e unlikely to be able to put the violence in context, since they are likely to miss, or not understand, any information concerning motivation and consequences. One study stated, “Preschoolers behave more aggressively than usual in their play after watching any high-action exciting television shows, but especially after watching violent television” (Cantor & Wilson, 1984, p.445). Elementary School Children Elementary school children develop a variety of skills: their attention span and cognitive ability follow continuous plots, they make inferences about implicit content, and they recognize motivations and consequences of peoples’ actions. By age eight, children are more likely to be sensitive to important influences on television, they will not become more aggressive if the violence they see is portrayed as evil, as causing human suffering, or as resulting in punishment or disapproval. However, they are likely to show increased aggression from watching violent television if they believe the violence reflects real life, or if they identify with a violent hero, as boys often do, or if they engage in aggressive fantasies (Cantor & Wilson, 1984). TV Violence on Children Elementary school children ages six to eleven still watch cartoons but also begin watching more adult or family-oriented programming than they did when they were younger. They also begin liking horror movies, perhaps deliberately scaring themselves in an attempt to overcome their own fears. However, they might be doing it to numb themselves to fear and violence, and they likely will become more tolerant of violence in the real world (Cantor & Wilson, 1984). Adolescent School Children Adolescent Children ( ages 12 to 17), the middle school to high school years, “children become capable of abstract thought and reasoning, although they rarely use these abilities when watching television” (Dietz, & Strasburger, 1991, p.9). At this level they watch l...
