Expert compares violent television to militarv tactics
The founder of ‘killology’
says TV and video violence
have psychological
influence on children
By Tricia Schwennesen
Oregon Daily Emerald
Violent television programs and
video games are training children
to kill in the same fashion the mili
tary trains soldiers to kill, retired
Lt. Col. David Grossman said.
"The single most psychological
ly toxic thing to give people is vio
lence,” he said.
Grossman shared his views
with about 16 students and faculty
members Monday in the EMU Ben
Linder Room. He is the founder of
killology, the study of the psycho
logical effects of killing. He was a
West Point psychology instructor
and wrote the book “On Killing:
The Psychological Cost of Learn
ing to Kill in War and Society.”
The University’s Institute on Vio
lence and Destructive Behavior
sponsored his lecture.
There are four stages of “train
ing” that children get through tele
i
vision and interactive point-and
shoot video games, Grossman said.
These are the same conditioned re
flex skills that a soldier or a police
officer receives in training.
The first stage is traumatization
and brutalization that comes with
the shock of being exposed to vio
lence, such as the humiliation a
new recruit faces in boot camp.
Soldiers are programed to em
brace two values, discipline and
violence, so in times of war the
idea of killing is an automatic re
sponse, Grossman said.
The second stage is classical
conditioning.
“It’s like Pavlov’s dog,” Gross
man said. “We’re training our chil
dren to laugh and derive pleasure
in response to death and violence.”
The third stage, operant train
ing, is where killing has become a
conditioned response. The last
stage is social learning through
role models.
Children learn to observe and
imitate violence through televi
sion and movie heroes such as
Rambo, Freddy, Jason and Xena,
he said.
“Ultimately, the reason why
networks pump so much violence
into our children is because the vi
olence is physically addictive in
children,” he said.
Children experience hormonal
and adrenal effects as a result of vi
olence, Grossman said.
“If you knew tapioca pudding
increased the level of violence 45
percent in young children, you
wouldn’t have it anywhere near
your home," he said.
But children continue to watch
hours upon hours of television, he
said.
Grossman said the one constant
variable in juvenile violent crime
in this country and others includ
ing Canada, Japan, Scotland and
China, is the impact of television
violence and video games.
“It is an irrefutable fact that TV
is at least 50 percent responsible
for the violence in the world,”
Grossman said.
Ashleigh Harris, a senior at
South Eugene High School, said
she agrees with Grossman, but she
said family background also plays
a part in youth violence.
“At the same time where televi
sion can be harmful, it can be edu
cational too," said Harris, who at
tended Grossman’s speech.
To comprehend the magnitude
of violent crime, people need to
keep in mind the number of peo
ple saved because of advances in
medical technology, Grossman
said.
If society had 1940-level tech
nology today, the murder rate
would be 10 times higher, Gross
man said.
Instead of looking at the murder
rate as an indicator of violent
crime, a better indicator is the rate
of people attempting to kill one
another, the aggravated assault
rate, he said.
In 1957, the rate of aggravated
assaults was 60 per 100,000 peo
ple. That rate has increased sev
enfold to 440 per 100,000 people
by the middle of this decade, he
said.
With this increase, three things
need to be done to stop and con
front the problem of violence in
children, he said.
“Children need protection.
They should be confronted when
they laugh and cheer at violence,
and we should prevent them from
learning the motor skills to point
and shoot,” Grossman said.
The battle with television vio
lence is similar to the more recent
battle with tobacco companies, he
said.
“The information we have link
ing TV violence to real world vio
lence is better than what we have
linking tobacco to cancer," Gross
man said. “When we finally do
hold the networks accountable for
their actions and we will, it will
destroy their market shares.”
Education coupled with legisla
tion is the place to begin fighting
the increase in juvenile violence,
he said.
"Families and communities
need to offer alternatives to chil
dren,” said Jeff Sprague, co-director
of the University Institute on Vio
lence and Destructive Behavior.
Sprague said that television has
become the primary socializing
agent and that parents need to
turn off the television.
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