Television and Behavior
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DOCUMENT RESUME IR 010 420 ED 222 186 of Scientific TITLE Television and Behavior. Ten Yeart Progress and Implicatioisfor the Eighties. Volume I: Summary.Report. (DHHS), Rockville, INSTITUTION National Inst. of Mental Health Md. REPORT No, DHHS-ADM-82-1195 PUB DATE 82 - NOTE. 103p. MF01/PC05 Plus Postage. EDRS PRICE Reviews; DESCRIPTORS *Behavioral'Science Research; Literature *Public Health; Social Behavior;*Television Research; *Television Viewing IDENTIFIERS Surgeon Generals Report onTelevision Violence ,ABSTRACT Recent literature ontelevision and behavior is ind assessed in thrs repott, thefirst of two reviewed, synthesized, functioning are vplumes. Questions oftelevision's impact on viewer addressed for the generalreader, for the purpose ofelucidating implications for public healthand future research findings and fheir not research. The focus of thisrePOrt is on public health generally, Issues discussedsincludecognitive just on children'and adolescents. and.violence, and emotional aspects oftelevision viewin4, television television as it relates tosocialization and viewer'sconceptions of influences on physical andmental social reality, televisionJs reviews health, and television as anAmerican institution. Literature commissioned on specific topicsfrom 24 researchers areintegrated is provided in and assessed. Alist of these papers and their authors appendix B. This volume andits companion offer anupdaterand elaboration of informationpresented in the 1972 SurgeonGeneral's Television and Behavior whichassessed the Advisory Committee on and called for \effects of televisedviolence on children and youth research on the relationshipof television to thepsychological 4rowth and development ofchildren. (LMM) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS arethe best that can.kbe made from the original document. *********************************************************************** U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION EDUCAtIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) dr This document has tibenreproduced as received from the person or organization originating it Minor changes have been made to unprove reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this docu went do not necessarily represent official NIE position or policy. TELEVISIONAND BEHAVIOR Ten Years ofScientific ProgressandImplication4.: for the ,Eighties VolumeI Summary Report ft. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTHAND HUMAN SERVICES Public Health Service Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and MentalHealth Administration National institute of Mental Health 5600 Fishers Lane (4 Rockville, Maryland 20857 All material appearing in this volume, except quoted passagesfrom copyrighted sources, is in the public domain and may be reproducedWeaned without permission from the In- stitUte or the authors. Citation of the source is appreciated. 5, Library of Congress catalog card number 82-600539 DHHS Publication No. (ADM) 82-1195 Printed 1982 Foreword This volume and its companion offer an update andelaboration of information presented in the 1972 Report of the Surgeon General'sAdvisory Committee on Tele- vision and Behavior. That report was based, in large part, onthe findings of research projects commissioned and funded by the FederalGovernment to assess the effects of televised violence on children and youth. The Committee's reportconfirmed the per- vasiveness of television within the United States but notedthe conspicuous paucity of information about the relationship of television viewing tothe psychological growth and development of children. In a' strongly wqrded statement,the Committee called for the conduct of such research. The past decade bears witness to the response of thescientific community to that call. Approximately 90 percent of all researchpublications on television's influences on behavior have appeared within the past 10 yearsmorethan 2,500 titles. While a large number of the studies continued to focus on effects of themedium on aggression, miny more dealt with television viewingand its influences on other aspects of development and behavior. This massive research effort, undertakenin this country and abroad, under the sponsorship of a wide Variety of researchand funding organizations, yielded an enormous amount of new andneeded information, the significance of which was to an extenehindered by lack of synthesisand assessment, In early 1979, a group of researchers in the fieldsuggested to then Surgeon General Julius B. Richmond the growing need for collection,review, synthesis, andVssessment of the new literature on television and behavior.The Surgeon General agreed that such an effort would provideopportunity to be more definitive regarding teleVision'scausal influences on violent and aggressive behaviors of viewers aswell as to address an in- creasing number of questions about themedium's impact on viewers' functioning. Because the National Institute of Mental Healthhad exercised lead responsibility within the Public Health Service for.morethan a decade for research in this area, the Institute was encouraged by the Surgeon General toundertake the project, and work A began in late 1979. Dr. DavidPeail, Chief, Behavioral Sciences Research Branch, Divi- sion of Extramural Research Programs, wasassigned lead responsibility within NIMH for the review project. The reader is directed tothe Preface of this volume for adetailed description of the process through which thereview was managed and conducted. Several decisions were made early that significantlyinfluenced the nature of the present report. First, in recognitionof the large body of existing researchliterature, it specificallyfor the was decided that newstudies would not be funded and conducted report; rather,comrrehensive and integrative reviews of the existingliterature would be commissioned to present the state-of-the-artin coherent and unified form. Second, a decision was made to focus on amuch broader spectrum of.televisionand behavior than did the earlier report which had beenrestricted to the effects of televised violence on aggressive behavior amongChildren and youth. Thus, the new report addresses television as it such issues .as cognitive and emotional aspectsof television viewing ; relates to socialization and viewers' conceptions ofsocial reality; television's influences on physical and mental health; andtelevision as an Arneripaa institution. Also,though °much of the research has been conducted with child and'adolescent subjects, the nein, report is not limited to influences of the medium on this age group. Within this broad- - ened context, the orientation of the reportoverall is lo research aiid public health issues. While the coverage of the report has been broadened substantially, certain topics, generally not included, should be noted. Television news and news reporting, political socialization, public ,affairs broadcasting, and television advertising either have been. considered in detail elsewhere in recent years or were judged inappropriate for this project. Thus the progammatic focus of this review is on entertainment television the kinds of programs watched by most of the audience, most of the time. Television and Behavior: Ten Years of Scientific Progress and Implications for the Eight;es (Volumes I and II) intends primarily to elucidate research findings and their implications for public health and future research. Though the subject is relevant to public policy issues, the present work makes no recommendations and 'does not issue specific prescriptions. We would anticipate, however, that persons bearing responsi- bility for policy and for television industry practices would be interested in the fipdings for use in decisionmaking. Also the report should be of substantial help to parents and others who seek to know of both the positive and adverse effects of the medium and of the ways in which they can influence them. HERBERT PARDES, M.D. Director National Institute of Mental Health iv Preface Consultants on the development of this new reportincluded child development researchers, behavioral scientists,, mental health experts,and communication media specialists. The fdttowing were advisors: Steven H. Chaffee Director, Institute for Communication Research Stanford University George Gerbner. Dean, Annenberg Vchool of Communications University of Pennsylvania Beatrix A. Hamburg Associate Professor of Psychiatry Harvard Medical School, and Children's Hospital Medical Center, Boston Chester Pierce Professor of .Psyohiatry And Education . HarVard Medical School Eli A..Rubinstein Adjtinct Rattarch Professor in Mass Communications University of North Carolina Alberta E. Siegel Professor of Psychology Stanford University School of Medicine Jerome L. Singer Professor of Psychology Yale University The consultant group played a key part in the entire process.They made re2om- mbrulations on areas to be covered and on scientists to prepare reviejwsin those areas. They attended meetings to discuss issues and to consider draft papersthat had been submitted. They commented on and prepared critiques of earlierversions of this sum- _ mary report and synthesis. And they wroteintroductory comments for the various sections of the report's accompanying volume containingdetailed scientific literature review papers. On the basis of early decisions, comprehensive, critical, and integrativescientific literature reviPws were commissioned on specific topics from 24 of the mostknowledge- able researchers availables,A list of these papers and their