WEBVTT - Does Playing with Toy Guns Lead to Violent Behavior?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from how Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren Vogelbaum. Here a question that's been troubling parents more

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<v Speaker 1>and more in an age when mass shooting seemed to

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<v Speaker 1>occur with horrifying frequency, is should young children be allowed

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<v Speaker 1>to play with toy versions of the weapons that are

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<v Speaker 1>killing other kids and adults. In an article for Vogue,

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<v Speaker 1>writer Michelle Rui's described a conversation she had with a

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<v Speaker 1>fellow mother who asked, what are we feeding our children

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<v Speaker 1>in the metaphorical sense when we hand them guns to

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<v Speaker 1>play with? After a recent school shooting in Indiana, a

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<v Speaker 1>reader's letter to the Indianapolis Star voiced a similar sentiment.

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<v Speaker 1>He wrote, children should not have even cap pistols or

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<v Speaker 1>toy guns to play with because it teaches the wrong lesson.

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<v Speaker 1>And here's a quote from a Huffington's Post article by

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<v Speaker 1>Wendy Kannar, a former teacher, who explains why our family

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<v Speaker 1>doesn't allow toy guns. She said, at least one retailer

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<v Speaker 1>has already stopped selling some types of toy guns. In February,

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<v Speaker 1>when Walmart announced it would raise the purchase age for

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<v Speaker 1>firearms at its stores to twenty one. The company also

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<v Speaker 1>said that it would remove from its website items resembling

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<v Speaker 1>assault style rifles, including toys. Walmart stopped selling actual modern

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<v Speaker 1>sporting rifles, including the A R fifteen back in For

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<v Speaker 1>all the anxiety and outrage it stimulates, there's relatively little

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<v Speaker 1>scientific research on the effect that playing with toy guns

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<v Speaker 1>has upon children, and although some studies suggest it may

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<v Speaker 1>be linked to aggressive behavior in childhood, no clear connection

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<v Speaker 1>has been established between childhood play with toy guns and

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<v Speaker 1>adult attitudes toward or propensity for violence. Some psychologists who

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<v Speaker 1>have done research on children and toy guns think that

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<v Speaker 1>parenting is a much more important indicator of aggressive behavior.

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<v Speaker 1>We spoke with Charles W. Turner, a psychologist on the

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<v Speaker 1>staff of the organ Research Institute who has more than

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<v Speaker 1>forty years of experience conducting treatment and prevention research on children, adolescents,

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<v Speaker 1>and young adults with behavior problems. Back in the midnighteteen seventies,

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<v Speaker 1>he and colleague Diane Goldsmith published one of the earliest

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<v Speaker 1>papers on the subject, in which they compared a group

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<v Speaker 1>of children who played with toy guns to another group

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<v Speaker 1>who played with toy airplanes and kids who played with

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<v Speaker 1>other toys. All were observed for signs of antisocial behavior,

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<v Speaker 1>such as aggression or rule breaking. Why the airplanes, Turner

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<v Speaker 1>explains the purpose of the airplanes was to control for

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<v Speaker 1>the fact that you're introducing a novel toy. Is it

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<v Speaker 1>the novelty of the toy leading to the acting out,

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<v Speaker 1>or whether it's something specific about the gun. Turner and

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<v Speaker 1>Goldsmith found that the toy guns produced a reliably higher

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<v Speaker 1>rate of antisocial behavior than the average of the toy

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<v Speaker 1>airplanes and the other toys, though the toy airplanes also

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<v Speaker 1>increased the rate of kids misbehaving as well. But today, Turner,

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<v Speaker 1>who moved on from what he calls hypothetical studies to

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<v Speaker 1>studying actual young offenders, cautions against reading too much into

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<v Speaker 1>his early work. From a practical standpoint. He says it

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<v Speaker 1>would be hard to look at whether playing with guns

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<v Speaker 1>as a child affected attitudes as an adult. Based on

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<v Speaker 1>his own work as well as that of other researchers,

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<v Speaker 1>he suspects that playing with guns as a child is

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<v Speaker 1>one small part of a bigger picture of what leads

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<v Speaker 1>to adult aggressive behavior. It's a small, nearly trivial part.

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<v Speaker 1>He puts more weight on other influences, such as how

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<v Speaker 1>a family relates to a child and their pattern of interactions.

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<v Speaker 1>In a study published in the journal Early Education and

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<v Speaker 1>Development in researchers Malcolm W. Watson and Ying Peng observed

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<v Speaker 1>thirty six three to five year old children in free

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<v Speaker 1>play in a daycare center and coded their behavior for

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<v Speaker 1>the amount of real aggression, pretend aggression, ref and tumble play,

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<v Speaker 1>and non aggressive pretend play. They also had parents fill

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<v Speaker 1>out a questionnaire to gather data such as whether kids

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<v Speaker 1>played with toy guns at home mostly boys did, as

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<v Speaker 1>well as whether they watched TV programs with aggression and

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<v Speaker 1>the amount of physical punishment that parents used for discipline.

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<v Speaker 1>The researchers found that toy gun play, along with parental

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<v Speaker 1>punishment were associated with a higher level of real aggression,

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<v Speaker 1>though not with pretend aggression. We spoke via email with Watson,

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<v Speaker 1>who is the George and Francis Levin Professor of Psychology

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<v Speaker 1>at Brandeis University. He said there are so many factors

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<v Speaker 1>that act as antecedents to real aggression that this one

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<v Speaker 1>study could not evaluate the entire story. Various factors may

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<v Speaker 1>interact to increase the likelihood of aggression in children and

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<v Speaker 1>children developing long term aggressive tendencies. Watson explains the study

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<v Speaker 1>was designed to pit the cathartic theory of aggression, in

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<v Speaker 1>which aggressive fantasy play might reduce actual frustration and aggression,

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<v Speaker 1>with the queuing theory, in which toy guns and aggressive

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<v Speaker 1>play would act as cues and practice for real aggression.

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<v Speaker 1>He said, the more toy gun play that was used,

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<v Speaker 1>the more real aggression boys showed. In their preschool boys

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<v Speaker 1>showed much more toy gun play than did girls, and

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<v Speaker 1>probably because of this, there was no relation found between

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<v Speaker 1>toy gun play real aggression in girls. Interestingly, we also

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<v Speaker 1>found that the more toy gun play that was used,

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<v Speaker 1>the less non aggressive pretend play, including pretend aggression, children showed,

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<v Speaker 1>and not aggressive pretend play is seen as a good

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<v Speaker 1>thing for children, he continued, So, in effect, there was

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<v Speaker 1>no evidence for a cathartic effect, but there was evidence

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<v Speaker 1>for a probable queuing effect. Playing with toy guns maybe

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<v Speaker 1>increased when some children already show more aggression, or reciprocally,

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<v Speaker 1>real aggression maybe cued and increased when children play more

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<v Speaker 1>with toy guns. It just didn't seem that anything good

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<v Speaker 1>came from playing with toy guns. But Watson also notes

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<v Speaker 1>that the strongest factor that predicted real aggression in preschoolers

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<v Speaker 1>more than toy guns or watching violent TV was the

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<v Speaker 1>amount and frequency of parents spanking their kids or using

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<v Speaker 1>other corporal punishment. Watson said, we have done subsequent studies

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<v Speaker 1>that showed the children who were more aggressive led to

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<v Speaker 1>parents using more corporal punishment over time time, but that

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<v Speaker 1>the use of more corporal punishment led to even more

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<v Speaker 1>aggression in the children. Parental use of corporal punishment was

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<v Speaker 1>part of an ongoing negative spiral. He continued, I think

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<v Speaker 1>pretend play overall has a great influence on children's development

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<v Speaker 1>and thinking, and so I suspect that toy gun play

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<v Speaker 1>may have long term consequences. But I also suspect that

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<v Speaker 1>parental attitudes towards guns and also parents modeling of aggression

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<v Speaker 1>will have even stronger influences. Today's episode was written by

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<v Speaker 1>Patrick Jake Tiger and produced by Tyler Clang. If you

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<v Speaker 1>and of course, for more on this and lots of

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