.
The author of this paper, Tiffany Adkins, adequately states and suggests.
that television can be, and often is, a determing factor in the establishment of a .
negative attitude in young children exposed to the incredible amount of violence .
portrayed as "normal" in the world today. For many years now, parents have .
found the television set to be a replacement for the babysitter, allowing them to .
go about their business uninterrupted by the child while costing them nothing.
RESPONSE.
It takes only an hour or so of watching television to know Ms. Adkins is .
correct in her assessment of what we see on television. Not only is the violence .
content overwhelming, but it is of such a graphic nature as to remove the horror .
of seeing a fellow human being dismembered or gutted like a fish. Ms. Adkins.
opinion regarding desensitization and aggression in children as a result of .
watching television is futher proved by statistical information on the increase in.
violent acts by young children and adolescents. .
The overall pattern of research findings indicates a positive association between.
television violence and aggressive behavior. A Washington Post article (Oldenburg, .
1992), states that "the preponderance of evidence from more than 3,000 research studies .
over two decades shows that the violence portrayed on television influence the attitudes .
and behavior of children who watch it." Signorielli (1991) finds that: "Most of the.
scientific evidence reveals a relationship between television and aggressive behavior. .
While few would say that there is absolute proof that watching television caused .
aggressive behavior, the overall cumulative weight of all the studies gives credence to the .
position that they are related. Essentially, television violence is one of the things that .
may lead to aggressive, antisocial, or criminal behavior; it does, however, usually work .