Charlton et al.

The debate about whether aggression is innate in humans, i.e. they are born with it, or if it is something that they can learn, had been scrutinised many times by the time Charlton et al. carried out their research in the mid-1990s. Much research indicated that television could be an influence in whether or not children behaved in an aggressive way, as they learnt the behaviour from the programmes that they watched.

Charlton et al. conducted their research on St Helena, a remote island in the South Atlantic Ocean, in completely natural conditions, as the introduction of television to the island was something that was going to happen anyway – the researchers did not set this up, they simply went to observe the effects that it would have.

Aim

The researchers aimed to find out if the introduction of television to the island of St Helena would result in children exhibiting more aggressive behaviour.

Method

• This was a natural experiment using observational methods
• Charlton and his colleagues set up the experiment two years before the introduction of television, so that they could observe children’s behaviour both before and after they were exposed to it
• Children (aged three to eight years) were observed through cameras set up in the playgrounds of two primary schools on the island
• In 1994 (before the introduction of television), the researchers filmed 256 minutes of free play in the school playgrounds
• In 2000, behaviour was observed again, with 344 minutes of free play being recorded
• The researchers analysed the children’s aggressive behaviour and compared it to the amount of television that children were exposed to particularly in terms of the amount of violence they watched
• The researchers also conducted interviews with teachers, parents and some of the older children.

Results

• Very little difference was found in children’s behaviour after the introduction of television to the island
• The incidence of pro-social behaviour after the introduction of television was higher than before
• Parents and teachers said that antisocial behaviour was not accepted on the island and that there was a high degree of social control in the community. This implies that children may learn aggressive behaviour but they may not exhibit it.

Conclusion

The researchers concluded that television did not have a significant impact on aggressive behaviour and that even if violence was witnessed it was not imitated.

Strengths of the study

• A high level of ecological validity, as the research was carried out in a completely natural setting
• Discreet cameras observed children so they were more likely to display natural behaviours
• The study was longitudinal so it took into account behaviour over a longer period, rather than just a short-term ‘snapshot’
• The theory that people must be motivated to imitate aggressive behaviour was supported.

Weaknesses of the study

• As the community was very close, parents and teachers may have been unwilling to report incidents of aggression when being interviewed
• Critics have argued that the television programmes that the children were exposed to were less violent than would normally be seen by mainland children
• Results may not be generalisable as the study was just with participants from one very small, specific culture.