FREE ESSAY ON PSYCHOLOGY OF TELEVISION

PSYCHOLOGY OF TELEVISION

Psychology of Television
Today many people think that television is the cause of violence in today's youth. Many
have pondered that television disturbs traditions as well as interferes with the minds of
adolecened children who can not yet comprehend the truth of fiction and reality. Thus
television has become a widely talked about controversy, mainly because of the fatal
incidents that have been occurring during the past couple of years. Questions are being
raised and people want answers. What kind of effects does the television have on human
beings? 
In today's society the public is interested in the detailed information about the content
of television. Persons who work in the media are often concerned with what the television
portrays and why it portrays the way it does. Even though they know that their shows are
representative to their viewers tastes and not that of the "real world." Although this
information is not acknowledged as fiction or non-fiction it is still portrayed and
processed information by the viewer. One must be able to realize, "How this information
is different from everyday life?" By mocking a family, 
situation, or community, distortions and biases occur on the television when these
subjects are compared to "real life." Still unsure of these problems the majority of
humans watch even when they don't understand - why? 
Television is a medium of novelty, with each new season bringing new shows with dreamier
characters and more enticing situations. These shows are successful because they
challenge one's wisdom if he or she were in the same situation. This is the reason why
people are starting to question and be afraid of the pushed boundaries of television.
With the dramatic increase of violence in today's world the programmers are filling ones
mind of not wisdom, but the dark escape of violence which makes up the viewers mind for
them. The definition of physical violence is stated as these two presented: 
Any overt depiction of a credible threat of physical force or the
actual use of such force intended to physically harm an animated 
being or group of beings. (National Television Violence Study, 1996)
The overt expression of physical force against self or other, 
compelling action against one's will on pain of being hurt or killed, or 
actually hurting or killing. (Gerbner, 1972)
These definitions concur in encompassing credible threats, behavior, and consequences,
and the former includes accidents and acts of God and nature. (Comstock, 65)
The viewers who are exposed to this violence are children, young children, who do not
know better. Children start watching television at a steady habit around the age of 2 ?
(Anderson & Levin, 1976), although there is some evidence that children are aware of some
things about television, and like it, as early as 6 months of age (Hollenbeck & Slaby,
1979). The longer children grow up with TV the more accustom they become to the violence
and false realities of a fiction world not like their own. The most obvious areas of
deceiving behavior from television characters are violence, sexual behaviors and health
portrayals. In health related issues parents are skeptical because there is a soft line
for all of the true facts. With the same aspect parents do not want their young children
to learn about sex related issues too early. When a child reaches adolescence he or she
has already spent more time watching television than going to school, and had been
exposed to all of television's deceiving messages (Signorielli, 1987).
Violence is not the only distortion on television these days; it is just the most
extensively studied. Analyses of the messages on television have revealed other
interesting facts about portrayals of sex and gender, of 
occupations, and of the age distribution of characters. All of these categories are
"distorted" in some way or another compared to demographic information in the United
States. Keep in mind that these findings all concern the program and not the advertising
content of television (Condry, 68). 
A common drug to almost all teenagers and to television is alcohol. It is mentioned in
about 80% of all prime-time programs, and places where alcohol is consumed, not to
mention it is frequently the centerpiece of action. On television, characters rarely
decline a drink or express disapproval of drinking. When disapproval is expressed, it is
usually mild, ineffective, and comes from women (Condry, 77).
Television's discourses are ideological in that they provide "subject positions" to which
audience members are said to be "recruited". Thus, the individual "learns to recognize
itself in a series of subject positions...which are the positions from which discourse is
intelligible to itself and others (Academic Press, 103). The viewer is not compelled to
take a position even though there are different ones offered by the program. In either
case it 
would seem that the logical effect remains within the discourse and does not translate
directly to the viewer. The simple answer to the objection is that the reader will not be
able to make sense of what he or she sees other than identifying with.
Now that you know some of the ways that television programs can cloud your mind, try and
be more observant when you or your little one is sitting in front of the television. You
are watching more than "just some thing on TV." Television today is getting more violent
and graphic, and that is not the worst of it. Programmers are playing with a young
child's mind - with my mind, and even with yours. People just don't realize it, or they
choose to ignore it, until something drastic happens.