Annotated Bibliography

Annotated Bibliography

My research paper will focus on aggression in children and how it is handled in different cultures. I am majoring in Child Psychology when I transfer to UIC in the fall and I find this topic fascinating. I would cover different cultures and groups, such as the Amish, and how they handle their children because the Amish aren’t known for their aggression. I would also gather expert opinions on how aggression is handled among minors.

Mercogliano, Chris. "An Amish Farmer's Insight." Encounter: Education for Meaning and Social Justice 19.4 (2006): 25-28. Print.

The whole premise of this article is to focus in on the author’s insight into one particular event. This event occurred in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania on October 2nd, 2006 when a 32 year-old milk man charged into an Amish school and killed five young girls before committing suicide. The authors describe how there is a direct relationship between the violence in media with the increasingly aggressive way our society is shaping up. They also point out that media violence is not the sole cause of this kind of behavior. Poverty, racism, inadequate parenting, and the dissolution of the family are also top contributors to violence. The article then goes on talking more in depth about specific topics such as video games and the time kids spend in front of these TV screens.

The author, Chris Mercogliano, has been a teacher at the Albany Free School since 1973 and the Codirector since 1985. He has written several articles in well known magazines as well as writing his own book. Chris has also been heard on a few different radio stations. I believe this makes him a reliable source and this article will enhance my paper by stating what experts in their field think about the subject. This article just brushes on the more well-known subjects such as video games.

Brady, Sonya S. "Young Adults' media Use and Attitudes toward Interpersonal and Institutional Forms of Aggression." Aggressive Behavior 33 (2007): 519-525. Web.

This article primarily focuses on study that was commenced in a large University. The 319 participants ranged from eighteen years of age to twenty years with 56% of the students being male. The students were then asked to estimate their time of media exposure within a few categories. The movies and video games were plugged into databases in order to determine their rating of violence and gore. The majority of movies and video games were rated high. The participants were then asked a few questions in which to gauge their response. Some questions involved were their attitudes towards: interpersonal violence, punitive criminal justice policies, and personalities. This article will be a great addition to my paper in that it will give statistics that I need. The information given is also not limited to one section of media either. Ms. Brady covers video games, movies, and sports.

O'Keefe, Lori. "Media exposure feeding children's violent acts, AAP policy states." American Academy of Pediatrics January 2002. Print.

This article from the magazine American Academy of Pediatrics covers what kind of effects the violence that is witnessed in media has on adolescents. This article goes into detail on different subjects such as how much the average 2 -18 year old uses any kind of media. It states that media doesn’t necessarily cause violence directly but desensitizes people. A list of suggestions is also made in order to reduce or improve the quality of media exposure. The article also cites a Stanford University that conducted research on groups of third and fourth graders and their effects of media violence. The students that had a limit on media had a significant decrease in verbal and physical aggression.

This article will play an important part in my paper due to it focusing on more of the younger children and what effects it has on them. I want to include young children in the article because I think they are very impressionable which will make my case even stronger.