to increased violence. If women and non-whites are frequent victims of violence on television, the viewer gets the impression that these groups are made for the role of the victim, therefore, increasing discrimination and violent acts directed towards therse groups.The final and probably most profound effect that television has on children is desensitization. When an individual watches a violent act on television the immediate effects are that they learn aggression, and also included in that is an increased arousal effect, increased excitement, and increased heartrate. However, with repeated exposures to displays of violence the strength of the arousal decreases(Cline, Croft and Courrier, 1973). This is what desensitization basically is. As the person becomes less sensitive to certain acts of violence, they themselves become more violent individuals, and may even develop a moral approval of aggressive acts. All restraints are greatly reduced, including guilt, fear of retaliation, and the disapproval of others. Seeing a violent program also results in a reduced inclination to regard violence seen afterwards as actual violence. Experiments show that the emotional reactions of children decrease upon the second viewing of the same violent act or a new act. Seeing constant brutality, viciousness, and unsociable acts results in hardness, intense selfishness, even mercilessness, proportionate to the amount of exposure the child has to violence on television, and its play on the native temperament of the child. Some children cease to show resentment to insults and indignities. Some children even showed cruelty toward helpless old people, women, and other children. Albert Bandura and his colleagues conducted a laboratory experiment that dealt with...
