aggressive cartoon each day for eleven days. The other child watched non-aggressive cartoons. The children that had watched the aggression behaved that way during free play. In another naturalistic experiment(done in a natural setting), the behaviors of children were examined on the basis of how much television they watch, and the results support the conclusions of the lab and field experiments. "Television viewing is positively related to aggressive behavior" (Williams, 307). Stanley and Riera in 1977 have documented incidents in which violent acts seen on television have been imitated in real life. These experiments prove that aggression is learned behavior, and television is a main source of learning available to children today.The establishment of sex-roles that television has made is another important contributing factor to increased violence. It seems as though the barriers between male and female roles on television have been well embedded, and this distorts reality further, and therefore has a profound effect on the child who is viewing. Male characters outnumber female characters by seventy percent on both adult and children's programs. When women have leading roles, they usually appear in comedic roles more often than crime or drama programs. They are employed primarily in clerical, nursing, and entertainment positions, while men are employed as professionals such as doctors and lawyers. "Television confirms if not exaggerates these biases by portraying markedly more males than females in programs, by showing males in dominant roles, by having women more often victims of violence, and with only a few exceptions, by showing that the career world is primarily a male one" (LaRose, 26). The fact that women are often times victimized on television demonstrates violence as a social power. Surveys taken show that females occupy one-third of prime-time roles, and less than one-third percent of roles on Saturday morning te...
