Project Abstract My project is about how media violence affects young children. I discussed in my project how children may become desensitized to the effects of media violence. Children may need an increase in explicit violence in order to feel engaged with the program they are viewing. I also talked about how children under the age of eight may have difficulty differentiating between fantasy and reality while watching television. My project also discussed the topic of if the violence we view on television is a direct representation of a society that promotes violence.

Project Context & Contribuitions My topic is how media violence affects children. To narrow this topic, I will focus on how media violence affects children under the age of 10. The reason I chose this topic is that I realize that there is a lot of violence in our media today. Many of the media companies use violence to attract viewers especially children. Since children are extremely susceptible to their environment, I wanted to be able to study if their violent behavior is affected because of the violence on television. I also want to see if the violence behavior is due to other external factors. I believe that this topic important because many children watch television on a daily basis and children are generally easily influenced by what they see and hear. What I believe my research will contribute to the body of knowledge is to understand that media violence does have an effect on children. I also want to contribute how media violence affects children. The first HCOM subject areas I will be integrating into my capstone is media, narrative and ethnographic skills. With this emphasis I would like to be able to explain the relevance of studying this topic and why it is important for others to take an interest in this topic. The second HCOM subject I would like to study is Relational Communication Skills. I would like to learn within this topic of how media violence affects children's ability to have healthy relationships with other individuals. I would also like to know how media violence affects children in school. The third HCOM subject area I will be integrating into my capstone is Historical Analysis. What I would like to learn within this topic is how media violence affects kids from different social classes.

Project Format The form of my capstone is a traditional research paper. Why I have chosen this particular format is that I want to be able to focus on the effects of media violence on children. I want to be able to explain to the reader why this topic is important. I also want to be able to explain how media violence affects children at school but also in their relationships with other people. I would also like to talk about how this will affect children when they become adults.

Center For Substance Abuse Prevention. Violence In the Media. 29 Nov. 2006 http://ncadi.samhsa.gov/govpubs/resguideimages/media.gif

Research Questions How Does Media Violence Affect Children? 1. With the use of rating labels such as mature and g rated, are more parents becoming actively involved in what their kids watch on television? 2. Is it possible that the topic of media violence instead of parental guidance has been unfairly blamed for childrens bad behavior? 3. From the programs that are on TV, how many of these programs contain perpetrators who are punished for their violent actions? How many of the programs contain characters that a child would want to emulate? 4. What is the long-term effect for children who consistently watched violent television programs? 5. It is known that violent programming is present in many television shows however is the violence that is presented on television is a direct representation of an American society which promotes violence? 6. Although it is impossible to halt all violent programs on television, should broadcasters be attentive to what they choose to broadcast? 7. How does media violence affect children while they are attending school? 8. What are some of the reasons that media violence does not affect all children in the same manner? 9. What are the opposing viewpoints to this argument? 10. How can parents combat media violence in their homes?

Key Findings The key findings of my research is that media violence had an effect on all children. However, not all children are affected in the same manner by media violence. In addition, many parents are unaware of the media ratings system that is in place to inform them about the programs they are watching. An example of this is in 1997; 70of parents claim that they were aware of the ratings system. This year only 50of parents said that they were aware of the ratings system. Another important key finding is that children lack the ability to be able to understand the difference between fantasy and reality. Children will be more likely to imitate the negative actions they view on television. They may not think about the consequences of their actions before they commit them.

Evidence How I plan to collect information is I want to use library databases such as Ebsco Academic Search, government statistics and Elsevier Science Direct in order to collect my primary source information. I also want to use books from the library such as The 11 Myths of Media Violence by James Potter in order to use these type of sources for my secondary sources. My research strategy is to collect these sources during this semester. How I will collect my primary source information is I will continue to look on the library database and search for more sources. For my secondary sources, I want to be able to find more of these sources by using the Voyager database, and the sources I have already found I will wait until the books are returned to the library,and I will check the books out. Specifically, I want to utilize databases such as Elsevier Science Direct, websites such as http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/103/1/129, and Ebsco Academic Search. During winter break, I would like to start writing a rough draft of my capstone. I want to do this so that I know how my research will appear in a written form. This will also help me to know if I need to collect any more research over winter break for my capstone.

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