American children watch an average of three to fours hours of television daily. Television can be a powerful influence in developing value systems and shaping behavior. Unfortunately, much of today's television programming is violent. Hundreds of studies of the effects of TV violence on children and teenagers have found that children may:

· Become "immune" to the horror of violence;

· Gradually accept violence as a way to solve problems;

· Imitate the violence they observe on television; and

· Identify with certain characters, victims and/or victimizers

Children follow what they see done. If they see something done on TV portrayed in a good light, or at least in a way that is not very detrimental, then they feel like

Children often behave differently after they've been watching violent programs on television. In one study done at Pennsylvania State University, about 100 preschool children were observed both before and after watching television; some watched cartoons that had many aggressive and violent acts; others watched shows that didn't have any kind of violence. The researchers noticed real differences between the kids who watched the violent shows and those who watched nonviolent ones. Children who watched the violent shows were more likely to strike out at playmates, argue, disobey authority and were less willing to wait for things than those children who watched nonviolent programs.

Studies have been done to show that children that watch violent shows are more likely to behave violent in their adult life than without violent shows. Children that watch these shows are unable to distinguish right from wrong in real life when comparing it to a world where the rules of real life do not fully apply. The differen

Some common words found in the essay are:
Crime Violence, Psychological Association, Pennsylvania University, Violence United, University Pennsylvania, University Illinois, Dr Eron, children watch, children watched, violence television, Eron PhD, crime violence, tv violence, elementary school, violent acts, watched television, television violence, acts violence,
Approximate Word count = 681
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)