I believe it all depends on the nature and personallity and way of thinking the child has, I watch violent shows and have played violent video games like "Mortal Kombat", yet I hardly even talk to others, much less argue or fight with them, It all depends on how you teach your child about these topics, really nobody had to tell me about violence because,I just never liked getting involved in violence, its like a final resort for me, I don't feel powered or excited when I see violent acts either, violence, is violence and I don't view as anything else but, a thing that is not to be fooling
with, when I say this I mean it isn't something you should resort to everytime things don't go your way or if your life isn't great, nowadays we blame violent media for the violent crimes done by kids, when really, like the examples I showed above, it is just used as an excuse to take out issues on others who may not have been the cause of the issues at all.

Like, I said, I think it depends on the child's inside feelings, personallity and beliefs and the way they were raised also may be a factor in determining the validity of these test results, after all some children can be totally different in the way their feelings, personallity, and beliefs are.

This is all going back to the nurture over nature discussion. Is it the way a child is raised or the genes that determine behavior? Because it is unproven which determines behavior, it is hard to say which is to blame. However, it is obvious that both may affect the behavior of a child.

Exposing even the sweetest of children to violence may or may not show it to be perceived as wrong to them.Some may find that it is okay to act out and be violent toward others. Another may learn from it, saying it is wrong to use violence in any situation due to the consequences the protagonist/antagonist/antihero received in the end.

A child, however, should be exposed to this eventually so they can develop thoughts of their own on the matter. That does not mean you should bring them to an R-rated movie at age thirteen with virtually no morals found from the main character.

It is up to the guardian to say whether or not the child is mature enough to see these things and know that they are wrong.

I read a couple responses on here and began to think, i agree that much of the tests are still up in the air on results but we do know a lot about children and how they learn. Environment has an enormous impact on children and people in general.Too little exposure can have drastic consequences as well as too much. Parenting is of course one of the number one ways of teaching and ending up with results within children whether bad or good. One of the facts that have resulted out of studying children as well as their exposure to violence is that children are affected but to what degree we are unsure. Partially because watching or playing violence is not the only cause but it plays a huge part in the end result.We know children learn good and bad through interacting with there environment. Play being the number one way because they are not only hearing but interacting (physically) with their environment. When kids go from not only watching a violent show but then begin to interact with it (act it out) such as with video games, it heightens the learning that occurs, good or bad. I think it becomes an enormous balancing act. I feel strongly that we need to know about the game, if it involves things such as stealing cars, gory violence, murder, profanity than it is not something I want my child learning or playing. It does have an affect and impact and much of those attributes are not good no matter how little they are allowed to play. When it involves violence with a plot line with good versus bad such as those within Harry Potter, mythical games, etc. that is different. Children can understand the difference just as we can. but we have to look at the plot lines, the games, the amount of each within. Everything has an impact but how much depends on us and how involved we are with them and the play they choose.It is complicated but there are a lot of things we do know about children and learning which always has a result whether good or bad.

If I can speak for myself, it all comes down to the child. My littler brother and I are exposed to media violence of personal choice. He's very interested in historical wars, and I love Miranda Lambert (who, despite the shooting-and-burning-stuff shebang, is an incredible musician), and while he finds war intriguing, he's peaceful, and I'm a borderline Quaker.
Maybe it's {gasp} the great parenting we receive, rather than a stubborn sense of prudishness, that saves us!

I recently read a study that suggested one of the reasons that viewing Sesame Street was associated with higher grades in high school was because as a youngster, the child was able to incorporate a love of learning into their self-concept.

This idea that watching agressive shows leads to aggressive behaviour is somewhat similar; future viewing choices are based on previous ones. Kids are picking up morals and values when they watch media.

There is an article about this at: http://www.superprodigy.com/parentscorner/media/educational-television-a...

It really does depend on your kid and what YOU've taught them as well.
You can't just blame the media for your lack of ability to raise a child.

First off, it is near immpossible to create a reliable study that judges the impact of media on kids. Second off, kids need to be exposed to popular media to some extent, because being totally iscolated can also mean being iscolated from your peers and poor social skills later in life. Third, people were having this same sort of freakout about comic books when they were a new medium, after some crackpot phycologist made a connection with them and juvenile delinquency, and the resulting censorship almost killed the industry. There will never be reliable proof that fake violence leads to real violence, parents tend to be afraid when something unfamiliar to them is exposed to their kids, and I believe that the controversy over games will go away eventually.

There are so many lurking variables involved in a study like this that I find it very hard to believe that any legitimate researcher would say that watching violent television or playing violent video games leads directly to violent child. After all, if you read to even the second paragraph of the newspaper article it specifically notes that Ybarra cannot say whether or not violent media is encouraging violent youth.
I think the real danger here is how many people read fearmongering articles without understanding that newspapers are mainly looking for a way to sell copies. I suggest reading the novel "The Culture of Fear: Why Americans are Afraid of all the Wrong Things"

Media plays a big role in the development of a child. Everyday that we encounter media, it is not impossible that we can adapt easily with what they are trying to portray. That is why parents should look after their children while watching tv or surfing the net for it will greatly affect the attitude of a child towards any situation.

http://personalmoneystore.com/moneyblog/2009/04/13/pajamas-tv-seeks-algo...

hmm. i think really it comes down to good parenting.

Honestly, I think it depends on how the parent approaches the situation. I've been exposed to violent movies, such as the Aliens series, since I can remember (not to mention South Park and spending time with my older brother by watching him play Doom). And yet, I don't even like getting into arguments. I think it's about how the parent balances the world of media and reality. The most important thing is to TALK TO (not at) your kids and help them understand the difference between right and wrong. And keep in mind, kids can understand the difference on their own sometimes because we watch and learn from the people around us. And yes, video games can be a big stress relief as it gives you a challenge to think about rather than your current issues. All in all, it depends on how the parents present these things.

I disagree. I started playing violent games when I was around 5 or 6 because it helped relieve stress of being bullied. If I hadn't played Half Life 24/7, I would have probably shot someone in real life before I graduated from elementary school

....and lets just disregard all of the real life examples that show that this is not the case?

My son always tells me he knows the difference between real life violence and pretend violence. And while I think that's true, I also know that what kids see in the media becomes "normal" to a degree. I've always tried to balance how much violence he sees and interacts with -- better safe than sorry.