers. But it is not the only cause since many factors besides media determine whether people behave aggressively. The precise impact of media violence will be affected by many other factors (age, sex, family interaction, and the way violence is presented on the screen) In relative terms, the effect of media violence on aggression seems small. This review to the research and theorizing about human aggression seeks to promote understanding of the fundamental causes of destructive conduct, the conditions that can increase the chances of aggressive behaviour, and the most effective steps that could be taken to reduce the likelihood of violence in society.
Aggressive stimulation theory proves that the watching of violence stimulates aggression in the viewer. We are faced with violence very often in every day life, but not on purpose. It is difficult to resist or decrease negative media and computer games influences on the children mind but it should be done. Well-supported theory delineates why and when exposure to media violence increases aggression and violence. Media violence produces short-term increases by priming existing aggressive scripts and cognition's, increasing physiological arousal, and triggering an automatic tendency to imitate observed behaviours. Media violence produces long-term effects via several types of learning processes leading to the acquisition of lasting (and automatically accessible) aggressive scripts, interpretational schemas, and aggression-supporting beliefs about social behaviour, and by reducing individuals normal negative emotional responses to violence (i.
e. , desensitization). Certain characteristics of viewers (e. g. , identification with aggressive characters), social environments (e. g. , parental influences), and media content (e.
g. , attractiveness of the perpetrator) can influence the degree to which media violence affects aggression. Recent surveys reveal an extensive presence of violence in modern media. Furthermore, many children and youth spend an inordinate amount of time consuming violent media. Although it is clear that reducing exposure to media violence will reduce aggression and violence, it is less clear what sorts of interventions will produce a reduction in exposure. The sparse research literature suggests that counter attitudinal and parental-mediation interventions are likely to yield beneficial effects, but that media literacy interventions by themselves are unsuccessful.
A substantial number of laboratory and field experiments over the past half-century have examined whether children exposed to violent behaviour on film or television behave more aggressively immediately afterwards. Many studies have also examined the immediate effect of media violence on aggressive thoughts or emotions, which have been shown to increase the risk of aggressive behaviour It is not necessary that the aggressor be especially mean to get the way of violence. But the slightest hint of anger can get the point across. Sometimes little facial expressions or quick sayings have the greatest effect. For instance, when a guy asks his girlfriend if she would like to go to the monster truck show, she may say, all right, but roll her eyes at the same time.
This little facial expression depicts her true feelings of not truly wanting to go and so her boyfriend suggests another option. Such an expression is a powerful message -- and often an effective one, proving once again that, aggression pays off on a frequent basis. Analyses also reveal that exposure to violent video games increases physiological arousal and aggression-related thoughts and feelings. Playing violent video games also decreases pro social behaviour. In sum, television violence has an impact on expressed levels of aggression in children by the following process; children learn to be aggressive by watching actors on television and then model the actors aggressive behaviours. Television violence can make children more accepting of aggressive behaviour, that is, they become desensitized to the effects of violence (possibly through habituation).
There is a corresponding increased acceptance of violence as an appropriate means of conflict resolution. An Alternate way of presenting this is that children learn new violent behaviours by encoding, rehearsing, storing and retrieval of scripts for aggression. References 1. Bandura, A Influence of models reinforcement contingencies on the acquisition of imitative responses. Journal of Personality and Social psychology. - 1965. - p. 589 - 595. 2. Bandura, A.
Principles of Behavior Modification. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1969 3. Berkowitz, L. Aggression: Its causes, consequences and control. New York: McGraw-Hill. - 1993. 4.
Berkowitz, L. , & Alioto, J. T. The meaning of an observed event as a determinant of its aggressive consequences. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. - # 28. - 1973. - p. 206 - 217. 5. Cover, L. F. & Huston, A.
C. Television violence and aggression: the debate continues. Psychological Bulletin. - # 100. - 1986. - p. 364 - 371. 6. Freedman, J.
L. Effect of television violence on aggressiveness. Psychological Bulletin. -# 96. - 1984. - 227 - 246. 7 Friedrich-Cover, L. , & Huston, A. C. , Television Violence and Aggression: The Debate Continues. Psychological Bulletin. -# 100. - 1986. - 364 - 371. 8. Kohn, A.
Make love, not war. Psychology Today. - June. - 1988. - 35 - 38. 9. Lande, G. R. The Video Violence Debate. Hospital and Community Psychiatry. - # 44. - 1992. -p. 347 - 351.
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Research essay sample on Social Learning Theory Violent Video Games
