Primary Source Report, Description and Analysis

THE IMPACT OF MEDIA EXPOSURE TO CHILDREN’S BEHAVIOUR Name: Course title: Professor: Institution: Date Due: Introduction The subject of media influence to young children and youth have hotly been debated in recent times. Majority of people and researchers have come to belief that the media has a significant influence on children’s characters. Beresin for instance opines that media violence instigates aggressive behavior among children and youth (2010). However, other studies have contradicted such assertions. Olson is one of such researchers whose study noted that media did not influence young children’s behavior (2004). Rather, they developed their behavior from the environmental and family conditions in which they were. Purpose of Study It is therefore for this reason that the researcher decided to conduct this study to find out if media exposure of violence instigated different behavior on children. Study Hypothesis The Hypothesis for this study is that the media influence on children’s characters is insignificant. Study Procedure The study procedure that I employed in this study was experimental approach. In this case, I made an arrangement with the headmistress of a local elementary school who accepted my request to conduct the study. In this study, I only dealt with class one pupils whom I divided into two sets. One group was shown media content that involved violent actions while the other group viewed nonviolent content. Bandura and Berkowitz used this kind of study approach in their early studies concerning children’s behavior (1977). The aspect of changed behavior among these children, which was a dependent variable, was measured by use of a pencil and paper test just after exposure. The first of these groups were shown a five-minute video clip segment that indicated a chase, three fistfights, a knifing, and three shootings. Those in the control group were shown a video clip of similar length where athletes were competing in tracks and other game events in the field. After this exposure, the children were taken one after the other into...