Debate idea by Pinowawa1.

Does the media affect our behaviour in today's society? Can it entice more violent behaviour; or does it have no effect whatsoever?

This will be a formal, 1 vs 1 debate. Pino has already stated that he's interested in debating this topic, therefore we are currently awaiting one more participant. Each member will post one introduction, five body posts and one conclusion. Remember to quote your sources, and keep the arguments civil and no flaming.

Any questions, feel free to send me a PM.

Hey, sorry for my extremely slow reply .. Yes, I Will debate (for) this topic by discussing how Media has had an impact on our social behaviour in terms of violence.

'Does Have'

I like this one. What's the time limit between posts?

Seven days after your opponent, preferably.

Snuffy Puffer looks mean and experienced .. i just basically joined this site .. and im up against an oponent like that .. DAMMMM .. So whos gunna start off then eh?

I'll let you take the first shot.

Awesome!

Pinowawa1 will debate that the media does affect our behaviour;
SnuffyPuffer will debate that it does not.

Again, each member will post one introduction, five body posts and one conclusion. Please do your best to post within seven days of your opponent. Any questions, please PM myself or Lottie.

Alrighty..

Media is one of the most popular aspects of our environment we see everyday. The content of violence is observed all the time, in the morning news paper, posters, and most of all - T.V. I will be discussing the social implications of The violence in media - focusing on children and general crime- how it has dramatically increased over the years. I will be justifying My arguement with theories not just from me but from famous psychologists I have studied for the tendency to imitate what we observe in the media.

Your turn ..

I intend to show that the mass media does not have a major effect on criminal behavior. Violence in video games and movies has a negligible effect on the crime rate of any specific area. I will show that factors such as a person's family situation and social environment have a much much greater influence on criminal behavior than anything one can see in the media, and that the people who commit crimes will commit them, no matter what they might see on television or hear in popular music.

The Media affects our behaviour as we are exposed to it every where we go. The way this happens seems to be mainly due to our tendency to imitiate the content of that violent behaviour we see. When looking at children, the imitation of violent behaviour is encouraged by the consequences of their actions they copy.. for example .. 'power rangers' - in the play ground - practice the violent content on T.V .. use it in play fighting = gain popularity when you win the fight. This tendency to imitate the violence off the media can be supported by theories proposed by the psychologist 'Bandura' such as the Social Learning theory. This theory outlines how the media has a significant impact on our behaviour by imitating things from our environment. Observational learning may account for the Media's influence on children's behaviour which has been noticed speciffically in violence.
Taking into account Learning occurs through imitating; like i mentioned before - children will copy and practice things which get them positive consequences such as 'reinforcement'. This method of imitation is also taking place because of childrens 'enjoyment' of the material which is being viewed. The reinforcement is seen where the violent behaviour is being imitated is encouraged, in the case of copying violent behaviour, as i mentioned earlier, it creates social activity and promotes popularity - such as the case with 'south park'.... Bad language and violence is seen as 'fun' to them. Psychologists such as Liebert and Baron (1972) demonstrated that children who observe violent behaviour from T.V are likely to copy it and practice it on other people to cause pain. The study from the incident on the 14 year old boy 'who killed a girl' taken from the Metro paper a few years back (dont know if you people remember) - the boy who killed a girl by practicing 'wrestling moves' on her is an example of the content from the media which is beign imitated. It is understandable that violence is being imitated mostly in children as they are in the learning development stage; The psychologist 'Bendura' found that children aged below 15 years are most manipulated and influenced by the media.. however, this doesnt mean that Adults are not responsible for the high increase of crime in general society over the years.

your turn ..

You have a point, the media today is almost unescapable, unless you live under a bridge. However, it does not have a major effect on criminal behavior. Many children do in fact mimick what they see their heroes do on television, but this hardly causes them to go on to become criminals later in life. While studies have shown that exposure to violent imagery has short term effects such as raising heartbeat and blood pressure, the long term picture is cloudy at best and hotly debated.

For the most part, the real life environment and familial guidance is a much better predictor of how antisocial a person is likely to become later in life. source Simply blaming violence in society on the media does not take into account all the factors that make us what we are as human beings.

This concludes post #1.

What happened to Pando?

I don't know. I sent him a message yesterday, I'm waiting for a reply.

I have just sent another PM to Pino.

Waiting for a response...