Chicago - Aggressive behaviour can be "unlearned" if children cut down on television, videotapes and electronic games, according to a report published yesterday. "What's encouraging is that, in children, some of the effects of exposure to media violence can be reversed solely by decreasing that exposure," said Mr Tom Robinson, a physician at Stanford University who was chief author of the report.
The researchers compared 105 children in one school who cut down on exposure to media violence for six months to 120 others. After six months the first group was involved in about half as many aggressive playground behaviors - such as teasing, threatening and taunting - as the second group of children.