If the child continually watches violent programs, the line between right and wrong is almost completely erased. Studies show that children that have watched violent programs are slower to intervene or call for help when they see other children playing destructively. This is a fine example of how the difference between right and wrong is not as present as it once may have been. Studies by George Gerbner PH.D., at the University of Pennsylvania, have shown that there are about twenty violent acts per hour in children's TV shows. Also, the children that watch a lot of violent television are prone to thinking that the world is a more dangerous place.
Children often behave differently after they have been watching violent television programs.
In one study at Penn. State University, around one hundred pre schoolers before and after they viewed violent programs. The researchers noticed real differences between the children that watched the violent shows and the ones that didn't. They can show the long range effects of televised violence. Leonard Eron, Ph.D., as well as his associates from the University of Illinois, found that children who watched many hours of televised violence during their elementary years also have shown a higher level of aggression as they became teens.