Social Aggression : Interpersonal Relationships, Social Goals, And Self Image

Many studies show that children are more prone to violence due to a child’s undeveloped brain. “Children who are regularly exposed to more violent media have an increased probability of behaving more aggressively in real life (Anderson).” Furthermore, children nowadays are exposed to excessive amounts of violence in media, increasing their risks of violence when older (Anderson). Anderson explains, children are likely to become “emotionally desensitized to the violence” being portrayed. Negative actions may happen without concern or acknowledgement that something is wrong (Anderson). According to Anderson, young children will be meaner and more aggressive. The more contact with media violence a child gets, the more likely they are to be aggressive, as he or she gets older

Furthermore, it is pointed out that viewing violence and then later performing violent behavior has been proven to have a high correlation. In order for people to acquire a knowledge of aggressive behavior, they have to be exposed to it first. According to Steven F. Messner on JSTOR, “...residents in communities with high levels of exposure to television violence might be less likely than those in communities with lowers levels of exposure to report criminal incidents to the police.” From past researches, it was said that this is because of the possible fear and mistrust which is connected with television

Comstock, G. (2008). A Sociological Perspective on Television Violence and Aggression. American Behavioral Scientist, 51(8), 1184-1211. doi:10.1177/0002764207312009

The results of the study were that it was possible to predict aggression based on media exposure and that it significantly increased aggression. The study suggests that the more educational media exposure there is to children the more aggression is shown.

One theory that prompted research on how boys and girls differ in the expression of aggression was that boys are more aggressive than girls’ theory. Several researchers in the past suggest that boys act in aggressive way within the peer group context for physical dominance (Crick, gropeter 2012). The idea was the exploratory examination of gender differences in patterns of association between physical aggression and the social interaction revealed that the relationships were only true for boys. In other word,

Relational aggression can’t be full responsibility of the schools it’s also important for the parents to know that being a good role model often affect a lot of the teen girl’s actions, for example if a parent usually gossips about another parent the teen girl may think that her parent’s actions are okay and that child will do as seen. A parent in a teenager’s life plays a big role because I believe that as a parent, you need to teach your child to be a leader not a follower, and that is very important in relational aggression due to the child having to stand against it instead of joining or being a bystander.

Some may perceive aggression as unhealthy and anti social but managed in a positive way can be empowering and enabling to individuals, groups and society as a whole.

A range of studies assert that causes of violent behavior are complex at the level of environmental influence and compare other learning, modelling and disinhibiting factors. This is an area where opposition to the hypothesis is more common. Two longitudinal studies assessing levels of violence pre-and post the introduction of television found a positive correlation, however

"These boys may internalize the idea that aggression, popularity and control naturally go together, and they may not hesitate to use physical aggression as a social strategy because it has always worked," Rodkin said. "But there will come a point in these boys' lives when this turns from an adaptive and fun to a lonely and potentially dangerous characteristic."

These results correlate highly with the social learning theory on aggressive behavior. Those exposed to substantial violence and aggression were likely to imitate it later on in life. However, while an observational study can elicit enlightening results, they do not provide much on practical, empirical evidence. What the researchers did was observe behavior exhibited by the individuals they studied; they did not control the amount of violence the individuals were being exposed nor were they preventing others from being exposed to such programming. Thus, this study can not be deemed as an “experiment”. While they tried eliminating the lurking variables that may plague the results of their findings, it would be impossible to eliminate every possible influence other than the television exposure through an observational study.

As Humans, we use the word aggression in our day to day conversation to characterize our behavior and perhaps behaviors of others. We conclude that people are aggressive if they scream at or hit another individual, however, other harmful acts such as the killing of enemy soldiers during the war might be regarded as an aggressive act by everyone. Social psychologists have spent lots of time trying to determine what should be considered aggression and reasons why individuals exhibit aggressive behaviors towards other. Hence, for many decades social psychologists have carried out various psychological research on aggression and new evidence has emerged on the problems that researchers are exploring the fundamental construct of aggression for a long time continue to experience, raising new questions and posing new perspectives about aggressive behaviors.

As evidence has shown, children view many violent scenes while watching television, movies, or playing video games, but the question still remains: What psychological effect does violence in the media have on children? Research over the past 10 years has consistently shown that there is a cause-and-effect relationship between media violence and real-life aggression (Strasburger 129). Violence in the media can lead to aggressive behavior by children and teenagers who watch the various programs. Of course, not all children who watch television, or movies, or play video games develop aggressive behavior. However, there is a strong correlation between media violence and aggressive behavior. A study, published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry, examined how children's television viewing practices are related to aggressive behaviors. The results revealed that children who reported watching greater amounts of television per day had higher levels of violent behavior than children who reported lesser amounts of television viewing (Singer 1041). Witnessing violence is an important determining factor in violent behavior. The media serves as a means for children to witness violence. According to Bandura's Social Learning Theory, children imitate behavior that they see on television, especially if the person performing the behavior is attractive or if the

Relational aggression (RA) is defined as nonphysical behaviors that aim to deliberately cause harm to another individual by destroying relationships, harming social status or self-esteem, or public embarrassment (Crick, Werner, Casas, O’Brien, Nelson, Grotpeter, & Markon, 1999). Examples include behaviors such as purposely ignoring a peer, spreading rumors, creating undesirable gossip, and excluding a peer from group activities, (Crick, 1996; Crick & Grotpeter, 1995; Crick, Ostrov, & Werner, 2006). RA can occur as early as preschool years, and plays a huge role in the interactions among this population with behaviors such as covering one’s ears as a sign of ignoring another peer (Bonica, Arnold, Fisher, Zeljo, & Yershova, 2003; Crick et al.,

          Due to violence on television, children become less sensitive to that pain and suffering of others or to become more aggressive to others. It also makes children more fearful to the world around them. (Abelard 1) Viewing habits of children observed for many decades deduced that violence on TV is associated with aggressive behavior, more than poverty, race, or parental behavior. It also reported that a TV show contains about 20 acts of violence an hour.

Various sociologists have concluded that Human aggression is a social behaviour, based on the research that has been conducted from a range of studies. The empirical research and theoretical