CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1          Background to the Study

Many children television programs involve a substantial amount of violence in one form or another. What impact, might these programs have on the development of teenagers? Since the advent of television there has been growing concern about the apparent effects of violence on the attitudes, values and behaviour of children. Much of the research has focused on the effect of violent TV programmes exhibited by these teenagers. Some researcher and theorist believe that violence on television is inextricably linked to human aggression while others do not believe a conclusive body of evidence exists to justify this view.

The debate surrounding whether violence on television influences teenagers negatively has typically occurs within a social learning framework. There have been two major criticisms of the current debates. The first of these attacks questions on the validity of applying effects found in laboratory studies to the real world. More specifically, these criticism address the artificial and unrealistic nature of the laboratory evidence used to illustrate and effect between viewing violence on television and expressed aggression in this teenagers.   The second argument attacks the use of the social learning framework as it ignores any evidence which might suggest a biography or genetic component to human aggression.

Media violence is pictured as a way of life throughout the popular media, on the news and television shows, in movies, in video games and in song lyrics. Media violence according to Bushman and Huesmann (2001 p, 223) is a significant risk factors in youth violence. The amount of aggression on television is special problems for children and Adolescents, in the 1990s children watched an average of 26 hours of television each week (national centre for children exposed to violence, 2001). Mcluhan (1974 p, 28) asserts that, television has a massive penetration which affects lives or parts of lives. The magic picture is impossible to resist. Constant exposure to such aggressive image lowers viewers emotional sensitively to violence.

According to Cline, Croft and Courries (1973 p, 44) Violent movies frequently cause a reduction in pro-social behaviour as one additional consequence as well as causing a stir in aggressive cognition. (Kiroch, 1978) holds that, violent media tend to increase aggressive thought in males, females, children and even adults. This demonstrates a causal link between exposure to violent movies and aggressive cognition.

General research shows and supports contention that viewers who frequently watch violence movies are more likely to be angered and tend not to exhibit any form of pro-social behaviour than people who do not watch violent movies (Wood, Wang and Chachere, 1991). Individual’s aggressiveness and anti-social behavior and reactions are always traced, linked and associated with scenes from earlier views of exposure to violent imagery or scenes.

Rightly or wrongly people tend to blame television for much that has gone wrong in the society today. Violent movies affects the thinking and behaviour of more people in the society than any other medium, for as the adage goes “seeing is believing”. The media sometimes show these violent movies below the level of viewer’s conscious awareness.

Decades of research into the effects of exposure of violent television and movies have produced a thoroughly documented and highly sophisticated set of research findings, it is believed that even brief exposure to evident movies scenes causes significant increase in aggression and repeated exposure of children to media violent increases their aggressiveness as young adults. Research by different psychologist and researchers have shown that long exposure to violence in this medium affect the overall cognitive and pro-social attitudes of the individual.

1.2       Statement of the Problem

Violent movies to a large extent cause a stir in aggressive attitude. It is argued by many that individuals in the society tend to act or behave aggressively after watching a violent TV programme perhaps to act what they had viewed. With the wide spread of violent TV programmes in the society, it is said that behavioural attitude demands such as  gansterism, cultism, and other anti-social activities are on the increase in Nigeria, this teenagers and adolescents thought are locked up with what they had viewed.

For many years, psychologists have debated the question of whether watching violence on television has detrimental effects on the teenage and a number of experiments, both inside and outside the laboratory, have found evidence that viewing television violence is related to increased aggression in teenagers. Some psychologists have criticized this research, maintaining that the evidence is inconclusive. Such programmes also show people who solve differences through cooperation and discussion rather than through aggression and hostility. Consequently, this research study seeks to investigate the extent to which viewing violence on television Influence teenagers in Makurdi metropolis.

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