Do kids imitate what they see on screen, cinema, videogames, etc. and if so should we stop it

The first part of this round will primarily consist of rebuttals. Statements in quotes which begin a paragraph are taken from Pro’s rebuttals in round 2. Some rebuttals have been supplemented by additional evidence. After the obvious barrier, I will introduce another study regarding the second topic of this debate. “Yes this may be true but your using generalization meaning that every kid does so. In fact only a handful of children who played violent video games were to show aggressive behavior.” I am in fact using generalization. However, by saying “…children who played violent video games were found to be more aggressive in the next months…” one need not conclude that children who play a violent video game are guaranteed to be more violent. When I make such a claim in reference to a scientific study, what that means is that children who play violent videos have a much higher chance of developing violent behavior. I do believe that is what is supported by the evidence. The American Academy of Pediatrics appears to agree: “More than 1000 scientific studies and reviews conclude that significant exposure to media violence increases the risk of aggressive behavior in certain children and adolescents...” [1] “And another fact, we are not discussing the fact if children become aggressive we are discussing the fact if they imitate what they see on television,cinema, video games, etc. Therefore it does not matter.” Although the children do not always imitate the actions, they are imitating the violence and aggression behind the actions. I was under the impression that this is what we were trying to show. If we want an example of children imitating the action, there are multiple studies showing this to be the case as well. “Television news violence also contributes to increased violence, principally in the form of imitative suicides and acts of aggression. “ [2] “Over 2 yrs, the experimental Ss were exposed to 2 treatments designed to reduce the likelihood of their imitating the aggressive behaviors they observed on TV… the experimental Ss were rated as significantly less aggressive by their peers…” [3] “These results extend earlier findings that show children take causal and intentional information into account appropriately in their imitation.” [4] Although I have complied with your wishes to provide evidence of the imitation of actions, I maintain that imitation of violence and aggression will be sufficient for me to claim that children do imitate what they see. “What it sounds like you're trying to say is that the aggressive behavior in adults can be imported to their children or children in general. This is a "monkey see monkey do"sort of this thing, as if a child uses a curse word because she heard her parent use it.” That was not at all what I was trying to say. I was saying that adult responses to violence do not differ so much from child responses to violence, and can therefore be indicators of a child's response. “But a child des not go out and commit murder because he/she saw in a movie.” (Straw man) “…within the media they put simple warnings such a rating… this on the simple fact if the parents think that their children… can comprehend what they saw and understand why it is wrong.” A parent deciding that it is okay to present his or her child with a violent video game or movie in no way testifies to the supposed maturity of the child. Furthermore, as indicated in the studies I presented above, it appears that even among those who are purported to know right from wrong (adults), violence in video games and movies is nonetheless linked to aggression in real world situations. I can assume no better for “mature” children exposed to said violence. “An innate drive is our instincts so to speak and we cannot control our instincts and as to the response to frustration is something only the individual person can choose on the spot and they would not have time to think of what happened on last nights law&order.” Aggressive behaviors are linked more with the sympathetic nervous system than the frontal lobes of the brain (which are responsible for our voice of reason and ability to think rationally). As such, these behaviors tend not to be thought out, but rash. “…I see no reason hatred would manifest within one self because of television.” (Straw man) OBVIOUS BARRIER This is an excerpt from the abstract of a study from the Journal of Developmental Psychology: “…childhood exposure to media violence predicts young adult aggressive behavior for both males and females. Identification with aggressive TV characters and perceived realism of TV violence also predict later aggression.” [5] Given this information, I, again, conclude that children should be limited in what they observe in the way of media violence. [1] http://tinyurl.com... [2] http://tinyurl.com... [3] http://psycnet.apa.org... [4] http://cocosci.berkeley.edu... [5] http://psycnet.apa.org...