In the United States children watch an average of three to fours hours of television daily (Cantor & Wilson, 1984, p. 28). Television can be a powerful influence in developing value systems and shaping behavior. Unfortunately, much of today's television programming is violent. 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; and they identify with certain characters, good or bad. Therefore, extensive viewing of television violence by children causes greater aggressiveness (Rosenthal, 1986).

Typically, children begin watching television at a very early age, sometimes as early as six months, and are fervent viewers by the time that they are two or three years old (Murray, 1997). The amount of time that American children spend watching TV is remarkable, an average of four hours a day, 28 hours a week, 2,400 hours a year, nearly 18,000 hours by the time they graduate from high school (Chen, 1994, p.23). In comparison, they spend a mere 13

Bandura strongly believed television was a source of behavior modeling. Bandura has shown that "both children and adults acquire attitudes, emotional responses, and new styles of conduct through filmed and televised modeling" (Bandura, 1977, p.39). Today, films and television shows illustrate violence graphically. Violence is often expressed as an acceptable behavior, especially for heroes who have never been punished.

In conclusion, there have been many debates over whether or not violence on television causes aggressive behavior in children. For instances some studies show that children view cartoons such as Elmer Fudd shooting the rabbit as funny and humorous and it is the parents' responsibility to inform their children that the cartoons are not real. It appears television is a form of education and positive role models. If violence in television and film cause people to be more violent, then shouldn't the good formed in television result in an audience that is pleasant? Despite the criticisms, Albert Bandura's Social Learning Theory should be seen as important in the study and influences of aggression and criminal behavior formed in this. In order to control aggression, Bandura believed family members and the mass media should provide positive role models for their children and the general public (Bandura, 1977). I believe that aggression modeled by children from watching television could be curbed when more of the influential adults in children's lives are involved.

Elementary school children develop a variety of skills: their attention span and cognitive ability follow continuous plots, they make inferences about implicit content, and they recognize motivations and consequences of peoples' actions. By age eight, children are more likely to be sensitive to important influences on television, they will not become more aggressive if the violence they see is portrayed as evil, as causing human suffering, or as resulting in punishment or disapproval. However, they are likely to show increased aggression from watching violent television if they believe the violence reflects real life, or if they identify with a violent hero, as boys often do, or if they engage in aggressive fantasies (Cantor & Wilson, 1984).

Dietz, W. H., and Strasburger, V. C. 1991. Children, adolescents, and television.

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