Pro-social Behavior in Children and Television

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The effect of television on children’s behavior is a topic that has continued to evoke interest in psychologists. In the investigations educators suggest that television has replaced other forms of socialization such as school and family, reason being that children spend more time in watching television as compared to time spent in school.
Psychological and government experiments together with congress investigations have been implemented with the aim of establishing the effects of television on children behavior. Main interest of the methods is to analyze whether social violence results from the violence portrayed in television programs.
While other behaviors aimed at helping others, less often studied, are compared to helping people in distress.
From its inception, television’s effect has grabbed the attention of many investigators following the question of its unbecoming consequences in its programming and the results affecting influence on aggression. The subject’s sole purpose is the focus on its effect to teach pro-social behaviors and attitudes.
Investigations suggest that commercial programming serves as positive socializers and modeling cues provided by television increases the generosity of the young observers (Bryan, 1970). Among the studies, one succeeded in its deductions concluding that broadcasted televised materials convinced pro-social behavior in children. In the experiment 3-to-5 years old children were subjected to varied forms of programming, the three programs selected contained scenes of aggression, dieting and neutral programs, the results confirmed previous works since certain types of pro-social behavior increased following the exposure. The intention of the experiment was to establish whether specific ...

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... steer the children to taboos, it should be a lesson to those who air the programs to add emphasis on programs that develop character and promote goodness.
Regardless of nationality the nature of humans is good and what tarnishes the spirit is the exposure that people receive, at the tender age pro-social behavior happens to be the only form of learning that is willingly and innocent. Despite its simplistic nature it sticks and shapes the character of the audience. A form of regulation that works should be implemented to protect children from unintended on incomprehensive messages.

Works Cited

Experimental psychology: A case approach eighth edition accessed from http://www.coursesmart.com/bookshelf
Tannis MacBeth Williams.The Impact of Television: A Natural Experiment in Three Communities" accessed from http://world.std.com/~jlr/comment/tv_impact.htm

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