According to the Institute for the Social Research, an aggressive behavior is learned behavior which is being taught to our children by the media violence that they are exposed to daily (Chen, 1994 p.23). In Aggression: A Social Learning Analysis, written by Albert Bandura in 1973, indicates that sometimes watching a single violent program can increase aggressiveness. However, the impact of viewing violence on television may become immediately evident in the child’s behavior, or it may not surface till later (Canto

Adolescent children (ages 12-17) “become capable of abstract thought and reasoning, although they rarely use these abilities when watching television” (Dietz & Strasburger 1991). At these age levels they tend to watch less television than when they were younger. Adolescents in middle school and high school are more likely to doubt the reality of television. The small percentage of those who continue to believe in the reality of television, and who identify with its’ violent heroes are the ones likely to be more aggressive (Bandura, 1973). The bottom line is “children learn their attitude about violence at a very young age, and once learned, the attitudes tend to be life-long” (Strasburger and Donnerstein, 1999). Studies of the effects of TV violence on children and teenagers have found that children may become insensitive to violence. Consequently, they tend to gradually accept violence as a way to solve problems by imitating the violence they observe on television by identifying with characters, good or bad. Children who watch television shows in which violence is very realistic, and that is frequently repeated or unpunished, are more likely to imitate what they see which is confirmed by statistics, and case studies (Bandura, p.25).

Through the studies, we have learned that television is a form of education to incite aggressive behavior amongst those who are unable to comprehend fact from fiction through witnessed media violence. Ignoring the consequences of violence perpetuated on television sets into motion a destructive process. These studies conclude that violence is modeled behavior and it is repeated over time through repetitious viewing and learning. Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory, along with these other case studies, should raise the importance of the study of aggression and behavior formed in children who model anti-social behavior. Society has the choice as to what our children are being taught and modeled; therefore, by reducing the viewing content of violent programming should help to discontinue act’s of aggressive behavior.<

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