How Children Learn Violence through Modeling Donna Dickman
Partnership for Violence Free Families [email protected]
www.pvff.org
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Why Is It Important to Learn Child Development? To know what
children can do and understand at different age levels To learn
what you can expect of a child To better understand the reasons for
the childs behaviors
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Risk Factors for Violence
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Toys
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Congressional Public Health Summit, 2000 American Academy of
Pediatrics American Psychological Association American Academy of
Child And Adolescent Psychiatry American Medical Association
American Academy of Family Physicians At this time, well over 1000
studies - including reports from the Surgeon General's office, the
National Institute of Mental Health, and numerous studies conducted
by leading figures within our medical and public health
organizations.. point overwhelmingly to a causal connection between
media violence and aggressive behavior in some children.
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The Daily News
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Advertising
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Why Are Children Spending So Much Time With Media? Allows time
for parents to do chores Quiets children down; they are safe
Parents have time for themselves Multiple equipment means fewer
sibling hassles, and parents can watch their own shows.
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On average young children today: Watch TV for 2 to 4 hours per
day. Spend 35 hours per week on screen time (TV, computer games).
Watch 4,000 hours of TV before entering kindergarten. On average
older children/teens (8-18): Consume on average 8 hours of media
(e.g., TV, movies, computer, music) per day. Facts Related to Media
Exposure
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KEY FACTS: TV VIOLENCE The consensus among most of the research
community is that violence on television does lead to aggressive
behavior by children and teenagers In magnitude, television
violence is as strongly correlated with aggressive behavior as any
other behavioral variable that has been measured. Source: National
Institute of Mental Health
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TV Cartoons?
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According to Nielsen Media Research, WWE's programming reaches
15.8 million fans each week, of which 23 percent is under age 18.
Grades 7-12: Form a tag team of your favorite character from
literature and your favorite WWE Superstar, and describe and/or
illustrate on an 8.5x11- inch piece of paper the strategy you would
use to defeat the current WWE Tag Team Champions (as of October 10,
2010). Teens may use art, drawing, collage, poetry and/or writing
alone or in any combination in creating your project. All projects
must be the original work of the individual teen. Only one entry
per person.
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By the end of elementary school, will have seen approximately
8,000 murders and 100,000 other acts of violence on television. By
age 70, will have spent 7 to 10 years watching TV. Facts Related to
Media Exposure
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Music
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Video Games 80 percent of popular (based on sales) video games
contain violence. 80 percent of homes in the United States have
video game systems. 50% of youth report keeping a video game
console in their rooms
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The Problem(s) with Violent Video Games A Recipe for Violence:
Video games provide a powerful combination of effective learning
strategies for aggression: Modeling Scripts for how to be
aggressive Rehearsal of behavior Reinforcement Recent study:
Violent video games may be the most harmful form of violent media
because they are interactive, engaging, and they require the player
to identify and act for the aggressor, selecting and performing
violent acts, repeatedly (Anderson & Dill, 2000)
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Who is affected? This phenomenon is NOT limited to aggressive
children in dysfunctional families and communities Even with solid
emotional, behavioral, cognitive and social anchors provided by a
healthy home and community, this pervasive media violence increases
aggression and antisocial behavior. Perry, 2003 An emerging
category of high risk players of violent video gamesthe quiet and
anxious child who, with sufficient exposure, may become aggressive
(Funk, 2002).
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Video Game Addiction?
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What Families Should Teach Young Children About Media What they
see on TV, computer, and video games is not real life Real-life
violence hurts people. Heroes are real people who are brave and do
good things to help others. Guns and knives used on TV are not real
and do not hurt people. Real guns and knives can hurt or kill
people. If children see violence on TV, change the channel or go do
something else. Children should talk to an adult when scared or
afraid about something they see on TV. Violence is never the best
way to solve a problem; it only creates more problems.
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For More Information: Partnership for Violence Free Families
www.pvff.org American Psychological Association
ActAgainstViolence.apa.org