Free Human Development Essay Sample
Studies that have been done show both positive and negative effects of watching television for prolonged periods of time among children including on the positive side an increase in imaginative activity, language learning and improved mathematical skills. On the negative side television has also been associated with aggressive behaviour, gender stereotyping, reduced social interaction, inhibition of reading skills, restlessness, fatigue among others. Several bodies including the National Commission of the Causes and Prevention of violence have linked aggressive behaviour to violent television programs.
According to the modelling theory learning takes place through imitation. Although this may not immediately cause an individual child to immediately act aggressively, they are motivated to do so when they see violent people being rewarded in television programmes. This imitative learning has especially been noted among pre-teenage children.
Another theory, the desentization theory posits that continued watching of violent behaviour leads to suppressed emotional arousal to violence. Exposure to violent behaviour is here seen as acceptable and the child is ready to met out violence against other children or accept such behaviour in the environment. It increases the likelihood of the children being aggressive in the future.
Adolescence is a period in an individual’s life where he/she experiences transition from childhood to adulthood whence he/she becomes more independent. At this stage, an individual starts to make adjustments from child behaviour towards a more adult behaviour. Adolescence generally starts at the age of between eleven and twelve and ends in the early twenties.
The biological theory of adolescence proposes that this stage is one of the many stages of human life where the individual recapitulates both cultural and biological evolution of the human species. While some aspects of adolescent behaviour may replicate some stages of human evolution, this theory is disagreeable as it seeks put stages such as adolescence wholly as reflection of these stages and not an essential stage where the individual is continually unravelling his environment. This theory neglects the intellectual capacity of the human being to think and react according to his experience.
On the other hand Hall saw adolescence as a period of storm and stress where the individual’s feelings, thoughts and actions are mixed up. His behaviour oscillates from one of profound sadness, goodness, humility, temptation and sadness. The life of the adolescent is here seen as a turbulent one. This theory is agreeable as it reflects the true sense of transition where the individual is constantly seeking the truth about life, in his/her effort to drop his/her former self and become a responsible person in the society. He is constantly evaluating his behaviour to become acceptable and in reaction to the demands of the environment.