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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)

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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.

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 pervasiveness 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 increasing 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 responsibility 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 authorsis given in Appendix B. These reviews are being published in a companion volume,Television and Behav- ior: Ten Years of Scientific Progress and Implications for the Eighties,Volume II. The 'present report, then,,,s largely an assessment and integrationof the above reviews plus information based on staff-consultant deliberationsand Other materials deemed as pertinent by the update group. It is written in nontechnicallanguage for

ale the general reader. Although it contains reference to relevant research papers, the reader interested in the technical and scientific content of the research must consult the -reviews and their extensive reference.lists in the companion Volume. Lorraine Bouthilet, Ph. D., formerly on the staff of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), assisted in the writingand editing, and Jqyce B. Lazar, currently Acting Director of the NIMH Research Advisory Croup, assisted in 4 planning and conauct of the update and participated in the staff-consultant assessments of research.

DAVID PEARL, Ph. D., Project Director Chief, Behavioral Sciences Research Branch Division of Extramural Research Programs National Institute of Mental Health

1' 4 tX4,

vi Contents

Chapter I. TEN YEARS OF SCIENTIFICPROGRESS: AN OVER- VIEW 1 The Surgeon General's Scientific AdvisoryCommittee Report-1972 Ten Years Later 2 The Television Audience Doing Research on Television and Behavior 4 Highlights of Ten Years of Research 5

Chapter II. TELEVISION'S HEALTHPROMOTING POSSIBILI- . TIES 9 Health Portrayals 9 Television's Influences on Health 12 Health Campaigns 13 Television for Therapeutic Purposes 14

Chapter III.COGNITIVE ANDEMOTIONAL FUNCTIONING. . 20 Cognitive Processing 21 .Forms and Codes of Television 24 Arousal 28 Emotional Development and Functioning 30

,0 36 Chapter IV.VIOLENCE AND AGGRESSION Violence in Television Content 36 Effects of Televised Violence 37 Methodological Issuei in Research on Violenceand Aggression 40

Chapter V. IMAGINATION, CREATIVITY, ANDPROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR 45 Imagination and Creativity 45 Prosocial Behavior 48 (-- Chapter VI.SOCIALIZATION ANDCONCEPTIONS OF SOCIAL REALITY 54 Sex-Role Socialization 54 Age-Role Socialization 56 Race-Role Socialization 58 Occupational Role Socialization. 59

vii ChapterVI.COntinued Consumer-Role, Socialization 59 Conceptions of Violence and Mistrust 61

Chapter VII. THE FAMILY AND INTERPERSONALRELATIONS 67 Television's Families a 67 Television's Effects on the Family and SOcial Relations 68

Chapter VIII. TELEVISION IN AMERICAN SOCIETY 73 c The Production of Prime Time Television 74 The Public's Attitude Toward Teles-7ision 75 Television's Effects on American Social Institutions 75

Chapter IX. 'iDUCATION AND LEARNING ABOUT TELEVISION 79 Educational Achievement 79 Television and Reading 80 Educational Aspiration 81 Learning About Television 81

Chapter X. IMPLICATIONS FOR THE EIGHTIES 87 Health 88 Cognitive Processes 438 Emotional. Development and Functioning 89 Violence and Aggression 89 Prosocial Behavior and Socialization 90 ,--Eclucatior4. Achievement and Aspiration 93 Criti6.1 Viewing Skills. 91 New Technologies 91

Appendixes A. PROJECT STAFF AND CONSULTANT ADVISORY GROUP. 92 B. STATE OF KNOWLEDGE PAPERS AND CONTRIBUTORS. 93

;

0 'Chapter I. Ten Years of Scientific Progress:An Overview

on Communications of theSenate Commerce Corn-- The Surgeon General's Scientific Ad- .*mittee, Senator Pastore wrofe, z"I amexceedingly visory Committee Report-1972 troubled by the lack of any definitive information which would help resolve the question ofwhether Among the great inventions in the electronic age, there is a- casual connection between televisedcrime television is one of the most beguiling. A' sound-and- and violence and antisocial behavior byindividuals, light show appealing to the prepotent senses of vision especially children...." The Senator asked the Seere- and hearing; it draws attention like a magnet.Infants tary to direct the Surgeondeneral of the U.S. Public as young as 6 months gaze at it;little children sit in Health Service to appoint a committee to "conduct a front of it for hours at a time ; and millions of elderly, study to establish scientifically what effects thesekinds sick, and institutionalized people keep contact withthe of programs have on children." outside world mainly through tele.;ision. An integral The Department swung rapidly into action.The part of everyday life, it helps to determinehow people Surgeon General directed the National Institute of spend their time, what they learn, what they think and Mental Health to take responsibility for thecommit- ,,talk about; it influences their opinions and helps shape tee and to provide necessary staff.The Scientific Ad- their behavior. Few other inventions have so completely visory Committee on Televisioh and SocialBehAim: enveloped an entire population. More Americans have was appointed, and onemillion dollars Were provided television than have refrigerators or indoor plumbing. for new research. Scientists throughoutthe country It is no wonder, then, that students of humanbe- submitted proposals ;'the Most promising proposals re- havior have been attracted to television as a fieldof ceived approval ; and their authors werefunded to research, as a vast arena for the study of behavior in to- conduct the research. The studies werecompleted day's technological world. It js no less wonder thatthe within 2 years, unusual speed for thebehavioral sci- American public is concerned about the effects oftele- ences. In December 1971,the cominittee sent its re- vision on their lives and the lives of their children."'port to the Surgeon General.The report, entitled Some people think it has a malignant influence; others Television and Growing Up: The Impact ofTelevised praise it as a boon to society. Wanting to know about Violence, summarized the state of knowledge atthat the effects of television, the public has turned tothe time. rt4Was acCompanied by five technicalvolumes of scientific community for answers. reports in which the contributingscientists deicribed Spurred on by both curiosity and a need to find their studies in detail. scientists have been answers to practical,,questions, The report confirmed the"pervasiveness of televi busy during the past decade at many kinds oftelevision sion in the United States," stating thatalmost everyone research. Such research did not arise suddenly.Investi- watched some television programs andthat many peo- gations into the effects of television began in thelate ple watched for many hours a day. The reportpointed ,1940s, almost as soon as television began to appearin about the reasons people view American homes, continued at a relatively slowpiee out that little was known so much tele;/ision orchoose particular programs. The in the 1950s, and accelerated in the 1960s. deal of In 1969, the increase VI research on televisionbegan teport also 'confirm ed that there was a great entertainment television b with a request by Senator John G. Pastore tothe Secre- violence on television. On eight violent , tary of the Department ofHealth, Education, and during 1967 and' 1968, there were about Welfare. As Chairman of the SenateSubcommittee incideats per hour. The reporesanajor conclusion, often quoted, was: magnitude of the research problems. Manymore in- "Thus, thire is a convergtnce of the fairly substantial vestigators from all fields are neecled if research is to experimental evidence for a short-run causation of find answers to the questions concernedscitizens ask. aggression among some children by viewing violence Because scientists from many fields have been at on the screen and much less certain evidence from field work, the sthdies have talcen different approaches. studies that txterisive violence viewing precedes somelSome; for examples concentrate on analyses ofpro- long-run mahifestations of aggre.,sive behavior. The gram content, others observe children before.and'after convergence of the two types of.4fidence corittitute they has7e looked' at violent programs; am/still Others some preliminary indication of a casual relationship, 'observe children after they hive looked ht benign and but a good deal of research remains to be done before prosodial programs. Many of the pto jectsare done in one can have'confidence in these conclusions." the laboratory under strict experimental conditions; The committee itself wrote that these tentative and others are naturalistic field studies and observations. limited conclusions were not entirely satisfactory but These twO approaches comNement one another. The that they did represent much more lcnowledge than laboratory studies tell whether or not something was available when the committee began its work. can, happen, the possibility of occurrence. The field studies tell.how coinmonly something does happen, the likeli-

1. Ten Years Later hood of occurrence. When both kinas Of studies point in the same direction, their 'conclusions are mutually During the 1970s, much of the 'necessary research- reinforcing. was done, and--to antiCipate findings that will be The amount of television research increased signifi- described laterit can be said that the evidence for a cantly cluring the 1970i. This increase is documented causil relationshie between excessive violence viewing in, a bibliography Pithlished in .1980; the bibliography and aggression goes well beyond the preliminary level. tovers articles; books, and other materials in the field Scientists in this decade have also broadened the re- of research on television and youth published, primar- search. They have been trying to find the many inter- ily in English, between 1946 and 1980.1 Up to 1970, related and intricate factors that operate in televisioh there ;were about 300' titles, and .from 1970. through' programing and viewingwho watches telesiision arid 1980 there were another 2,500, of which more than why, what children see and hear.on television, what two-thirds were published in 1975 or later. Put another people learn from television and how they learn it. way, 90 percent of all the publications apptared in * Among other topics, they, analyze television's effects the last 10 years. No one knows whether this accelera- on social life and values. tion will continue at such a rate, but television is so As a rest& of the Surgeon General's committee ef- much a part of present-day human existence that the fort,`a new generation of scientists was spawned. Some amount of research will undoubtedly- increase and of the: kientists who undertook research projects in delve even more into all facets of the relationships the late 1960s are still working thefield. Many of the between .television and human bellavior. younger !fieoplerought into,the projects as assistants Much of the research on effects of television has been and associates developed a-continuing intertst arra are concerned with its impact on children. It is easier to now contributing their talents and efforts to television gather data on young People, as most of them are in research. They include investigators from all the be- schools or other settings that make them accessible to havioral sciences, notably psychology, psychiatry, and -the investigators. Also, it is more important to learn sociology, as well as from public health and communi- about television's influer.ce on the growing child. It is cations. They do their work in many settings', includ- essential tOlcnow what the many hours a day spent ing universities and the television industry itself. Much watching television are doing to them at a time when of the research is supported by the government and pci- they are developing and learning about the world and vate foundations, but many of the smaller projects have the people around them. Children are an audimce °no major outside funding. During the past decade, at qualitatively different from adults, and they may be an almost all conventions of behavior-41 scientists, there audience more vulnerable to television's messages. It have been sessions on television research which has be- may also be significant that there is now a generatioh of come an established specialty. young adults who have grown up with television and Although the number of scientists doing television whose children are now second-generation television research,has increased, it is still small compared to the viewers. The effects on them probably are not the same

2 Jj ,wheist they. "high" and "low" amount of viewing. In somesitua-- as on p-reviousgenerations who were adults than 4 television. tions, a person who'looks at television more first became acquainted with hours a ay is called a "heavy" viewer. A"light" viewer might be defined as a person who viewsabout an hour draw additional lines in be- The TelevisionAudidnce a day or less. Where to ween is sometimes atopic of scientific controversy. There are, of course, the "constant" viewers whowatch The Surgeon General'scommitteeasked who :ialmost televisionlmost all their waking hours, and there are watches television, and itsreport replied, The definitions vary, late 1960s and it is still some con& med "nonviewers." everyone." That way true in the the occasion- depending on who is doih the research and on true in the early1980s. Some people watch . ,.. certain times, but many purPose of,the research. ally, for special events or at ( everyday. Their viewing Surveys confirm w,hat most people already suspect Americans watch television nOt equally. hours daily, television appeals to all ages, though times range from an hour or two to many Babies look at* it'for rather Ref intervalsand as they all day long. One survey and some eveh keep the set on grolw older, tend to.look at it moreand-more. By age 2, showed that f6r large numbersof people television large amounts of time _be- (after sleep and work) or 3, some children spend -ranks third among all activities fore the set and apparently have some'understanding devoted to it. in the /limber of hours of what is going on. 'The amount ofviewing ,continues , the pervasive- One could go on citing figures about at a relatively high level,then drops off .somewhat ness and ubiquityof television. It should beremem-'' when children reach their teens. In youngadult- figures are estimates. If TV bered,. hpwever, that these iiood it increases again', especially for parentswith Guide st-ates that 85 millionpeople watched Roots, it in the snatched off all the yoimg. children. Viewing time tends to drop does not mean that the roofs were television' United States and tHe busy years of middle age, but later in, life , houses and apartments in the again becomes a major attraction and maybe waiched people in front of television sets counted oneby one. for many hourS,a day. It is sometimeusiheprincipal The figures are projectionsfrom small samples and are' .-sr--- subject to all the errorsand thescientific accuracy recreation for elderly people'. Amount of viewing seems to vary withother char- found in such projections. tend to watch Most of the audience figureestimates come from acteristics of people. Minority groups. in more than others, on thea-verage,' and women more surveys. Surveysconducted by telephone are much than men. Some surveys shoivthat people in lower use now, althoughmail and door-to-door surveys are socioeconomic groups view somewhat morethan 'those still used occasionally. Anothertechnique is exerrwli- ratings which derive' from in the middle class: People wh'o watch alot of telev,i- fied by the famous Nielsen than those who do not' television use in about 1,20o.homes where the set is sion tend to be less educated studentsttelevision hooked up to a computer indicatingwhen the set is watch as much,'yet among college in hospitals, prisons and it is turned to..0ther procedures is a favorite Pastime. People on and which channel television when' they get merely ask people if they look attelevision, howpf ten, other institutions often look at kind of questioning the chance. , . which, programs, and so on. This watches sometimes It appears that, although almost everyone issoMetimes done by interviewers and much else to do People have also been television, those who do not have through written questionnaires. for example the diaries of their view- watch it most often. Many people, asked to keep televisionlogs or television to fill time, . ing. In a few instances, ordinarily inconjunction with elderly and the unemployed, u.se of families or other to Iti o something insteadof nothing. Some researchers other studies, direct observations .people who do not institutionalized persons, have concluded that these are groups, such as children or they are not ireally have been made by visitors to thome"or institution. choose to watch specific programs; selective in what they look.m. Theywatch by the clock, On the basis of these surveyand observations, quite ttirnMg on the set at freetimes, no matter what is a bit is known aboutwho looat television. Because being shown. Television is aritualized' or habitual many different methodshave been used and-compared, this information, as a 'whole, isprobably accurate and activity. jh general, the surveysindicate that the television reliable. during the past quip. is often cate- audience has not chan4ed appreciably For research purposes, the audience to have been gorized in term's of amount of viewing.Some scientists 10 years. Americans' viewing,habits seem established 'early i'n the, history oftelevision. .. use simple termSlike "heavy° and "light" viewers or . ,. ,

.3 1. It Doing Research on. Television and Two different approaches have been followed in the study of television's influence on the behavior of the Behavior viewing audience. One group of researchers, grounded mostly in laboratory psychology, is conducting experi- Like all scientists, behavioral scientists who study mental studies in which an audience is temporarily television, draw their conclusions from evidence they brought together to view programs selected for research have gathered and organized to answer specific ques- purposes. This approach leads to strong conclusions ..tions. The kind of evidence they collect depends on about the immediate impact on behavior that there- the aspect of television and behavior they are study- searcher subsequently observes. As a rule, social con- ing and on which stage in a rather long process they text is eliminated from consideration by holding it are concerned with. Some simple distinctions may help constant within the experimental session so that it does clarify the complexity of the overall process, which -in not affect the results. A second group of researchers turn explains why each researcher tries to simplify approached the study of television's uses and effects in the problem by limiting a study to a small portion of nantral field settings. T:7ield studies attempt to take so- the tolal process. cial context factors into account by measuring them The heart of the process %eludes a television set 'and making their interactions \with the televisionex- showing a particular program and a' person sitting in perience a part of what is stUdied. This approach front of it watching and listening to the program. Sup: usually takes the form of field surveys, which produce posedly, the researcher then tries, to study the effect evidence of correlation between Various factori but of the program on this viewer. But the effects of televi- which are not scientifically as satisfaCtory as the con- sion cannot be understood in such simple terms. Be- trolled experiment in trying to isolate the specific effect cause the program on television is sometimes selected of any single factor. 7 My the 'viewer the researcher must also consider the Twointermediate approaches have occasionally role of the Viewer in, any possible causal relationships. been used by researchers who hope td couple some of Moreover, the typical audience often consists of a the precision of the experimental study with the greater number of persons who must somehow agree 'on the generalizability and breadth of the field study. One is program they will watch. They interact with one an- the field experiment, such assystematically exposing other about the program and about other things as audiences to different tejevision programs while they well. All arese social relationships in the immediate remain in their normal viewing situations at home. The viewing siuration have been called the "social con- other is the panel study in which the same individuals 'text" of viewing and must be -taken into account. Zhe are interviewed, tested, or otherwise observed over researcher may also want to look beyond the television time. The panel study examines natural variatioff over presentatibn and its audience in the immediate social time (rather 'than at a specific time, as in the field context to the longer term behavioraroutcomes. Tele-, survey) on the assumption that changes occur both vision's interrelations with the viewer's psychological in the person's exposure to television presentations and processes may also be a focus of inquiry. In any case, in a pattern of behavior that might be affected by those the context in which behavior occurs is ii-nr-tant. presentations. Television presentations themselves became a prime Field experiments and panel studies are relatively target- of re,..earch almost since television began. Vir- rare in research on television and behavior. They tend tually any, topic on television which is suspected of to arouse controversy among scientists; there are those having behavioral effects is likely to be examined. For who prefer the greater certainty of cause-effect. evi- example, there have been content analyses of the in- dence providedby the laboratory experiment and those cidence of violent portrayals, depictioni of minorities, who seek greater generality in field research. Field ex- prosocial acts, families, sexual references, people in periments a:e practicable on only a narrow range of various professions, and so forth. In many of these topics, and often the experimental procedures seem areas, research has not progressed beyond the analyses to effect more change in the person's life than just that of the content. There are good reasons for this limita- which the person is shown on television. Panel studies tion ; some of the suspected eflcts are very difficult to run the Tisk of "contamination" of the person who is measure satisfactorily as, for example, the impact of repeatedly interviewed on the same topic. Because the sexually oriented programs. But in other afeas, The, subjects in the research are interviewed or tested re- research community has moved well along in examin- peatedly, they may not represent the,laiger population ing the effects of television's content on the viewer. that has not beeri asked the same questions.

41. 4 Li contribut- is often the product from television stories and portrayals may be Disagreement among researchers conducive to kind of evidence that is re- ing to lifestyles and habits that are not of disagreement about the good health. Portrayal of mental illness ontelevision quired to draw a conclusion.Such evidence in turn they is not frequent, but when it does appear,it is related grows out of the aspectof the overall process that victimization; compared with study and the specific type oftelevi-' to both violence and are attempting to "normal" characters, twice' as manymentally ill char- sion presentation or behaviorthat is at stake. Some stu- the victims of example, may find the acters on television are violent or are dents of behavioral effects, for others' violence. Even though very fewcharacters on research detailing variousimbalancesoverrepresenta- evident than the demographic television are ill, many more doctors are tionor underrepresentationin Mitch of television's content seems to characters on television tp are in real life. makeup of thc total cast of foster poor nutrition,,especially incommercials for be of little import. They saythat, because there IL no who watch a lot of deleterious behavioral sweets and snack foods. Children evidence that there are socially television have poorer nutritional habits thanchildren these television portrayals, outcomes associated with who do not watch as much.alcohol consumption is the portrayals and imbalances canbe shrugged off. On is presented as a part of including those in one common; it is condoned and the other hand, some observers, the social milieu. When people drive cars,which oc- oftheoffended aemographic groupsminorities, they.almost never wear seat disabled, and so onmay see curs often on television, women, the elderly, the belts. Correlational studies suggest thatpeople's atti- sufficient grounsds for ac- the imbalances in content as tudes are influenced by these portrayals.One.study, for the demonstrability of tion and reform, regardless of example, indicated that television rankedsecond 'to the effects. physicians and dentists as a source of healthinforma- One task of developing a theoryis to tie together the tion. many areas of contentanalysis with the rather fewer There has been almost no research on peoplein effects have been 'areas where learning and other institutions, even though it is known thatthey often for their gen- demonstrated experimeally or tested watch television. One study in a psychiatricsetting., laboratory erality in field studies. For example, can a found that staff believed television had abeneficial they finding that young people imitate ,aggressive acts effect on patients, especially the chronic andeldedy. either to social behave seen on television be extended Increased use of television for therapeutic purpose impact havior in the real world or to the unmeasured should be considered; for example, films andvideo- presentations of, say, prostitu- on behavior of televised tape:have been used successfully to help peoplelearn tion ot bigotry? As the total scopeof research has An experimental study willing to to cope with fears and phobias. broadened, some researchers have been of emotionally disturbed childten reportedthat, for accept these generalizations.' prosocial programs increased behavior is by some of the children, While the research on television and their altruistic behavior and decreasedtheir aggressive is expanding at an accelerating no means 'complete, it behavior. More research is needed toexplore'the thera- and versions of research meth- pace. New applications peutic potential of television. ods are being used, and scientists can nowdraw con- viewing, it can from the With the pervasiveness of television clusions more confidently than they could be assumed that campaigns to promotebetter health much more limited research of 10 years ago. would be effective. There have been campaigns on community mental health, against drugabuse and Highlights of Ten Years ofResearch smoking, for seat-belt wearing, for dental health, and against cancer, venereal disease, andalcoholism. An risk of Televi,§ion's tlealth-Promóting example of a succ-essful campaign to reduce cardiovascular disease in California had programsin Possibilitieh both English and Spanish andface-to-face instruction, in addition to the television messages,for some of the In its programs, television contains many messags communities exptsed to the cam- about health, messages that may be important to pro- groups. After 2 years, instruction, had sig- illness. Television paign, even without the personal motion of health and prevention of attack and job of helping its audi- nificantly reduced the likelihood, of heart seems to be doing a rather poor where there was better understanding stroke, while in a "control" community ence to attain better health or remained high. Carefully of health practices. This is, of course, not agoal of com- no campaign risk levels planned and evaluated campaigns built on anunder- mercial television ;nevertheless, incidental learning

5 standing of the ways in which messages are conve/id siderable controversy over definitions and measurement and incorporated into people's lives hold great promise. of viOleace, the ainount of violence has not decreased. Violence on television seems to be cyclical, up a little one year, down a little the next, but the percentage of .Cognitive and Emotional Functioning programs containing violence has remained, essentially the same over the past decade.' Research on cognitive processes has asked such Senator Pastore's question can be asked again: What questions as: What are the factors involved in paying is the'e(rect of all this violence? After 10 more years of attention to television? What is remembered? How research, the consensus among most of the research much is understood? The research shows that dura- community is that violence on television does lead to tion of paying attention is directly related to age. In- aOressive behavior by children and teenagers who fants watch sporadically; little children-gradually pay watch the programs. This conclusion is based on labo- more attention visually until, at about age 4, they look ratory experinients'and on field studies. Not all chil- at television about 55 percent of the time, even when dren become aggressive, of course, but the correlations there are many other distractions in the room. Audi- between violence and aggression are positive. In sr.h- tory cues are very important in attracting and holding nitude, television violence is as strongly correlated with attention. Up to the second and third grades, children agg'ressive behavior as any other behavioral variable ` cannot report much of what they see and hear on tele- that has been measured. The research question has vision, but they probably remember more than they moved from asking whether.or not there is an effect to can report, and memory irnproves with growing up. seeking explanations for the effect. Young children remember specific scenes better than According to observational learning theory:when relationships, and they often do not understand plot children observe television characters who behave vio- or narrative. Making inferences and differentiating lently, they learn to be violent or aggressive themselves. between central and peripheral content are difficult Observationallearningfromtelevisionhasbeen for young children, but these skills also improve with demonstrated ,many times under strict 'laboratory con- age. The changes may be partly developmental and ditions, and there is now research on when and how it .partly fhe result of experience with television. occurs in real life. Television is also said to mold chil- The "medium as the message" came to be studied dren's attitudes which later may be translated into be- again in the 1970s. Much of what children, and others, see on television is not only the content. They learn havior. Children who watch a lot of violence on the meaning of television's forms and codesits cam- television may come to accept violence as normal behavior. era techniques, sound effects, and organization of pro- Although a causal link between televised .violence grams. Some of the effects of television can be traced to its forms, such as fast or slow action, loud or soft and aggressive behavior now seems obvious, a recent music, camera angles,g'and so on. Some researchers panel study by researchers at the National Broadcast- suggest that fast action, loud music, and stimulating ing Company found no evidence for a long-term en- camera tricks may account for changes in behavior during relation between viewing violent television pro- following televised violence. grams and aggressive behavior. Others doing television Although television- producers 'Sand viewers alike esearch wilFno doubt examine this new study to try agree that television, can arouse the emotions, there to learn why it does not agree with many other find- has been very little research on television's effects on ingS. emotional development and functioning. It is known that some people have strong emotional attachments Imaginative Play and Prosocial Behavior to television characters and personalities and that children usually prefer characters most like themselves. Since children spend many hours watching the Research on television and the emotions should be fantasy world of television it can be asked whether given a top priority. television enriches their imaginatiVe capacities and whether it leads to a distortion of reality. Evidence Violence and Aggression thus far is that, television does not provide material for imaginative play and that watching violent pro- The report of the. Surgeon General's committee grams and cartoons is tied to aggressive behavior and states that there was a high level of violence on televi- to less imaginative play. Most young children do not sion in the 1960s. Although in the 1970s there was con- know the difference between reality and, fantasy on In general, researchers seem toconcur that tele- they do not understandhow television, and of course, vision has become a major.socializing agent of Ameri- television works or how thecharacters appear on the enhance can children. screen. Television,however can be used to television influences with In addition to socialization, children's imaginative playif an adult watches, how people think aboutthe world around them or the child and interpretswhat is happening. what is sometimes calledtheir conceptions of "social During the past 10 yearsresearch on television's in- reality." Studies have beencarried out on the amount As a fluence on prosocialbehavior has burgeoned. of fear and mistrust ofother people, and on the prev- result evidence ispersuasivechildren can learn to alence of violence, sexism,family values, racial atti- population, criminal justice, and be altruistic, friendly andself-controlled by looking at tudes, illness in the television programs depicting suchbehavior patterns. affluence. On the whole, it 5eemsthat television leads It appears that they alsolearn to be less aggressive. its viewers to havetelevision-influenced attitudes. The studies on prevalence ofviolence and mistrust have consistent results: Peoplewhci are heavy viewers of Socialization and Conceptionsof Social television are more apt to thinkthe world is violent Reality than are light viewers.They also trust other people less and believe that theworld ii a "mean and scary" Most studies on socializationhave been in the form place. of content analyses concernedwith sex, race, occu tion, age and consumerroles. There .are more men The Family and InterpersonalRelations than women onentertainment televisionr and the men on the average areolder. The men are mostly There are many televisiohfamiliesabout 50 fami- strong and manly,the women usuallypassive and lies can be seen weeklyand mostof them resemble feminine. Both, according to someanalysts are stereo- what people like to think of asthe typical American typed but the women are even morestereotyped than family. The husbands tend to becompanions to their the men. Lately there has been moresexual reference, wives and friends to their children;hiany of the wives more innuendo, and moreseductive actionsand dress. stay home and take careof the house and children. Re- television there have Both parents and behavioralscientists consider televi- cently, however, on entertainment single-parent families, and sion to be an important sexeducator not only in depic- been more divorces, more fami- tions specifically related to sex butin' the relationships more unmarriedcouples living' together. In black and more conflict between men and women throughoutall programs. lies, there are more single parents removed de- than in white families. The actualeffects of these por- For a while, after organized protest subject of practi- grading stereotyped portrayals from theair, there were trayals on family life have been the television. About 12 cally no research. almost no blacks to be seen on the context of again, and now about 10 per- Television, of course, takes place in years ago, they emerged social relations, mainly in thefamily. Parents do not cent-of television characters are black.There are not seem to restrict the amountof time their children spend many Hispanics, NativeAmericans. or Asian Amer- in front of the television set, nor dothey usually prevent icans. them from looking at certain programs.They seldom higher status jobs Television characters usually have discuss programs with their children exceptperhaps to large proportion thanaverage people in real life. A make a few favorable comments nowand then. Many and relatively of them are professionals or managers, families look a4, television together, whichbrings up the few are blue-collar workers. question of who decides what tolook at. Usually the television, and, The elderly are underrepresented on most powerful member of thefamily decidesfather there are more old men as with the younger adults, first;then mother, then older children. But,surprisingly than old women. of ten, parents defer to the wishesof their young Research shows that consumer roles are learned children. from televisibn. Children are taught to beavid con- sumers; they watch thecommercials, they ask their parents to buy the products, andthei use or consume Television in American Society the products. Not much research has beendone with in teenagers, but they seem 'to be more ikeptical about Television seems to have brought about changes effects on laws advertisements. society and its institutions. Television's

7 16 and norms have been the subject of discussion, but no who watch a moderate amount of television get higher firm conclusions have been reached. Television, ac- reading scores than those who watch either a great- cording to. some observers, reinforces the status quo deal or very little. But at the high school level (a time and contributes to a homogenization of society and when heavy yiewing tends to be less common), read- a promotion Of middle-class values. Television's ubiq- ing scores are inversely related to amount of viewing, uity in bringing eventsespecially violent and spec- with the better readers watching less television. tacular eventsthroughout the world to millions of In terms of educational' aspiration, it appears that people may mean that television itself is a significant heavy viewers want high status job but do not intend factor in determining the events. Television broadcasts to spend many years in school. For girls, there is even of religious services bring religion to those who can- more potential for conflict between aspirations and not get out, but they also may reduce attendance at plans; the girls who are heavy viewers usually want to churches and thus, opportunities for social interactions. get married, have children, and stay at horne to take Television has certainly changed leisure time activities. care of them, but at the same time they plan to remain For many people, leisure time means just about the in schooland to have exciting careers. same as television time; their off-duty hours are spent Finally, one of the most significant developments of mainly in front of the television set. Many of these the decade is the rise of interest in television literacy, effects of television, however,vare still speculative and critical viewing skills, and intervention procedures. need further research to provide more accurate and "Television literacy" is a way to counteract the possible reliable information.. deleterious effects of television and also to enhance its many benefits. Several curricula and television teaching guides have been prepared, containing lessons on Education and Learning About Television all facets of television technology and programing camera techniques, format, narratives, commercials, Parents, teachers, and others blame television for differences between reality and fantasy, tek vision's ef- low grades and low scores on scholastic aptitude tests, fect on one's life, and so on. Use of these educational but causal relationships are complex, as in television and intervention procedures has demonstrated that and violence, and they need careful analysis. Among parents, children, and teachers ccan achieve much adults, television viewing and education are inversely related: the less schooling, the more television view- greater understanding of television and its effects, but ing. Although children with low IQs watch television whether this understanding changes their social be- more than others, it is not known if heavy viewing havior is not yet known. lowers Ig scores or if those with low IQ choose to watch more television. There have been no experi- Referende mental studies on these questions. Research on television and educational achievement has mixed findings. Some studies found higher achievement with ( / )MuTray, J. P. Television and youth: 25 years of more television viewing, while others found lower, and research & controversy. Boys Town, Neb.: The still others found no relation. There seems to be a dif- Boys Town Center for the Study of Youth ference at different ages. At the lower grdes, children Development, 1981.

8 Chapter II

Television'sHealth-PromotingPossibilities

of the leads to considerationnfthe codes and standards comMittee ended its 1971 and The Surgeon General's National Association ofBroadcasters, the networks, report with achapter, "The UnfinishedAgenda," and have sections on future it many of' thestations, all of which a final statementpointing out that in the NAB code has a longsection and stimulate television's heilth and medicine. The would be well "to consider related to health comthercials.In advertisements of health-promoting possibilities."It is fitting that this practices, the code discourages General's committee report medical products and update of the Surgeon direct portrayals of illnessand distress. It alsodiscour- takes up where the earlier reportleft off and begin its settings during the 1970s with a ages sweepingclaims for products. Laboratory review of scientific advances research resuhs authentic.Ap- health-promoting possibilities. must be genuine and discussion of television's peals regarding health mattersmust\ not be directed Research on televisionand health covers several Advertisements for hard liquor televi- primarily to children. topics: One is concernedwith the content of wine should relevant to health, as are not permitted,and those for beer and sion programs and portrayals Personal products should portrayals be presented with discretion. well as the possibleinfluences of television Disregard of normal focuses be shown in an inoffensive way. on health andhealth-related-behavior. Another campaigns planned to promotebetter safety precautions should beavoided. on television In contrase to advertising,the codes for \ health por- health. A third emphasizesthe use of television by per- trayals in the dramatic contentof entertainment pro- sons in institutionsand the ways in whichtelevision grams are notstringent. The guidelines statethat there might be applied fortherapeutic purposes. of violence and its con- in the biomedical andbe- should be responsible handling In recent years advances should not be encouraged or havioral sciences have led to ashift in the prevalence sequences. Drug abuse shown as socially acceptable.Physical or mental afflic- of illnesses from the acute,often infectious diseases to tions should not be ridiculed.Smoking and drinking the illnesses and conditionsin which personal respon- key role. Healthy People: should be deemphasized.Professional advice, diagnotis, sibility and way of life play a conform to the law and profes- Report on Health Promotion and treatment must all The Surgeon General's portrayals are governed concluded that .such illnesses sional standards. In effect, the and Disease Prevention dramatic effects for about half themortality chiefly by artistic judgments related to and conditions account These codes have nb doubt rate in the .UnitedStates. (1) Thecurrentemphasis and entertainment value. prevention of ill- been somewhat helpful andhave probably prevented on maintenanceof good health and practicesfor ex- flagrant inaccuracies and abuses. Butwhat do the con- ness throughbehavior patterns and ample, diet, exercise,drinking in moderation,cessation tent analyses show? child care, use ofseatbelts Early in the 1970's, all programs on acommercial of smoking, prenatal and monitored for 1 week and other safetyprecautionssuggests thattelevision network station in Detroit were effect (2) Presentations involving with its pervasive presenceand general learning for health-content analysis. medical treatment, physi- can exert asignificant impact on healthbeliefs and physical or mental illness, health-related behaviors throughoutthe country. cians or dentists, smoking, orhealth in general were logged and evaluated for impact,appeal, and accuracy. The analysis revealed thathealth-related topics ap- Health Portrayals peared in 7.2 percent of totalbroadcast time; most of them were on entertainmentprograms and commer- A review of television'shealth portrayals raises issues programs on cials.There were few informational related to advertising of healthproducts. In turn, this

9 18 health issues. Only 30 peceent of the health informa- pain and suffering rarely follow all this violence, nor is tion was rated as useful. The remaining 70 percent medical help usually evident. Content analyses of adult was considered inaccurate, mislefding, or both. Mes- programs have shown that only about 7 percent of the sages urging the use of pills and other remedies ap- major characters iiave injuries or illnesses requiring peared 10 times as often as messages about drug use medical treatment. Although children's programs are and abuse. Some of the brief public Service messages more violent, only about -3 percent of the characters were rated as informative and useful; including those received treatment. Illness and injury strike television on heart disease, smoking, and crisis centers. But in- charactersheroes and villains, men and women, and formation about most major health problems such as other groupsabout equally. cancer, stroke, accidents, hepatitis, maternal death, Prime time characters hardly ever have impair- hunger and malnutrition, venereal disease, mental ments; in fact,almost none even wears glasses. Only 2 health, sex education, child care, lead poisoning, and percent of major characters are physically handi- family planning was virtually nonexistent. Television, capped, and those who are handicapped are often old according to this survey, was falling far short of ?s and unfavorably presented. Physically handicapped potential in offering health information. characters rarely apar on children's television. In the late 1970s, a study for an Institute of Medi- Injuries or deatl from industrial and automobile cine conference on "Health,Promotion and the Media" accidents do not occur often on prime time teleVision-4- analyzed health portrayals in 10 prime time shows-and despite all the risky driving, cars flying through the air, two soap operas for 4 days. (3) Of the 40 prime time and.fires and explosions. It should be noted that auto- shows, there were 28 with at least one health incident. mobile accidents in real life area leading cause of On the basis of this analysis, the following generaliza- deaths for young adults. Automobiles and trucksare tions were made: "Patients" on television receive in- common on television, but seatbelts are seldom seen, tensive physical health care from "health profession- and their use is never modeled. als."Health professionals show concernfor the emotional well-being of their patients. Specific health information is given in small and infrequent doses, and Mental Illness is often obscured by comedy in the evening skows and by romantic interludes in the lafternoon soap operas. On television today, 17 percent of prime time prd- More information is provided about infrequent and grams have a portrayal or theme of mental illness. (5) About 3 percent of the major characters have somesort unfamiliar health problems than about common and of mental illness, and, in the late eveningprograms, the widespread ones'. Even when a health issu constitutes percentage doubles. The mentally ill are likely to be the basis for an episode, little specific health infonna. either violent characters or to be victims. Of prime time tion is presented. It appears that on entertainment characters, 73 percent of the mentally illare portrayed television there has not been much improvement in as violent, as compared with 40 percent of the "nor- the past 10 yetrs in dissemination of health informa- mal" characters; and 81 percent of the mentally illare tion. victims compared with 44 percent of the "normals." Of Other content analyses of health portrayals on en- the normal characters, 10 percent are killers, and 5per- tertainment programs and commercials provide addi- cent are killed. But of the mentally ill characters, 23 tionalinformation about television's depictions of percent are killers, and 23 percent are killed. Although physical illness and injury, mental illness, diet and 24 percent of all female characters are violent, of the nutrition, smoking, and alcohol consumption.(4). mentally ill females, 71 percent are violent. Mental ill- They also document the prominence of health profes- ness for a woman character makes her as violent as the sionals in the world of fictional television. "normal" men. The mentally ill arc most often found in theoccupa- Physical Illness, Impairment, tions of clerks, salespersons, manual laborers, diminals, and scientists. The least mentally ill occupationsare and'' Injury managers, policemen, farmers, and, ministers.

Both prime time and children's weekend television Diet and Nutrition are dominated by action, power, and danger. There is an average of 5 violent acts per hour on prime time and Eating and drinking are frequent on entertainment 18 acts per hour on children's weekendprograms. But programs". One analysis showed that eatingor drinking

10 adventure 75 percent of comedies have little smoking, crime and occurs about 10times per hour and that the most, but and drink or talk about do- shows more', and dramatic programs all dramatic characters eat only 13 percent of the men and is usually not relaxed,and even in these programs ing so. (6) But this activity 4 percent ot the women smoke. A recentanalysis the food is not nutritionallybalanced: Grabbing a in 40 hours of frequently as all regular counted only 11 instances .of smoking snack occurs just about as the top-rated programs.(15) meals combined. About 5 percentof the time the snack is fruit, and the rest of thetime it is some type of "snack food." Alcohol is the favoritebeverage, and coffee and Drinking Alcohol tea come next.About one-third of the drinkingde- picted on prime time televisionis alcqhol or coffee. (7) Use of alcohol, on the contrary, is common.A 1975 The kinds of drinks consumed areinversely related to report states that alcohol wasshown or mentioned in the kinds used in real life;.alcohol is drunk twice as 80 percent of prime time programs.(16)In a 1980 frequently as toffee or tea,14 times as frequently as study, alcohol was present in 12 of the15 most popu- soft drinks, and 15 times asfrequently as water. lar programs.(17)Onc estimate is that, conservative- In a study comparing the contentof commercials ly, a child during an average day'sviewing would see and the 10 top-rated prime timeprogranis, most of the 10 episodes involving drinking,adding up to about referencestodrinking--particularly alcoholand 000 ,times a year.(18)Xnd this is not just casual sweets were found to be onthe entertainment pro- drinking. In 40 percent of prime time programs,it is grams, not on thecommercials.(8) heavy drinkingfive or moredrinksand an addi- The average child sees about22,000 'commercials tional 18 percent of the programs depictchronic drink- about 5,000 are for food productsand ers.(19)One study found that 6 percent ofall televi- a year of which A study of just half of these are forhigh-calorie, high-sugar, low- sion charaters are drinkers.(20) nutrition products. (9) One studyfound that 67 per- prime time characters founl that39 percent of the cent of commercials onSaturday morning and on men and 32 percentof the women do the drink- and The drinkers ae not thevillains or the bit generalchildren's programs were for sweets ing.(21) snacks. (10) Another study ofcommercials found that players; they are theood, steady likable charac- 70 percent of food advertisements werefor foods high ters.(22) shown on television in fats, cholesterol, sugar, andsalt. (11) Only 3 per- The consequences of drinking as Drinking may result in strained cent were for fruitsandvegetables. appear to be slight. Obesity, a health problem for manyAmerican, is relationships, harm to self or others,embarrassment, dnly rarely.(23)Al- not often seen ontelevision. In a 1979 survey oftele.. hangovers, and loss of jobsbut drinkers, ac- vision's characters, fewer than6 percent of the men though one-third of the characters are and 2 percent of the women werefat. (12) Over- cording to one study, only 1 percenthave a drinking weight men are more likely to be onfood tommercials, problem or are alcoholics.(24)The circumstances for particularly for junk foods. In another survey,12 per- most drinking are happy,sociable, and fun without is most often used cent of the characters wereoverweight, but no obese indications of possible risks. Alcohol and the drinking is characterswerechildren,teenagers,oryoung by the leading male taracters, adults. (13) Of the blackcharacter's, 16 percent were frequently done in the home.Hospitalitjr; celebrations, the usual antece- obese; of Asian American characters,80 percent were enjoyment, and stress reduction are overweight. So despite all theconsumption of sweets dent conditions.(25) and snacks, most of the charactersdo not gain weight. overweight charac- The import of these depictions of The Daytime Serial ters is not clear, but itis safe to say that they are not realistic. Health portrayals are so frequent ondaytime serials that.they deserve special mention.Illness and health important yroblems on soap Smoking are among the most operas. About half ofall the characters are involved according Smoking is not common on contemporarytelevision, in .some kind of healthlrelated occurrences, although it still can be seen oftenin reruns of old to a 1977 survey. (26)The problems include psychi- pregnancies, automobile Movies. According to a recentanalysis(14)of the atric disorders, heart attacks, of the men accidents, attempted homicides andsuicides, and in- major., characters today, only 11 percent Heart attacks, car acci- and 2 percent of the women aresmokers. Situation fectious diseases, in that order.

.11 ) 0.

dents, and homicides are the main killers. Women are There have been a few experimental studies of the more apt to die, especially of a heart attack, than the effects of commercials on actual eating behavior. In men, but the men are sick and injured more often. Half one of the studies, two groups of children were assessed, the pregnancies result in miscarriages and 16 percent a group of 4-year-olds and a group of 9-year-olds, with in the death of the pregnant woman. Women are more an equal number of boys and girls in each group.(33) often mentally ill than men in The daytime serial. The children looked at television cartoons and com- As in other television proems, there are many more mercials selected from actual programs. Some of the health professionals on soap operas than in real life, commercials were for nutritious items, some for non- and the doctors and other professionals are likely to be nutritious items. The children were then tested on their men.(27) The women doctors have usually sacrificed selection and eating of various foods, some of them happiness for a career. Most of the action in soap nutritious such as cheese, fruit, carrots, milk, and operas consists of talk, with health as a frequent topic orange juice, and some of them nonnutritious such as of conversation. Much of the talk about health is in 'snacks, cookies, and artificial and carbonated drinks. the form of medical advice. (28) After they had looked at the commercials' for nonnutritious foods, both the 4-year-old boys and the 9-year-old Television Doctors bays chose the nonnutritious foods and drinks significantly more often than the other foods and drinks. But the girls did not, nor did the advertisement for the There are many more professional people on televi- nutritious foods lead to eating more of them. There is sion than one meets in real life, and the doctors and no apparent explanation for the difference between nurses outrank all the other professionals. Only law the boys and the girls but an explanatiOn for the inef- enfoicement and criminal characters appear more fectiveness of the commercials for nutritious foods is often. On prime time a viewer sees about 12 doctors simply that they weie less exciting and appealing than and 6 'nurses every Week. (29) On the other hand, those for snacks and similar items. there are almost no medical personnel on children's That television can be influential in effecting choices programs. About 90 percent of the doctors are white is shown by another study. (34) Children 5- to 8-years- men, young or middle-age. The nurses are usually old in a summer camp saw television programs and young, white women. The doctors are good characters: commercials for fruits or candies. When they could successful, peaceful, fair, sociable, apd warm. And they choose their shacks !loin a group of fruits ana-candies, are depicted as more personable and smarter than the the children who had seen the fruit commercials con- nurses. sistently picked the fruit more often than the candy,- Doctors on television symbolize power and domi- Another experiment by Cie same investigators studied nance. They give the orders and rarely receive them. the effects of comme.cials on the way children think They also are ethical, kind, and willing to take risks to about foods, specifically what kinds of foods "pop" into help their patients. One study noted that 61 percent of their heads when t .ley think about asking for, or eating, the doctors' work is done on house calls or in the a snack. As- predieted, after they had -seen- fruit-com- field.( 30)Doctors almost never are shown in their mercials, they thotqht more often about asking for the homes or with their families. fruits. Another studymeasuredtherelatiOnbetween Television's Influences on Health amount of viewing and nutrition. (35) Fourth and sixth graders who watched more television had less Relatively little research has examined television's knowledge about nutrition, and the nutritional value influences on health. One type of study is concerned of their diets varied inversely with the amount of view- with the effeasson children of food commercials. A first ing. question is whether the children respond to the adver- From a variety of other kinds of studies, evidence tisements. All indicatns are that they do. Ninety per- suggests that unhealthy attitudes may accompany reli- cent of young children o saw a cereal commercial ance on television for health ififormation. In one study wanted to eat that cereal asmpared with 66 percent the respondents were asked to name two or three main of those who had not seen it.(3 In a group of fourth sources of health information. (36) "Television pro- to seventh graders, 49 percent of th who had often grams" were named by 31 percent of the respond- seen an advertisement for a candybar sate that they ate ents; only doctors and dentists, at 45 percent, were the bar "a lot," compared with 32 percent the less named more often. Those who said television pro- frequent viewers.(32) grams versus those who did not had a distinctive pro- about health and to persuade the audience to heed file cif responses. They were morelikely to be categorized as t'complacent"(versus "concerned") about that message. their health; to hold "old"(versus "new") health There is some debate about the effectiveness of campaigns to change attitudes and behavior. Some com- values; to be "nonExercisers"; and tobe "poorly in- munication researchers still believe that most cam- formed" (versus "well-informed" or"somewhat well- paigns are ineffective; others believe that, with careful informed") in terms of health information.. Another survey indicated television as animportant planning, a campaign can achieve the desired re- (37) The source of their sults. (43) Several campaigns have been conducted source of health information. covered community information about family planning wassurveyed in over the past few years. They have about 600 teenagers in two midwesterncities. Of the mental health, drur abuse, smoking, seatbelt wearing, dental health, cancer, venereal disease, and alcohol- total nutnber of relevant informationitems these teenagers had, 24 percent hadbeen learned from televi- ism. (44) Most of the results are encouraging. Three television campaigns can be singled out. sion, far more than from any other source.In a similar analysis; it was found that 45 percentof the young- Feeling Good was an educational television series it contained eleven sters could, recall at least onespecific family-planning on health. (45) Aimed at adults, 1-hour programs and thirteen half-hQur programs. message they had obtainedfrom teleVision. (38) The act of watching television per se maybe re- There was strong evidenCe of change in such behavior lated to health habits. The relaxedcircumstances of as eating more fruit, performingbreast self-examina- most viewing offers an occasionfor resting, eating, tion, having an eye examination, encouraging someone smoking, and drinking. A study of teenagersfound to have a Pap test, and sending forhealth information that on the average 83 percent"usually eat" while offered on television. The main lesson learned from looking at television. (39) The percentageof those this experiment is that it is difficult but not impossible for a television seriei to have an impact on health who eat while viewing increasesduring the years of adolescence from 74 percent in the sixthgrade to 91 knowledge and behavior, In addition, the series, probably because it was on public television, did not attract percent in the tenth grade. Differences in attitudes about doctors isrelated to viewership from the low-income population. The producer-experimenters think now tbat the hour-long amount of television viewing. Youngchildren who are than light format was too long and that the songs, humor, and heavy television viewers are more likely those on viewers to have images of doctors andother medical emotional appeals, using characters like professionals that are similar to the doctorsthey see Sesame Street', were probably not very effective with .inforina- on television. ( 40 Foradults, heavy viewers, especial- adults. They surmise that straightforward ly those who watch the "doctor shows,"have moret,tional presentations are more appropriate for convey- confidence in doctors than do light viewers.(41) ing health materials to adults. In general, those who watch more.television are In Finland, a campaign on smoking cessation and 'more liklv than others to be complacentabout their preventioil of heart disease combined television with health and what they cat and drink ; they are more other educational efforts, such as training of personnel likely to smoke but not more likely to drinkalcoholic and making environmental changes. (46) The pro- counseling sessions beverages. They also derive less satisfactionfrom good gram was ,made up of 7 televised health than do those who spend less timewatching% with, 10 smokers who were trying to quit. Preventing relapse was emphasized. It was estimated that about television. (42) 100,000 adults participated, andatbout 10,000 stopped smoking for at least 6 months when the followup survey Health Campaigns was taken. This campaignmadegood use of behavioral science theory by providing the television audience To this point the einpha.sis has been onhealth- with adult models and having A social support system related material in entertainment programsand com- to encourage behavioral change. mercials. In the entertainment programs thecOntent A third campaign is the Stanford Heart Disease is, of course, determined by dramatic and story con- Three Community Study. (47) This program, begun siderations and in the commercials by need to sell a in 1970 by an interdisciplina'ry group ofbiomedical product. In neither case is health a primary considera- and behavioral researchers has explored thepossibility tion, and any learning aboiit health isincidental. that cardiovascular risk can be reduced bycommunity Health campaigns are different. In a campaign, there education via the mass media. Two communities re- ,is a deliberate effort to convey a particular message ceived intensive mass media campaigns inEnglish and

13 Spanish. One of them also had face-to-face instruction vision has a great untapped potential for encouraging for a small group of persons considered tO be at high voluntary changes in behavior tO promote better health risk. A third community served as a control. Before in the population at large. It also seems likely that this the campaign began and again I and 2 years later, mass audience can be reached with high effectiveness people from the conununities were examined for and relatively low cost. cardiovascular problems. How much they knew about cardkwascular disease and what, if anYthing, they weredoing about it also were ascertained. In addition, Television for Therapeutic Purposes physiological measures such as blood pressure, weight, and plasma cholesterol were taken. After I year, the The health campaigns just discussed were planned estimated'risk of heart attack and stroke was reduced to reach a mass audience of television viewers. But tele- in the community receiving both the personal in- vision can also be used to reach smaller audiences and struction and the televised programs. But by the end viewers with certain characteristics. Some of these of the 2nd year, the community receiving only the viewer's may have health problems of various kinds televisi9n program had reduced the risk by the same which targeted programs on television can help to alle- amount as the other community. Risk in the control viate. This kind of special programing will become in- community, however, had increased. The results creasingly possible with the further development of clearly show thai mass media campaigns can be multichannel cable television and the outreach to re- effective, but additional research is needed on how to mote places that satellite television will provide. increase effectivenep even more. For example, ways to reduce smoking and to increase physical exercise need to be devised. Another important part of this campaign Persons in Institutions, was that it was bicultural. The programs in Spanish were not merely translations of the English programs Persons in hospitah, prisons, and other institutiOns but were designed in all ways for the Spanish-speaking comprise an important segment of the television audi- community and culture. This campaign used television ence. Typically these people are unable to get out in to teach specific. behavioral skills, and the evidence is the world and engage in cornmon everyday activities. that the program worked. Television thus becomes a significant part of their lives, At the Institute of Medicine conference referred to and they often look at it for many hours a day. The earlier, the conferees formulated a list of questions to very fact that they are institutionalized Means that they be considered when planning a health campaign: (48) have characteristics that are different from those of viewers in the usual home environment. Not only is What is the message to be conveyed, and who shall the setting different from the home, but there are develop it? reasons for the viewer being in such a setting. Who is the target audience, and who selects it? Three studies of boys in residential schools have been What is known about how the media can be most among the few studies .of institutional viewing. (49) effective in reaching the target audience? Two of them were concerned with the effects of vio- How can health-damaging material in entertainment lence, but they were more interested in the fact that programing and .advertising be counteraded? the boys were in a controlled environment than the How can access to the media be assured for health- fact that they were in an institution. The third study promoting messages and programing? was interested in institutionalized juvenile delinquents This conference is just one of many indications of the and how violence in films affected those with a history rising interest in the use of television for enhancing of ,aggressive behavior. Although the study concluded health. There are promising directions for increasing that "predispositional factors" did not influence ag- the effectiveness of health campaigns and for increasing gressive reactions, in one part of the study when the - the amount of accurate information on health-related boys were exposed to films only once,`those who were topics. Several new long-term demonstrations projects initially more aggressive were more affected. have been funded by the National Institutes of Health, A, somewhat different type of stndy compared selec- and most of them have explored new'uses of television tions of television programs by prisoners who had been as a conveyer of public health information. There overtly aggressive with c'hokes of unaggressive prison- -,seems to be general agreement that, if the campaigns ers and choices of a group of %ocational students. (50)

.e are carefully planned and evaluated, taking into ac- The assaultive prisoners did not ehoose violent films count what is known from the behavioral scienc'es, tele- any more frequently than the other two groups.

14 Mental Patients in Psychiatric Settings hours watching television, according to one study. J54) Older peopfe as is well known, become more and A detailed examination of television viewing by more dependent on television forinformation and en- mentally ill. patients was made in a survey of 18 New tertainment. A survey. of the hospitalized elderly York State pgychiatric centers. (51) Replies to ques- showed that most of them preferred news and public tionnaires completed by the directors and ward per- affairs programs; the Lawrence Welk Show was liked sonnel concurred in the opinion that viewing had a m6st Ofall.(55)Other, surveysconfirmthese favorable effect on the patients and perhaps even a findings. (56) slight therapeutic potential. Television viewing was In addition to the news and information Provided to the elderly byftelevision, it is possible that special pro- pervasive, but, according to the staff, there were dif- benefits. erences among patients. Television seemed tobe more grams for them could have therapeutic beneficial for the chronic and elderly patients than for the acutely ill or adolescent patients. Hospitals Tje s'ame study obtained television-viewing information from a treatment facility for emotionally disturbed Although ther re seem to be no syitematic studiesor. children. Children diagnosed as disturbed watched television use in general hospitals, a visit to a hospital television for about 31/2 hours a day, but autistic chil- can show how much it is watched. In aninformal sur- . dren for only about an hour a day. Staff at this facility vey of a large hospital in North Carolina,staff reported also believed that television had a beneficial effect. Al- that Anost all the patients looked at television. (57) most all the children imitated some of thebehavior Some patients watch for rn°any hours at a time, and they saw on television including aggressive acts. Many some patients seem to fall asleep more easilywhen the of them copied the "superheroes." When watching set is on. The television set is like a constanthospital television, about a third of ihe children became bored companion or visitor. or restless; about a third were morerelaxed; some be- A few attempts have been made to examine televi- came agitated ;. and some talked back tothe set. sion viewing of hospitalized children. (58) Pediatri- In an extended study of emotionally distnrbed chil- cians in a large California hospital were worried about dren the same investigatmes found that the inpatients the patterns of viewing among young patients and watched television for 21.6 hours a week on the aver- therefore started to provide special closed circuit cable television for them. Results of this work are not yet age and the outpatients watched 31.8 hours aweek. available, but the project is a good example of an effort (52) Although about 75 percent of both the inpa- to modify television viewing so as to meet the broad tients and outpatients reported that they saw actions therapeutic goals of the hospital. , on television which they would like toimitate, a much larger percentage of inpatients than of outpatients actually tried to carry out these behaviors.About one- Coping With rears third of both groups said that they had dreams about the programs, and about half of these children said The use of films to help children and adults copc that the dreams were frightening. Yet about 80 per- with fears and overcome phobias was initiated several children were cent of both groups thought television viewing was a years ago. In one study, 3- to 5-year-old rated on their willingness to play with a cocker span,. pleasant experience. id. (59) Then, for 8 days, some of the children saw In a totally different kind of study schizophrdnic several brief films in which children played with dogs. patients were found to iricorporate material from tele- Thc other children saw a Disney movie. The children vision programs into their paintings and other art were again observed with real dogs. Thosechildren productions. (53) who had seen the films about dogs and who earlier had .1 been afraid to play with. the spaniel were no longer Old-Age Settings and Nursing Homes afraid of it. The reduction in fear was not limited to the kinds of dogs seen on the films, and thereduction Few studies have been reported on the viewing lasted for at least 4 weeks when retesting was done. - habits of elderly people ininstitutions or on the effects Eliminting severe dread of snakes was undertaken of such viewing. Compared with older viewers living ,in another research with adolescents and adults.(60) at home, those in residential homes spend many mote Those who watched a film showing people,including

I. 15 children, handling a large kinynake became much The programs were selected from a videotape library less fearfulto the extent of actually holding a snake of previously broadcast commerLal programs. Each in their hands; A similar study. with 8-and 9-year-old half-hour program was rated by content analysis for its children hadthe same results. prosocial or aggressive content. The programs were sit- Other studies have ,been done in a therapeutic set- uation comedies, cartoons, and drama with prosocial ting. Children being prepared for surgery were shown themes on the benefits of helping others, cooperating- i film depicting many of the experiences they would with teachers, and meeti.Ig problems of stealing and probably encounter.(61)The Children who saw the playing' practical :olws For the violent set of programs, film were markedly less anxious both before and after child-care workers kept wcords of which programs the the surgery than the children who had not seen it. children watched; they included seven cartoon and Other films and "video desensitization" have been used three situation comedies. to help children overcome shyness, students reduce The discussion, led by a senior research 'associate, their fear of taking. tests, dental patients become less focused on the prosocial and antisocial themes and be- afraid of treatment, and women overcome sexual dys- havior in the show, particularly on the motivations for function.(62)Such films and videotapes help persons and consequences of the behavior, and on evaluation- learn to cope with fears and other problems, and they of how the characters handled the situatioRs. The therefore have definite therapeutic potentials. leadersencouraged the youngsters to talk about similar situations they may have faced, how they felt, and what happened afterward. An effort was made to reinforce An Experimental Study of the prosocial and to discourage,the antisocial behavior. The youngsters saw the 10 programs for 2 weeks on Therapeutic Uses of Television consecutive weekday evenings immediately after dinner. For 1 week before and 1 week after the television Will prosocial television programing help youngsters programs, their behavior was observed and rated for in a psychiatric facility to improve their social behavior three kinds of prosocial behavioraltruism, affection, ,and attitudes? A study designed to find the answer to and appropriate interactionand four kinds of aggres- this question is described here,sin soMe detail becAuse sive behaviorphysical, verbal, symbolic, and object it is one of the first of its kind.(63) aggression. The youngsters came from three wards of boys and What .were the results? Cenerally, youngsters who one ward of girls. They ranged in age from 8 to 18, with saw the prosocial programs increased their altruistic an average "age of 14; the average IQ was 87.8; and behavior, and those who saw the other programs were they had been in the facility for an average of 1 year. less altruistic. The discussion decreased altruism for The diagnoses were 44.4 percent unsocialized aggres- the youngsters with low IQ, however, but for children sive reaction, 20.3 pe,rcent schizophrenic, 15.5 percent with a high IQ, altruism increased both with' and with- Adjustment reaction of childhood, and the remainder out discussion. The youngsters who were more physi- diagnosed as organic brain syndrome, retarded, or cally aggressive before the programs became much anxiety reaction. more altruistic after seeing the prosocial programs and Belore the research began, a survey had shown that much less altruistic after seeing the aggressive pro- these youngsters' usual television diet contained quite a grams': The prosocial programs with and without dis- bit of violence, typical of ordinary television content. cussion had- a somewhat unexpected effect on verbal Therefore, a special prosocial television diet was con- aggreSsie and object aggression; the prosocial diet structed, and the effect,s of this diet were compared followed by discussion increased-both verbal and object with the usual viewing of the youngsters. Because the.se aggression, but without theeiscussion the amount of youngsters' attention span and intellectual abilities verbal aggrescion decreased, and there was no effect were lower than normal youngsters, there was a 10- on object aggression. For symbolic aggression the minute adult-led discussion for some of the youngsters youngsters who were more aggressive at the outset be- after both types of programs. There were, then, four came less aggressive following the prosocial programs.. groups of youngsters for the study: One group saw the Thus, there %Yak some variation in results, depending usual programs with their incorporated violence, one on the specific characteristics of the children and on saw prosocial programs, one saw the usual violent pro- whether or not there was a discussion. gram's followed by discussion, and one saw prosocial The results of this investigation suggest that tele- prograrns followed by discussion. vision can be used to facilitate positive changes in social

16 individuals. What-is-needed- behaviorally disturbed ment of instittitionalized behavior of institutionalized, !low television is now used and findings from is a better unarstinding of children. Moreover, this finding be modified to increase its otherresearch suggest that televisionviewing can be and how television might positive effects. made a morepportive part of the structuredenviron- , Refeiences -so Lisman, S. A.Onalysis General's report an health (17)Futch, E., Geller, M. J,, and (1)Health./ people: The Surgeon alcohol use on prime-timetelevision.Unpublished U.S.Department at promotion and disease prevention. paper. State Universilyof New York at Binghamton, of Health, Education,a nd Welfare.Washingta: U.S. 1980. Government Minting Office, 1979. C., Graef, D., Lowinger, P., (18)Greenberg, B. S., Fernandez-Collado, (2)Smith, F. A., Trivax, G., Zuehlke, D. A., Korzenny F4 and Atkin, C. K.,1980. Op.cit. and Nghiem, T. L. Health informationduring a week (19)Breed, W., and DeFoe, J. R.,1981. Op. cit.. Of television.New England Journal of Medicine, Fertiandez-Coll-tdo, C., Graef, D., , (20)Greenberg, B. S., 1972,286, 518-520. Korzenny, F., and Adkin, C.K., 1980. Op.cit. (3)Greenberg, B.S. Health issues on commercialtelevisior! N., jn press. the In- (21) r. -er,G, M6rgan, M., aill Signorielli, series.Paper presented at 'the conference of : 1980. cit. stitute of Medicine, Washington, D.C., R., 1981. Op. cit. Signorielli, N. Progran- (22 ) BrcrA. W., and DeFoe, J. (4) Gerbner, 0, Morgan, M., and Breed, W., and DeFoe, j. R.,1981. Op. cit. ing.health portrayals: What viewers see, say,and do. (23) (24) Gerbner, G., Morgan, M.,and Signorielli, N., in press, In Pearl, D., Bouthilet, L., and Lazar,J. (Eds.), Television and behavior: Ten year: ofscientific prög- Op.cit. (25) Futch, E., Geller, M. J.,and Lisman, S. A., 1980.Op. gress and implications forMe eighties.Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, in press. cit. Cassata, M. R, Skill, T. D., andBoadu, 5. 0. In sick- Gerbnei, G., Morgan, M., and Signorielli, N., in press. (26) 1979 (5) ness and in health.Journal of Communication, Op. cit: Signorielli, N., in press. 29(4),73-80. (6) Gerbner, G., Morgan, M., and (27) 'Downing, M. The worldof daytime' television serial Op. pit. doctoral dissertation, University The television prime- drama. Unpublished (7)White, M. A., and SandbergB. .- diet. Paper presented at the meeting of the of Pennsylvania, 1975, time Perloff, M. G. Television: Soapbubbles.New Republic, American Psychological Association, Montreal, 1980. May 10,1975,27-30. Breed, W., and DeFoe, J. R. The portrayal ofthe drinkt What's been going ..(28)Katzman; N. Teldfision soap operas: ing process on prime-time television.Journal of Com- 1972, 36, . onanyway? Public Opinion Qttarterly, munication,1981,31(1), 58-67. Journal of Commu- 200-212. (fl)Kaufman, L. Prime-time- nutrition Gerbner, G., Morgan, M., andSignorielli, N., in press. 1980,30(3), 37-46. (29) nication, Op. cit. Testimony bef ore the Federal TradeCOM- (9)Choate, R. B. Warner, C. I.The world' of prime-time televisiondoi- mission in the matter of a trade regulation rule on of Penn- .- tors.Unpublished master's thesis, University Washington: Council on food nutrition advertising. sylvania, 1979. Journal of Commu- Children, Media and Merchandising, 1976. (30)McLaughlin, J. The doctor shows. ( /0) Barcus, F. E.Saturday children's television: A report nicationa,1975,25(3), 182-184. on TV programing and advertising onBoston com- (31)Atkin, C., and Gibson, W.rhildrenes nutrition learning mercial television.Newtonville, Mass.:Action for from television advertising.Unpublished' manuscript, Children's Television, 1571. Michigan State University, 1978. U.S; Senate, Select Committee on Nutrition andHu- (32)Atkin, C.Effects of television advertising onchildren (11) to tele- manNeeds. Dietary coals for the United States. Survey of children's and mother's responses Michigan State Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1977. vision commercials, Technical ceport,i Gerbner, G., Morgan, M., and Signorielli, N., in press. University, 1975. (12) McLellarn, Op,cit. (33)Fox, D., Jeffrey, D. B., Dahlkoetter, J., How television commercials (13)Kaufman, L., 1980. Op. cit. R. W., and Hickey, J. S. behavior.Paper (14)Gerbner, G., Morgan M., and Signorielli, 'N., in press. aff ect children's attitudes and eating Psycholog- Op. cit. presented at the meeting of the Amcrican (15)greenberg, B. S., Fernandez-Collado, C., Graef, D., ical Association, Montreal, 1980. Korzenny, F., and Adkin, C. K. Trends in the use (34)Corn, G. J-., and Goldberg, M. E.TV's influence on of alcohol and other substances on television, In children: The long and the short of it. Raper pre- Psychological B. S. Greenberg (Ed.),Life on television.Norwood, sented at the meeting of the American N.J.: Ablex Press, 1980. Association, Montreal, 1980. A. Television's fruitless image: A cultiva- (16)Dillon, J. TV drinking: Ho'sv networks pour liquor into (35) Leaman, F. your living room.Christian Science Monitor, June tion analysis of children's nutritional knowledge and Unpublished mastir's thesis, Annenberg 30,1975. behavior.

17 School of Communications, University of Pennsyl- Puska, P., and Neittaanmaki, L. Health professionalsas vania, 1973. educators--Experiences from the North Karelia proj- (36) General Mills, Inc. The General Mills Ame,ican family ect .In L. M. Ramstram (Ed.), The smoking epi- report 1978-79: Family health in an era"of stress. demic, A matter of worldwide concern. Stockholm: Minneapolis: GeneraNills,.19`79. Almquisf and Wiksell'Intornational, 1980. (37) Miller, T. V., Morrison, A. J., and Kline, F. G. Ap- O'Keefe, M. The anti-smoking cimmercials:sA study of Proaches to .characterizing information environments. television's impact on behavior, Public Opinion Quar- 'Paper 'presented at the meeting of the International terly, 1971, 35, 242-248. Communication Association, New Orleans, 1974. Robertson; L. S., Kelley, A.7.1., O'Neill, 13 Wixom, (38) Kline, F. G., Miller, P. V., and Morrison, A. J. Adoles- C. W., Eiswirth, R. S and Hadden, W Jr. Acon- cents and family planning information: An ex- trolled study of the effect of televisionmessages on ploration of audience needs, and media effects. In safety belt uire. American Journal of Public Health,

J. Blumler and E. Katz (Eds.), The uses of mass 1974, 64, 1071-1080. . communications. Betrerly Halt: Sage, 1974. - si National Highway Traffic SafeiY Administration. Re- (39) Gerbner, G., Morgan, M., and Signorielli, N., in press. . view of programs designed to encourageust bf safety Op. di: belts. U.S. Department of Transportation, Washing- (40) Arenstein, H. L. The effect of television on children's ton, D.C. (undated) , stereotypingofoccupationalroles.Unpublished Evans, R. I., Rozelle, R. M., Lasater, T. M., Dembro- master's thesis, Annenberg School of Communica- ski, T.M. and Allen, B. P. Fear arousal, persuasion, tions, University of Pennsylvania, 1974. and actual versus implied behavorial change: New McLaughlin, J. Characteristics and symbolic functions perspective utilizing a real-life denta' higkene pro- fictional televised medical Professional and their gram Journal _of Personality and Social Psychdlogy, elect on childrin. Unpublished master's thesis, An- 1970, 16, 220-227. . , nenberg School of Communications, University of Lemnitzer, N. B.et al. Observational learning and chil- Pennsylvania, 1975. dren's food- advertising: Do they affect eating be- (41) Gerbner, G."; Morgan, M., and Signorielli, N., in press. havior? Paper presented at the meeting of the Asso- Op. cit. ciation 4or the Advancement of Behavior Therapy, Volgy,. T. J., and Schwartz, J. E. r(,7 entertainment San Francisco, 1979. prograth-ing and sociopolitical attitudes. Jouinalism Robert, D. F Bachen, C. M., Christiansen, P., and Quarterly, 1980, 57, 150-155. Gibson, W. Children's responses to consumer infor- (42) Gerbner, G., Morgan, M., and Signorielli, N., in.press. mation and nutrition. Information Television Spots. ,Op. cit. Paper presented at the meeting of the American Psy- (43) Solomon, D. S. Health campaigns. In D. Pearl, L. Bou- chological Association, New York, 1979. thilet, and J. Lazar (Eds.), Television and behavior: Stern, M. P., Farquahar, J. W., Maccoby, N., and Rus- Ten years of scientific progress and implications for sell,S. H. Results of a two-year health education the eighties. Washington: U.S.- Government Printing campaign on dietary behavior: The Stanford Three Office, in press. Community Study. Circulation, 1976. 54, 826-833. (44.) Schanie, C. F., and Sindel, M. A community mental Kegeles, S. S. A field experimental attempt to change health innovation in mass media ,preventative edu- beliefs 'and behavior of women in an urban ghetto. cation :The .althrnatives project. American Journal Journal ol Health and Social Behavior, 1969, 10, 115-124. . of Community Psychology, 1978, 6,-573-581. ,Hanntman, G. J. McEwen, W. T., and Cayne, S. A. Butler-PaisleY, M. Public communication programs for Public .se,FiA advertising on television. Journal of cancer control. Unpublished report.Institute for Communirsation Research, Stanford University, 1975. Broadcasting, 1973, 17, 387-405. c, Feingold, . P. C:, and Knapp, M. 14 Anti-drug abuse Rosenblatt,- D.., and Kabasakalian, L. Evaluation of venereal diseaie information campaign, for adoles- cominercials.Journal ofCommunication,1977, cents.-American.Jimrnal of Public Health, 1966, 56, 27(1), 20-28. 1104-4 113. Atkin, C. K. Research evidence on mass-mediated-health Blane, H. T. EdUcation and prevention of alcoholism. communicatio'n campaigns.. Communication Year- Kissin and H. Begleiter (Eds.), Social aspects book 3. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Press, of atcoholism, New Ydrk: -Plenum, 1976. 1979. Hochheimer, 7:Reducing alcohol abuse: A critical're- Hanneman, G. J. Communicating drag-abuse informa- view of educational strategies. Report presented 'to tion among college ,students. Public Opinion Quar- the January meeting of the Panel on Alternative terly, 1973,7, 171-491. Policies Affecting the Prevention of Alcohol Abuse Milavsky, J., Pekbwsky, B., and Stipp, H. TV drug., and Alcoholism, National Research Counal, Wash- agertising and proprietary ant illicitdrug use among ington; D.C., 1980.- teenage boys. Palle Opinion Quarterly,.1975, 39, (45) Mielke, K. W., and Swinehart, J. W. Evaluation of 457-4.81. , the Feeling Goods television series. New York: Chil- McAlister, A., Pilska, P., Koskela, K., Pallonen, U., and dren's Televiiion Workshop, 1976. Macoby, N. Mass communication and cOmmirity or- (46) Puska, P., Tvgmilehto, J., Salonen, J., Neittaanmaki, L., ganization for public health education. American Maki, J.,' Virtumo, J., Nissinen, A., Koskela, K., and Psychologist, 1980, 35, 375-379. , Takalo, T. Changes in coronary risk factors during

18 J. Lazar' (Ed?.), Television and behavior: Ten years a comprehensive five-yearcommunity program to control cardiovascular diseases (North KareliaProj- of scientific progress and implications for the eighties. ect). British Medical Journal, 1979, 2,1173-1178. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, in Alexander, press. (47) Farquhar, J. W., Maccoby, N., Wood, P., audi- J., Brietrose, H., Brown, B., Haske//, W., McA/ister, (58) Frankel, H. M. Hospitalized children.' A caplive A., MeYer, 'A., Nash, J., and Stern, P.Community ence. Presented at aPanel discussion, "Television and education for cardiovascular health. The Lancet, Children: Potentials for Positive Programing," co- 1977, June 4, 1192-1195. sponsored by the American Medical Association Task Force on Television and thsAPA Auxiliary at the (4.8)Health promotion and the media. Conference summary. Institute of Medicine. Washington; National Acad- AMA National Convention, San Francisco, 1977. (59) Bandura, A., and Menlove, F. L. -Factors detemining . emy Press,1981. (49) Feshbach, S., and Singer R. D. Television and aggres- vicarious extinction of avoidance behavior through sion: An experimental field study. San Francisco: symbolic modeling. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1968, 8, 99-108. Jossey-Bass, 1971. `. (60) Bandura, A., Blanchard, E. B., and Ritter, B. The re/a- Parke, R.b.,Berkowitz, L., Leyens, J. P., West, S., and Sebastian,R. J. Some 'effects of violent and non- , tive efficacy ofdesensitization and modeling ap- violent movies on the behavior ofjuveniledelinquents. proaches for inducing behavioral, affective, and atti- In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances inexperimental tudinal changes. JoUrnal of Personality an? Social social psychology (Vol. 10). New York: Academic Psyc'tolOgy, 1969, 13 ,173-199, Press, 1977. (61) Mciamod; B. G., and Siegel, L. J. Reduction of anxiety Wells, W. D. Television and aggression:kePlication of in children facing hospitalization and surgery by use of filmed modeling. lourrtal of Consulting and Clin- ;an experimental fieldstudy. Unpublished manuscript, Graduate School of Business, University of ical Psychology, 1975, 43, 511-521. shaping, Chicago, 1973. e (62) O'Conner, R. D. Relative efficacy of modeling; (50) Menzies, E. S. Preferences in tefevisign content among and the combinectprocedures for modification of so- violent prisoners. Tallahassee, Florida: Federal Cor- cial withdrawal. Journal. of Abnormal Psychology, rectional Institution, 1971. 1972, 79, 327-334. (51) Rubinstein, ES A.., Fracchia, J. F., Kochnower, J.M., Jaffe, P. G., and Carlson, P. M. Modeling therapy for and Spraftin, J. N. Television viewing behaviors of test anxiety: The role of model effert and conse- mental Patients: A survey of psychiatric centers in quences. Behavior Research and TheraPy, 1972,10, New York State. New York: Brookdalc International 229-329. oftestanxiety Institute,'1977. Mann, J.Vicarious desensitization (52) Kochnower, J. M., Fracchia, J. F., Rubinstein,E. A., through observation of videotaped treatment. Journal and Sprafkin, J. N. Television viewing behaviors of of Counseling Psychology, 1972, 19,1-7. emotionally disturbed children: An interview study. Shaw, D. W., and Thoresen, C. E. Effects of modeling New York: Brookdale International Institute,1978. and desensitization in reducing dental phobia. jour- (53) Wadeson, H., and Carpenter, W. Y..Televisionin the nal of Counseling Psychology, 1974, 21, 415-420. hospital: Programing patients' delusions. American Wincze, J. P., and Caird, W. K. The effects of systematic Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 1976, 46, 434-438. desensitilation and video desensitization in the treat- (54) Davis, R. H., Edwards, A. E.; Bartel, D.J., and Mar- inent of essential sexual dysfunctiOn in women. Be- tin, D. Assessing television, viewine behavior of older havior Therapy, 1976, 7, 335-342. adults. Journal of Broadcasting, 1976, 20,.69-76. (63) Rubinstein, E. A., and Sprafkin, J. N. Television and Mar- (55) Davis, R. H., Edwards, A. E., Bartel, D. J., and persons in institutions. In D. Pearl, L.Bouthilet, and tin, D., 1976. Op cit J. Lazar (Eds.), Television .and behavior: Ten years (58) Rubinstein, E. A., Fracchia, J. F., Kochnower; J. M., of scientific progress 'and implications for the eighties. and Sprafkin,. J. N., 1977. Op. cit. Washington: "U.S. Government Printing Office, in (57) Rubinstein, E. A., and Sprafkin, J. N.Television and persons-in institutions. In D. Pearl, L. Bouthilet, And press.

1 9 Chapter III Cognitive and Emotional Functioning

A major advance in the research approaches to tele.%. them. These plans or images not only are specific to vision in the 1970s was the recognition that the situations but also involve strategies of search and selec- medium must be understood in relation to cognitive tion related to the kind of information or the kind of and emot;onal functioning of the viewers. Psychologists emotional setting anticipated. and other behavioral scientists are beginning to address ,Here a close tie between information processing and these issues. Of significance here is a change in psychol- emotional development is apparent. When the stra- ogy since the 1960s when the stimulus-response models tegies for processing information and the specific antic- of learning began to give way to, a broader gauged ipations work out well, people generally experience cognitive orientation. positive emotionsjoy, a smiling, response, and a gen- Psychologists now think human beings play an active eral sense of well-being. If, however, the anticipatory and selective role in how they approach each new en- images and plans are inadequate, people may experi- wironment. There is greater emphasis on the fact that ence negative emotions. individuals bring to the environment preestablished Reflective thought is another characteristic of cogni- schema or "preparatory plane based on previous expe- tive processes. There probably are few "blank" periods rience as well as fantasized anticipations about what in ongoing thought. Reflection and even daydreams may be expected in a situation. These schema are built may play an important role in how pebple organize and up by many previous interactions -with the enyiron:set up new plans and anticipations for future behavior. ment. Some of the schema are more complex, inte- To what extent does the sheer proliferation of informa- grated and organized, and differentiated than others. tion on television interfere with this reflective thought? The schema stored and organized in the brain are, The rapid form of presentation characterizing Amer- in ,part, dependent on the developmental stage of an ican television in 1.(rhich novelty piles upon novelty in individual's life. Children have been exposed to far short sequences may well be counterproductive for or- less information than adults. They also lack certain ganized and effective learning l'equences. The young kinds of organizing and interpretive skills. When they child who has not yet developed strategies for tuning are very young, children take longer to grasp some out iriplevancies may be especially vulnerable in this kinds of concepts. Indeed, there are ideas that they respect; even programs that seek to be informative as cannot make sense of at all Wore they have reached, well as entertaining may miss the mark because they a certain age. Research on television viewing and on allow too little time for reflection. reading makes Clear that children not only have limita- The question of pacing and of structural properties tions in vocabulary that impede learning the sicills of the medium go heyond cognitive processing. Inves- and materials that are presented, but also lack the in- tigators have become increasingly aware of the close tegrative capacity to put together some.kinds of infor- tie between cognition and emotion. Extremely rapid- mation into meaningful groupings that are obvious to paced material, presenting novelty _along with high.- older children and adults. levels of sound and fast movement, may generate stir: Another contribution of _cognitive psychology. is the prise and confusionin a viewer whose anticipatory recognition that each person brings to a new situation strategies nr Weil-established schema are pot yet pre- a complex set of plans, private images, and anticipa-,,-paied for coping with this material. F6reigners, for tions. This is one of the ways in which peopie-minage example, who are accustomed to a much slower pace to avoid being bombarded and.overWlelrned by the of television say that they, are almost, physically pained tremendous range of_stimiittion in the world around when they first watch American commercial television.

20 29 1 These concepts from psychological andbehavioral the sound was on bt Lwere not looking at the set. science theory have been applied and testedin much It has been shown tat children remember what is said recent research on television. Inthis way, the research on the children's program Mister Rogers, even when has not. only provided new informationabout televi- they are not looking at it. Another way to measure sion's effects, but it also has added to basicknowledge auditory attention is to observe what children are talk- about human behavior. This broad field oftelevision ing about whentdieset is on. If they are not talking and its relations to cognitive andemotional function- about things related to the show, they are probably not ing- ncompass many diverse topics:cognitive process- listening, and even if they are lookirig at the set, they ing, effts the forms and codes of television tech- are probably just "monitoring" what is going on and nology, physiologi al-At..ousal in television viewing,and not actively processing the information. If their at- emotional development and-functioning. Whatfollows tention is pulled toward the set when here are certain sounds, it can beeassumed that the children have been is a brief summary of these research-endeavors. listening.(2) One principle used to explain attention to television Cognitive Processing is called "attentional inertia." This states that "the longer people-look at the television screen, the greater' Research on cognitive processing hasexamined the piobability that they will continue to look." At- how an audience perceives, remembers, and compre- tentional inertia appears in children as young as a year hends what is seen and heard on television.Because old as well as in older children and .adults. Not looking this kind of research is relatively recent,there have at television is ako related to inertia; the longer the been only about 75 articles and bookspublished on it little girl directs her attention elsewhere, the less likely she is to turn her attention to the screen. Inei.C1, since1970, and they deal almost exclusivelywith children. of course, does not override either the viewer's personal characteristics or the features of the program that recruit and hold at tent ion. (3). Paying Attention to Television Duration of looking at the television set is directly related to age. Six-month-old infants gaze at the set, A little girl sits in front of the television setlooking but only sppradically. When children are a year old, at it intently. The question is"why?" What is attract- they watch about 12 percent of the time that the set is ing her attention? What features of the stimuli onthe on. Betveen ages 2 and 3 comesadramatic jump-in screen have so enfapturedher? And is there any- viewing, from 25 to 45 percent of the time. Parents thing about the little 5irl herself that explainsher confirm these laboratory findings by saying that, at behavior? about 21/2 years, their children begin to watch a great To trytofindtheanswer, investigators have deal of television. By age 4, children are watching about watched children unobtrsively, usually through a one- 55 percent of the tirrie, often even in a jilayroom with way mirror, when they ae inplayroom with 3 tele; toys, games, and other distractions. It is important to vision set on. The roomordinarily ,contains toys and note that these percentages are group averages and games that might distracthe chilaren. It has taken that net all children watch the same amount. The rea- considerable ingenuity tdevke techniques that ac- sons for the differences are notknown,' thiingh one curately measure and count the times a child islook- study did find that they were not related to intelligence ing at the screen andhat simultaneously keep a or personality, as measured by standard tests. (4) < _ record of what is on thscreen when the child" is Children also are attracted to television by specific looking. But it has been done, and the resultshave features of the programs, not by just what they see and been informative chartin s of children's attention to hear in general: They more often look, and continue to television as a function o the attributes of television look, at such features as women characters, activity or presentation, age, and in ividua(differences. (1) movement, and cainera cuts, and not to look when Not much is known ab ut the auditory effects that there are extended zooms and pans, animals, and still picture& Auditory cues turn out to be more important attratt and hold attentio ,mainly because auditory attention is difficult to Measure. 'xperimenters can than expected; women's and children's voices, auditory reliably and unobtrusively ecord when a child is look- changes, peculiar yokes, solltnd effects, laughing, and ing at the television set, b tit is d 10fficult to measure applause all attract and hold attention, but male voices whether or not a child is1 stening.ne Ay is to test do not. The associttion of visual features with certain children on what they lea ned andnderstood when auditory features seems to be a' powerful force in at-

21 30 tracting attention. Young children apparently tiuickly applies both to central, essential cbntent and to periph- learn which sounds ,are related to which sights, so that eral, incidental, and nonessential content. Second and what may seem to be peripheral background sound third graders recall only about 65 percent of the con- actually may be an attention-gettet; "chase" music tent essential to a narrative, but by the eighth grade means a "chase" scene, and chase scenes are exciting children typically recall over 90 percent. Even in pro- and worth looking at. (5) grams designed for children,, such as Sesame Street, The apparent reliance of children on the association retention by preschool and kindergarten children is between sight and sound indiclates that children are rather low. (8) selecting what they look at in terms of the "compre- the reasons for poor retention byyounger children hensibility of the content." On the basis of what they .are complex. It may stem from poor selection and en- have learned by watching television, they know that'coding of the relevant material; perhaps very young certain sights and sounds accompany certain striking, children see television as an am8rphous mass and do interesting, and informative actions. This idea has been not yet know how to pick out the significant parts and testedin a clever experiment. (6) The researchers figuratively "make a note" of them to remember. Poor mixed up the sound and visual tracks of a Sesame retention of the content cannot be accounted for by Street program. On one presentation the content was either forgetting or by interference by other material. normal; on another presentation the visual content was When programs -were interrupted and children asked scrambled but not the auditory; on another the visual about what they had just viewed, they remembered no track was normal, but the auditory track was played Jbetter than when they'were asked some time later. (9) backward; and in yet another, Greek was substituted Another explanation for increase in retention with for English. When the auditory track was changed, age is that, as children grow older, there is a develop- children attended much less to the screen than when,ment shift from interest in the highly salient percep-* the visual track was-changed or when the program was tual features of television to the more meaningful normal. The conclusion was that even young children- content. This shift has been related to general cogni- are not captured only by perceptually salient cues when tive development and to the children's growing ex- content js incomprehensible. They are psychologically perience with television. (10) active and selective, shifting their attention according "Segmentation skills" also may be important. Chil- to the sense and meaning of what they see and hear. ( 7) dren seem to develop the ability to "chunk". the information in television content. While some segmentation is imposed by changes in lettings or by camera Comprehension tricks, the viewer also must segment the television's stream of events into discrete units. There is not much After the television set has the child's attention, what research on segmentation, though one study did find happens? Do children understand what is going on? that older yhildren "chunked" programs into larger Several studies have investigated comprehensionthe units encompassing several scenes, while young chil- encoding, retention, and retrieval of informationin' dren divided the program into smaller pieces, often a wide variety of shows. Differences in comprehension less than a single scene.(11) Young children re- 'are particularly pertinent to dramatic progams when member discrete scenes and events better than the rela- at least three cognitive tasks must be brought to bear: tions between the scenes. Flexibility in chunking seems selective attention to the events, orderly organization to be a characteristic of mature perception. Older chil- of events, and inferences about information given im- dren and adults probably divide programs into smaller plicitly. The findings of the past decade confirm that segments for the fine details and into larger segments there is substantial variation in comprehension, de- for the overall program. pending on age, general experience, and knowledge of To comprehend television it is necessary to go be- the television meditun. yond the information given, to make inferences about Studies of retention show that children do not re- what, is only implied by the events. If a plot is to be member.much of what they see and hear on television. coherently perceived, "temporal integration"isre- Even 8-year-olds retain only a small proportion of the quired. An extensive series of studies examined age actions, events, arid settingi of a program. But memory differences in making inferences. (12) First, content improves with age. _As children grow older, they re- analyses were done, noting the program's structure and member more of all types of programschildren's interrelationships as well as the explicit and implicit programs, general audience and dramatic shows, pub- content. Tests of recognition memory were used to lic affairs "spots," and commercials. This improvement measure the children's inferences and their knowledge

22 of explicit actions from which inferences had to be Research in cognitive psychology has examined story drawn. It was found that spontaneous inference mak- formshow stories and narratives are constructed and ing improves with age but that the proportion of cor- understood. In this research on prose stories it has been rect "inference answers" was lower at all ages than shown that young children do not seem to understand the "explicit event. answers." The older children made the structure, or remember much about a story, prob- separate scenes coherent by inferring implicit relation- ably because they begin with an interpretation of the ships; this age difference seems to be partially explained characters' intentions and points oi view that is differ- by more experience with television but also by a quali- ent from an adult's interpretation. Research suggests tative developmental change in ability to do abstract that these findings may apply to television narrative as logical reasoning. well. (17) Knowing that children do not comprehend much of "World knowledge" and how it enters into compre- what is happening on some television program% inves- hension of television has not been studied much, but it tigators have tried to . find ways of improving their would appear that such knowledge is significant. An understanding. One study kund that telling kinder- obvious-example is knnwledge of the language. Other garten children what was happening by "labeling" the psychological research and theories explain the role of actions improved their retention (13) With third and fourth graders als well as kindergarteners, an adult's accumulated knowledge and its relation to perception describing the nature of the events and their relation- and comprehension in terms of "schemata" or "scripts' ships also resulted in better understanding.' (./ 4) But that a person uses to organize information. This line of another study found`that merely restating the plot was research and theory may be applicable to studies of not helpful; it was important to point out the implicit how people understand television content. (18) content and relationships. Telling children to "try hard Knowledge of the forms and convention of television to remember as much as possible" did not lead to is important for understanding it. Just as printed mate- improvement. (15) rial is arranged in sentences, paragraphs, a..1 chapters, Up to now the emphasis has been on what children so television narratives have their own conventional do not understand. It is also important to analyze what structures. Camera angles, music, visual techniques they do understand arid why. Recent research has fo- all carry in them a great deal of information about the cused on the relation of what children understand to story. A recent study compared children's understand- what they already know about the world around them. ing of a picture-book story with their understanding of When young children describe a television show, they a televised version. (19) Children who read the book typically put it in terms of their own knowledge. As remembered more of the story and also drew more on they get older, they begin to describe events peculiar their own experiences in making inferences, while the to the show that they may not be familiar with in their television viewers relied on the actual visual presenta- and own lives. An example is 'a study in which black tion. white children from both lower- and middle-class fami- These three factors.underscore once again the active lies were shown programs with either middle-class white nature of the viewing process. Although young children characters or with lower-class black characters. (16) are active and discriminating in their viewing, they still The white and black lnwer-class children in the second lack the necessary skills for "mature" viewing that grade understood the actions from the program with develop as they grow older. This fact is not always lower-class characters; and the middle-class children, recognized by those who decide what goes on the tele- black and white, better understood the middle-class vision screen or by others who are caretakers of today's characters. In the fifth and eighth grades, all children television-watching children. To put it in blunt terms, understood both programs equally well, apparently be- children do not see and hear and understand the saine cause by that time they had mok social knowledge. things on a television show that adults see, hear, and understand. Three Factors in Processing Content These findings have important implications for the ways in which children come to like or dislike tele- Three factors are necessary to understand television vision characters and often model their own behavior content: knowledge of story exposition forms, general after them. For example, When children understand knowledge about situations and events, also called the relations between aggressive actions on a program. "world knowledge," and knowledge of the forms and and the antisocial motives and consequences, they do conventions of television. not like the aggressive characters. (20) Comprehension

29 is, of course, only one factor in explaining television's them independentlY, and in research it is possible to effects. Nevertheless, children's and adult's under- focus experiments on one or the other. standing,of television programsplot, sequence of events, motives of the characters, consequences of ac- Representational Codes tionsmust be considered when studying the effects of television on behavior. The representational conventions of television are verbal and nonverbal. Because children start looking Forms and Codes of Television at television when they are very young, one might assume that television's codes are simple. Actually, television is a medium that viewers can process at The 1970s witnessed a revival of interest in the different levels of complexity. Young children prob- °forms and codes of tefevision technology and how they ably process television at a simpler level than older are related to television's effects on behavior. "Forms children. The codes range from literal audiovisual and codes" mean 'the technical characteristics of the depictions 'to complex abstract and arbitrary symbols. medium, a two-dimensional stimulus on a screen or Thus, the child's task is not an easy one. The change cathode-ray tube presenting a sjream of, visual and from an infant's sensory-motor awareness of alterna- auditory images, lifelike but still far rernoved from real tions in patterns of visual and verbal stimuli to the life.In studying television's forms and codes (also literate viewing skills of elementary school children sometimes called its conventions), investigators move involves a major qualitative advance, accompanied away from an emphasis on content and examine the by growth in perceptual and cognitive skills. technology of television as it relates to behavior. (21) The simplest representations are literal visual and ("Codes" in this context should be distinguished from auditory pictures of something in the real world, for the term "code as used to refer to the rules and guide- example, a car moving along a highway. To process lines developed by the industry to govern the accept- this information, children probably depend on the ability of programs and commercials.) same perceptual and cognitive skills they use in pro- The impetus for research on forms and codes can cessing information in the real world. But, even with be traced to three main concerns. One is related to seemingly simple television programs, there may be developmental theory and how television affects chil- unusual camera angles, lighting, or distances that are dren's mental processing and skills. Another stems from beyond the perceptual skills of the very young child. attempts to produce television programs attractive to At the next level are the forms and conventions that children, programs that they will understand and re- do not have real-world counterparts. Some of them are member. A third reason is some people's belief that analogs of real-world experiences or similar to them. television's effects may be, at least in part, the results For example, a "zoom in," in which the object in of television's forms, not only of its content. An exam- front of the camera seems to get larger and more ple is the effect of violence. Perhaps fast action, un- focused, is similarto moving closer to something in usual camera effects, and loud noises are just as re- real life. But some effects, for example slow motion, sponsible for later behavioral effects as violent content do not appear in the real world, and childrenand per se. Or perhaps the slow leisurely pace of some pro- others who are unfamiliar with televisionmust learn grams is more important than the content in fostering what they mean. prosocial behavior. Once they are learned, these media conventions can The form, not the content, of television is unique. be used by people in their own thinking. For example, Television is a visual medium in which a stream of children may learn to analyze a complex stimulus into constantly changing images are generated by? various its smaller parts by"watching the camera zoom in and techniquescamera cuts, paw, across scene, zooms in out. The forms can take on meaning, sometimes as a and out, and so on-Tthat are not found in ordinary result of associations seen on television. In commer- perception. Television is also a verbal medium, and, cials, Wys for boys are often advertised with fast music although the verbal and linguistic codes of television and loud noises, while girls' toys have "fades" and are not unique, the way television uses them to con- soft musk. Children may begin to think in terms of vey content is unique. these conventions. (22) One question often raised is whether form and con- The next level of complocity involves symbols not tent can really be distinguished. The answer is "of unique to the medium. They can be linguistic or non- course not," any more than grammar and meaning in linguistic (a red stoplight is an example of a nonverbal language can. Nevertheless, it is useful to define linguistic symbol). Language can, of course, encode

24 forms at both the first and second levels, aswhen observation is the opposite of the usual assumption dialog is used to describe what is happening, for ex- about What children see and hear on television. ample, someone saying, "the car is moving downthe .the highway," or when a "fade" is accompanied by Linguistic Codes words, "Once upon a time long, long ago * * *" This helps children to understand the message and to Studies of linguistic codes are important his. two. learn the codes. (23) , reasons.Knowing about these codes and how they To understand these production conventions or interrxt with other communication is vital to under- codes of television, it is useful to construct taxonomies standing how children process televised information. how they are or classifications and then to describe Analysis of the codes also .may show how they are used in television productions. One attempt at classi- adjusted to different levels of children's linguistic com- basedon information ficationwas ananalysis petenCe ,and therefore how they may be important in theory. (24) "Entropy" or "form complexity" was de- language acquisition. fined operationally by the number of different scenes A study analyzed 25 categories of linguistic coding in a show, number of characters, number of times the in six programs: Three were cartoons with varying "unpredict- scene and characters appeared, and the levels of dialog; Fat AlbeK with a high level of dialog, ability" with which each. might next appear. The in- Bugs Bunny with a. low level, and Road Runner with vestigators coded adult programs and demonstrated no dialog. The fourth program was a situation coinedy; that their *formal features clustered into two major and the other two programs were educational programs factors: "dynamism," the rate of change in scenes and differing in format and age of target audience, Mister characters, and "unfamiliarity," the number of dif- Rogers' Neighborhood for preschool children and The ferent scenes and characters. The investigators found Electric Company for elementary school children. (27) that form complexity was related to vioient programs. The linguistic descriptors were communication flow, Another group analyzed the formal features of language structure, and meaning or content. Mister children's programs to ascertain which features oc- Rogers' Neighborhood had a moderate amount of dia- curred together, which features appeared in animated log, did .00t use novel words, used literal words, had and in live programs, and how the features differed as some use of stressed single words, and had amoderate a function of audience or production goals.(25) They amount of focusing on certain words or phrases. The found that action (physical activity of characters), Electric Cbmpany used the most dialog of the six shows variability of scenes (number ordifferent scenes), and and also'focused on selected words and phrases, stressed tempo (rate of scene and character change) were single words, and used novel words and nonliteral grouped with visual special effects, rapid cuts, loud meanings. Both of these programs had techniques that music, and sound effects. This cluster of features was help children to understand language. The Electric labeled "perceptually salient." Commercial programs Company, for older children, probably kept the chil- are filled with . perceptually salient forms which may dren's interest by being more complex. The shows with have important implications for the developing child. little or no dialog had fast action, many special effects, Television features are different at different times. and music--all features that attract and holdattention Saturday morning cartoons are high in action, varia- of young children. This analysis demonstrates that the bility, and tempo. Weekday educational shoWs have linguistic as well as the production codes are adjusted than the some of these features, but they are lower to draw attention to and clarify the language itself.The Saturday morning shows; they also make use of dialog, situation comedy, on the contrary, did not seem tobe particularly between children, and provide opportun- planned for the linguistic skills of an audience of ities for reflection. Level of action in educational pro- children. grams is mostly moderate, a level that may beespecially suitablefor communicating infoimation to young children. Influence of Television Forms on The findinks can also be looked at in terms of "media Attention literacy." (26) The Saturday morning cartoons with their high levels of actioh may be teaching' children Children's responses to television are influenced not more about the forms of televisioli than about content. only by the program's 'content but also by howthe The children may be paying more attention to howthe' information is "packaged." Several studies found that message is. conveyed than to what is ,conveyed.This television forms are important in attracting and hold- \ ing visual attention. (28) Contrary to what ,might be not familiar with television. The theorY is base&on expected, conventional "visual "effects," such as cuts, research findings in child development, indicating that, zooms, and pans, do not do much to attract attention, as children get older, they move from "exploration" although special visual techniques do have some influ- to "search" in obtaining information. (32) In the "ex- ence. Lots, of action and physical activity draw and ploration" stage, children,respond to the most salient maintain attention. Changes in scene,characters, features of their environments, and they respond in themes, and sounds are very effective in getting atten- short, discOntinuous, and impulsive bursts to whatever tion but not in keeping it, once the child is looking. is perceptually dominant at any time. Applied to tele- Sound is particularly importantlively music, non- vision viewing, the hypothesis is that, for the youngest speech vocalizations, sound effects, children's vhices, and least experienced viewers, television viewing con- peculiar voices, and frequent change of speakers. sists of absorbing the perceptually salient parts of a Young children lose attention when there are long program as entertainment' in its own right. The very complex speeches, long zooms, men's voices, and real young child is essentially a passive consumer of audio- in contrast to cartoonanimal sounds. The finding visual thr,ills. that sound is important in visual, attention is a clue to "Exploration" is succeeded by "search" in which the showing how complicated the whole matter of paying child is seeking effects, is active not passive, and is attention really is. The hypothesis that the high /evel of action on vio- tryingto obtaininformationfromperceived lent programs is attracting children's attention was ex- events.(33)This progression from explorationto perimentally tested.- (29) The slimly used three differ- search is believed to be partially a function of growth ent kinds of programs: ode high in both violence and and maturation, but it also is related to experience with action, one high in action and low in violence, and one television. Older .children, thereforeespecially those low in both action and violence. (A program.high in who have grown up with televisionare more inter- violence and low in action could not be found.) Results ested in the content of Programs and use the forms showed that preschoolers' attention was a function of more as "syntactic markers" or cues to help them the action, not the violence; the children paid as much organize and integrate the information in the pro- attention to the show with high action without violence grams. Another investigator has proposed that the as when it was accompanied by violence and paid less emotional component of perceptual salience is impor- attention to the show with low action. tant in marshaling children's attention.(34) Form and content have- also been studied in rela- A different line of researsh suggests that attention is tion to the popularity ratings of the shows. (30) The linked to the comprehensibility of the programs and Saturday morning programs with highest ratings for that the formal features, like animation or children's preschool children had both high action and violent voices, are signals to the children that the program is content. But a statistical analysis demonstrated that designed for them. (35) From their experience with the violent content and action were independent, and television, children learn' to interpret these signals. An both led to popularity. For children age 6 to. 11, the experiment supports this notion. (36) Of a group of variability and tempo of the programs led to the high- children looking at Sesame Street, some were in a play- est popularity ratings. In .a, similar analysis of adult room with many toys and other distractions, while the adventure programs oh prime time, the various char- others were in a room with few or no distractions. acteristics of the show revealed that violence was not Children in the room without distractions spent more significant to the ratings. (.f/ ) - time watching television but their comprehension was The research described up to now has shown which no better. Of those children in ,the room with many formal features influence children's attention to tele- distractions, those who attended more comprehended vision. But psychologists and other investigators want more. The interpretation was that comprehension to go farther by asking how these features exert in other words, understanding what was going on their influence. First, the "perceptual salience" of a guided attention rather than the other way around. stimulus is a determinant of attention. Characteristics Although this research shows that young children of, salience are the simulus' intensity, movement,, con- are 'actively processing the content of television, it does trast, change, novelty, unexpectedness, and incon- not establish the formal features as unimportant. For gruity. Investigators in this field' have hypothesized one thing, in most of these studies the perceptual that perceptual salience is important in determining salience was high ; it could be asked whether attention the attention of children as well as of adults who are would be held if the salience were low.

26 Influence of Television Forms imitation:A lesser amount of talking took place during the show with the greatest amount Of dialog, but here on Comprehension the children often talked about topics not relevant to comprehensionin the show. Television'scodesinfluence Verbal language can _be used to mediate or direct several ways. They must be interpreted, whether they attention, comprehension, and recall. Several experi- are specific or unique to television or aregeneral ments have shown that comprehension and memory codes, such as language. These codes also interact with content in ways that may enhance orobstruct 'ire increased if a person on television or a person watching with the children "labels" or describes what ' understanding. is happening.(40) The representational codes of television package the . information in such a way that it must be interpreted. Most television shows tell a story with some material The relation between television's form and a person's relevant to the plot and some irrelevant. Experiments mental processes can be quite specifie Indeed, some on understanding stories have found that third grade of are forms may represent certain mental skills or children do not understand much of the plot, fifth operations. (37) Zooming in and out literally illus- graders do better, and eighth graders do almost as yell trates how parts are- related to the whole.Or camera as adults.(41)Young children remember more irrele- cuts that jump from one view of an object toanother vant material, have difficulty integrating events sepa- are similar to the mental operationof taking various rated in time, and are unskilled at inferring implicit perspectives or points of view. There seem to be two relationships. These changes with age may depend on cognitive development, but they may also depend on ways and two levels ofdifficulty in which production codes can relate to mental processes. One supplants television's forms. Children usually understand mate- the skill; the camera performs the operationfor the rial presented visually better than ..they understand viewer as when, with a zoom-in, a complicated scene verbal presentations without' visual cues. Programs is isolated into smaller parts. The other way is forthe high in perceptual salience may lead to better comprehension because children attend to them more closely. television codes to "call upon" the viewer's own skills, as in a cut to a close-up, wherethe viewer probably An experiment has confirmed these statements.(42) knows how to relate parts to wholes. A television story was analyzed into four elements: Research indicates that understanding and useof central or peripheral content and low or high percep- media codes increase with age.(38)Television's codes tual salience. The children remembered the central also may cultivate the mental skills towhich they re- content better when it appeared with highly salient late. Experienced television viewers begin tothink in forms. Kindergarten children, moreover, benefited terms of zooms and cuts, for example. more than third and fourth graders. How the language codes of television affect com- Separating the effects of form and content is no easy prehensibility has not been studied, but it can be research task, but the findings could be of great value assumed that both children and adults interpret these to both commercial and educational television. The codes in essentially t'oe same way they interpret lan- implications of this research on forms is that if, as guage in everyday life. One differencebetween linguis- seems likely, future generations of Americans will do tic codes and media-specifIc codes is that, theviewers much of their information processing via interactive can speak the language. electronic audiovisual displays and receive most of the A study examined sy'oat childret talk about in rela- entertainment and much of the education via televi- tion to the amount of dia'.ne e:1 a show.(39)Two sion, then the development of "media literacy" will groups of children, one in preschooland one in the become as important as the development of reading third grade, watched four different shows, one with and'one with skills. no dialog, two with moderate amounts, The`results of the studies on forms and codes have pairs and could play a large amount. They watched in led some to the view that the effects of violent and if they wished. The children made most comments prosocial programs are as explainable by their forms when they were watching the program with no dialog, and this happened more with the third graders than as they are by their contentthe rapid action and with the preschoolers. Wtih the no-dialog show, the noise associated With violence and the slow leisurely children gave more descriptions of actions and events, pace with prosocial programs. Learningthrough imita- more emotioaal comments such as"I like this," more tion of observed actions is a widely held explanation questions about content, and more comments about of the influence of program content. But the emotional the program's themes. Ther4 was almost no direct and physiological arousal engendered in the viewer

27 can also be invoked to explain television form or code enedwhile -those exposed to neutral, nonviolent effects. materials showed lowered arousal levels as well as reduced aggressiveness. (45) In another experiment, the materials presented to the subjects were a mono- Arousal tonous stimulus, nature film, comedy show, program with a nonaggressive sport, quiz show, ana programs Research on the arousal eflects of television is recent with highly aggressive actions.(46)The data leave and still relatively sparse, but a.s a result of new theories no doubt that the dissipation of arousal was propor- and concepts and of better techniques of measure- tional to the interventional capacity of the material, ments, it is beginning to accelerate. as long as it was not related to the annoyance..The Arousal has been measured in various ways, partly results also showed that thea violence-laden program, dependent on the theoretical stance of the investiga- though absorbing to the subjeCts who were not an- tors. Some investigators state that arousal originates noyed, did not reduce arousal but had the same effect in the reticular activating System in the brain. Others as the monotonous program. Additional findings indi- focus on the autonomic nervous system as the source cate, too, that greatly arousing content, for exaMple, 'of arousal and the emotions. Usually of course, there erotica, intense athletic contests, thrillers and horror is a high degree of correlation in the activity in the shows, and disturbing news reports will probably not reticular and the autonomic systems. A distinction has reduce arousal, even though they distract people from been drawn between "cortical arousal" and "auto- .their problems. But unusually pleasant content does nomic arousal" which is useful in considering the,. reduce arousal. (47) effects of television. Cortical arousal is involved in It might well be asked why people turn to television attention, perception, alertness, and vigilance, while for relaxation whewit has so many exciting and violent autonomic arousal is related to affect and the emotions. programs. The answer is found in some recent research Cortical arousal is usually*measured in terms of action showing that acutely aroused people seek shows, per- of brain waves, specifically the blocking of alpha haps iniuitively or perhaps on the basis of past experi- recorded on the encephalogram. Autotiomic arousal encethat do not perpetuate their arousal state.(48) is measured by blood pressure, heart rate, changes in For example, frustrated and insulted adults do not skin temperature, and skin conductance. choose to watch comedy with insulting and belittling jokes. Television as the Unwinder Television for Excitement Everyday lifeis stressful for many people. At the end of the day millions of people turn to television Television can be very arousing and foster intense as their major leisure activity. Is this done because emotional reacfions. Suspenseful drama, for example, television provides relief from stress and tension? From produces great excitementinboth children and neuropsychological research, it is known that a person adults.(49) Even comedy, which can be soothing, is who is tense, upset, and uptight is in a high state of highly wrousing if is creates true hilarity.(50) Sports arousal. Thinking, ruminating, worrying over the programs, of course, elevate level of arousal.(51) And arousal-causing events of the day can maintain this the one kind of content that consistently produces the high arousal. Disruption of the rumination by a dis- highest arousal in both men and women is explicit tracting stimulus such as television should reduce erotica.(52) The only kind of program that does not arousal and bring reli4.(43) seem to increase arousal is the nature film, which ac- One line of research emphasizes this "intervention tually lowers arousal.(53) Littleis known about arousal effects except in en- potential" of television, in other words, the capacity of tertainment programs. It can be assumed that many television to get a person involved, absorbed, and in- news broadcastswars, disasters, plane crashes, state terested in it and, in this way, reduce arousal.(44) of the economy, political controversydo result in But if the content of the program is similar to the arousal. One piece of research seeins relevant here, thought and ruminations of the viewer, it will not have namely, the findings that violent acts presumed to be a calming effect. This has been demonstrated in an fiction were less arous;ag than those that viewers experiment in which annoyed and upset adults, ex- thought were real. (54) posed to violent programs, showed no reduction in Who is most likely to be aroused by television? It level of arousalalthough arousal was not height- appears that viewers who are already relaxed or, who 3,28 Residual arousal does not necessarily lead to anti- are exhausted orbored will have the strongest'arousal television social behavior, such as hostile or aggressive acts.Anti- It is these people who probably find enhanced ost exciting, and who seek - outthe stimulating social acts must be motivated if they are to be (60)Proscscial behavior, if appropriately . by arousal. Fractions.ograms. motivated, is just as likely to occur as antisocialbe- A theory that seems to be useful inexplaining television's effects is the so-called two-factortheory of havior.(61) Residual arousal can also increase emotional reac- (55) Thistheory brings in cognitive process& emotion. tions to television while a program is in progress.In- to explain the "kind" ofemotion that people say they creased arousal intensifies enjoyment ofrock music, have experienced; people attributetheir excitatory re- for example. (62) And regardless of thesituation that action to the stimuli immediately presentin the envi- produces the arousal, appreciation of humoris in- ronment. The intensity oftheir emotion i's determined Dependent on their creased by residual arousal.(63)Comedians all like by the magnitude of the excitation. The same is true of dramatic cognitive appraisal of events on thetelevision screen, a warmed-up audience. high in suspenseful viewers will be annoyed, angry,furious, sad, appre- programs. If arousal becomes very dramas, the pleasure and enjoyment at theeventual liensiire, fearful, scared, terrified,satisfied, jubilarn, joyous, repulsed, disgusted, or amused, etc. resolution are augmented. These ideas have far-reaching implicationsfor television programs. Sex and violence are knowninducers Nonspecificity of Arousal and of arousal, and television producers andbroadcasters its -Consequences have claimed that, without them, televisioncould be- highly charged and excit- with the come dull and flat. Because Another notion related to arousal has to do ing drama attracts large audiences, violence and sex.. According to this theory, transfer of excitation.(56) will almost certainly continue to beshown on tele- people who are still aroused fromsomething that hap- of confronted with a vision. And, if there is a reduction in the amount pened previously, and who are then violence, there may be a greater resort to sex in pro- emotionally, will situation that causes them to respond gramingand vice versa: experience excitement more intensely thanthey would without the presence of residual arousalfrom the earlier arousing experiences. The emotionneed not be The Habituation Issue the same. Arousal left over from fear mayintensify 'anger, or arousal from sex may intensify fear, orarousal According to some observers, during the1970s, from sex mayintensify sadness, and so on.The person depictions of aggressive and sexual behaviorbecame is not, of course, aware of thisrasidual arousal. This increasingly "graphic," especially in featuremovies theory has been supported in severalexperirnents. (57) shown in theaters. It is almost as though theaudiences These transfer effects of arousal can also occurafter had become callous and, to give themexcitement, the exposure to television. Aggressivebehavior has been films had to be made more and mot* powerfulin their shown to be the result of, or at leastcorrelated with, arousal effects.Initially strong eAcitatory reactions violent scenes on television. These effectsconceivably grew weak or vanishedentirely with repeated exposure could be the result of the arousal or excitatoryfeatures to stimuli of a certain kind: This isknown as "liabitua- of the violent scenes, rather than theviolence as such. tion.". In an investigation of this possibility,adult males were The possibility of habituation to sex andviolence first provoked, and then, after seeing aneutral, ag- has significant social 'consequences. For one,it makes gress4re, or erotic film, they had an opportunity to re- pointless the search for stronger and stronger arousers. them. taliate against the person who had provoked But more important isits potential impact on real- (58) A pretest had shown that theneutral film was life behavior. If people become inured toviolence indeed neutral, the aggressive film wassomewhat from seeing much ,of it, they may be less likely to re- As arousing, and the erotic film was very arousing. spond to real violence by, for example,helping the vic- erotic predicted by the excitation-transfer theory, the tim. There is some evidence that violenttelevision filmthe one that was most arousingproducedthe violence. (64) and the neu- does lead to increased tolerance fiat most retaliation; the aggressive film next, tolerant these findings Children who saw. , a violent film were more , tral film least. Other research extended But, because situations, arousal effects of of aggression anibng their schoolmates. to females, mixed-sex if arousal humor, and residual arousal as a promotorof help- arousal was` not measured,_ it is not known was involved. In anotherstudy, boys age 5 14, some giying.(59)

(71 of whom were heavy viewers and some light viewep, sadness, and feirnd not the more "complicated" saw a violent movie. (65) The heavy viewers were emotions. (70) In these studies, the situational,non- less aroused, as shown by measures of automatic nerv- verbal, and verbal ciaes were coordinated ina single ous system activity, thus,indicating that they were message about the character's emotion. For example, desensitized. boy, given a toy, smiles and says he is happy. All signs Habituation to sexual stimuliis also possible, as point to "happiness." In real life and in dramatic situ- shown in experiments in which adult male subjects ations the signs or cues, however, may not becon- heavily exposed to erotica became less responsive gruent. There have been no studies of these kinds of both autonomically and sexually than the control situations and events, although they are foundon tele- subjects. (66) "Spontaneous recovery" did take place; vision. When adults meet incongruous situations, they after 8 weeks, responsiveness had increased again to usually give precedence to situational rather than be- the level before the experiment began. havioral cues. Research on this problem needsto be done with children. Some television programs tryto Cortical Arousal teach children to recognize their emotions and .the emotions of others; Mister Rogers' Neighborhood de- saribes children's feelingsand the situations when they Although cortical arousal has not been the sub- might arise and discusses what to do about them, ject of television research, the concept is important Inside/Out does the same at the elementary school in connection with recent opinions about educational level. Effects have not been evaluated, except in- television. Some investigators have taken issue with formally. the fast pace of much educational television, saying Empathy, defined as feeling the same emotion thatt e rapid-fire action stunts imagination and a character feels (or in real life the sime emotion creativthinking. (67) There is no time, they say, someone else feels), has noLbeen investigated in ,television for rearsalor reflection, both of which are important -for cnitivelaffective development. In contrast to research. One somewhat relevant study can be cited. these views, other recent investigations suggest that (71) When adolescent .boys with arrest records took the ft-paced programs foster better attention and part in a "little theater group" in which they played a thusay lead to superior information acquisition; the succession of roles in a lirama and later watcheda videotape of the performance, their re-arrest records fastace may have greater impact on cortical arousal and.gilance. (68) The need for research on this were less than those of a control group. One possible signi cant issue is obvious. explanation was that they gained information about the feelings of the characters they playedin other words, they learned about empathy. E otional Development -and The emotions most often aroused by televisionap- parently are interest-excitement, joy, surprise, digrress, Fu ctioning ani fear. Studies have shown that children indeed e.1 are aroused by films and television. (72) Youk chil- e study of emotional or affective development, dren are aroused by action and danger, but not by includingmood,temperament,motivation,and love and romance; older children respond. to love and traits, generally 'has been neglected during the past romance themes. Children have Ibeen asked homi they decade throughout the field of child and human de- feel about television program§. In one study, pre- velopment. (69) This neglect also characterizes re- schoolers said they were frightened by monsters who search on televsion insofar as emotion and affect are appeared to muppets at night. (73) In another study, ° concerned. What little work has been done can be they werefrightenedbyactionsinaWesterr? described briefly under the following topics: recogni- series. (74). tion of emotions, empathy, emotionalresponses, Looking at television may not only arouse immedi- emotional reactions to characters, personal states, and ate emotions, but continual viewing may lead to a television use. more generalized response. A recent study compared Ability to recognize emotions felt by others helps the effects of Mister Rogers,,Neighborhood, Sesame people to udderstand what Is goin'g on in social life and Street, and a "neutial" film on preschoolers' positive presumably alsoto understand television 'content. emotions.(75). Children who were rated low in 'Young children recognize only a few of the emotions imagination had. an increase in positive emotions sucth shown by television characters; in one investigation it as happiness, affection, etc., except after seeing the was found that they recognize only happiness, anger, neutralfilm.In another study,preschoolers who

30 a watched Mister Rogers'Neighlrorhood gave more television programs that satisfy their needs, and, pre- positive reinforcement defined as praise,approval, sumably, emotional states accompany these needs. The approach has been criticized on many grounds, but it s pathy, smiling, laughing, and so on.(76) Nega- tive emotions, such as fear, can alsobe aroused. is worth exploring. One method has been to give peo- In general, the evidence, althoughthere is not much, ple a list of possible needs that television in general, or is consistent And clear in showingthat television can specific programs; might fulfill for them. Several rele- and does arouse emotions. This arousalis found in all vant studies have been done with children and adoles- ages, ranging from 'young,unsophisticated children cents. (80) When children are asked why they look at to more sophisticated, evenjaded, teenagers, to high- television, their answers suggest that television pro- ly sophisticated adults. The emotionis evident during vides certain gratifications, such as learning, relaxation, , viewing,immediately after, and sometimes for along escape, social interaction, arousal, passing time and time after viewing. habit. Emotional attachments to televisioncharactits and Child's social relations also may be exiilortd through personalities are often observed. Children,and some the "uses and gratification approach." For example, adults, come to love certain characters andhate others. children with poorer social relations have been found Little research, however, has been done onthis topic. to watch more television; this has been interp r ted In one project, a German investigatorfound that Col- to mean that television may fulfill a need to assu lege students and 14- and 15-year-olds developed strong loneliness. (81) . affective reactions to television characters,and these While more study of television's role n emotional effects continued for some time. (77) And afew stud- development and functioning is needed, available find- characters ies have shown that children prefer some ings on recognition of emotions and on empathy have , they prefer the xharacters over others. (78) Usually implications for those concerned with childrenfs ugder- most like themselves in terms of age, sex,ethnicity, and ,. standing, of television. Children's limitedrecognition interests. taken television'ymotional inductions of emotions and feelings of empathy should be Finally, the study of television shows might piofit from the "uses and gratification op.. into account by those who produce proach" (79) which assumes , that viewerschoose and, who supervise children's viewing.

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Op. cit. velopment. San Francisco': Jossey-Bass, in press. Purdie, S. I,, Collins, W. A., and Westby, S., 198Q. Op. (27) Rice, M. L. Television ai a medium of verbal com- cit. munication. Paper preiented at the meeting of the Wright, J. C., and Vlietsda, A; G., 1975. Op. cit. American Psychologic0 Assochtion, New York, 1979. (13) Friedrich, L. K., and Stein, -A. H. Prosocial television (28) Anderson, D. R., Alwitt, L. F., Lorch, E. P., and Levin, ----and young children: The effects of verbal labeling S. R. 1979. Op. cit. Wartella, E., and Edema, J. S. A cognitive develop- and role playing on learning and behavior. Child mental study of children's attention to television com- Development, 1975, 46, 27-38. mercials Communication Research, 1974, I , 69-88. (14)'Watkins, B. A., Calvert, S. L., Huston-Stein, A., and Wright, J. C., CalVert, S., Huston-Stein, A., and Wat- Wright, J. C. Children's recall of television material: kins, B. A. 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32 function of content type and level of Productionfea- (29), Huston-Stein, A., Fox, S., Greer,D., Watkins, B. A., ture use. Paper presented at the meeting of theSocieti, and Whitaker, J. The effects ofaction and violence in television" programs on the socialbehavior and for Research in Child Development, San Francisco, Journal of 1979. imaginative play of preschool children. Hillsdale, N.J.: Genetic Psychology, 1981, 138, 183-191. (43) Zillman, D. Hostilityand aggression. R., Rice, M. L., Erlbaum, 1979. (30) Wright, J. C., Huston-Stein, A., Potts, and Calvert, E., Greer, D., Watkins, B. A.,Thissen, D., Novaco, R. W. The cognitive regulation of anger formal leatures of stress. In P. C. Kendall and S. D.Hollon (Eck.) , and Zapata, L. The relation of Cognitive-behavioral interventions: Theory, research, children's television programs tovieweiship by chil- and procedures. New Y.:;ik: AcademicPress, 1979. dren of different ages. Paper presented atthe meeting Researdv in Human (4) Zillman, D. and Johnson, R. C. Motivated aggressive- of the Southwestern Society for ness perpetuated by exposure toaggressive films and Development, Lawrence, Kansas, 1980. 0, Journal television violence en- reduced by exposure to non-aggressive films. (31) Diener, E., and DeFour, D. Does 261-276. hance program popularity? Journal ofPersonality of Resegrch in Personality, 1973, 7, (45) Donnerstein,E., Donnerstein, M., and Barrett, G. and Social Psychology, 1978, 36, 333-341. ef- The development of Where is the facilitation of media violence:. The (32), Wright;j. C., and Vlietstra, A. G. fects of nonexposure and placement of angerarousal. selective attention: From perceptualexploration to 10, 386 logical search. In H. W. Reese (Ed.),Advances in Journal of Research in Personality, 1976, child development and behaVior (Vol.10). New 398. (46) Bryant, J., and Zillman, D. Themediating effect of york: Academic Press, 1975. dis- A., and Wat- the intervention potential of communications on (33) Wright, J. C., Calvert, S., Huston-Stein, pl,ayed aggressiveness and retaliatory behavior.In kins, B. A., 1980. Op. cit. Yearbook I. television: B. D. Ruben (Ed.) ,. Communication (34)' Singer, J. L. The 'power and limitations of Press, 1977. Tannenbaum New Brunswick, N.J.: ICA-Transaction A cognitive-affective analysis. In P. Evans, R. Erotic (Ed.) , The entertainment functions oftelevision. (47) Donnerstein, E., Donnerstein M., and stimuli- and aaggression:Facilitation or inhibition. N .J. : Erlbaum, 1980. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,1975, (35) Anderson, D. R. Active and passiveprocessis in children's TV viewing. Paper presented at themeeting ;32, 237-244. 'Baron, R.' A. Human aggression.New York :Plenum, ofthe American, Psychological Association,New 1977. York, 1979, the Levin, S. R. The Zillman, D., and Sapolsky, B. S. What mediates. (36) Lorch, E. P., Anderson, D. R., and hostile be- relationship of visual attention to children's compre- effect of mild erotica on annoyance and havior of males? Journal of Personality andSOcial hension of television. 'Child-Development, 1979,50, - Psychology, 1977, 35, 587-596. 722-727. (48) Zillman, D., Hezel, R. T., and Medoff, N.J. The effect (37) Salomon, G., 1979'. Op. cit. of affeetive states on selective exposure totelevised (38), Salomon, G., 1979. Op. cit. entertainment fare. Journal of Applied SocialPsy- Palmer, E. L. A pedogogical analysis of _recurrentfor- Electric Company. chology, 1980, 10, 323-339. , mats on Sesame Street and The Medoff, N. J. The avoidance of comedy by personsin Paper presented at the International Conference on a negative affective state: A'further study of selective Children's Educational Television, Amsterdam,1978. exporure. Unpublished doctoral disseration,Indiana (39) Rice, M. L. What children talk aboutwhile they watch South- University, 1979. TV. Paper prefemted at the meeting of the (49) Zillman, D. Anatomy of suspense. In P. H.Tennen- western Society for Research inHuman Develop- baum (Ed.). The entertainmentfunctions of tele- ment, Lawrence, Kansas, .1980. vision. Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum, 1979. (40) Friedrich, L. K. and Stein, A. H. Prosocialbehavior of labeling (50) Tannenbaum, P. H. Emotional arousal as a mediator and young children: The effects of verbal the Child De- erotic communication effects, Technical reports of and role playing on learning and behavior. Commission on Obscenity and Pornography (Vol.8). uelopment, 1975, 46, 27-38. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1971. labeling: The . Susman, E. J. Visual imagery and verbal (51) Bryant, J., and Zillmann, D., 1977. Op. cit. relation of stylistic features of television presentation effects of 8f prosocial content. (52) Donnerstein, E., and Hallani, J. Facilitating to children's and performance of Per- unpublished doctoral dissertation, Pennsylvania State erotica on aggression against women. journal sonality and SocialPsychology, 1978, 36,1270-1277. University, 1976. S., Huston-Stein, A., and (53) Levi, L. The urinary output of adrenalin and non- Watkins, B.A., Calvert, emotional material: adrenalin during pleasant and unpleasant Wright, J. C. Children's recall of television Psychosomatec Medi- Effects of presentation mode and adult labeling. De- states: A preliminary report. velopmental Psychology, 1980, 16, 672-679. cine, 1965, 27, 80-85. the mass media; Im- of television (54) Geen, R. G. Observing violence in (41) Collins, W. A. Children's comprehension E. C. content: In E. Wartella (Ed.),Children communi- plications of basic research. In R. G. Geen and O'Neal (Eds.) Perspectives on aggression. NewYork: cating: Media and developmental thought,speech, understanding. Beverly Hills: Sage, 1979. Academic Press. 1976. Wright, J. C., and (55) Schachter, S. The interaction ofcognitive and physio- (42) Calvert, S. C., Watkins, B. A., logical determinants of emotional state. InL. Bar- Huston-Stein, A. Recall of television contentas' a 0 kowitz (Ed.), Advances in hperimintal social psy- aggression? Developmental Psyiltology,1974, 10, (Vol. I ). New York: Academic Press, 1964. 418-421. (56) Zi !Imam;chology. D. Excitation transfer in coMmunication- -Thomas, M. H., and prabMan, R. S. Toleration of real mediated aggressive behavior. Journal of Experi- life aggression as a function of exposure to televised mental Social Psychology, 1971, 7, 419-434 .violence and age of subject. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, Zillmann, D. Attribution,and misattribution of excita- 1975, 21, 227-232. tory reactions. In J. H. Harvey, W. J. Ickes, and (65) Cline, V. C., Croft, R. G., and Courrier, S. Desensitiza- R. F. Kidd (Eds.) New directions in attribution tion of children to televised violence. Journal of Per- research (Vol. 2). Hillsdale, N.J.: 1978. sonality and Social Psychology, 1973, 27, 360-365. (57) Cantor, J. R., Bryant; J., and Zillmann, D. Enhance- (66) Howard, J. LI, Reifler, C. B., and Liptzin, M. B. Effects ment of humor appreciation by transferred excitation. of exposure to pornography. In Technical report to Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1974, the Commission on Obscenity and Pornography (Vol. 30, 812-821. 8). Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office. Cantor, J. R., and Zillmann, D. The effect of affective (67) Singer, J. L. The power and limitations of television: state and emotional arousal on music appreciation. A cognitive affective analysis. In P. H. Tannenbaum Journal of General Psychology, 1973, 89, 97-108. f?- (Ed.), The entertainment functions of television. Cantor, J. R., Zillmann, D., and Bryant, J. Enhance- Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum, 1980. ment of experienced sexual arousal in response to (68) Zillman, D., and Bryant, J. Uses and effects of humor erotic stimuli through misattribution of unrelated en- educational television. Paper presented at the residual excitation. Journal of Personality and Social Third International Conference on Experimental Re- Psychology, 1975, 32, 69-75. search in TV Instruction, St. John's, Newfound- Meyer, J, P. The effects of sexually arousing and violent land, Canada, 1980. films on aggressive behavior. Journal of Sex Research, ZillMann, D., Williams, B. R., Bryant, J., Boynton, 1972, 8, 324-331. K. R., and Wolf, M. A. Acquisition of information Zillmann, D., 1971;0p. Cit. from educational television programs as a function Zillmann, D., and Bryant, J. Effect of residual excitation of differently paced humorous inserts. Journal of on the emotional response to provocation and delayed Educational Psychology, 1980, 72, 170-180. aggressive behavior. Journal of Personality and Social, (69) Read, P.B. Socialization research revisited.Social Psychology, 1974, 30, 782-791. Science Research Council Newsletter, June 1980, Zillmann, D., Katcher, A. H., and Milavsky, B. Ex- pp. 31-35. citation transfer from physical exercise to subsequent (70) Deutsch, F. Female preschoolers' perceptions of affec- aggressive behavior. Journal of Experimental Social tive responses and interpersonal behavior in video- Psychology, 1972, 24, 191-198. taped episodes. Developmental Psychology, 1974, 10, Zillmann, D., Mody, B., and Cantor, J. R. Empathetic 733-740. perception of emotional displays in films as a func- Shapiro,B.N.Comprehensionoftelevisionpro- tion of hedonic and excitatory state prior to exposure. gramming designed to encourage socially valued . Journal of Research in Personality, 1974, 8, 335-349. behavior,in children: Formative research on "Sesame (58) Zillmann, D., 1971. Op. cit. Street" programming with social and affective goals. (59) Cantor, J, R., Zillmann, D., and Einsiedel, E. F. Female Unpublished manuscript, University of Massachu- responses to provocation after exposure to aggressive setts, Amherst, 1975. and erotic filmi. Communication Research, 1978, 5, (7/j Chandler, M. J. Egocentrism and antisocialbehavior: 395-411 I. The aisessment and training of social perspectkve- Baron; R. A. Heightened sexual arousal and physical taking skills. Developmental Psychology, 1973, aggression: An extension to females. Journal or Re- 326-332. search in Personality, 1979, 13, 91-102. (72) Cline, V. B., Croft, R. G., and Courrier, S.,1973. Op. cit. ' Donnersiein, E., and Barrett, G. Effects of erotic stimuli Dysinger, W. S., and Ruckmick, C. A. The emotional on male aggression toward females, Journal of Per- responses of children to the motion picture situation. sonality and Social Psychology, 1978, 36, 180-188. New York: Macmillan 1933. Mueller,C., and Donnerstein,E. The effectsof (73) Lesser, G. S. Personal communication to Aimee Dorr, \ humor-induced arousal upon aggressive behavior. 1977. \ Journal of Research in Personality, 1977, 11, 73-82. (74) Linne, 0. Reactions of children to violenceon TV. Mueller,C.,and Donnerstein,E.Film facilitated Sveriges Radio, Audience and Programme Research arousal and prosocial behavior. Journal of Experi- Department, July 1971. mental Social Psychology, 1981, 17, 31-41. (75) Tower, R. B., Singer, D. G., Singer, J. L., and Biggs, (60) Zillmann, D., Katcher, A. H., and Milavsky, B., 1972. A., 1979. Op. cit. op. cit. (76) Coates, B., Pusser, H. E., and Goodman, I. The in- (61) Mueller, C., and Donnerstein, E., 1981; Op. cit. fluenceof "Sesame Street" and "Mister Rogers' (62) Cantor, J. R., and Zillmann, D., 1973. Op. cit. Neighorbood" on children's social behavior in the (63) Cantor, J, R., Bryant, J., and Zillmann, D., 1974. Op. preschool. Child Development, 1976, 47, I 513-144. cit. (77) Sturm, H. The research activities of the Internationales (64) Drabman, R. S.,4and Thomas, M. H. Does media Zantral-institut filr4das Jugend- und Bildungsfernse- violence increase children's toleration of real-life hen. :- ernsehen und Bildung, I 975, 9, 158-162.

34 4,1 of mass communi- effectsmedia-specific factors in ler and E. Katz (Eds.) The.uses Sturm, H: Emotional cations. Beverly Hills: Sage, 1974. radio and television. Resultsof two studies and pro- and mass media und Bildung, 1978. 12. Johnstone, J. W. C. Social integration jected research. Fernsehen 'use among adolescents: A casestudy. In J. G. Blum- the socialization of theminority (78) Dorr, A. Televin and ler and E. Katz (Eds.), The usesof mass communi- child. In G. -&rry and C.Mitchell-Kernan (Eds.), the ethnic minority cations. Beverly Hills: Sage, 1974.. Television and the socialization of Kline, F. G., Miller, P. V., andMorrison, A. J. Ado- child. New York: Academic Press, in press. lescents and family planninginformation: An ex- v. Feilitzen, C.Children and identification in the mass Broadcasting Cor- ploration of audience needs and mediaeffects. In J. communication process. Swedish (Eds.), The uses of mass poration, Audience and ProgrammeResearch De- G. Blumler and E. Katz communications. Beverly Hills: Sage,1974._ partment, May 1-974. attitudes, and viewing (79) Blumler, J. G., and Katz,E. (Eds.), The uses of mass Rubin, A. M. Television usage, communications. Beverly' Hills: Sage,1974. behaviors of children and adolescents.journal of Katz, E. On conceptualizingmediss effects. Unpublished Broadcasting, 1977, 21, 355-369. manuscript, Hebrew Universityof Jerusalem, 1980. Rubin, A. M. Television use bychildren and 'adoles- (80) Brown, J. R., Cramond,J. K., and Wilde, R. J.Dis- cents. Human CommunicationResearch, 1979, 5, and the child's func- placement effects of television 109-120. tional orientation to media.In J. C. Blumler and (81) Chaffee, S. H., and Tims,A. R. Interpersonal factors E. Katz (Eds.), The usesof mass communications. in adolescent television use.Journal of Social Issue'', Beverly Hills: Sage, 1974. 1976, 32, 98-115. of television viewing Greenberg, B. S., Gratifications Johnstone, W. C., 1974. Op cit. and their correlates in Britishchildren. In J. G. Blum-

35 Chapter IV Violence and Aggression

/ Public interest and concern have long focused on Two governmental commissions looked into the tilt issue of violenceon television. Attention to that problem of television violence in the late 1960s. One issue began in the 1950s and has remained thereever was the National Commission on the Causes and since. Although the field of television and human be- Prevention of ViolenCe, which issued a report in 1969 havior has gone far beyond the study of violence, many summarizing available information about the prev-t*: researchers are still committed to findingan answer alence of violence on television and the evidence for to the question aboat the effects of televised violence its effects; data from laboratory experiments, it con- on the viewer. cluded, demonstrated that vieWing violent programs One reason for this continued commitment is that, .increasesthelikelihoodof a viewerto behave despite all the research that has 1::;een done both for the violently. (3) The other commission was the .Surgeon report of the Surgeon General's advisory committee General's Scientific Advisory Committee oh Television and since then, the conclusions are not completely un- and Social Behavior. In 1972, the committee issued a equivocal. While much of the research shows a causal report stating that the convergence of evidence from relationship between teievised violence and aggressive both laboratory and field studies suggested that view- behavior, proponents of the "no effects" position, while ing violent television programs contributes to aggres- in diminished number, continue to argue their case. sive behavior. (4) Content analyses in 1967, 1968, and 1969 showed that the frequency of violent acts remained about the Violence in Television Content same as in previous years except for a decrease in fatalities; cartoons were more violent than prime time The first congressional hearing on television pro- programs; the networks differed somewhat in the graming took place in 1952, when the House Commit- amount of violence they broadcast; two-thirds of the tee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce investigated leadingcharacterswereviolent;retributionby television entertainment to rtain if it was exces- violence was common; and most of the male roles were sively violent and sexually p vocative and if it had violent. (5 ) pernicious effects. Over the next 12 years, the Senate These years of intensive scrutiny not only saw the Committee on the Judiciary held many more hearings; beginnings of an annual content analysis of television because data were so scarce and sparse, the hearings programs, but they also were the time when many were lengthy, acrimonious, and widely publicized. other studies of television violence and, other kinds Television as a cause of delinquent behavior became of research were started. In addition, the events of the the focus of inquiry. The Congressmen were critical of period led to a series of arguments and controversies the industry, and the broadcasters were defensive. that are not yet resolved. During the period from 1952 to 1967, analyses of The two major governmental inquiries made the programs fouhd a great deal of violence on them. problem of television violence more visible to both One analysisin1954 reported an average of 11 scientists and the public. They also increased accept- threats or acts of violence per hour. (I) Later analysis ance of the notion that violence on television leads confirmed that violence on television was increasing to aggressive behavior by viewers. The most important and that it wos increasing more rapidly on programs aftermath of the two commission reports was the con- with large numbers of children in the audience.(2) troversy amcing scientists, on the one hand, and the

36 unexpected apathy on the part of the public, onthe Information on trends in violence depends:of course, other. (6) on the definitions of violence and on the analytic proce- Much of the controversy among the scientists re- dures used. Nonetheless, all analyses agree that the volved around the cautious conclusions of theSur- evening hours after 9 p.m. contain more violence that geonGenerar's-Committee. (7) This caution seemed to other hours on television. (1 0) Beginning with the lead to different interpretations of the researchresults, 1975-76 season, however, there was some increase in with some readersincluding newspaper writersand the early evening hours and some decrease in the later television criticsreporting that television had noef- hours, although the later tours remained the most fect on aggressive behavior and others thatit did have violent. There was a slight overall increase in violence an effect. In general, behavioralscientists felt that the between 1976 and 1977 and the slight decrease between committee had been too cautious and conservative. 1977 and 1978. In 1979, it was about the same as in Some people blamed the tentative and somewhat am- 1978. Over the past 10 years, there also,has been more biguous phraseology of the report on themakeup of violence on children's weekend programs than on the committee; the television industry hadbeen asked prime time television. 4 to name members to the committee,and the industry It appears, then, that the violence on television that had veto power over those who were" beingconsidered began back in the 1950s has continued. There have for appointment. The other scientific controversyhas been a- few changes and fluctuations, but, in general, centered on the usefulness, legitimacy, andpertinence television, despite the concerns of Congressmen anti of monitoring television violence. citizens' groups, remains a violent form of entertain- During this period, the public was notmuch in- men t. terested in television violence for reasons notdiscern- ible, although a few citizens' groups, such asAction for Effects of Televised Violence Children'sTelevision,werebeginningto gather strength. The year 1975 brought a several new developments. The discussion about the effects of televised violence Congress again became concerned withviolence on needs to be evaluated not only in the light of existing television and also with obscenity and sexual provoca- evidence but also in terms of how that evidence is to tiveness and prevailed upon the FederalCommunica- be assessed. Most of the researchers look at the totality of evidence and conclude, as did the Surgeon General's tions Commission (FCC) to do something.The FCC advisory committee, that the convergence of findings Commissioners worked with the networks toestablish evening. This supports the conclusion of a causal relationship between the "family viewing hours" in the early televised violence and later aggressive lehavior. The by writers arrangement was challenged in the courts evidence now is drawn from a large body of literature. First and producers who argued that it violated the Adherents to this convergence approach agree that the Amendment and' infringed on their right of trade. The conausions reached in the Surgeon General's program judge ruled in their favor, but the networkscontinued have been significantly strengthened by more recent the family hour on an informal .basis. research. Not only has the evidence been augmented, During this time also, a number of citizen groups but the processes by which the aggressive behavior is raised protests against various broadcastingpractices. produced have been further examined. The American Medical Association adopted a resolu- In the past 10 years, several important field studies tion asking broadcasters treduce the amount of vio- have found that televised violence results in aggressive lence because it was a thrt to the social health of the behavior. Here are some examples; country; the National Parent-TeachersAssociation A study funded by the Columbia Broadcasting Sys- held public forums throughout the country and began tem reported that teenage boys in London,according to monitoring television content; and the National Citi- their own accounts of their activities, were more likely zens Committee forBroadcasting linked advertisers to engage in "serious violence" after exposed totele- with violent content. (8) vision violence. ( 1 1) A subcommittee of the House Committee on Inter- Two independent studies by 'the same investigators state and Foreign Commerce held several hearingsin followed 3- and 4-year-old children over a year's time cities throughout the country. Their report, published and correlated their' television viewing at home with in 1977, indicated dissatisfaction with the situation, the various types of behavior they showed during free- but it did not place blame on the broadcasters nor ask play periods at daycare centers.(12) In each study for any action. (9) there were consistent associations between heavy tele-

37 4 6 vision viewing of violent programs and unwarranted and aggressive behavior taken at the same time, there aggressive behavior in their free play. It was con- were small but positive correlations. This is consistent cluded that, for these preschool children, watching with other cross-sectional survey results. But, when the violence on television was a cause of heightened ag- measurements taken at different times were compared, gressiveness. no relationship was* found. These investigators wanted In a 5.-year study of 732 children, several kinds to learn whether the short-term effects of television of aggrefflionconflict with parents, fighting, and de- would accumulate over time and produce stable pat- linquen0were allpositively correlated with the terns of aggressive behavior in the real world. They total amount of television viewing, not just viewing found: the study did not provide evidence that tele- of-violent prograrns. (13) vision violence was causally implicated in the develop- Two additional studies were ableto compare ment of aggressive behavior patterns in children and aggressiveness in children before and after-their com- adolescents over the time periods studied. munities had television. (14) In one study there was But according to many researchers, the evidence a significant increase in both verbal and physical ag- accumulated in the 1970s seems overwhelming that gression following the introduction of television. In televised violence and aggression are positively corre- the other study, after the introduction of television, lated in children. The issue now is what processes pro- aggressiveness increased in those children who looked duce the relation. Four such processes have been sug- at it a great deal. ,-,gested ; observational learning, attitude changes, phys7 Another long-term" study currently has been col- iological arousal, and justification processes. lecting extensive data on children in several countries.(15) Results are available for grade-school children in the United States, Finland, and Poland. In Obs ational Learning all three countries, a positive relationship was found between television violence and aggression in both Proponents of the observational learning theory hold boys and girls. In previous studies by these investiga- that children learn to behave aggressively from the tors, the relationship was found only for boys. The violence they see on television in the same way they sheer amount of television viewing, regardless of the learn cognitive and social skills from watching their kind of program, was the best predictor of aggression. parents, siblings,peers,teachers, and others. (19) Two other field studies reported similar results with Laboratory studies have demonstrated many times that different groups of children. One on teenagers found children imitate aggressive behavior immediately after that those who perceived a pmgram as violent or who they have seen it on film or television, but there are thought that violence is an acceptable way to achieve a goal were more violent than the others. (16) The still questions about the role 'of observational learning other study reported that the positive correlations be- in field studies. What do the data show? A longitudinal tween violence and aggression in English school chil- study published in 1977 gave th'e first substantial evi- dren were just about the same as in American school dence that observational learning is the most plausible children. (17) explanation for the positive relation between televised In contrast, in a large scale study sponsored by the violence and aggressive behaviors. (20) Several other National Broadcasting Company a group of researchers observational and field studies agree with these re- reached a different conclusion. (18) In this technically sults. (21) Although these studies can be criticized on sophisticated panel study, data were collected on sev- methodological groundsand, indeed, the "clean" eral hundred elementary ichool boys and girls and teen- outcomes of laboratory experiments are rarely found in age high school boys. For the 'elementary school chil- field studiesthey nevertheless are important supports dien, measurements of aggression were taken six times for the learning of behaviors from the observations of during a 3-year period, and for the high school bjys the models. measurements were taken five times. The elementary Researchers have also analyzed specific issues re- school children gave "peer nominations" of aggreSsion, lated to observational learning. (22) In the first place, and the teenagers gave "self reports." Both the elemen- if children see someone rewarded for doing certain tary school children and the teenagers reported on things, more likely they also will perform these acts. which television programs they watched, and, for pur- Thus, if children see a television character rewarded poses of the analyses, the investigators picked those pro- for aggressive behavior, they will probably imitate that grams that could be classified as yiolent. The results behavior. If the actor is punished, the children are less showed that for the measures of violence on television apt to imitate the aggressive behavior. These vicarious

38 e( reinforcementseither reward or punishmentcan dons to explain observational learning, eventhough persistence of disinhibition probably occurs. Rather, if children see a influence the behavior's occurrence. The television, they will the behavior, havever, seems to berelated to the chil- great deal of aggressive behavior on future action. dren's own reinforcement, in other words,if the chil- store and, retrieve that behavior for dren themselves are rewarded or punished. Observational learning may be related to age.(23) Attitude Change Some investigators say that, by the timechildren reach their teens, behavior may nolonger, be affected Watching television influences people's attitudes. significantly by observatiOnal learning. Youngchil- The more television children watch, the more accept- dren, however, who do not see the relation between ing they are of aggressive behavior. (28) It has been the aggression and the motives for it, maybe more shown that persons who often watch television tend prone to imitate the aggressivebehavior. Children to be more suspicious and distrustfulof others, and start to imitate what they seeOn television when they they also think there is more violence in the world are very young, some as early as2-years-old. than do those who do not watch much television.(29) Identification with the actor or actress whosebe- Attitudes in psychological theory are "attributions, havior is being imitated is also thought to beimport- rulei, and explmiatiorri:2 that people 'graduallylearn ant, but the evidence is notclear-cut.(24) For ex- from observations of behavior. Therefore, it canbe as- ample, it has been shown that both boysand girls sumed that"; if someone watches a lot of television, at- are more likely toimitate male than fernale charac- titudes will be built up on the basis of what is seen,and ters, and thc males are the more aggressive.Girls who the attitudes will, in turn, have an effect on behavior. are aggressive may, it is true,identify more with the A clever experiment showed how the televisionmovie men characters. Whenchildren were asked to try to Roots changed attitudes and subsequentbehm,ior. think in the same way as an aggressivecharacter, (30) Unruly behavior of white and blackhigh school :y become more aggressive.(25)It appears that students was recorded before, during, and afterthe there are no simple relations betweenobservational show was broadcast. During the week thatRoots was learning and identification. shown, the black Students were more unruly, as meas- Another approach had been to tie the observational ured hy after-school detentions. This change wasin- learning to specific cues on the programs, even ap- terpreted to mean that the black students had achange iSarently irrelevant cues.(26) A tragic case from real in attitudes toward obedience after watchingRoots. life is the incident of a gang whc burned a woman to Looking at violent scenes for even a verybrief time death after a similar event occurred on atelevision makes young children more willing to accept aggres- show. In both the show and the real incident,the per- sive behavior of other children. This acceptanceof son was carrying 'a red gasoline can. aggression makes it likely that the children willthem- If these ideas about observational learning are an- selves be more aggressive. (31) alyzed in cognitive-processing terms, it can behypothe- Other studies have shown that children'sattitudes sized that children encode what they see andhear and are changed if adultsdiscuss the program. (32) In an then store it in their memories. To be encoded,the experimental study, one group of children who regu- behavior must be salient or noticeable, and, to be re- larly watched violent programs were shownexterpts trieved in future behavior, it must be rehearsedwith from violent shows and then took partin sessions the same cues as those in the first observation present. about the unreality of television violenceand wrote If a child rehearses aggressive acts bydaydreaming essays about it (33) The other groupwho also watched about them or uses them in make-believeplay, the many violent programs wereshown nonviolent ex- probability is increased that these actswill occur. celpts, followed by, a discussionof the content. The There is some evidence that, aggressivefantasies are group who saw the violenttelevision and then took related to aggressive acts. (27) part in the sessions on unreality weremuch less ag- These hypotheses are relevant to anothertheory, gressive than the other group. namely, disinhibition. In disinhibition theory, it is assumed that children and others are inhibitedby training and experience from being aggressive.But if they Arousal Processes see a lot of violence ontelevision, they lose their in- hibitionsthey are disinhibited. This is an interesting Processesinvolvingphysiologicalarousalare is idea, but some theorists say that cognitive-processing thought to have three possible consequences. One looked theory does not need to call upon disinhibition func- desensitization For example boys who regularly

39 48 at violent Programs showed less physiological arousal How these measures have been made and what has when they looked at neW violent programs. (34) An- been revealed are to be found in an examination of the other possibility is that merely the increase of.general content analyses of televised violence. Such measure- arousal level will boost aggressiveness. (35) A third ments have themselves been the source of considerable alternative suggests that people seek an optimal level controversy. of arousal ;aggressive behavior is arousing, and the Violence is assessed primarily by use of two proce- persons who are desensitized may act -aggressively to dures: content analysis and ratings. In a content analy- raise their levels of arousal.(36)Then, once the sis, the first step is to design the recording instrument. desired level is reached, agglession will continue, be- The trained coders observe the television programs cause the behavior most likely to be continued is the and code them in accordance with predetermined behavior readily retrievable from memory. All these criteria, with the aim of measuring violence as precisely theories need more empirical verification. and consiitently as possible. In the rating procedures, the raters are given lists of television programs and asked to rate them in terms of Justification Processes violence. The raters may be television critics, television researchers, or "ordinary people"; children have some- In the justification theory, it is assumed that people times been used as raters. Sometimes definitions of vio- who are already aggressive like to look at violent tele- lence are given to the raters:but many investigators vision proirams because they can then justify their own believe that definitions are not necessary. behavior, even if only to themselves. (37) They can The longest and most extensive content analysis of believe that they are acting like a favorite teleVision television programs is the Cultural Indicators Project hero. In this theory, watching televised violence is a at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School result, rather than a cause, of .aggressive behavior. So of Communications.(38)The project consists of two little research has been done on this theory that it can- parts: One partisthe "message system analysis," not be evaluated. which is an annual content analysis of 1 week of prime time and weekend daytime dramatic programs. The Catharsis Theory second part is "cultivation analysis," which is a means of determining conceptions of social reality that tele- Contrary to these four theories is the catharsis theory, vision viewing may cultivate in various groups of which predicts that aggression will bejeduced after viewers. watching violence on television. Supposedly, through catharsis, the need or desire to be aggressive is dissi- Definitions of Violence pated by looking at violence on television. Since prac- ticallyallthe evidence points to an increasein Violence seems to be something everybody feels they aggressive behavior, rather than a decrease, the theory can recognize when they see it, yet itis difficult to is contradicted by thedam. define unambiguously. Many different definitions are now in use, and there is much disagreement about In general, it appears that observational learning and them. attitude changes are the most likely explanations of The Cultural Indicators Project defines violence as: television's effects on aggressive behavior. the overt expression of physical force (with or without a weapon, against self or other) compelling action Methodological Issues in against one's will on pain of being hurt or killed, or Research on Violence and actually hurting or killing.(39) The Columbia Broadcasting System's monitoring Aggression project defines violence as:

Another aspect of the entire question about violence the use of physical force against persons or animals, or and aggression must be examined : What is meant by the-articulated, explicit 'threat of physical force to com- "violence" on television? Objective and reliable meas- pel particular behavior on the part of that person.(40) ures of violence are necessary before inferences can be The Parent-Teachers Association is concerned with made about its relationship to aggressive behavior. gratuitous violence, which they define as: for An Index of Violence violence to maintaininterest, violence not necessary plot development, glorifiedviolence. (41) The Cultural Indicators Projecthas developed an Other definitions are: Index of Violence that combinesseveral violence-re- (45) The Index is physical acts or the threat of physical actsby humans lated measures into a single score. composed of three sets of data: theprevalence,- rate, designed to inflict physicalinjury to persons or damage and role of violence. "Prevalence" isthe percentage to property. of programs in a particular samplecontaining any vio- in- -acts involving the useof force, threats of. force,. or lence it all: "Rate" is the frequencyof violent action, - tent of force againstothers. (42) "Role" is the portrayal of characters as"violents" (committing violence) or as victims(subjected to how much fighting, shouting,yelling, or killing there is violence). These three measures arecombined into in a show. (43) a formula that yieldsthe Index of Violence. There has Most of the definitionsinvolve physical force, in- been controversy about this Index, butits users main- cluding hurting or killing.Some definitions include tain that although it is arbitraryasis true of all psychological violence and violenceagainst property; indicesit is useful to illustrate trends and tofacilitate comic violence, accidents, others do not. Some include comparisons. and acts of nature, such asfloods and earthquakes. The rationale for including"ac'ts of nature" is, ac- In conclusion, the interestingcharacteristics of vio- cording to those who includethem, that they are lence on television are iis overall stabilityand regular- in analyzing entertainment and dramatic programs ity, despite fluctuations by networks,- genre,and. time. which the writers and producershave deliberately put The percentage nf programkcontainingviolence has in violent "natural" events.Obviously, the reported remained about the same since 1967,although the amount of violence in aprograth will depend on the number of violent acts per programhas increased. definition. Children's shows are violent in a cyclical way, up one year and down the next. television, according to Unitization of Violence The amount of violence on some researchers, willalmost certainly remain about deciding how to isolate the same as it has been, andthey do not call for its Another problem is found in is more with the kinds words, if one wishes total elimination. The concern specific acts of violence. In other and who is victim- of violent actions, it is necessary of violence, who commits violence, to count the number ized, because these portrayals maybe critical mechan- to know when a violentaction starts and stops. Project states a violent isms of social control. The Cultural Indicators The cultivation analysis aspects ofthe Cultural In- participants. Any action is a scene confined to the same dicators Project has a basic thesisthat the more time action. change in the characters is a new viewers spend watching television,the more they will The CBS monitoring projectdefines a single violent conceive the world to be similar totelevision portray- action as: als.. Thus, as stated in the discussionof attitude change, televisionand who One sustained dramaticallycontinuous event involv- people who view a great deal of violenceare mo:e ing violence, with essentiallythe same group of partic- consequently see a great deal of ipants and with no majorinterruptionin con- likely to view the world as a meanand scary place. , fear, mistrust, tinuity. (44) These heavy viewers also exhibit more light viewers. Because there violence, the different and apprehension than do As with the definitions of finding are more victimsthan there are aggressors, this unitizations produce differentresults. For example, may ultimately beof more significance thanthe direct CBS finds less violence in programsthan does the Cul- relationship between televisedviolence and aggression. tural Indicators Project.

References

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43 - (42) Clark, D. G., and Blankenburg, W. E. Trends in violent Abel, J. D., and Benin:on'. M. E. Perceptions of TVpro- content in selected mass media. In G. A. ComstoCk gram violence by childir and mothers. Journal of and E. A. Rubinstein lEds.) Television and social Broadcasting, 1976, 20,i55z.363. - behavior (Vok 1). Media content and control. Wash- s ington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1972. (44) Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc., Office of SOcial (43) Greenberg, B. S., and Gordon, T. F. Critics' and public Research, 1976-77. Op. cit. perception of violence in televisipn programs. Journal (45) See references by Gerbner and by Gerbner et aL listed of Broadcasting, 1970-71,15,24-43. above.

fin

uJ Chapter, V -1 - Imagirration, Creativity,and ProsocialBehavior

fdeas for Considering how much time most Americanchil- imaginative-. capacities with materials and television, one make-believe play? Does television lead toconfusion dren devote to the fantasy world of intervention by adults might expect behavioral scientists to beinterested in about reality and fantasy? Can stimulate it? .television's effects on imagination. Indeed,research evoke changes in make-believe play Or on imagination andimaginative play and on reality- . during the '". fantasy distinctions increased markedly Enrichment past few years. Anothersignificant advance in televi- shift from a sion research during the 1970s was a e- Several questions come to mind whenconsidering concentration on violence -and antisocialbehavior to whether or not children who watchtelevision are a concern with television'spotentialfor *fostering actively rehearsing the scenes they see. Onemight spec- prosocial behavior. ulate that highly imaginative childrenwithdraw occasionally to "play out" or reflect on whatthey have , ,seen. Some children look at'television with intense Imagination and- Creativity concentration. Do highlyimaginative children view withlessintensity than those who are not very make-be- Little children spend much' time playing imaginative? lieve games. They act out "dramas"with their toys A recent longitudinal study of preschoolchildren. make-believe play- and dolls, and many of them have was interested in learning whatcombination of factors mates. Psychologists and otherswho work in the field would best produce imaginativeness of play. ,,(4)It of child development believe that suchimaginative found that the brighter older boys who scored high on Make7believe play has several adaptive benefits. (1) an interview concerned withamaginative predisposi- vocabulary, play can help children to develop a larger tion and who watched more situation comedies than ' learn to sequence and order events,delay impulse5 action-adventure showi were the most imaginative.' and foster concentration, developempathy/by role Imagination, in other words; was related to intelli- other roles in taking, rehearse occupational rOles and gence, age, sex, andmost relevantheretO the kind Recent ,nbserva- society and develop imagery skills. of television programs they looked at. - tions alsd' suggest that imaginativeplay makes chil- Another question is what relation television has to dren feel better:, as shown by' theirsmiles, laughter, imaginary playmates. But first, one might ask how and singing. (2) many children have such playmates.An answer, based play in every- Children find ideas for make-believe on one survey of middle-class parents,is that 65 per- thing arOund them, and increasinglyfrom television. children had a 'make-believe that a cent of- preschool, Although some communication researchers say friend. (5) The significance of having mak'e-believe main function of television is to providechildren with playmates is considerable; evidence is tht children children turn. "fantasy materials" others believe that who have such a friend play haiSpily in nursery,s and faVasy. (3) From to it for more than escapism are cooperativewith friends and adults, uselanguage television children learn how to behave;how to dress, more exteniively than otherchildren, and watch less and how to speak. They also gleani great deal of gen- including informa- television. (6) eral information about the world, watched few ac- Relevant Boys with imaginary playmates who tion they can %Ise in their.make-believe play. in nursery , research questions are: Does televisionenrich a child's tion-adventure shows were less aggressive

45 tPi school. -(7) Also, when the boys chose television char- bered more of the sry actions, gave shorter estimates acters as. imaginary friends, they picked the male of elapl,ed:time ine story and of distances traveled superheroes. Girls also often chose male characters but by characters, andlied more cin visual content. The sometimes picked the Bionic Woman, Wonder Woman, children who listend to the story recalled more of and other female characters as fantasy friends. the vocabulary andased their inferences on ,the con- Another question often raised is whether television tent of the story, geeral knowledge, and their own affects creativity. A study of gifted children in the experiences; they alsck asked more questions and made fourth, fifth, and sixth grades shoWed that watching more comments. cartoons decreased creatiVity scores on a standard test. Another study did a -corktent analysii of the creative (8) Somewhat surprisingly, education a! television also compohents of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood and Sesa- had a slightly' depressing effect on mfativity. This kind me Street and found that they had similar patterns for .of?study needs to be replicated before any firm conclu- divergent thinking, evaluation (ategorization), and sions can be drawn. transformations. (13) Mothers reported on how much Interesting data on this question are derived from their children watched the two shows. The 3-year-old a comparative study in Canada -which investigated children were tested on four tasks taken from Sesame, television influences on children in three towns (One- Street to learn if they showed signs of creativity. Girls ,called Notel) with no television, one (Unite]) with one did better than boys on verbal tasks, and Loys did better channel, and a third(Multitel)with four chan- on manipulative tasks. There was no relationship be- nels. (9) Two years after televisiOn was introduced to tween amount of viewing and flexibility ratings. Notel, its children's verbal fluency scores on stand- Styles of children's fantasies,were examined in an- ardized lests decreased significantly, and the investiga- other study. (14) The invdtigators' classified the fan- tors concludedthattelevisionapparently had a tasies into three types:, "fanciful"daydreams about negative impact on the children's verbal fluency crea- fairytales and implausible events; "active"day- -tiveness. dreams about heroes, intellectual pursuits, and 1..chieve- The relation of television to reading habits and im- ménts ; and "aggressivenegative"daydreams of kill- agination also has been examined in third, fourth, and ing, fighting, being hurt. Girls seldom had aggressive-, fifth 'graders. (JO) Imaginative behavior was found inegative fantasies, but girls wRo had active fantasies correlated with a higher IQ and with looking at fewer about heroes and heroines winning games and achiev- fantasy-violentprograms. Children who watched ing things were the most aggressive children. But the more of the fantasy-violent programs did not read as most aggressive boys did daydream abuut aggression. much as the others; perhaps television offers the same Data from another study support these findings: (15) kind of excitement as adventure books, fairy tales, and Children whose play themes reflected specific tele-, other popular children's books. Another finding was vision references to cartoons, superheroes, and action- that children who looked at a lot of cartoons wete detective showS were more likely to be aggressive. The rated low in "enthusiasm" by their teachers. These research clearly showed that boys with the least inner data suggestthattelevisionhas a "displacement imagination, as measured by ,an inkblottest, who effect"televisión may replaceactivities, such as watched television with large amounts of violence were reading, that are knoWn to stimulate imagination and most likely to be aggressive in school. "world knowledge."\ Extending these studies to children from lower In another study, sile,th and seventh graders were socioeconomic families, research has shown that ag- assigned to either print, 'audiotape, or videotape con- gressive behavior and anger at -school had a "per- itions. (// )Results showed that there were differ- sistent link" \ with looking at action-adventure and ences in the capacitieof each medium to stimulate news shows and at Sesame Street. (16) The findings or inhibit creative thinking. Children who watched were particularly characteristic of.nonwhite boys with the videotape sOlved problems on `the baiis only of low IQs. Additional testing linked aggression in school facts and concepts on the tape, indicating that their with lack of persistence a high level of motor activity; creative thinking was. inhibited. Those who listehed to and watching action-adventure shows, but not with the audiotape or who read the material gave more, IQ or race. These preschool children were watching "stimulus-free and transformational ideas." television about 3-4 hours every day, and some of them A somewhat similar study compared children's com- as much as 5-6 hours a day. In addition, the studies prehension of a story when either it was read to them showed that positive affect, imagination, cooperation, or they saw it on television. (12) The children, ages and leadership are related and that, by 3 or 4 years abou 7 to 12, who saw the televised versiqn remem- of age, children show quite a bit of:consistency in

46 0 styles, indi- Do children perceive cartoons asviolent or as comic their play behavior and television-viewing classified cartoons cating 'that personality and social interactiontenden- and nonviolent? One investigator violent (as in Dick Tracy) or cies are already fairly well established bythese ages. as either true-to-life and, comic .(as in the Pink Panther). The research showing that personalityand social as fantasy-violent and the cartoons interaction tendencies are quite well establishedby (22) Fifth and sixth graders who saw acceptable but age 3 or 4 is similar tofindings from an ongoing study judged that the comic violence was not Data from that the "authentic" violence was more,acceptable or of ego and cognitive development. (17) show that this highly regarded longitudinalinvestigation indi- the right thing to do. These results seem to fundamental dimensions of the children did think that the cartoons wereviolent, cate that there are two the kinds of personality': .ego control and ego Tesiliency. Ego con- and they also differentiated between trol is the effectiveness of the child's control overim- violence. pulses and wishes. Ego resiliency is the flexibilitywith which the controls are shown in different andchang- Reality and Fantasy ing circumstances., There are large individualdiffer- ences between children inthese two dimensions by Psychologists have found that, by age 7,children the time they are about 3-years-old. These two per- begin to think logically. (23) By that age,they can be sonality dimensions have been found to berelated to reality and rated on expected to be able to differentiate between television viewing. Children at age 3, were fantasy and to understand camera techniquesthat en- resiliency. Then, 4 years later ego control and ego hance fantasy on television. children were when they were 7 years old the same A study assessed the different effectsof "fantasy vio- shows. Pro- asked to name their favorite television lence" and a "newsreel" portrayal ofviolence. (24) grams about families werepreferred by two groups Children, ranging in age from 9 to 11 yearsold and who' had been f-aildren: the _girls and the children from both middle- and lower-income groups,were -rated ais-W-resilient -and undercontroiling when shown films of a riot and in one casetold that it was they were 3 years old. Aggressive television programs, real, in another that it was "make-believe."After seeon the other hand, werepreferred by the ibàys and by ing the film, the children were given anopportunity undercon- the children who were nonresilient and to be aggressive against theexperimenter. Those who trolling at -age 3. Children who were nonresilient at saw the "fantasy"version were less aggressive. Unfor- age 3 also preferred cartoons..Ithas been suggested tunately, there have been no furtherstudies on the ef- "pull," de- that television programs have a different fects of labeling the content of televisionshows as real pending on the personality characteristics of thechild, or fantasy. and that the nonresilientUndercontrollig children In another series of studies, childrenplayed more who like the violent and aggressive programs are pre- constructively after seeing a "stylisticallyaggressive" cisely the children who are mhst likely to beinfluenced film in which the victim was seen at adistance than by them. they didafter seeingarealistically violentpro- gram. (25) The5-year-old children had more diffi- Cartoons, fantasy, and culty than the older children indeciding What was 5-year-olds, when asked to Aggression true or real on film. The tell the story of what they had seen,embellished their people and ob- Cartoons are often regarded "harmless" fantasy stories with their own ideas, added telling when by adults, but the research findinSdisagreeat least jects not in the film, and had a hard time children, 14 ohem in past. Children in preschool wh oftenwiatched car- the story ended. Of 30 young directly o loons with a great' deal of violenc were the most ag- thought a person on television had spoken bo54,,age 12 to them and 6 of the children answered back. gressive. (18) However, older identify car- viewed violent cartoons'did not shoviolent behavior. Preadolescent children were able to rea:, but (19) Another study found that loys whoviewed toons as make-believe and news programs as aggressive cartoons did not share as much asthe they had difficulty deciding Aoutsituation come- difference between. girls, suggesting that aggressive carthOns mayinflu- dies. (26) All of them knew the situations. These ence behavior other thanaggression. (20) In yet an- their own make-believe play and real aggressive car- children preferred make-believe televisionand re- ther study, first graders looked at an think that a t6on, a football-game film, and a "neutral" film;those lated it to their Own play. They did not violent 'cartoon was really "violent"because it was who saw the cartoon were more hostileafterward. (21)

47, make-believe, and they distinguished between "funny" smaller than us" or "they're lowered down on a rope."

and "serious" violence. . Many of the older children, although they could dis- Another study, however, reported that preschool tinguish between the 'characters, did not know how and primary schoOl children accepted as real what cartoon characters are made and animated. These re- they saw on television. (27) Crime and detective stor- sults were confirmed in another study of young chil- ies were more disturbing because they were closer to dren," many of whom had difficulty explaining how real life than Westerns, for e,t ample. characters got into the television:set.(31)Some Said In still another study, t e investigator was inter- they entered through the "plug in the wall." . ested in the fantasy-realityldistinction in televised vio- When asked to distinguish between popular tele- lence.(28)Middle-class dth graders and kindergar- vision charaeters, children in the third, fifth, and sev- ten children looked at a violent television incident. enth grades stressed such characteristics as humor, Some of them were told it was real, others that it was strength, attractiveness, and activity. (32) When 'they make-believe, others received no information about were asked how much like a real person the character it, and a fourth group did not see the program. In the was, the children rarely used the "real-unreal" dimen- experimental room, the children individually operated sion.to differentiate characters..Several studies have re- a small panel with "help" and "hurt" buttons on it. vealed that young children have difficulty discrintindt- -They were told that they could help or hurt a child ing what is real on television. (33) And even older' in the next room by pressing one of the buttons. Boys children may have problems with realistic characters, were much more aggressive than girls. They also were such as the Fonz, often confusing characters' real most aggressive when they had seen the violent inci- names with the parts they play on television. dent they thought was real or when they had seen no AlthoUgh there is some evidence that young chil- program at all. No explanation is offered for the high dren's imaginativeness and the stories they use in violence when the children, had seen no television. spontaneous play are enhanced by television materials, They were least aggressive when they had seen the the predominant evidence suggests that heavy viewing programs labeled as make-believe. The girls, on the is associated with lower imagination and less crea- Other hand, were least aggressive"when they had seen tivity. There is reason to believe, moreover,\ that, under the "real" violence Sand when they -had not seen a. conditions of unsupervised heavy viewing, children . television program. The investigator explained the dif- may not learnthe necessary distinctions between ference between boys and girls by a "socializing hy- "realism" and "fantasy," in stories and may become pothesis." For boys, it was suggestedreal aggression is confused by magical effects, believing them to be pos- tolerated more by their parents and friends, and if they, sible in real life. play at make-believe aggression with dolls, they would be called "sissies." . The effect of television's technology on children's Prosocia IBehavior \ ability to distinguish between reality and, fantasy has \ been studied.(29)Children in the first, third, and ReseaKch on teleision's influence on prosocial be- , sixth grades were interviewed about their understand- havior burgeoned int ing of reality and fantasy and about television tech- one of the most significant de- niques. The older children, as might be expected, had velopments in the decae after the report of the Sur- a better grasp of reality and fantasy.'Amount of view- geon General's committeThe term "prosocial" is ing did not seem to influence the reality-fantasy .dis- used here to specify that ich isE. ocially desirable tinction, but knowledge of television as a medium and which in some ways bene another person or so- seemed to be important. ciety.For convenience, prosoci behavior can be Children's understanding of television characters divided into three types: altruism, endly behavior, and self-control. was the subject of another investigation.(30)Chit- dren ire kindergarten through fourth grade sorted a group of television characters into those that were hu- Altruism man, animated cartoon characters, or puppets and were asked to explain how they differed. Kinder- Studies on altruism agree that children who watch garteners had trouble discriminating between the three altruistic behavior on television become more altruistic kinds of characters. They also did not understand how themselves. For example, boys and girls age 6 to 9 television works, making such comments as the char- watched 5-minute videotapes in which a character acters "got into the television set because they are played a game and won gift certificates and then do-

L.) feelings and help her. did not donate, the certif- friends tried to understand her ., ,nated, or on one set of tapes prosocial program were icates to charity. Children who saw the generousbe- When children who saw the asked questions such as "Howdo friends show they like havior gave aWay more of the certificatesthey won in you?" they answered with more waysof showing allec- a similar game. Inthis experiment and in others, the neutrai shigws. demon- tion than the children who saw modeling of altruistic behavior was clearly those in Mister Rogers' ,strated in the laboratory. (34) But thelaboratory is This was true in situations like Neighborhood as well as others. Theeffect had gen- not like ,the typicaltelevision-watching situation. finding was that, if chil- Another study used a commercialtdevision pro- eralized. Another interesting dren saw the prosocial programand also were given gram, Lassie. (35) Itinvolved an episode in which helpful the edge direct .training by role playing, they were more Lassie's master risks his life by hanging over training or saw only the it also had a than if they received only the of a mineshaft to rescue Lassie's puppy; confirmed these behavior and a prosocial programs. Another study Lassie episode without prosocial demonserated that merely look- "neutral" fiim. After watching one ofthe programs, latter findings. (38) It ing at prosdcial television for 8weeks did not change 5-year-old children played a game inwhich they could children, but, if they also prize. While they were playing, the behavior of poor urban earn points toward a acted out plays from Mister Rogers',they became much they could help puppies in distressby pressing a "help" button, but doing so interferedwith earning more prosocial. Sesame Street was the children'stelevision diet in points. For children who sawprosocial Lassie pro- another study. (39) The programs hadspecial inserts gram, the averagetime of pressing the "help" button achieve various red with 52 and 38 seconds concerned with children cooperating to was 93 seconds, comp; goals, as, for example, two boys learningthat they could for those watching the other programs.The laboratory put toys in a box only if oneheld the lid and the other experiments using a commercial program werethere- put in the toys. The children weregiven three tests: fore supported by this research. In one, they could pick out a pictureshowing children Other studies have been done in nurseryschools and in an observed behavior of cooPerating; in another, they had to cooperate other schools. In one study, the actual situation, as, for example, they weretold to paint nursery school children wasfirst classified as "aggres- child had the paint and the other (36) Then the a picture, but one sive," "prosocial," or "self-controlled." the brush. The third "test" wasfree play. The pro- children Kere )rlivided into three groups,each seeing social Sesame Street programs influencedboth knowl- a different type oftelevision show. One group watched shown by picking and Superman; edge about cooperative behavior, as aggressive cartoons such as Batman the prosocial picture, and behavior inthe actual situa- children workirv- on a another saw "neutral" films of tion, but it had no effect in freeplay. In another study, Rogers' Neighbor..\ farm; and the third saw Mister however, children who watched MisterRogers were cooperation, sharing, hood, a television series stressing more cooperative at play ascompared to their previous sympathy, affection, and friendship.During 4 weeks children's behavior was behavior. (40) of these television diets, the A study done in Australia alsoassessed the compara- recorded by observersWho did not know about the tive influence of role playing andtelevised prosocial which programs the research and were "blind" as to programs in facilitatingaltruism. (41) Kindergarten children were seeing. The resultsshowed that the children saw actual television programs, such asLassie, effect. The children Who programs did have some 1 Love Lucy, The Brady Bunch,and Father Knows became even were moreaggressive than the average Best, sorne of which were judged to behigh in pro- After more aggressiveafter watching the cartoons. social cOntent and others neutral.Boys who saw the children from lower watching, the proMcial programs, prosocial programs were later morehelpful, and socioeconomic families became moreprosocial. But cooperative. In the they did not appear in both boys and girls were more the effebs were short-lived; prosocial television programs, themain characters had later. a retest 2 weeks shown concern for another person,but the specific In a later study by the sameinvestigators, nursery five groups. (37) episode was notlike the situationin the kindergarten. school children were assigned to generalized fmm the tele- One group saw "neutral" programsabout natirre and Yet the children apparently interpersonal. The vision program to their ownbehavior. Role-playing other topics which had nothing influential than osther four groups saw four programs.front Mister behavior in this study was even more the television viewing in increasinghelpful and co- Rogers' Neighborhood arranged toform a dramatic little girl was afraid that she operative behavior. This latter finding onrole-playing's sequence in which a detract from the signifi- would be replaced by a fancy newvisitor, and her efficacy does ,nOt, of course,

49 t*0 cance of television's effects, but it does demonstrate matic. Children who saw the televised scenes increased the importance of other influences. the number of their interactions with others from an As with much television research, most of the studies average of 2 per clay to an average of 12 per day. At on prosocial behavior have been done with children. the end of the school year, they were still interacting One study, (42) however, assessed the effects of five with other children; the effects were durable over time. different television diets on adult men. Participants In a study of mentally retarded children, one group Were 183 married couples who volunteeredas subjects. sl..w a child beating a large inflatable doll while an- The five television diets were: high in prosocialor other saw a child playing in a friendly way with the "helpful" content, high in violent or "hurtful" content, doll. (46) Later observations found that the aggressive mixed, i.e., both prosocial and violent content, light film led to slightly more aggressive behavior and the entertainment content, and unedited neutral content. friendly film to slightly less aggressive behavior. The husbands watched one of the types of programs In still another investigation, preschool children on a local cable television network for 7 consecutive were observed and their behavior recorded into one of nights. The wives were observers who reported on the three categories: (47) (1) positive reinforcement (giv- husbands' "helpful" or "hurtful" behavior, such as ing praise, approval, sympathy, and reassurance, af- "took son for a walk while I rested" or "lost temper fectionate contact such as holding hands, hugging, while driving car." The results indicated that the pro- kissing, and tangible reinforcement such as prizes and grarns had no effect on helpful behavior, but the hus- tokens) ;(2) punishment (verbal criticism and rejec- bands who watched the prosocial programs showed tion, negative greetings, hitting, biting, kicking); and the least hurtful behavior. Television also hadan effect (3) social contact (any physical or verbal contact be- on mood, with those watching the violent programs tween children or a child and adult). They then showing an increase in irritability and hostility and watched 15 minutes either of Sesame Street or Mister those watching the prosocial program showing a Rogers' Neighborhood for 4 consecutive days. Com- decrease. pared with the way they behaved before theprograms, children who saw Mister Rogers' Neighborhood sig- Friendly Behavior nificantly increased the amount of positive reinforcement and social contact. Watching Sesame Street increased prosocial behavior only for those children who All the studies of friendly behavior described here had low scores before they saw the program. were carried out with nursery school children. A group of children watched an adult on television being affectionate toward a little stuffed clown. (43) When the Self-Control children later played with toys, including the clown, they were more likely to show the same affectionate A group of kindergarten boys were told not to play behavior as the adult on television than children who with certain attractive toys. (48) They were then di- had not seen the television segment. vided into three smaller groups; one saw a film in In another study, the 'investigators wanted to learn which a child played with toys he had been forbidden if prosocial television would increase children's friend- to play with and was "rewarded" by his mother; an- liness toward children from minority groups. (44) other saw a film with the boy playing with the toys After they watched Sesame Street with special inserts and then "punished" for playing with them; and the of nonwhite children, a group of 3 to 5-year-old chil- third group did not see a film. When left alone in a dren preferred to play with nonwhite children. Chil- room with the toys, the boys who saw the child re- dren who had not seen the inserts did not show these warded for playing with them had a harder time preferences. The children, all English Canadian, also resisting temptation than the other boys. But seeing the preferred to play with a French, Canadian boy after film in which a boy wa's "punished" made it easier to seeing a French Canadian boy on television. resist. Another potentially important finding comes froma In a related experiment 8- and 9-year-old girlswere study on nursery school children who tended to stay told the rules of a game \ by which 'they could win by. themselves rather than play with their school- some money. (49) Some of the girls then saw a film mates. (45) One group of these isolated children was in which a girl of the same age broke the rules, and shown several scenes of nursery school children playing some of them saw a girl abiding by the rules. Results together and being rewarded for it. A female narrator were as expected; the girls who saw cheating on film described what was happening. The resultswere dra- cheated twice as much as the other girls.

30 t-d sive cartoons, and a neutral film wereshown to nursery Similar results were obtained in anexperiment with school children, their self-controlbehavior in free play 7- and 8-year-old bo)is who wereforbidden to play was recorded. (52) Theaggressive cartoons decreased with a particularly appealing toy.(50) After seeing a with the toy, the obedience, but the prosocial programincreased it. The film in Which a boy did not play for delay. The it for:8 min- aggressive cartoons decreased tolerance boys on the average delayed playing with tasks. These the film character playing with prosocial program increased persistence at utes. The boys who saw changes persisted for at least 2 weeks when thechil- the toy only delayed for 3 minutes. Amonth later, the dren were retested. boys were still influenced by the film. Related studies deal with delay of gratification.One The clear and simple message derivedfrom the re- in New Zealand asked children if theywould like to search on prosocial behavior is thatchildren learn from have a monetary reward immediately or alarger re- watching television and what they learndepends on ward after a week. (51) Later theywatched a televi- what therwatch. The programs they see ontelevision sion prograth in which a woman delayedher gratifica- change their behavior. If they look at violent or aggres- tion and explained why she had done so.The children sive programs, they tend to become moreaggressive who saw the program were more apt todelay the and disobedient. But if they look at prosocial programs, friendly, reward in real life. . they will more likely .become more generous, In the study previously described in thediscussion and self-controlled. Television can havebeneficial ef- of altruism, in which a prosocial program, two aggres- fect,; it is a potential force for good.

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Children's percep- national Journal of Behavioral Development, 1979, tions of television characters. Human Communica- 2, 133-157. tion Research, 1977, 3,113-127 . (42) Loye, D., Gorney, R., and Steele, G. Effects of televi- (33) Greenberg, B. S., and Reeves, B. Children and the per- sion: An experimental study. Journal of Communi- ceived reality of television. Journal of Social Issues, cation, 1977, 27(3), 206-216. 1976, 32, 86-97. (43) Fryear, J. L., and Thelen, M. H. Effect of sex of model Leifer, A. D., Gordon, N. J., and Graves, S. B. Children and sex of observer on the imitation of affectionate andtelevision:More than mere entertainment. k behdvior. Developmental Psychology, 1969, 1, 298. Harvard Educational Review, 1974, 44, 213-245. (44) Gorn, G. J., Goldberg, M. E., and kanungo, R. N. The Lyle, J., and Hoffman, H. R. Children's use of televi. role of educational television in changing the in- sion and other medil. In E. A. Rubinstein, G. A. tergroup attitudes of children. Child Development, Comstock, and J. P. Murray (Eds.), Television and 1976, 47, 277-280. social behavior (Vol. 4). Television in everyday use, (45) O'Connor, R. D. Modification of social withdrawal Washington: U,S. Government Printing Office, 1972. through symbolic modeling. Journal of Applied Be- Singer, J. L., and Singer, D. G., 1980. Op. cit. havior Analysis, 1969, 2, 15-22.

52 G I . (49) Stein, G. M., and Bryan,J.\\H. The effect of a televised (46) Fechter, J. V.Modeling and environmental general- model upon rule adopti,on behaviorof children. . ization by mentally retarded subjectsof televised ag- American Journal of Child Development, 1972 43, 268-273. gressive or friendly behavior. (50) Wolf, T. M., and Cheyne,. A.Persistence of effects Mental Deficiency, 1971, 76,266-267. behavioral, and live ver- Goildman, I. The influ- of live behavioral televise (47) Coates, B., Passer, H. E., and bal models on resistance to deviation.Child Develop- ence of "Sesame Street"and "Mister Rogers' Neigh- in the pre- ment, 1972, 43, 1429-1436. borhood" on children's social behavior (51) Yatt , G. C. R. Influence of \televised modeling and school. Child Development, 1976,47, 138-144. verbalization on children's , delay ofgratification. M..!zei, L. Inhibition and (48) Walter, R. H., Leat, M., and Journal of Experimental Child Psychology,1974, 18, disinhibition of responses throughempathetic learn- Psychology, 1963, 17, 333-399. ing. Canadian Journal of (52) Friedrich, L. K., and Stein, A.H., 1973. Op. cit. 235-243.

53 6 *1.

ChaPterVI Socialization and Conceptions of Social Reality

People have to learn how to behave in different work taking place in the 1970s. All content analyses social situations and hOw to learn various social roles. agree that the men characters greatly outnumber the They become socialized. During the first few years of women; the ratio is about 3 to 1(1) In the early life, children learn an incredible amount about living 1970s, the ratio was even higher in favor of men in in the WTdwith-other people. Much of this learning leading roles, but at the end of the decade there was comes from watching their parents and other adults, an increase in number of women. The number of men their brothers, sisters, friends, and later their teachers. and women varies with the kind of program: Situation Today's children also watch the characters who appear comedies, family dramas, and soap operas have about on television. The question is: DOes television contrib- the same number of men and women, but in action- ute to their socialization and to their learning of social adventure shows the men outnumber the women by a roles? ratio of 5 to 1 and in the Saturday morning cartoons Many of the studies of socialization are based on con- the ratio is 4 to 1. (2) tent analyses. As a result, detailed information is now The analyses have looked at age, race, and occupa- avaiiable on the "demography'.' of television's fictional tion as related to sex roles. (3) Men characters on the characterstheir age, sex, race, occupation, socioeco- average are older than the women. Most of the women nomic status, arid so on. In recent years, research has are in their twenties or early thirties, and the men are been trying to legrn about the effects of these television about 10 years older. Black men appear far more often portrayals on sex, age, race, and occupational and con- than black women ; Hispanic men greatly outnumber sumer roles. Hispanic women (but the total number of Hispanic "Social reality" is a term used to refer to the way charactersis very small). On television, the world a person thinks about the world, the person's cognitive of work is almost entirely the world of men. The system or frame of reference. It has been assumed that number of women characters who do not have jobs television has an effect on people's conceptions of the has been set at 64 to 70 percent. Over 90 percent of world around them. If television does indeed influence the lawyers, ministers, storeowners, and doctors are how people think and feel about the world, it could men. The women are usually secretaries, nurses, enter- have far-reaching implications for-culture and society. tainers, teachers, and journalists. There have been The accumulated evidence from research over the past many more television men in law-related jobs, though decade seems to support the proposition that television, a recent analysis shows an upward trend for women in some instances, does affect the "world view" of those characters. Women are underrepresented as lawbreak- who watch a great deal. In addition to demonstrating ers and overrepresented as victims. Men have a greater television's effects, recent anal-sis has turned to the variety of jobs. On Saturday morning, for example, an question of how the construction of social reality analysis found men, in 42 different jobs, women in occurs. only 9 different jobs. (4) Another study showed that twice as many women as men are in low-prestige jobs. (5) In a few of the new programs begun in the late Sex-Role Socialization 1970s, women do have difficult aid daring jobs. These women are usually single, sophisticated, often divorced, Sex and gender roles orytelevision have been studied and their work is glamorous and dangerous. Some extensively' since the 1950s, with a large amount of observers say, however, that these new roles are not really so different from past roles because thewomen verbal tenderness. (13) Most "close relationshiPs" on still usually depend on men, they are moreemotional television seem to be between partners who work to- they are than men, and thereis more concern for their gether. (14) If displays of affection occur, safety. (6) usually in situation comedies. interactions between men and women on tele- Explicit erotic activity has not appeared on tele- visionat least not yetbut there was an increase in vision, the men ordinarily are more dominant.(7) ,. 1970s. Men give the orders, and their orders are morelikely flirtatious behavior and sexual innuendo in the (15) On television,, most sexual references, either ver- to be followed, except jn situationcomedies and family dramas. Typically, men issue their orders on"mascu- bal or implied by the action, are to extramarital sex; sexual line" activities, such as business, law, and government. this occurs five times as often as references to inter- Women give orders on both masculine and femine top- activity between Married couples. References to in frequency. A total of ics, but mainly on neutral ones. Women aremare pas- course with prostitutes is next activity are sive and less involved in problem solving.They ask for about 70 percent of references to sexual and usually get it.' Making to extramarital sex or to prostitution. Sexis commonly more psychological support shows, plans differs between the sexes; menMake most of the linked with violence. On dramatic and action plans for themselves and others, and moreof the plans discussions of sex are often in the context of rape or seldom seen made by men are successful. 'fb. other sex crimes. Erotic relationships are According to a study on personal characteristics, as warm, loving, or stable. television's the men on television are rational,ambitious, smart, Marriage and family are not important to for 46 percent of the men competitive, powerful, stable, dominant,violent, and men. One study found that tolerant, while the women ase sensitive,romantic, at- it was not possible to tell whether or not they were mar- fair, submis- ried, in contrast to I I percent of the women.(16) In tractive, happy, warm, sociable, peaceful, rated as sive, and timid. (8) Other studies showthat women on another study, family life and romance were family, romance, important to 60 percent of the women and 40 percent television are more concerned with and "heroes" on and social relationships but are less competentthan of the men. (17) When husbands the husbands men. (9) Men are more interested intheir professions Saturday morning shows were compared, have compared the came out not only as fatand quarrelsome but also as and businesses. Various studies the heroes. usual activities of televised men and women.(10) En- less intelligent, logical, and helpful than tertaining, preparing food, and doing housework were (18) drinking and On television, marriage and familybelong to the all done by women; business phone calls, married. If they smoking, using firearms, and engaging inathletics char- women. (19) Most of the women are widowed, they are almost al- acterized the men. Women often depend on mento are single, divorced, or solve their problems for them. If a manand woman ways looking for a husband.Few of the married women personalities or perform sim- have outside jobs, but even in herhome the woman on television have similar character who is ilar tasks, they are apt to have a relationshipinvolving does not have much authority. A a successful working womanuusally has problems conflict and violence. (11) Most women char- On television, for men the emphasis is onstrength, with lover, husband, or children. stability or social standing performance, and skill; for women, it is onattractive- acters do not gain financial marriage or family ness and desirability. Womencharacters are more likely by eArning it; they have it through seductively, according background. than the men to use their bodies much home life to a survey of sexual behavior onprime time televi- Men, on the other hand, do not have stories require erot- on television. Jobs comefirst, family life second. (20) sibn. (12) Many of the plots and of men are con- ically enticing costumes on the women,and the cam- Less than 20 percent of interactions particular parts of their bodies. cerned with marital or familyrelationships. If they are era often focuses on have more successful Women are often treated as sex objects.But men also married, however, men seem to marriages than the women. Men areless likely to be are sex objects,especially in the action-adventure stor- be tough and strong. divorced. The television message tothe viewer is that ies where they must constantly consuming, but for men it is Like latter-day gladiators, they repeatedly provetheir for women marriage is all secondary. physical prowess. television male Intimacy is rarely portrayed, and almost neverdoes These content analyses show that on The character! and female, sexuality ischaracterized by a double it appear on action-adventure shows. of masculine rewarding, professional lives, but standard and by stereotyped definitions seem to lead thrilling, Television portrays a somewhat austere private lives withoutphysical or and feminine traits and roles.

55 6,1 situation inhich affection and intimacy 'are viewed Finally, in recent.years,'entertainment television as a as inappro riate to the real world. Sex is often seen socializing force in' the lives of children has become as a dirty joke or an exciting and dangerous activity conspicuous in the area of sex education. Four char- that fre uently leads to trouble. While both male and acteristics of television make such ectication likely: female,koles are stereotyped, there is more stereotyping Most programs watched by children are intended for in th female roles. Some of this difference may be at- adults; children have little experience to contradict dr trib ted to the smaller number of female characters; balance what they see on television; television is re- if there were more females on television, the writers markably realistic ; and television gives constant mes- and producers could give them more varied char- sages about sexuality. acteristics. A report on family life and sexual learning found Research on television effects of sex-role socialization that, of the 1,400 mothers and fathers who were inter- has been concerned mainly with sex-role stereotyping. viewed, over 50 percent thought that their children In other words, does the viewer select roles for men learned more about sex from television than from any and women that are like the stereotypes seen on tele- other source except themselves.(25)Mothers and vision? The answer is "yes." One study asked 3- to fathers who were heavy viewersbetween 27 to 35 6-year-old children to indicate whether a man or a weekwere most likely to give this opinion. woman would be in a certain occupation and foun Yet, most of th'e parents did not think that television that the children who watched a great deal of tele- is accurate or reliable in conveying knowledge about vision gave the more stereotyped answers.(21)An- sex. A higher proportion of the heavy viewers, how- other study, in which youngsters were asked to say ever, did think it is accurate. whether certain activities were more likely to be done For families in which there was heavy television by a man or a woman, also -resulted in more sex- viewing, the parents were not apt to talk aboutsexu- stereotyped replies from the heavy viewers.(22)The ality with their children. But these parents also be- same investigator asked children whether a character lieved that sexuality should not be discussecloutside,7-- in a story would be a man or a woman, and again, the the family. Although television does not deliberately heavy viewers gave the stereotyped answers. intend to educate children about sexuality, its charac- But television can have the opposite effect; as shown teristic and consistent messages, together witha typical in a study in which children did learn counterstereo- lack of sexual discussion between parents and children, typed roles from some programs.(23)Five television mean that entertainment television has become an im- characters were chosen; all were in nontypical occu- portant sex educator.(26) pational roles for womentwo police officers, a park ranger, a television producer, and a school principal. Age-Role Socialization 40. The children who correctly identified the character and her occupation were compared with those who could not make the identification. The children who could Those who watch television most are young children and the elderly. Ironically, it is these identify them said that the occupation was appropriate ages that are seen the least on entertainment television. (27) for a woman. The exception was the role of the pro- According to one analysis, only 10 percent of television ducer whose job did not seem to be understood by the characters are under 19, but in census figures thisage children. group accounts for one-third of the population.(28) Children have been asked which television charac- At the other end of the spectrum, only a little over ters they prefer and which characters "you would like 2 percent of television characters are age 65or over, to be when you grow up." Boys pick more total charac- but there are about 11 percent in real life, and the ters than girls, and they always pick men. Girls some- percentage is growing. Another analysis gives about times pick women characters, but they too often pick the same percentages;(29)about 4 percent of char- the men. When asked the reasons for their choices, boys acters are in the preteens; about 8 percent are teen- usually say it is physical aggressiveness, while girls say agers; about one-third areage20 to 34; about one- it is physical attractiveness.(24) third areage35 to 49; about 16 percent are in their In general, televisions' effects seem to be that heavy fifties and early sixties; and about 3 percent are, viewing perpetuates sex stereotyping, that counter- over 65. stereotypes presented in programs are accepted by In addition to counting the numbcr of characters children, and that males are seen as mdre desirable role in various age groups, studies have noted the kinds of models. roles they play, programs in which they appear, and 0 56 held in high esteem by others.An important exception Sex, race, andsocioeconomic status in relation to age. in soap in to the dismalpicture of aging women is found (30) 'Young charactersunder 20 tend .to appear , is likely to be attractive, older characters appear operas where an older woman regular recurring roles, while independent, sought after foradirice, and employed in about equally in regular and in guestroles. On Satur- family dramas there are an important position. day morning shows and in One surprise in the content analysesis that old peo- under 20, but, as might beexpected, many characters ple are rather often shownengaging in moderate to there are. few young peoPle onthe police-detective energetic dancing, rids. of the characters are high physical activity, such as shows. On crime shows, most ing a motorcycle, oralludingto a vigorous sex abotrt 35 to 49 years old. stereotypes" may do between 20 and 34, and life.(38)But these "reversed Alinost half the women are more harm thangood for the image of theelderly, only a\ fourth of the men arein that age bracket. (31) interpreted, as itissaid, because they usually are The reverse is true for the age group35 to 49. About comical and inappropriate. 20 percent of the malecharacters and about 10 per- content, research- characters are over 50.Elderly In addition to analyzing program cent of the female the television-viewing habits ofolder always men.(32) ers have surveyed characters over age 65 are almost people. Everyone agrees thattelevision is very impor- Black characters are morelikely than white char- people. Surveys going back to 38 percent of blacks tant in the lives of older acters to be portrayed as young, old people are asked white and the early 1960s show that, when versus 18 percentof whites in 1978. When daily activities, the most frequently black characters are in the sameshow, the blacks to tell about their named activity is television.(39)In 1976, the average Blacks are also consistentlyunderrepre- are younger. number of viewing h urs per weekfor persons over age sented in the portrayal ofolder characters. (33) found become older, they attain a 50 was 35 hours. (4)- This intensive viewing is As television characters for all old people, Whether they areliving at home or higher level job and highersocioeconomic status. (34) in in an institution, id the innercity or the suburbs, and Few of the elderly are inservice worker positions or As with other to what might be regardless of their socioeconomic status. the lower social classes, and contrary adults, most of their yiewingtakes place in the late expected, they are not depicted as poor.Older charac- afternoon and evening, but their"prime time" is about ters do not appear in anyparticular type of show. They, of an hour earlier thanfor younger adults, (41) are dispersed insmalTnumbers over the whole.range elderly prefer news, docu- morning programs and All studies show that the prime time television. Saturday mentaries, and public affairs programs.(42)Older family dramas, the kindsof programs most often television for high count of characters people, itis obvious, are turning to watched by children, have a entertainment. Televisionprovides people. more than mere under age 20 and few old them information about theworld; it becomes asUb- Content analyses of the portrayalsof older 'people stitute for the many sources ofinformation formerly do not present a favorablepicture. Old men are often the job. Next in often available in the community or on cast in comic roles.One study 'done in 1974 is shows, musicals, and television are order of popularity are variety cited;(35)it claimed that old people on Welk travel films.(43)It is no surprise that Lawrence ugly, toothless., sexless, senile,confused, and helpless. emerges as a specialfavorite, along with someof the An analysis -in 1979found the elderly to becomical, other- well-known "personalities,"such as Bob Hope. treated with disrespect, andshown as--stubbern, eccen- older characters in them are In a fictional worldwhere The few programs with tric, and foolish.(36) elderly viewers. Daytime favorable and most endings also particularly well liked by portrayals are generally contribution to the viewing happy, less than half the old menand a smaller num- soap operas provide a real successful, happy, and pleasure of older people. (44) ber of old women are seen as watch television no matter characters on prime time Because the elderly often good. When old people are they do not like the pro- vic- what is on and even when programs, they often areeither the villains or the that they may become when they arc young grarns, some gerontologists say tims. Men are the "good guys" (4.5) But other experts onaging old. If an old man fails, too dependent on it. and "bad gus" when they are believe that television has manybenefits. Television it appears that he does sobecause he is evil, but anold permits older people to stayinvolved with the world she is old. woman fails because and to know what isgoing on outside theiroften re- Despite all these unfavorableportrayals, there are read- stricted environments.Failing eyesight may make a few brightsprits.(37iThe elderly are rarely depicted impairment may prevent they sometimes are portrayed asuseful. ing difficult, and hearing as lonely, and listening to the radio, buttelevision with its simul- Older men are relativelyoften seen as successful and

57 . Co taneous presentation of visual and auditory stimuli may Race-Role Socialization be more accessible than other rnedia to the elderly. (46) On both informational and entertainment programs, For many Americans, television is a prime source of the elderly make many "friends" and have a l'rge information about Black, Hispanic, Asian, and Native coterie of fictional compan,s.. (47) Television per- Americans. There have been several content analyses of programs depicting Blacks on television, but almost sonalities come to be lovedy some elderly persons as attractive, safe, and nont reatening friends. With its none of Hispanic, Asian, or native Americans except for , frequency counts. organized time schedules/ for programs and pgularity of appearances by perfrmers, television can give some In the 1950's there were only a few black characters structure and order tthe otherwise empty and'un- on television, all -of whom were classic comic stereo- structured days of jiany old people. One report sug- types, like Amos and Andy and Beulah. These ,pro-, .,gests that the reason some elderly people look at tele- grams were canceled as a result of organized protests. vision is simplyAltai time"; it gives them something,For the next 12 years, there were essentially no black '-, etaracters on television, but then a few began to ap, to dosoethirn g easy and often interestingrather than sit all day'doing nothing. (48) pear. By 1968, the proportion of black characters rose What is th effect of television on the aging popu- to about.10 percent, and it has remained at about that lation and attitudes about the elderly? There has thus level ever since. (55) There are far fewer Hispanics, far been iitle research on the impact of television'on for example, only about 1.5 percent in 1975-77. Dur- the valu s and behavior of older people."One study has ing 1970-76, 'the percentage of Asian Americans was shown/hat negative opinions about agingare more 2.5, and of native Americans it was less than half of 1 likeyto be held by the y oung and the old, rather:than percent. For all minorities combined, theri were about the/ middle aged; and it is, of course, the young and 12 percent in the period 1969-78, with a high of 18 percent in 1975. (56) tye old who watch the most television. (49) In contrast /o this study, however, several studies have found that, Black and Hispanic characters are both cast mainly as people grow older, their attitudes toward the elderly in situation comedies. (57) About 41 percent of all on television become more favorable. (50) Another black characters appear in only six shows. The same kind of clustering occurs with Hispanic characters; survey reported that many viewers are dissatisfied with portrayals of old people on television. (51) Attitudes 50 percent are in just four shows. Blacks are less likely than whites to have a job, and if they are working, more toward the elderly are reported to be related to the type likely to have a low prestige job. (58) Most Hispanic° of programing; Viewers who looked at many fantasy- type programs perceived the elderly on television as characters work inunskilled and semiskined jobs "hindrances to society," but those who watched real- Many of them are cast either as comic characters or in law-breaking and law-enforcing roles. istic programs held the opposite opinions. (52) Several studies agree that heavy viewing leads to inaccurate A few studies have looked at what 'black characters do on television. Blacks dominate whites in situation beliefs ahout old people, such as a belief that the number of old people is declining or that people are less comedies, but the reverse is true on crime shows. (59) healthy and do not live as long is they used to, or that On series with all black characters, the blacks have old people are not open-minded and adaptable and more personal and family problems and a lower social status than on series with both black and white charac- not good at'getting things done. ters. In the shows with both black and white charac- PrObably the major fault in television with respect ters, to aging is that it does mit accurately portray real life there was no difference beolveen blacks and . whitesin in either the numbers of old people or in presentations giving orders orgivingt,. and receiving advice. (60) of their attributes. According to the National Council Both black children and black adults are more likely on the Aging, television is the channel through which than whites to watch programs with black characters s elimination of stereotypes about aging' must occur. in them. Black children usually pick white television Finally, it is noteworthy that in the late 1970s the characters as their favorites and as their 'models ktko Committee on Aging of the House of Representatives imitate, but, unlike white childr n. t's.ey also choose held hearings on age stereotyping in the media. (53) some black characters. Compared/ wi white children, And a iecent review of prime time programs found the black children believe there are more black char- that the number of older characters on television has acters on television.(61)Blacic children also have increased and that television seems more willing to more positive perceptions of black characters in terms confront issues on aging as subject matter. (54) of their activity, strength, and beauty tban they have i 'i 58 G discrepancy exists for low status jobskAbout 81 per-i of white characters; moveover,they think thelion: cent of women in real lifehold low 'status jobs, but trayals of blacks are reallstic.Ingeneral, research has only 38 percent of televisioncharacters have these shown that black childrenexposed to a white-domi- (71)For men the gap is even nated medium do not developdestructive self-images. menial positions. greater with 12 percent ontelevision and 63 percent (62) in the labor force. Only two occupationsrank about One line of research has studiedthe self-image of the same on television as in thecensus.'figures: female minority group children who havewatched programs Carrascolendas, and Villa clerical workers and farmers. (72) such as Sesame Street, The range of different kinds of jobs ontelevision is Alegre. All three of these public'television shows have (73)For white male pride, self-confidence, much narrower than in real life. had a favorable effect on cultural different jobs, and of minority chil- characters, 30 percent are in just five and interpersonal cooperativeness for black characters, 50 percent arein only five kinds dren. (63). is even more Another line of research has investigatedthe im- of jobs. For women, the job situation pact of minoritycharacters on the perceptions and homogeneous. white children Concerning "cops and robbers"actuallyall law- attitudes of white children: Many charactersithere are throughout the country are dependent ontelevision enforcement and law-breaking minorities. White chil- many more law-relatedjobs in television's world of for their information about inauding not only experience with blacks work than in the actual labor force, dren having the least direct lawyers, judges, said that television gave theminformation about the the police, but also detectives, and' dress of blacks.(64) trons, and wardens.(74)More of television's criminals physical appearance, speech, indicated by FBI crime statistics. These children also had positiveracialattitudes. are white than is These criminals also are older On the averagethan real Studies of Sesame Street giveevidence pf its favorable effect on racial attitudes. In onestudy, children criminals. for more than 2 years What is the effect on viewers'perceptions of occu- who looked at Sesame Street coming from o toward other races than pations as a result of this information had mOre positive attitudes ordinarily haverather children who had not beenexposed to the pro- television?Since children limited knowledge about manyoccupations, it might gram.(65) quite a bit of ,information *- Only a small amount of researchhas tested the be assumed that they obtain For example, in a about jobs from television. Researchhas borne out this effects of commercial programs. asked open-endbd study of adults it was found thatwith All in the Fam- assumption. When children were the impact on racial questions about various occupations,the responses were ily and its many racial slurs, occupations on attitudes was directly related to theprejudices already consistent with the depictions of the held by the Viewers.(66)In another study of All in television.(75) that children did not A field study in two cities was.able to compare re- the Family, the' results showed with characters in different oc- seem to be influencedby the character'; preju- sponses to two shows the (76)The Andy Criffith Shoiv had abarber dices.(67)Finally, a different kind of program, cupations. have a positive and a sheriff, and That Girl had anaetress and a maga- miniseries Roots, was demonstrated to nonviewers,..frequent and in-, impact on racial attitttdes.(68) zine writer. Viewers and frequent viewers, and current and noncurrentviewers among fourth,--fifth, andsixth,graders were compared. Occupational Role Socialization All three successful rolemodelsthe barber sheriff, and magazine writerfavorablyinfluenced the chil- The two main aoncerns of those who have investi- dren's evaluations and perceptions ofthe:Yewards and television are the gated portrayals of occupations on physical requirements of the job.Neither frequency nor overrepresentation of high prestigejobs ,and of the recency had aneffect; apparently beliefs,abdut occur "cops and robbers." pations are retained for a long time. Fully one-third of television's "laborforce" is in professional and managerial positions, aboutthree analysis of ,times the number, in real life. (69) In an Consumer Role Socialization- soap operas, it wasfound that, 62 percent of the women ind 89 percent of themen were in the top In the study of television'seffects,on consumer miles', three occupationi categories, in"contrast with 19 per- entertain: respectively ,in the actual labor a small amountof work has been done on cent and 30 percent shows, and public service mes- force, (70) At the other end of the scale, asimilar ment programs, game

59 6 sages, but most of it has dealtgwith advertisements. And toys, oid,. and clothing. Ninety percent of the children' most of the research has been done'with children. said that the child in the story felt like asking for the Young children say they enjoy advertisements, es- products,.Only three-fifths, however, said that the child pecially if they are humorous and entertaining. (76) would actually ask the parents to buy it. Older children .have mixed feelings about them, and The next question of course is v, hether or not chil- adults often say that what they like least about televi- dren use or consume the product after they have it. sion is the commercials. Acceptance:of the truthfulness All evidence is that they do. In,a group of fourth to of advertisements also varies, with age.- (77) Young seventh graders, 49 percent of heavy viewers ofa children usually belieVe the clairni, but, by the time candy-bar advertisement ate the bar "a lot" versui 32 they are about 10 years 'old, about three-fourths of percent of the light viewers.(88) them have become more skeptical'. Children's trust is A significant finding, especially for young children, related to the product being advertised. Theyare more is that they often take advertisements literally. When disirustful of claims made 'abouttoys with which they two cartoon characters, Fred Flintstone and Barney are familiar than they areabout medical or nutritional Rubble, said a cereal was "chocolately enough to make products. Children who are theavy Viewers are more you smile," two-thirds of the children said a reason likely to believe advertisements than are light viewers. they wanted the cereal was the chocolate taste, three- Research has examined the effect of television on fifths because it would make them smile, andover half children's deshe to'have a product, requests that par- because Fred and Barney liked it.(89)In another ents 'purchase it, and patterns of consumption. When advertisement, wild vegetation was depicted as edible, black elementary 'school children were asked where, and the children viewing it belieVed that they could eat they learned about a favorite toy, television was moSt a similar\appearing but toxic plant.(90)After seeing .often mentioned as a .;ource of information.(78)Chil- a cereal adV7ertisement with a circus strongman lift- dren told to list what they wanted for Christmas also ing a heavy weight, children thought that eating the named television as the most frequent source.(79) cereal would make them strong. (91) Many children About a third of kindergarten children and more than have great faith in the characters they see on television; half of third and sixth graders said that they heard they believe that Fred Flintstone and Barney and all about toys and snack foods on television.(80)Mothers their other television "friends" know what children of young children also cited television as their prime should eat.\\ source of product information.(81) The impact Of advertisingon-teenagers has been When children were askcd if they would like to have studied priinarily by questionnaires. In most studies, the things they saw advertised-on-televisibiViwO-thirds total amount of viewing, rather than specific ex- of the kindergarteners and half of the third and sixth posure to commercials, is mea.sured, which means, of graders answered, "yes."(82)For a _oup otchildren course, that the results -show overall effects of tele- 5 to 12,years old, there was a 'high positive,correlation vision, not just the efrects of commercials. In general, between viewing commercials and liking frequently ad- teenagers' awareness of brands and brand slogans does vertised foods.(83)Many of the children who saw an not seem to be related to the amount of television they adverti'senient for a toy said that they would rather watch. But a study, in which actual viewing of alt ohol play with the toy than with a friend, and, in fact, they advertisements,. was measured, found thlit the teen- would rather play with a not-so-nice friend if he or she' agers did become aware of the brands, symbols, and owned the toy than with a'aice friend.(84) content of. the commercials.(92)In addition, accord- (thildren nol. only say they want television-adver- ing to other studies, -teenagers who are 'heavy viewers tised products. but they urge their parents to buy tend to think that people need and use highly adver- them.(85)Children froth 3 to 12 years old were asked tised products.(93) how often they tried to have their parents 1314y an ad- Watching television is correlated to a small degree vertised toy, and 28 percent replied, "a loti" while 55 with "general materialism," defined as an attitude em- percent said, "sometimes." In a laboratory study, chil- phasizing the importance of material possessions and dren were observed as they looked at television includ- money as a means to personal satisfaction and social ing the commercials.(86)When they later went to the progress. (94) Buying and using the product are also supernmrket. the children who had paid more atten- somewhat related to seeing the advertisements.(95) tion to the commercials made more requests to buy These findins suggest that advertising does have some the advertised products. Another study used a projec- impact on the attitudes and behavior of teenagers, but jive assessment technique. (87) Children were asked itis not great. With adults, however, advertising is -to finish a story in which a child saw advertisements for thought to have a strong influence on their knowledge

60 of brand names and advertising claims.(96) Buying Experimental studies have investigated changes in \ dig product or service is, of course, thewhole point; social reality.In one su9 project, undergraduate_ advertisements apparently do bring in moresales, students were randomly assigned for 6 weeks to one sometimes' to a high degree but/often only to a small of thre television diets: light viewing; heavy view= degree. (97) ing of programs with violence ending in justice; and Game shows with money and other prizes display ex- heavy viewing with violence eliding in injustice. (101) plicit consumer behavior. The ecstasy of thewinners By the end of 6 weeks, ,both groups of heavy viewers and the studio audience'.s appreciativeapplause prob- became more anxious and fearful. But there was a ably engender desires .for consumer goods amongthe difference between those who saw the "just" endings viewers. The upper-class lifestylesl of charactersin and those who saw the "unjust" endings. The v iewers many dramas and situationcomed;es may have the of the programs ending in justice later chose to watch same effect. Future researchshould move be9ond ad- more violent television, and the viewers who ;;aw the vertising,to explore theimpact-oftelevision's informa- injustice later chose to watch fewer action-a venture tionandentertainmentmessagesen consumer program . This finding suggests that 'there ma be some behavior. kind of r ciprocal effect in which tele;fision contributes to the formation of an attitude and thenthat attitude fosters looking at certain kinds of programs. COnceptions- of Violence / and Mistrust Pt-icesses and Conditions

Televised violence and its contObution toviewers' The next question is "How does this 'cultivation conceptions of social reality have been the concernof effect' occur?" Or, more specifically, the questions much research. For example, beliefs about the preva- are I"Under what conditions does construction of social lence of violence in American lifehave been correlated reality Occur?" and "What are the psychological proc- with amount of television viewingI.People are asked esses involved?" questions such as "What a7re your chances of being he information-processing abilities of an individual involved in .-so. me kind of violence?" "How many males m y be important in construction of socialreality. For work in law enforcement and crime detection?"-"Does -e ampleTaility to infer patterns fr m discrete events most fatal violence occur betweenstrangers?" The an- ight be.required for television programs to have an swers that could be inferredfrom Jwatching television efirect. Then perhaps viewei: intelligence weuld be are then compared with actualstatistics from crime r lated to cultivation effects. Another approach might surveys and the census. The percentageof heavy viewers bbased on the notion that chi1dren have less well- of television giving a television-biased answer minusthe d veloped processing abilities than adults and therefore percentage of light viewers giving, a television-biased te evision's influences on them would be stronger. answer has been called the"cultiVation differential." Y ung children's tendency to remember incidental Television, itit said; has "cultivated" the television- inf rmation in _programs might also suggest that they biased answers. Beginning in 1972, Study after study in wo d- be-more influenced in constructions of social reali the United States has found a "cultivation differential" . for prevalence of violence; people who look at a great \Vi wers' attitudes toward ielevision and how cri- deal of televiision tend to believe that there is more vio- tically and attentively they vivv it may be significant lence in tne real world than do those who do not look in deteining cultivation effects. Perhaps .television at much \television.(98) A possible disconfirmation has mor impact on viewers-Who are,inactive and Pas: comes fro n a study in England,knit the discrepancy sive. A r levant study here is one with soap opera fans who were attending a "soap:opera convention!' (102) between t e American and the English research may , perhaps b explained by the fact that English televi-'They wer compared with drandom sample of women. sion is much less violent than that in America and that The soappera fans, -who could be presumed to be involved and active viewers, were less influenced in heavy television viewers in Englal tc0 actually see less 1, violence than do American light vieWers. (99) . their thinki g by the sdap operas than the other Exposure to televised violence, hasialso been . found women. to leadto mistrust,fearfulnessof., walking alone Viewers'e perience, includingthat withother at night, a desire to have protective weapons, and media, friends\ and family, as well as their already es- alienation. (100) tablished belie s may interact in some: way with con- - A 61 structions of soal reality. Three possible effects have families were described according to their tendency been hypothesin One is "confirmation" (or "reso- to restrict amount of viewing, the parents' perception nance"), as when tevision's content is confirmed or of the usefulness cr reality of television, conflict 'over validated by the real w rld. (103) A second is discon- television, and independence, or lack of restriction, in firmation, which happens if information and experi- viewing. (106) In families that restricted use of tele- ence in the world come from powerful or relied-on vision and in which there was little conflict, the chil- sources, and the messages from television then lose aren showed no cultivation effect for interpersonal their effect and are disconfirmed. Third, there may be mistrust but did show an effect for prevalence of a "mainstreaming" effect: Heavy viewers from dif- violence. The students who cAld select programs as ferent social and cultural groups may share common they pleased also had a higher prevalence-Of-violence 'concepts of social reality. (104) effect. The social groups around an individual could make a Finally, the specific programs watched may be re- difference in television's effects. Two studies are rele- lated to construction of social reality. Viewing crime- vant. In one of them, the investigator classified chil- adventure shows has been related both to attitudes dren according to whether their peer groups were about prevalence of violence and interpersonal mis- cohesive or not cohesive. (105) 110kohesive .gtoup was trust, while viewing cartoons only to prevalence of vio- defined as one in which all the children nominated one lence. (107) another reciprocally as friends. The children were .41 summary, there is reasonably good evidence that tested on their attitudes toward sex and gender, occu- television does contribute to viewers' conceptions of pational aspirations, and interpersonal mistrust. Those social reality, especially when they are related to vio- in the cohesive group were less influenced by television. lence and to feelings of mistrust. There also is evidence These findings suggest that the increased social inter- that television may contribute to attitudes about sex, action in groups provides alternate information which age, and family structure. (108) Television may be may counteract television's message. only one of many influences playing a part in the shap- Differences in the cultivation effect are related to ing of social reality, but it has come to play a role that family's patterns of watching television. In orie study, is generally regarded as significant.

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Effects of drug commercials on young vieW- 71-79. Women's Studies Program, University of Wiscon- ers. Journal of Communication, 1978, 28(4), siri-Madison, 1979. (94) Atkin, C., 1975. Op. cit. s (103) Gerbner, G., Gross, L., Morgan, M, and Signorielli, Churchill, G., and Moschis, G. Television and influences on adolescent consumer N., 1980. Op. cit. interpersonal (104) Gerbner, G., Gross, L., Morgan, M., and Signorielli, learning. Journal of Consumer Research, 1979, 6, N., 1980. Op. cit. 23-35. (105) Rothschild, N. Group as'i`i mediating factor in the Mdschis, C., and Churchill, G. Consumer social- cultivation process among young children. Unpub- A theoreticalandempiricalanalysis. ization: lished master's thesis. Annenberg Sdlool of Com- Journal of Marketing, 1978, 15,599-609. munications, University of Pennsylvania, 1979. (95) Ward, R., and Robertson, T. Adolescent attitudes to- (106) Gross, L., and Morgan, M. Television and encultura- ward television. In E. A. Rubinstein, G. A. 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65 74 Morgan, M. Longitudinal patterns of television view- School of Communications, University of Pennsyl- ing and adolescent role socialization. Unpublished vania, 1980. doctoral diuertation; University of Pennsylvania, Gonzalez,. M. Television and people's images of old 1980. age. Unpublished master's thesis. Annenberg School Morgan, M., and Harr-Mazer, H. Television and of Communications, University of PennsyWania, adolescent's familylifeexpectations. Annenberg 1980.

;) Chapter VII The Family 'andInterpersonal Relations 'ray

the dinner riages are first marriages, one-fourthof the characters Family gatherings by the fireplace or at widows or gatherings in have never married, ,and tone-tenth are table now seem to have given way to these family ;tries, directly into widowers. Divorce is increasing. In front of the television set. TeleVision comes unlike televi- takes place in the home. there is an equal distribution of sexes, the home, and most viewing sion in general where there are many moremen. Indeed, the famous Neilsen ratings arebased on a sam- Television's fictional relationships usually concen- ple consisting of "families."Researchers have long been trate on immediate family',membegwife, mother, interested in the social nature oftelevision viewing and sister,andtheir counterpartsin male have recognized that tei 'sjon's uses and effects are daughter, roles. (2) Members of the extendedfamily, in con- influenced by ihterpers I relationships. file report trast, are not commonly presented.What do family of the Surgeon General'scommittee in 1972 recom- usually a studied "in the context members do together? (3) Husbands are mended that television be friend, teacher, and Although television companion to their wives and a of * * * the home environment." guide to their children; they managethe family fi- research continued to investigatethe family and inter- nances. The wives wantchildren, help them in ways personal relations during the191'Os, unfortunately rela- with other similar to the husbands, and share indecisionmaking. tively little was accomplished compared 90 percent are detailed analyses Of the topics of conversation, more than aftas of research. Nonethel6s, some behavior, domestic conducted as well as a about personality, health, deviant of portrayals of families were female family members effects on family life and concerns, and jobs. Male and few studies of television's initiate conversation about equally.Husband-wife in- social interactions. teractions are more frequent' thanparent-child. Par- ents are likely to interactwith children of the same sex as themselvei. Television's Families In black families, 10 of 19 aresingle-parent families, twice the number of single'-parentwhite families, but in white Portrayal of family life has been ontelevision from divorce .rate and family size are the same as 218 ,fictional families ap- families. (4) Almost all black families aremade up of the beginning. Many of the do not seem pearing since 1946 are known andloved by millions of immediate family members; black families and nephews, and other Americans. The Nansens, the Rileys,the Nelsons, the to have cousins, in-laws, nieces Ricardos and the Mertzes,- extended family. There are more blackmothers than Andersons, the Cleavers, the Interac- the Kramdens and the Nortons,the Bunkers and the fathers, but more black brothers than sisters. and the Bradfords, tion among black families is differentfrom that of Stivics, the Wal tons, the Jeffersons, of the to name only a few, havebecome a part of American white families. In the black families, 60 percent interactions are between males; the sonis the most collective history and culture. conflict in About 40-50 families are on the air everyweek on active member of the family. There is more predominintly on the wife; prime time and Saturdaymorning television. (1) black families, centered consist of two parents one-third of the wives' actions involved"going against" About one-third of these families conflict in sibling with children or a single parentwith children, and their husbands. There is also more about onefifth are marriedcouples with no children. relationships. - groupingscousins, A systematic analysis of programingfor three tele- The others are various family and modes of aunts and uncles, in-laws, and so on.Half dr.; mar- vision seasons focused on the directions

67 family interaction. (5) The directions were "going nant upward-mobility theme. The investigators believe away" as in evasion, "going against" as in attacking, that these two themes serve to weaken the dignity and and "going toward" as in giving support or infor- legitimacy of working-class family lifestyle by both 'mation. In 90 percent of all interactions, the direc- emphasis and omission. They perceive that the "inept tion of family members was "going toward" some- father" theme results in a working-class family being oneoffering information, seeking information, giving regarded only ascomical. Although the upward- directions and so on. Parents were most likely to give mobility theme typically appears in working-class fam- directions and support. "Going away" occurred less ilies that are depicted with dign:ty, the strong tirive to than1 percent of the time. "Going against" ranged achieve middle-cass status by many of the characters from 10 to 15 percent in the three seasons. Most con- tells the audience that the working class is something flict was between spouses or a pair of siblings that to escape front rather than a life that has many desir- included a brother. able features. How television portrays social class family lifestyles Middle-class families are usually different. The hus- has been the concern of one project which collected band is intelligent, strong, and mature, but the wife is extensive historical and qualitative data on 218 "fam- often something of a giddy fool. In many middle-class ily series." (6) These were defined as prim4time net- fa'rnilies, however, both parentsare "superpeople" work shows in which the main characters are mem- heroeswho are able to deal effectively with any prob- bers of a family and in which most of the interactions lem, always rational and wise. But another change are amo ,g family members at home. Most of them during the 1970s was the decline of the working-class (86 percent) were half-hour situation comedies like husband 'and father as the buffoon and the rise in I Love Lucy, but some were family,dramas like The middle-class families of many more silly, laughable Waltons(6percent),family-comedy-dramaslike characters., Eight is Enough (1.8 percent), serials like Dallas (1.4 These investigators speculate on possible effects of percent), adventure series like Lassie (3.2 percent), the portrayals. These suggest that, working-class chil- and cartoons li.ke .The Flintstones (.9 percent). dren may be left with the impression that their fathers All the families were categorized according to social are laughing stock to the rest of the world. Similarly, class as indicated by the occupation of the head of even though the upward-mobility in so many working- the household. The main distinction was between class families may at first seem to provide positive manual and mental labor or between working and models, actually this emphasis may suggest that no one middle class. should want to 'stay in the working clasg but instead The content analysis showed that television families should be striving to move out of it. Furthermore, this are much more likely to be in the middle class than upward mobility implies that it is easy to attain success in the working class. In fact in almost half of them, and to move almost without effort into the middle class ; / the heads of households are classified as professionals television does not show how many strains accompany and about a fourth as managers. With working-class such "rising" in the world. The idealized middle:class or blue-collar workers, the opposite is true; only 19 'family may also present unattainable goals for television percent of television families are in the working class. Many of television's families are glamorous and viewers and thus lead them to question the adequacy of successful, much more so than in real life. 'They sel- their own families. Much more research, however, dom have problems of making ends meet; most of them needs to be done to test the validity of these ideas. seem to be quite successful economically. Many have servants, usually a maid. Unlike real life, there are Television's Effects on the relatively few working wives. The families have stayed just about the, same for Family and Social Relations the past 32 years,bittrecently there were a few changes. The most striking change was a drop in num- It has been hypothesized that viewers learn family ber of middle-class families and a corresponding rise roles and how to solve family problems by 'watching during the 1970s in the number of self-employed and television families. Another assumption is that tele- work ing-cla.ss families. vision may be changing attitudes about how parents These analyses led to the discernment of two re- and siblings should behave. Other assumptions are that curring themes over the years in the wOrking-class fam- portrayals of family members provide information ilies: One theme is the father as dumb and bumbling, about communication between family members and and the other is the emergence in the 19705 of a dorrii- that children may question their own value and self-

S '

T-f 'worth as a result of their underrepresentation on eve, Program selection is.partly dependent on other mem- ning programs. bers of the family Who are watching. In a study of about Despite these .hypotheses and assumptions, the ef- 200 junior and senior high school students, a relation- fects of television portrayals on family life and role ship was found between the presence of others and socialization have been the subject of only a little re- the type of program viewed. (12) Brothers and sisters

.. search. One of the few studies is a major survey of Were often present for humorous shows, and parents over 600 children in the fourth, sixth, and eighthgrades Were more likely to be present for aggressive and "real" in urban areas of both California and Michigan. (7) shows, for example, news programs. It is not known Preliminary results are: Watching family dramas like whether children adapt their viewing to who is pres- The Waltons and/Or shows with small children in them ent or whether they seek certain companions for cer- was related to a belief thai real-lifefamilies are co- tain shows. operative and helpful ; but watching shows with broken Parents, it is agreed, seem to worry about the amount families and/or with teenagers in them led to beliefs of violence and sex on television but not about the that families are antagonistic, verbally aggressive, and amount of time their children look at television. One punitive. reason often given for lack of concern about amount of In addition to concerns about the specific effects of viewing is that parents, unaware of how much of the television portrayals of families, there has been interes time their children are watching, underestimate the in the general effects of telerision on family life and amount of violence they see. There also is evidence that interactions. , mothers may not recognize how much their children Families spend about half their waking hours at respond to television content. (13) Children, according home watching television. This means that television to their own accounts, perceive more violence than has influenced family behavior, even if only in bringing their mothers do, and mothers underreport how fright- members together infront of the set. Also, since many enedtheirchildrenareafterwatchingscary areas of family functioning are not established by any programs. (14) of the norms of society but are developed within .the Parents do not exert much control over television families themselves, it is possible that families will ac- viewing in most families. (15) By the time children are cept the behavior they see on television as legitimate in senior high school, there is essentially no guidance. and perhaps as behavior to be emulated. Among sixth graders, 39 percent reported that their Television viewing is ofteP done with other mem- families had some rules about television, but only 18 bers of the family. Neilsen data from 1975 indicate that percent of tenth graders said that they were restricted 70 percent of prime time viewing is by an adult together by any rules about amount of viewing. Even less corn: with a child. (8) The number of television sets in the mon is guidance on whether or not children areal- home affects this pattern; in multiset households, 43 lowed to watch specific programs. In one study, chil- percent of viewing was between siblings, and 33 per- dren age 6 to 12 said their parents controlled the cent was by husband and wife watching together. (9) amount of time they looked at television but did not Television seems to have changed the ways in which tell them what., or what not, to look at. (16) In another family interaction occurs. (101 When the set is on, study, in response to a question about guidance, 85 there is less conversation andjess interaction. The data percent of both mothers and their children age 9 to 1.1. also suggest that there is more privatization of experi- replied, "none." (17) ence; the family may gather around the set,but they Parental comments to children about shows seem to remain isolated in their 'attention to it. With multiple be more frequent when the children are older. (18) sets in many homes this separation is increasedfor Examples of the kinds of comments ordinarily made "Real life is less simple than TV," or "there are both children and adults. . are : Families must decide what to look at when more better ways to solve problems than violence," or "real than one person wants to .watch television. (11) In life is not like that." general, the norms of society prevail when these de- In an observational study, children 3 to 5 years old. cisions are made: Male "wins" over female, older chil- were brought with their mothers and fathers to a dren over younger, and father over mother and chil- laboratory furnished as a living room. (19) They dren. But television has brought one interesting change. were observed while the television.set was onand dur- In a surprisingly large number of instances, parents ing a "family playtime" while the set was off. When defer 'to the wishes of their children. Children thus looking at television, the children talked less, often have emerged as arbiters of what the family will less active, and less oriented toward their parent, view pley have become family decisionmakers. might be expected. An unexpected finding was that r

,69 t'y

0 C

there was more touching between the 'child and parent has been show, through observation of nine families. (27) Parents, ithas also been shown, can be induced to during television viewing. o A study with black or Spanish-surnamed preschool use guidance. In ont study, after television guides were .children and Their parents was designed'to learn if niailed to parents for 6 weeks, the children reported television would facilitate interaction betWeen parent dley were receiving" more comments about the pro- and child. (20) In one gt.oup, theinteraction focused /grams they watched. (28) . on a toy seen on -television ; inanother, it 'focused on Television and tension in the family were the sub- anything except television; and in a third group, the/jects of another study in which two possible outcomes parents were encouraged not to talk witltheir chil-/were proposed: (29) One was that the noise oftelevi- dren. ResuIts showed that television in reased the sion would aggrevate tension, and the other was that interaction of the parents but not of-The c ildren,al- tele6sion eiewing would be used- to, avoid tense' in- though the children did show less egocen ric .spech. teractions and expr'essions of anger. A sample of 64 The influence of different faMiilyom4iunicion persons were interyieWecror filled out a 'questionnaire patterns on television viewing also has- be n asking for example, "Is anyone you live Yrith too criti- (.1?/ Family cominunication patterns were classified cal or faultfinding?" and "Are you often moody?" Re- in two types: "socio-oriented" faMilies whoery4hasize sults showed a 'positive relation between.television time harmony and agreement in interpersonal relations, and and family tension which was interpreted as support- "concept-oriented". families who emphasize dissent and ing the hypothesis that television is used to cope with free-expression of opinion. One study founfd that chil- tense family situations. dren from socio-oriented families adopVdtheir fam- Other favorable functions of television have also ilies' ,viewing habits. (22 IAnother st3idy found that been suggested. One group of researchers believes that the socio-oriented families watched/more television television helps promote the accessibility of family and- used it toyeach interpersonal oVjectives. (23)For rnernbers to others in the family and also allows teen- concept-oriented families, television was not a 'useful' agers .to "legitimize" daydreaming while seemingly social resource, but they did use/It to transmit values watching television. (30) Another investigator has con- for exercising authority. In a sureey of heads of house- structed an elaborate classification system of the posi- holds with children between.and 15 years old, the tive functions of television viewing as a social resource family 'communication patterns were related to tele- in the family. (3/ ) The social uses of teleeision are vkion use. (24 ,)Concept-6riented .families had rules divided into the strUctural uses (use as background concerning the content ,of programs to be watched, " ois'e" or to regulate time and activity) and relational and both types of families used television for social s (facilitating communication, social learning,etc.). control. High socio-oriented famlies and low concept- This_syste_m may be valuable in future research. oriented families---hoth protectivewere highest in As is evident, much of the research on families has social control. consisted of content analyses. Most investigators in this As indicated .in the dikussion of the effects of tele- field believe that television families almost certainly vision commeYcials, many studies confirm that chil- influence viewers' thinking about real-life families. dren's behavior is shaped by advertising, but it is not Television characters can shape ideas and attitudes known if this consumer behavior has a positive or nega- about families, and suggest what husbands and wives tive effect on interpersonal relations between mother are supposed to do and how parents shouldinteract and child or among members of a family. In-one study with their children. It hasheen proposed, however, that in which a projective test was used to measure re- future content analysed shotire.re-Xamine more of the sponses to advertising, when children describedwhat .latent content of television and its more subtle messages Might happen if aparent ditinot buy the product, their and also give more attention to communication and response showed that television advertising couldlead interpersonal behavior. to family conflict. (25) Another study comparingchil- More research is needecLon_farailies_with different dren's choices of an advertised toy with other socially patterns of communication; typologies developed inthe -desirable alternatives found that children who saw the sociological research on marriage and the family might advertisement chose to play with the toy rather than be' applicable. There also is a conspicuous neglect of with a friend, thus suggesting that television commer- research on the influence of siblings and peers. cials may be influencing interpersonal relations. (26) Much of the research on fainilial (and Other inter- That parents can help their children to understand personal) irifluences on television use can be faulted television advertisements and tou& skills beyond those because of too much focus on parental control pf a usually found at their stage of cognitive development child's viewing time. Such research seems to 'assume

70 t1 d t the "parent molds the child," but recent work in tions is thatmOst television research still operates on d development shows how much impact even very the basis of the two-variable model. It continues to ask, voiMg children can have on their parents' behavior. "Is there an'effect on television?" Instead it should ask, The finding that parents let their children select tele- "Under what conditions is an effect most likely?" To visopnagrarns for them is a case in point. investigate interpersonal effects, researchers need to use From the methodological point of view, one of the the family or peer group as the unit of analysis and to problents with studies on the family and soeial rela- investigate the processes associated with television .use.

Refrences

( / )Hinel M., Greenberg, andBuerkel, N. An analysis G. A. Comstock, and J. P. Murray (Eds.), Television of fmilyrt riideracctions on commercial television. and social behavior (Vol. 4). Television and day-to- Prot ct CASTLE, Report No. ,6; Department of Corn- day life: Patterns (IT use. Washington :U.S. Govern- mun ation, Michigan State University, East Lansing, ment Printing Office, 1972. 1977. Szalai, A. (Ed.) The use of time: Daily activities of Buerkel- othfuss, N., Greenberg, B., and Neuendorf, urban and suburban populgtions in twelve countries. It.l. seasons of family role interactions on corn- The Hague: Mouton, 1972. mercia .television. Project CASTLE, Report No. 8, (11) Bower, R. T., 1973. Op. cit. Depart ent of Communication, Michigan State Uni- Lyle, J., and Hoffman, H. R. Children's use of television versity,ast Lansing, 1978. and other media. In E. A. Rubinstein, G. A. Com- Greenberg, B., Buerkel-Rothfuss, N., Neuendorf, K., stock ; and J. P. Murray (Eds.) Television anil social and Atki :C. Thive seasons of television family role behavior, (Vol. 4). Television in day-to-day life: interactio s. In B. Greenberg (Ed.), Life on televi- Patternsofuse.Washington:U.S. Government sion. Norwd, N.J.: Ablex Press, 1980. Printing Office, 1972. (2) Johnson, F., Davis, L., and McNamee, S. Familial re- (12) Chaffee, S. H., and Tim.s, A. R. Interpersonal factors lationships,\topics, and conversation styles in family in adolescent television use. Journal of Social Issues, interactions\on television in the U.S.A. Unpublished 1976, 32, 98-115. report, University of Massachusetts, 1978. (13) Rossiter, J. R., and Robertson, T. S. Children's tele- (3) Fisher, D., and \ Dean, D. The realism' of marital and vision viewing: An examination of parent-child con- and parental roles on television. Unpublished report,, sensus. Sociometry, 1975, 38, 308-326. St. Lawrence University, Canton, N.Y., 1976. (14) Abel, J1 D, and Beninson,M. E. Perceptions of TV (4) Greenberg, B. S., tnd Burek-Neuendorf, K. Black family program violence bchildren and mothers. Journal

interactions on Atelevision't In B. S. Greenberg (Ed.), of Broadcastinz, 1976, 20, 355-363. Life on television. Norwood, N.J.: Ablex Press, 1980. Cantor', J. R., and Reilly, S. Children's enduring fright (5 )Hines, K., Greenberg, B., and Buerkel, N., 1977. Op. cit. reactions to mass media. Paper presented at th'e meet- Buerkel-Rothfus4., N., Greenberg, B., and Neuendorf, ing of the Internationar Communication Association, K., 1978, Op. cit.\ Acapulco, Mexico, 1980. Greenberg, B. S., Buerkel-Rothfuss, N., Neuenclorf, K., ( /5) McLeod, J. M., Bybee, C. R., and Durall, J. A. De- and Atkin, A., 1980. Op. cit. cisionmaking byadolescentchildren. and their. (6) Butsch, R., and Glennon, L. M. Families on TV: mothers. Unpublished manuscript, Mass Communica- Where was the working class? Televisions, 1980, 7, tions Research Center, University of Wisconsin-Madi- 10-12. son, 1978. Butsch, R. J., andG\lennon,L. M. The portrayal of (16) Streicher, L. H., and Bonney, N. L. Children talk social classin television family series 1947-1977: about television. Journal of Communication, 1974, 24 Paper presented at the meeting of the Eastern (3), 54-61. Sociological Society, New York, 1979. (17) Mohr, P. J. Parental guidance of children's viewing Glennon, L. M., and Blitsch, R. J. The devaluation of of evening television programs. lournal of Broadcast- working classlifestyleintelevision family series, ing, 1979, 23, 213-218. Paper presented at the meeting of the (18) McLeOcl, J. M., Bybee, C. R, and Dural!, J. A., 1978. Popular Celture Association, BalOmore, 1977. pp cit. (7) %L1947-1977.uerkel-Rothfuss, N., Greenberg, /B., and Atkin, C. (19) Brody, G. H., Stoneman, Z., and Sanders, A. K. Effects Children's family role learning from television. Un- of television on family interactions: An observational 4 published report, Michigan State University, East study. Family Relations, 1980, 29, 216-220. rrLansing, 1981. (20) Williams, F., Smart, M. E., and Epstein, R. H: Useof (8 I Robertson, T. S. Parental mediation of television ad- commercial television in parent and child interac- vertising effects. Journal of Communication. 1979, i'; tion. Journal of Broadcasting, 1979, 23, 229-236. 29(1), 12-25. (21) Chaffee, S. H., and McLeod, J. M. Adolescent television ()Bower, R. T. Television and the public. New York: and Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1973. 4use in the family context. In G. A. Comstock 0) Robinson,ru. P. Television's impact on everyday life: E. A. Rubinstein (Eds.), Television and social be- Some cross-national evidence. In E. A. Rul;instein, havior (Vol. 3). Television And cdolescent aggressiveness. Washington:U.S. Government Printing social interactidn in family group viewing situations. Office. Paper presented at the meeting of the Association (22) Abel, J. D. The family and child teleyision viewing. _for Education' injournalism, Seattle, 1978. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 1976, 38, 331 Reid, L. M., and ,Frazer, C. R. Children's interactional 335, experience with television advertising as an index of '(23) Lull, J. Family communication patterns and the social viewingsoihistication: A symbolicinteractional uses of television. Communications Research,1980, study. POer presented at the meeting of the As- sociation for Educationin Journalism, Houston, 7, 319-.334. 1979( (24) Fry, D., and McCain, T. Controlling children's tele- (28) Heald, G. R. Television viewing guides and parental vision viewing: Predictors of family.televirion rules recommendations. Journalism Quarterly, 1980, 57, and their relationship to family communication pat- 141-145. terns. Paper presented at the meeting of the Assoda- (29) Rosenblatt, P. C., and Cunningham, Mt R. Television don for Education in Journalism, Boston, 1980. watching and family tension. Pursial of Marriage and (25) Sheikh, A. A., and Moleski, L. M. Conflict in the the Family, 1976, 38, 105-111. farnily over commercials. Journal of Communica- (30) Faber, R. J., Brown, J. D., and McLeod, J. M. Coming tion, 1977, 27(1), 152-157. of age in the global village: Television and adoles- (26) Coldberg, M. E., and Corn, G. J. Some unintended cence. In E. Wartella (Ed.)', Children communicat- consequences of television advertising to children. ing: Media and development of thought, speech, and Journal of Consumer Research, 1978, 5, 22-29. understanding. Beverly Hills: Sage, 1979. (27) Reid, L. M., and Frazer, C. R. A sociological study of (31) Lull, J. The social uses of television. Human Com- children's use of television commercials to initiate munication Research, 1980, 6, 197-209.

72 ,Chapter VIII' Television in AmericanSociety

The impact of television on Americansociety has tion would almost; certainly be tested in the courts,iud . instigating such attracted the interest of behavioral and socialscientists the FCC has shown little interest in for the past 30 years. To understand the effects oftele- tests. Federal government policies have soine in- vision, they say, it is neCessary to understand the struc- - Certain ture of American television, how decisions aremade in fluence 'on what appears on television. One is the the industry, how and why the content iscreated, who "fairness doctrine" stipulating that, if they cover con- determines the nature of the content, and what isthe troversial public issues, broadcasters should include various points of vie`w; and the other is the "equal 'role of the audience in the process. The United States has 1,021 television stationsof . time" provision which'. states that broadcasters must businesses. give equal access to political candidates. TheFederal which 753 ate privately owned commercial the television sta- Trade Commission, under its authority to protect The other 268 are public or educational by adver- tions supported by public appropriationsand private public from deceptive or misleading claims by its contributions. About 95 percent of diedience's view- tisers, can have an effect on commercial stations jUdicial sys- is spent--watching commercial television. rulings against advertisers. The Federal ing time television, espe- American televisionis essentially synonymous with tem has played a role in structuring cially in conection With antitrust actions. Anexample commercial television. that reSultql Because, commercial stations must be profitable to is a Jiisticb Department suit in 1972 r they achieve their reve- inthe networks divesting themselves of program stay in business and because the nue ,through 'advertising, they must amass:an aw,- production. In this era of renewed emphasis on States and municipalities, itis worth noting that dience---or a marketfor their advertisers. Entertain- role at ment, programs draw the largestaudience. Although neither the States nor the cities now play any television industry. commercial stations broadcast otherkinas of pro- all in licensing or regulating the documentalies, educa- The Federal government, then, doeshave poten- gramsnews, public affairs, the indus- tionentertainment programs Are as a wlvle tile most tially profound power over television, and shadow of this power. popular. Arne.ican television at its heartentertain- try must do its business in the But the, government has not chosen to movein the ment television. The Amer- The Federal Communications Commission(FCC), direction of specific controls or mandates. Act of ican televiSion industry is remarkablyfree to create established by the Federal Communications what it wishes. sanctions its own programs and to broadcast 41934, issues licenses to broadcastets and thus three net- broadcasting Commercial televisiOn is dominated by the the structure of American tele4ision. A the Co- station must operate in the public interest ifiPis to be wodcsthe American Broadcalig Company, lumbia Broadcasting System, and theNational Broad- _granted a license. This requires a ".reasonable" amount used before, prograining. While casting Company. In fact, to echo a phrase ,of news and community-oriented with net- theTCC can revoke a license if a broadcasterdoes not commercial television is almost synonymous televlsion 'industry has "codes" adhere to this requirement, licenses havebeen re- work television. The both by to which the programs areexpected to conform,a9S voked only rarely. The FCC is constrained depattments that apply ihe language of its authorizing statute and by the free the networks have standards Amenclment from interfer- the codes in making decisions aboutthe acceptability press guaranty of the First however, the most F.CC probably "could of particular programs. Actually, ing in programing. Although the competition for do more to influence the cOntent of programs,such ac- important 'arbiter of broadcasting is

73 'the audience. As a matter or fact, it has been said reaucratic form of organization. Most aireaucracies that the true function of American teleyision is not to are hierarchical, with ti..t decisionmakingPower vested entertain or to educate but to provide a, audience for in a few individuals at the top of the bureaucratic advertisers. The networks have the final decisions on pyramid. But the American broadcasting industry is what programs to broadcast, but they also must per- somewhat complicated by the fact that several differ- suade local stations that they can provide them with ent organized bureaucraciesthe local stations, the programs that Will draw large audiences. In this con- production companies, and the various unionsare

nection, it might be mentioned that television pro- invoived in the creation and broadcasting of the . grams in many.other countries are determined by what' pmgrams. is judged as the public interest, not just by their popu- The content of television is not determined by those larity and market value. who broadcast the programs but bfrthe producers. (4) Yet the producers must provide Material that will be The Production of Prime Time bought by the networks, and the networks must please the local stations. The three networks finance most of Television the productions, and the final decisions are made by a Television and its programs do not just happen. few network officials who are far removed from the They are plannedkoducts of a huge, wealthy, and details of the creative Production process. The networks highly competitive commercial enterprise. The televi- are involved all along the way in the planning and sion industryits stations, networks, production com- production process. As a first step, the producer pres- panies, actors, writersis responsible for selecting, ents a story idea to a network executive. If the decision creating, and distributing the progams. What follows is favorable, the producer goes ahead with the script. will focus primarily, on dramatic programsthe epi- But even if the script is finished and bought by the sodic series, the movies made for television, and the network, there is no guarantee that it will be used for mini-series--in other words, the most popular kinds a pmgram. The network can abort a project at any time. Or the network can ask for a rewrite either by of programs. (/ ) the same writer or by someone else. The script, if all Dramatic programs produced specifically for tele- goes well, is then used-as a basis for a programa pilot vision have filled most of television's time since about 1967. With the advent of cable andpay television film, a series, a miniseries, a movie. The network leases the program for two showings. and of video discs and tapes, the television movie is rapidly gaining in importance. In the 1970s, how- Rights to sell to other markets remain by law with the producer not with the network. But the large audiences ever, the episodic programs or series, usually appearing for a half hour or an hour per week, were the commanded by the networks are the major determinants of. success in making later sales, so that the most popular. (2) A series has a central theme run- pmducers are dependent on the networks not only for ning throughout, but each program is a self-contained the first showings but for later showing as well. "chapter." This means that a viewer can watch one Although the networks dominate television, alterna- show or a few shows which can be seen in any se- tives are on the horizon. In 1977, a cooperative called quence. The format isideal for broadcasting and Operation Prim&Time was formed by a group of sta- especially for rebroadcasting or syndication. tions. (5) This group is.beginning to finance the pro- The past 10 years have seen several changes in tele- duction of more and More programs. Movies sold vision drama.. (3) The action-adventure-police series directly to cable and pay television broadcasters may decreased (except on reruns), and the situatior. corn- also challange the networks during the next several : edies grew in popularity. Topics_previously conskiered years. taboo emerged :unmarried Couples living together, in 1980, there were 20 television producers, with 9 more divorces, divorced women raising children, and of them doing most of the production. (6) The pro: more single career wonien. Politically controversial dramatic programs, such as Roats,bec,rne acceptable. ducers fall into two groups: first, the independent pro- Other changes will undoubtedly take place in the ducers, and second, the large production companies, future; the situation comedy will probably begin to which also make movies, phonograph records, video --discs and tapes. The large companies all operate in .1lose ground, and the movies, the miniseries, and the series with a soap opera format, like Dallas, may much the same way. They have an executive producer become more prevalent. who is responsible for several programs and on-line pro- Mass communications are organized activities. The ducers who are in charge of day-to-day work on a pro- work is done by groups of people arranged in a bu- gram. In the independent companies, some of the on-

74 J suming whatever is presenteu to them. And someob- line prxlucers also functionals executive producers servers, of course, take amidule stance; the audience, primarily as, a means ofmaintaining control. After a they say, has a certain amount of influence,mainly.in- program has been"purchaSed" by a network, the pro- They hire the cast direct, on what they can.-watch on television. ducerskil .te quite a bit of power. and the writers. i'wo important points need to be made: One is'that except jerhaps the stars, thedirecto Tire-fey one d cut. and edit there are many different audie ces, not They handle the story development be overlooked are cf. the same tasks large monolithic mass. Also not the film 9r tape. They carry out many the "pressure groups" which dur ngthe 1970s were directors of feature movies. In fact,it can be . as the aCtive in advocating many kinds oChanges in televi- said that Ithe feature movie is adirector's medium and sion content and whosei impact oneramatic programs television\ is a producer's medium. substantial than peo le realize. These become more pow- may be more Actors, \ especially the stars, have includ d the American ( 7) Often they constitute the groups have, at various times, erful in recent years. Medical Associatibn, tile Parent-Teac ersAssociation, main attraction of a program,rather than the story:. , the National Organization for Women, andAction for plot or th e direction. ,Throughtheir union activities, other whys in- Children's Television, among many oth rs. the actors can stop prixluction and in Notwithstanding arguments about wh controlstele- individual fluence the industry. Nevertheless, for most visionthe_puhlic's evaluation of televisin ispredom- The most famous movie actors, poiver is ephemeral. inantily favorable. (10) This evaluation canbe attrib- could probably exert more power stars and personalities television regular tele- uted to the "cybernetic effectiveness" of t l e than they do, but few of thern appear on through audie ce ratings. wealthiest stars need to system and its use of feedback vision shows. And even the tele ision loses- support if they wish to start If a program is not liked, it is stopped. If turn to Others for financial favor with the public, changes are made untithe favor productioe companies. television, the writers-- is restored. , . Of all the people working in Some aspects of television arouse the audience'shos- the_stereotype of the "creativeartists" are most like tility. Many of the visually exciting eventshave been the novelists, poets,- orpainters\hut also have the About half Writers often see called disturbing, offensive,lor irritating. least power and little responsibility. the adult audience thinks that sometelevisron pro- themselves 'as artists or educators.(8) Some of them , into their scri ts, and grams are unsuitable forchildren. (11) Violence is trY to work rHactic messages about that they would prefer Ito write especially disliked. There is increasing concerv many of them claim sexual behav. drama for the theater or other kindsof fiction. Aside "moral issues," including bad language, explqitation from, writing the dialog anddevising the situations, ioiT alcohol consumption, smoking, lying, t ision writers do not believe their workis of children, and so on. Thesecriticisms havel led to most tele A 'erican very crea ive.Their work is routit'iely subject to re- opposition by various groups such as the Asso- writing, and their scripts can bechanged by practically Medical Association and the Parent-Teachers ciation. (12) The opposition extends toobjecti nable anyone in theproduCtion process. I advertising and also to the advertiserswho arpin- pointed as sponsoring undesirable programs.(13 \ The Public's Attitude Toward Even though the public seems tobe generally satis- Television fied with television, there areenough signs of d.i satisfaction to suggest that changes maybe forthcomin How does the audience fitinto this whole power structure? (9) How much powerand responsibility Television's Effects onAmerican dues it really iuve? The answers areequivocal, and the to.ic is controversial.Som.: people, mainly .the[ Social Institutions broadcasters, assert that the audienceis all-powerful in determining the content oftelevision shows. The The pervasive presence oftelevision throughout shows are planned and producedsolely to please the American life has had an impact on someof theipasic audience possible. audience and to obtain the largest social institutions throughout theculture and way of those who maintain that At the other extreme are life. These include laws and norms,publicsectirity, little or no power. They people in ,the audience have citizenship, religion, and leisure. when the programs are planned.Only are not consulted Most of the research on television'seffects on laws atter a program is on the air can anaudience react to and norms has takenplace in the context of studiesof it. Thfy really are passive andhelpless, docilely con- vioIence, aggression, arid other antisocr behavior. it In addition, many people who get theirnews from That violence on television is cOrrelated w1th aggressive ttlevision are those who previously gotno ,news at all. behavior is now well docume.nted 'in both laboratory Television has brought them into the cultural main- and field studies. (14') Specific prOgrams also have been stream. Therefore, through Its, power as a conveyer of followed by antisckial acts, as, for example, the spate news, television can be viewed as molding the beliefs of bomb threats coming closely after the television play, and actions of the country's citizens. Doomsday Flight. (15) Such findings are said to show' Television has obviously reshaped American politics that television may contribute to disruption of the and changed the behavior of politicians and of politi- social order.. cal campaigning. (20) The eviaence thus far, how- Another of television's effects on societal norms, it \ever, suggests that it has little, if any, effect on voters' has been claimed, is to reinforce the status quo., (16) choices, though it may help to sharpenor reinforce the Television portrayals, especially those in violent drama, .choices. (21) Television, over the next severalyears, assign: roles of authority, power, success, and failure 'may well become the dominant force in Americannews in a way that matches real-life social hierarchies, and and politics, and then it will be faced,even more than thus they perpetuate power, on the one hand, and now, with the chillenge of how to present information subservience, on the other. Furthermore, it has been and issues rather than only the drama and personalities argued that teleVision contribUtes 'ina homogeniation of politics. of society and to an assimilation of middle-class values Behavioral scientists have-&ne almostno research throughout the population. (17) Television certainly on teleVision's effects on religious behavior. There is has become a shared experience for :people from all some evidence that television has reduced the time walks of life. But how potent a force it actually is in viewers spend' on conventional religion, but that is maintaining Of changing the country's laws andnorms about all. (22) About 13 millionadults watch the 're- remain-s to be explored through additional research ligious services broadcast on televisionon Sunday and analysis. Mornings. Perhaps some of the audience cannot getout The effects of television on public security have been to attend a regular church service, perhaps some pre- illustrated in terms of its attention-gettingpower and fer services on television, and some undoubtedly attend by the impact of dramatically vividcoverage of an church at a different hour than they watch religious event on subsequent events. For...example, it is said that services on television. the television broadcasts in color ,of the shooling ofan Some observers of the television scene have offered unarmed prisoner by a South Viet Nam general may theories and opinions relevant to television's impacton have mobilized opposition to the war. (18) Another religion. (23) For example, it has been said that tele- example is the apparently serial nature of 'terrorist and vision itself has many of the characteristics ofa religion., otber violent events, in which oneevent seems tO lead Its messages are often received without)question,aL- to another. Assassination attempts are a frightening most as an act of faish, It communicates, values,and in- case in point. Perhaps the ubiquity and prominence of terpretations of the wOrld not only directly but im- television coverage are an explanation. Political and plicitly in the kinds of programs and in the attributes 'other demonstrations seek televisioncoverage to be of the television performers and portrayals. Theprom- sure "the whole world is watching!" This coverage not inence of television in the thought processes ofmany only reports the events but is important in shaping seriously mentally ill patients is one line of evidence them. These attempts to gain television coyerage on be-, that television is becoming like a religious institution. half of a cause or goal may culminate in actions that "Religiosity" is well known as a feature of schizo- directly affect public security. All these examples raise phrenia, the most serious thought disorder. Delusions many questions about television's 'ethics and policies, about characters on entertainment televisionare now 'and they may be the subject of debate during thenext found in the reported thoughts of many schizophrenic smeral years. patients, just as delusions about religious figures have Television is now a primary source of news for most coinmonly beep found in centuries past. A quasi-mys- Americans, many of whom rank televisionas the most tical link to entertainment figures seemsnow to be as useful, credible, and relied upon of all the media. (19) common as the quasi-mystical link to religious figures Beginning in 1970, newspaper circulation began to fall often found among the seriously mentally ill. in relation .to numbers in the population. Whether or Television has altered the ways Americans spend not this drop can be blamed on television is uncertain, their leisure time, no doubt about it. Television ranks But it is plausible that more people are now depending third behind sleep and work in the amount of time on television, especially those who have grown up with spent on it. (74) This devotion to television is not the

76 So same in all segments of society.(25) People in lower fiction, poetry, and drama decreased from 22 percent socioeconomic strata, women, the elderly, and minority to 13 percent of the book publishing business,although groups have been most influenced intheir allocations the absolute numbers of books published increased. of free time because they watch the most. Yet it is pos- Library circulation of fiction decreased much rhore sible that the more affluent are affected also, mainly than nonfiction. And radio shifttl dramatically from by being drawn away from other leisure activities, a national to a local medium. Not only has television changed, the ways in which Television's effects on sports, though it probably is Americans spend their time, but it has changed other considerable, is hard to pinpoint. Television may harm leisure activities as well. It has drastically cut down on a sport by keeping people awayfrom the stadium, but the general audience for movies; consequently to lure at the same time it may support it throughfees paisl special audiences, movies now contain more extreme by broadcasters to cover it. Television cutainly has violence, horror, and explicit sex. (p6) Television may drawn attention to some sports, like tennis and soccer, have caused the demise of certain general magazines, and to many cultural events as well. It made football like the Satarday Evening Post, Collier's, andLook, the most popular national sport and created, a new because funding for advertising wa.s withdrawn and national holiday with parties, celebrations, and all the shifted to television. ,Sale of comic books was cut in trappings of a festive occasion-the day of the Super half between 1930 and 1970. Publication of books of

References

analysis. (1) Cantor, M. G. Prime-time television: Content and con- (15) Bandura, A. Aggression: A social learning trot. Beverly Hills: Sage, 1980. EngleWood Cliffs, N.J.:. Prentice-Hall, 1973. and (2) Tunstall, J. Themedia are American:Anglo-American (16) Gerhner, C., Gross, L., Signorielli, N., Morgan, M., media are :4merican. New York: Columbia ;University JacksOn-Beeck, M. Violence profile no. 10: Trends in Press, 2977. network television drama and viewer conceptions of social reality. Annenberg School of ComMunications, (3)Report of the United States Commission on Civil Rights-Window dressing on the set. An update. Wash- University of Pennsylvania, 1979. ington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1979. Comstock, 0., C.haffee, S., Katzrnan, N., McCombs, M., 'Report of the United States Commission on Civil and Roberts, D., 1978. Op. cit. been Rights. Window dressing on Me set: Women and mi- Katzman, N. I. Television soap operas: What's norities in television. 'Washington: U.S. Government going on anyway? Public' Opinion Quarterly, 1972, c736, 200-212. Printing Office, 1979. of (4) Cantor, M. G. The Hollywood TV producer: His work Long, M. L., and Srrnon, R. J. The roles and statuses and his audience. New York; Basic Books, 1971. women on children and familyTV programs. Jour- nalism Quarterly, 1974. 51, 107-110. (5)FCC analysis Sf television Program production, pcqui- TV: sition, and distribution. Washington: Federal Com- Seggar, J., and Wheeler, P. World of work on munications Commission Network Inquiry Special Ethnic and sex repirsentation on TV drama. Jour- nal of Broadcasting, 1973, 17 , 201-214. Staff, 1980. (17) Bower, R. T., 1973. Op. cit. (6)FCC, 1980. Op. cit. Cantor, M. G., and Peters, A. K. The employment and Comstock, G., Chaffee, S.. Kauman, N., McComb, M., (7) and Roberts, D., 1978. Op. cit. unemployment of actors in the United States. In justice on .a MacDonald (18) Bailey, G. A., and Lirhty, L. W. Rough W. S. Hendon, J. L. Shanhan, and A. J. Tet t(Eds.), Economic policy for the arts. Cambridge, Saigon street: A rote-keeper study of NCC's JournalismQuarterly,1972,49, Mass.; Abt Books, 1980. executivefilm. Gans, H. J. Popular culture in America. New York: 221-229, 238. (8) (19) Bower, R. T., 1973. Op. cit. Basic Books, 1974. Mendelshon, H., and O'Keefe, G. J. The Peoplechoose (8)Cantor, M. G., 1980. Op. cit. Bower, R. T. Television and the public.New' York: a president. New York : Praeger,1976. (10) of televi- Holt, Rinehlit' , and Winston, 1973. Roper Organintion,,Inc. Public perceptions sion and other mass media: A twenty-yearreview (11) Bower, R. T., 1973. Op. cit. TelevisionInformaiion (12), Coinstock, G., Chaffee, S., Katzman, N.,McCombs, M., 1959-1978. New York: -and Roberts, D. Television and human behavior. Office, 1979. television. Chica- New York: Columbia University Press, 1978. (20) Lang, K., and Lang, G. E. Politics and (13) Slain, R. G., QuarfOrth, G. 'R., andMcConnachie, G. go; Quadrangle Books, 1968. Mendelsohn, H. A., and Crespi, 1Polls, television, and A.Television violence anditssponsors. Journal. the new Politics. San Francisco:Chandler, 1970. 'ol Communication, 1976, 26(1), 88-96. N., McComb, M., ((4) See references/ in the chapter on Violenceand Ag- (21) Comstock,.C., Chaffee, S., Katzrnan, and Robert, D., 1978. Op. cit. gression.

77 (22) Robinson, J. P. Television's impact on everyday life: meeting ofthe American AssociationofPublic Some cross-national evidence. In E. A. Rubinstein, G. Opinion Research, Aslieville, N.C., 1p76. A. Comstock, and J. P. Murray (Eds.), Television (24) Robinson, J. P., 1972. Op. cit. and social behavior (Vol. 4). Television 'and day-to- (25) Bogart, L. The age of television (3rd ed.) New "fork: day life: Patte,of use. Washington: U.S. Govern- Frederick Ungar, 1972.. Bower, R. T., 1973. Op. cit. ment Printing Office, 1972. Comstock, G., Chaffee, S., Katzman, N., McComb, M., (23) Gerbrfer, G. Do we really know anything about the Robert, D., 1978. Op. cit. long-range impact of television? Presented at the (26) Bogart, L., 1972. Op. cit.

78 Si Chapter IX Education and LearningAbout Television

television have, rnterest in teaching about televisionhas been a tion. Among adults, those who look at Many people on the average, spentthe fewest years in school. This significant development of the 1970s. interpreted to mean have become concerned about the effectsof television often reported finding has been children and on their own lives. that educational level "Causes" the amount ofviewing. on the behavior of around? Does Some have reacted to these concerns bywishing to But could the inference go the other way in childhood and regulate the television industry and itsprograming. the amount of television one watches accomplishment Contrarily, a constructive alternative tocontrol and adolescence contribute to educational involve some complex interaction censorship, it has been Said, is for the AmeriCanpublic or its lack? Does it about the medium of of ability, achievement, and aspirations? to acquire more sophistication 1950s, seem to, televisionto achieve television literacy andcritical Research findings, beginning in the viewing skills:The assumption is that 'greaterunder- agree that there is anegative association between mental ability or IQ; standing of*the medium may mitigate its possibleharm- amount of television viewing and benefiCial,effects. In the more viewing, the lower the IQ.( / ) The associa- ful effects and perhaps enhance its than for girls. Tbere addition, it is now widely believed that overthe next tion is much stronger for boys and also is a difference in the range ofIQ scores related to several years television will probably become more viewers, there isa educational systems, apd con- heayy and light viewing. For44ight more important in all heavy viewers there is sequently children, and adults as well, shouldlearn wide range or variance, and for television in much the a narrow range of scores.Because the studies are corre- to watch and to understar4d this stage of the same way as they learn to read and toacquire other lational, it is not possible to say at research whether those with lower IQsprefer to watch skills. heavy Another important and relevant area ofresearch a great deal oftelevision or whether being a is the relation of television to othereducational efforts, viewer leads to lower scores. television to aptitudes particularly traditional schooling. Specifically, this re- The research on,,relations of straightforward, and the results are search asks the question: Does televisionhave any or IQ is relatively the research on effect on educational achievement and aspirations? clear, especially when compared with achievement where the issues are morecomplex and the results more doubtful. In theearly research, a Educational Achievement typical approach was to compare groupswithout access to television with groupsthat had it or to compare Movies, comic books, radio, even booksallhave groups before andafter they had television. One of the introduction been accused, at times, of perniciousinfluences on the these studies found higher grades after changes ;. another found proper education of children.Television is the newest of television; another found,no had better vocab- target. Snme people, of course,believe that television that younger children with television still another is a reason for rejoicing, for it bringsknowledge about ularies until about the sixth grade; and nonviewers. (2) the whole world into people's homes.Othersare more found slightly, better grades among the studieS outside the neutral about it, saying that perhaps it has somebene- Pre- and post-ownership reception fits and advantages. But the most vocal group,heaps United States have provided the samemiXed findings. by a decline in many faults on television.Excessive' viewing, for ex- In Japan, television was accompanied particularly.for ample, was named by 49 percent ofrespondents to a time spent on homework andjeading, Finland, essen- 1976 Gallup poll as the cause of poor qualityof educa- fifth and seventh grade boys. (3) In

79 tially no differences in vocabulary were found. (4) These data seem straightforward, but the possibility In Venezuela, language arts and mathematies were of spurious results due to a failure to control for pos- higher in high school Aiudents with television in the sible confounding effects of such factors as IQ or socio- home. (5) In El Salvador reading skills went down economic status must be considered. IQ seems the most when a family acquired a. television set. (6) In the important of such variables. When IQ has been con- Canadian study, lescribed previously, the researchers trolled, reduced but still significant correlations are investigated what happened in three towns named, for derived for such achievement aspects as reading and research purposes, Notel, Unitel (one channel) , and language usage. (IQ) But the inhuence of viewer in- Multitel (several channels). (7), Before television came telligence on media effects may be even more compli- to Notel, the children in the second and third grades cated than suggested above. There appears to be con- had higher reading scores than those in Unitel, who in siderable. variability of effects betwyen viewers of low, turn were higher than* the Multitel children. But 2 medium, or high IQs. Among students with high IQs, years after Notel had television, the higher scores for heavy vieWing seems related to low achievement on

its second and third graders were gone.*, reading comprehensicin, language usage and structure, Two recent studies also report relatively strong nega- and total achievement test scores. This is true for both tive associations .between viewing and achievement. boys and girls. But for girls only, the negative relation One study compared sixth graders in homes with "con- holds also for vocabulary and mathematical concepts stant" 'television (the set was almost always on. in The and problems. In a related study, students with bette? afternoon and evening) with sixth graders from "non- educated parents were found to be low school achiev- constant" homes. (8) Two-thirds of the children from ers if they were heavy viewers. An unexplained finding the, "constant" homes read below the fifth-grade level, is that girls with low IQs who were heavy viewers were and in the "nonconstant" homes, two-thirds read above better in reading comprehension and vocabulary. the fifth-grade level. In the second study, young chil- Unlike many other areas of television research, there dren showed a large negative correlation between has been some research with adults which bears out the amount of viewing before they started school and their findings with high school students. (13) On tests of scores on reading, arithmetic, and language tests in the verbal intelligence, adults' scores were clearly related first grade. (9) to amount of viewingthe more the viewing, the Where extent of viewing is considered, almost all the lower the scores. The relations, however, were not quite research has found that older children beyond the as largejor nonwhites or for those w'rith less education. fourth graCle who watch television a great deal tend to have lower school achievement, especially in reading. (10) The correlations are not high, but the ten- Television and Reading dency is there. It has been proposed that a curvilinear relationship 'might account tor the low correlations. Findings showing reading comprehension to be lower Several large-scale, statewide assessment programs and for students who look at a great deal of television have other research support this possibility. (11) Among' led to a detailed examination of the relationship be- young strklents up to about the eighth grade, those who tween the amount of time spent on television viewing watch television about an hour or 2 a day get higher and the arnount spent on reading. (14) A group of scores on reading than those who watch less television. students were followed for 3 years. In the first year, as But, then, reading scores begin to decline commensu- expected, the heavy viewers read less than the light rate° with increases of television-viewing times. A me- viewers. But in the second year, the heavy viewers read dium amount uf television viewing thus is related to somewhat more than the light viewers, and, by the third better reading scores than either a low or a high year, the heavy viewers' reading increased even more. amjunt. But it should be emphasized that in pre- and In the first year, the heavy viewers read, on the aver- early adolescence this relationship does not hold ; for age, .75 hours a day, and the light viewers read .96 such children, scores are directly related to amount of hours a day. By the third year, the same heavy viewers viewing. Another important point about the relation- were reading 1.23 hours a day and the light viewers ship between low viewing habits and low reading scores only .70 hours a day. Television, it appears, does exert in young children is that there are very few low-viewing a significant, positive, longitudinal influence on time children. Perhaps for these children, low reading scores spent reading. merely reflect a general lack of interest in both tele- But why? It may have to do with what is read. In vision and school`work. the third year, students were asked to report the kinds other finding was that heavyviewers with a high IQ of materials they liked toread. For the total group, did light viewers with a relationship between viewing wanted more education than there seemed.to be little getting across .the message for-students with a low high IQ. Television may be and reading preferences, but students that more educationis television, the more "types to these intelligent IQ, the more they watched needed to qualify for theprestigious jobs shown on of things" they liked to read.Also, the heavy viewers the students with high stories, and true television. Yet, paradoxically, liked love and family stories, teenage low achievers. kind IQs who were heavy viewers also were stories about televisionand movie starsthe same emerged. (20)If -on television. Light Other interesting relationships of material that often appears active role in their children's chose sci9nce fiction, mys- parents do not take an viewers, on the other hand, television viewing, in other words,if they are not re- teries, and nonfiction. - of provid- difference in view- strictive or do not use television as a means In a study of adults, there was no children, then the heavy read books and those ing information to their ing habits between those who goals. And conflicting those who 'did not read at viewers have higher educational who read periodicals, but who are immersed in much more than theother goals seem to ocCur for students all watched television television programing and identifywith it beyond the groups. (15). hours of exposure. Highly involvedviewers desire both higher status jobs and fewer yearsin school. Educational Aspiration For girls, television seems tohave particularly conflicting consequences for school andcareers. (2 fl Most television a great deal think Although ;ociologists have long beeninterested in of the girls who watch that women are happiest athome takingicare of their the factors that develop andmaintain educational and role of children, and they want to getmarried, have children career aspiration,little has been done on the have several children. At analyses have shown, while they are young, and the mass media. Many content plan to continue with their overrepresents skilled the same time, these girls of course, that television greatly for careeri. A prac- (16) A few studies have schooling and have high ambitions and professional workers. tical consequence is that heavyviewing among girls examined television as a source ofinformation about may lead to avariety of difficult situationswith no jobs or the similarity betweenstudents' perceptions of occupations and the way they areportrayed on easy solutions. The primary finding in allthis research is that not television. (17) only the intensity but thedirection of television's con- Television's treatment of educationis ambiguous. It aspir- sequences foreducationboth achievement and seems to.idealize the processof education, yet denigrate which may mediate, activities. The emphasis orf ationdepends on many factors the pursuit of scholarly the associa- and aspira- condition, enhance, diminish, or reverse professionals may lead to high expectations questions of how underlying tion+ and yet the rathercondescending and comic tions In additjpn, the rifg raon with othersocial, family, and portrayals of schools and teachers mayhave the oppo- processes of personal factors aci4ally work arestill open. site effect. A study of second tofifth graders showed that, while heavy viewers did notthink it important to do well in school,they aspired to high status Learning AboutTelevision jobs. ( 18) In the 3-year study ofstudents, referred to viewers both previously,it was found that heavy critical viewing skills stems to spendfeweryearsin The surge of interest in wanted and expected from a desire by many'groups,such as educators, par- school. (19) The question iswhether this is a reflection psychologists, merely of the amount of ent-teacher associations, youth groups, of the television content or teachers, and other professionals, tomake television viewing; perhaps heavy viewingleads to a change of viewing a positive andbenefiCial experience. Recogni- interests and to a lack of ambition.But the results do television as a par:, of a study early adoles- tion of the importance of show that in the first year of the has led in recent years' television aspired to lOwer child's growing-up experience cents who watched more children neecf to learnsomething status jobs and wanted tospend less time in schOol. to the view that about how to watch televisionand ho,. to understand After 2 years, the situationchanged. For girls, heavy it. Much as they are taught toappreciate literature, to television viewing in the first year wasrelated to higher read newspapers carefully, and so on,they need to be educational and occupationalaspirations in the third prepared to understandtelevision as they view it in year. For hpys, .there was norelation, but this was a their homes. The .field ofcritical television viewing change, from a negative relationin the first year. An- skills is essentially in its infancy, but it reflects the gen- 3. Understand the electronici of television eral trend toivard setting the medium of television in 4. Learn what aspects of a program are real and its place as part of the overall system of cognitive and how fantasy elements are created emotional development. 5. Learn the purpose and types of commercials 6. Understand how television influences a person's feelings and ideas Television Curricula 7. Become aware qf television as a source of information and the use of stereotypes on tele- A first step in planning an education program on vision television viewing is to construct lesson plans or cur- 8. Understand the differences between violence ricula. Probatily the most comprehensive statement on portrayal on television and violence in life critical viewing skills was written in 1978 at the U.S. 9. Become more aware of personal viewing habits Office of Education as background for its sponsorship .10. Use television in a language arts framework of four major rojects to developmaterials for students, parents, and t achers in order to assist them in using Another curriculum identified Ole following 6 objec- critical viewing skills. (22) Also in 1978, a conference tives:(26) sponsored ln-th-E-Nationarrnstitute of Education sug- 1. Ability to describe own television-viewing habits gested that Students be taught to select, understand, 2. Ability to describe why a program is selected and retain useful television content, to critically eval- 3. Ability to identify the role of television in per- uate "informa ion" presented in television Programs, sonal life amid the activities it competes with and to appre iate the craft and construction of tele= 4. Ability to describe the consequences of viewing vision progr s.(23) and the other activities with which television vestigator in this field believes that a cur- competes riculum to teach critical television can be focused on 5. Ability to identify program-content character- one of four underlying constructs: intervention, goal istics attainment, cultural understanding, and viitial liter- 6. Ability tq identify uses of different programs acy. (24) Use of the "intervention" construct leads to a curriculum emphasizing that tblevision does things to, These curricula have been based mainly on a priori the viewer; saidents are taught production techniques, .editorial judgments. program formats, purposes of commercials, and so on, Only one project has conducted research to identify with the hope that they\will apply this knowledge to the number and nature of viewing skills.(27)In its their everyday viewing. /The "goal attainment" con- first phase, 80 teenagers and adults were interviewed struct first asks students why they look at television and about their viewing habits. Five personal dispbsitions encourages them to have .productive objectives. An il- serving as viewing, skills were identified: explicit and lustration, is a curyiculum written by the public tele- spontanecius reasoning; readiness to compare television vision station WNET, with support from the Office of content to outside sources of information; readiness to Education, that begins, "This curriculum will provide refer to knowledge of.the television industry; tendency your students with the inner resources for making their to find television content fabricated .and inaccurate; own decisions about thetelevision programs they and lesspositive evaluations of television content. watch." The "cyltural understanding" construct en- These skills were then verified by teaching facts about courages students to use and appreciate television as the production of entertainment programs and the tele- a form of esthetic expression. The "visual literacy" con- vision industry's economic system to kindergarten, sec- struct focuses on the need to understand the many 'ond, and third grade children. It was found that, after messages in television programs and how television the course, the children were more likely than,others communicates these messages. This classification is ap- to judge that the elements of a, television program pealing but in any actual curriculum the four con- were "pretend." structs cannot be separated. They are all facets of a Some of the curricula on critical viewing skills have single though-complex issue. been tested and evaluated.' In one study, the curri-, The objectives of a critical viewing curriculum culum was made up of eight 40-minute lessons designed have been stated in many ways. One list has 10 ob- to teach information about television to third, fourth, jectives: (25) and fifth grade children.(28)It was tried out on a , group of middle-class children with an average IQ 1. Understand the types of programs of 110 and a reading grade level of 5. ¢, This group 2. Understand that programs are created looked at television about 15 hours a week on the

82 parental average: The lessonsl taught the children aboutdiffer- More recently there are indications of rising ent kinds of progras: tounderstand the difference concern. special There are at least four areas in which parents can between reality and 'fantasy, to understand (1) learn how tele- intervene and control television viewing:(33) effects, to learn about cornmercials, to (2) supervi: vision Works, to understand how televisioninfluences amount or number of hours of exposure, ideas and feelings, to understand howtelevision pre- sion of viewing, such as deciding what kind of programs control of viewing can be viewed, (3) parentand child viewing television sents violence, and to cncourage parent-child interaction, that is, habits. The teachers were trained to usethe mate- together, and (4) intrafamily activities other than watchingtelevision. rials, and videotapes were producedhighlighting vari- The results showed that Several studies support the value of parentalinvolve- ous points made in the lessons. project found that an the children learned a great deal abouttelevision, espe- ment. (34) One early research adult's comments affected the amount of later aggres- cially about special effects, commercials,and advertis- favorable ing. They understood how televisioncharacters "dis- sion shown by the child; if the adult made appear," what techniques are used to makeproducts comments about aggression, thechild became more seem better, who paysfor the programs, and where to aggressive -than if the adult made unfavorable 'com- write concerning programs and commercials.They ments. interacted alsearned to distinguish betweenteal, realistic, and In another study, one group of mothers television fantasy people and to understand thattelevision vio- with their first grade children during routine children but lence is not real. Turthermore, at the endof the course, viewing; one group watched with their did not they could write imaginative scriptsand' commercials. did not interaot with them; and a third group Another study constructed a test called the"Tele- watch television: (35) After 1 week, thechildren who vision Information Came." (29)After being taught watched television did better on socialproblem-solviirg "television receivership skills," students inthe third, tasks, and the group of children in which theMothers fourth, fifth, and sixth grades did muchbetter on the interacted, with the children were best,gaining even test that before the course.Many of 'the scores, how- higher scores. Not only parents but, other adults can ever, were not any higher thanpretest-scores of the influence what young children learn andretain from next higher grade, thus:suggesting that the results televiSion, as demonstrated in the study inwhich adults could be accounted for by,maturation.These investi- called attention to specific segments of MisterRogers' gators maintain that neither provisionof information Neighborhood and the children learned much more. nor mastery of informationis sufficient; instruction In stilLanother study oof adult mediation,preschool must be keyed to developmentalneeds. children were assigned to one of two groups.(36) In one group, pairs ofchildren viewed an episode of Role of Parents and SignificantOthers Adam-12 with a teacher who made neutral comments, such as "Let's watch a TV show."The other group Parents,("! teachers, and older brothers and sisters are watched with the same tcacher, but thistime she made probably most important in determiningtelevision pro- explanato:y comments atbout the program contentsuch graming effects on children. Earlyevidence of this im- as, "That boy is in.troale. He is playing hookey and portance was found in a first-yearevaluation of Sesame that ,is bad." The children who watchedwhile the Street in which it was shown that thoseehildren who teacher made specific 'comments aboutthe program learned more than others were watching at homewhere showed a highly significant increase in theknowledge their mothers were viewing with themand talking of details of the program, an increase in theirknowl- about the show. (30) A few years laterin a study edge of truancythe theme of the episodeadecrease in. which mothers were encouraged towatch Sesame in erroneous knowledge about truancy, and anincrease Street for 2 hours a week with theirchildren, these in positive attitudes. The results werestill present a groupsdevel- children, particularly, the lower-clasi week hiker. oped more of the specific cognitive skills the programs These studies were done with small numbersof chil- (31) were designed to teach. dren watching 'the television set. Commentsand ex- Parental control of the amount and kind ofviewing of chil- today are more planations about television while large groups also seems to be important. Parents classroom are also effec- interested in television viewing and itseffects than dren are watching .in tive., (37) Teachers can increase theeducational effects they were when television was first starting. A survey by helping % in the ,1960s showed that mothers wererelatively apa- of such programs as The Electric-Company thetic about their..children's televisionvieWing. (32) their studentsUnderstand them. Recent research indicates that television itself can be mith, an- achilt who interpreted what was happening used to encourage critical viewing skills. In a Batman and directed their attention to certain events; in a program, inserts were made explaining that Batman is third,they watched Mister Roger3 Neighborhood not real and that in, real life it is illegal to hit and hurt without the adult; and in the fourth group, they did people. (38) Children who watched,the program with not watch either the model or telision. The chil- the inserts were less likely to be in favor of aggreKion dren's imaginative ability was rated during free play to solve conflicts than were children who looked at the and by tWo tests of imagination. The experiment lasted same program without inserts. for 2 weeks and involved 10 sessions ,of training. Chil- Two investigators in the field list six methods that dren who were taught by the mOdel increased the most parents can use to help their children attain critical ° in imagination. The next largest increase was made by viewing skills: (39) v- the 'children who ,saw the television show when the 1. Limited viewing. Parents can limit the amount of adult explained it. Those who saw only the television time children view television. made slighi gains, while the fourth group had a de- 2. Content c-ontrol. Parents can encourage or dis- crease in imagination. courage viewing particular programs. ' Other investigators have found similar increases in 3. Purposeful viewing. This is the most difficult skill imagination after children watched Mister Rogers' Neiglthorliood,ariaagainteachertrainingand berause it often demands changes in personal - habits. involvement led to the most consistent results. 4. Direct mediation. Parents can provide explana- At the Yale University Faroily Television Rerarch tory comments. and Consultation Center, there have been se eral 5. Indirect mediation. Parents 'can model critical projects to assess intervention techniques. In one stu viewing skills by discussing programs with others parents bf middle-class, preschool children were,placed in the presence of the child. in one of four training groups: (46) for stimulation of 6. Springboard techniques. Parents can show chil- imagination, for stimulation of cognitive skills, for im- dren how television informationv can be applied to, parting television information, apd "no training." They and have implications for, many events in every- attended four sessions during a year and received day life. various supplementary training materials. The parents kept records of their children's television viewing for 2-week pariods four times during the year; the chil- Other Adult Mediation and dren's behavior w`as rated eight times during the year. Modeling Techniques Results suggest that the parents' imaginative and cognitive training indeed did increase the children's spon-' Childnen's cognitive skills and fantasy activities have taneous imaginative play. been improved through use of modeling techniques. The following year, the investigators conducted a (40) The adult model .essentially teaches the children somewhat sitnilastudy ytti lower-class preschool to play games that they can then use in their own children:The objeet was to see if the use of ideas from playing and generalize to learning situations. One in- television programs in lessons could increaseshildren's vestigator believes that television should teach, by mod- imaginative,social, and cognitive skinks. Teleyision seg- eling, various ways of approaching a problem. (41) ments from educational shows were to exemplify, and Television could be used to teach self-instruction, as 1. reinforce such concepts for the children. Thirty lessims for example, teaching impulsive children to develop ,)were developed on- imaginative, cognitive, and proso- selPontrol by first talking out loud to themselves and cial behavior and feelings, such as, sharing, taking then covertly. (42) Another suggestion is that tele- turns, empathy, feelings of failure, and need fOr love. vion might use split-screen techniques to teach such . Teachers were trained to use the lesson plans and had skills as conceptual thinking; while a character is solv- ongoing inservice training. The children themselves ing a matching problem, such as sorting colors, on one were assigned to one of three groups: the first to re- side of the screen, the reasoning processes could be ceive the television lessons with teacher reinforcements, shown on the other. (431 -r a second to receive television lessons only, and the third To determine if television could be used to,enhance to revive only the standard nursery school curriculum. imaginLion,one project used 'Modeling techniques. Half the parentk in each group attended workshops in (441 Childrep were assigned to four groups:. In one, 'which they discussedthe lessons, were told about the they watchedmodel who taught make-believe games ; teleyision research, were given guidelines for television in another, they watched Mister Rogers' Neighfrorlzood viewing, and were encouraged to contribute o a newp-

84 , , letter and to m#e TV Toy Kits .for the children to followup discussion made the most gains in concept use %Oenthey4athd home television. Residts dis- knowledge. closed that, when children recei'ved televisionplus There se,ems to be no doubt that televisib,n is signifi- dant thioughout the educational process and that tele- teacher rei forcement, they showed a gain inimagina- vision literacy can be learned. It should be,mentioned, tion, intefaction with peers, cooperaticn with peers; however, that teaching critical skills is not a simple the ands7 le clership. They also were less aggressive in task, and great care must be use:Tin teachingsuch- workshops clas oom. The parents' attendance at the skills. Several years ago, some educators thought they seemed to be an especially important factor inthese could accelerate the educational process: by teaching improvements. "thinking skills" tosyoung children. They did not suc- In another study, a new television program was as- ceed; these skills are developed within a maturational sessed to see if a format with both) educational and context, not just through educational efforts.Similarly, entertain, components would lead to cognitive some of the projects designed to teachtelevision view- .gains in nursery school children. (47) One group just ing skills have had unexpected difficulties and have watched the program, another watched theprograM, taken much longer than expeded.Nevertheless, such and had a followup discussion with the teacher, and a investigations should lead to better methods of tedch- third group merely saw a videotape of children's stor- ing people to become wiser and more efficient consum- ies. The children'411o.watched with a teacher andhad' ers of televisibn information.

References

(I) $cott, L. F. Television etd school achievement: Phi , children. Journal of Comcnunication, 1979, 29(3), Delta Kappa, 1936. 38. 25-28. _164-170. SchraMm, W., Lyle, J., and Parker, E. B. Television in (10) Starkey, J., and Swinford, H. Reading: Doestelevision the live's of our children. Stanford: Stanfoid Uni- viewing time affect it? ERI6 ED 090966, 1974. versity Press, 1961. Gadberzy,..-S. Television viewing_and schoolgrades: A (2) Dunham, F. Effect of .television on School achieverkent cross-lined longitudinal. study. Paper presented at of children. School Life, 1952, 34, 88-91. meeting bf the Societx for Research in Child Develop- Effeuts of television 'upon elementary Greenstein, J. . mem, 1977. ERIC ED 140 973. school grades. Journal of Educational Research, 1954, Childers, P., and Ross, J. The relationshipbetween 48, 161-167. viewing television and student achievement.Journal Himmelweit, H. T., Oppenheim, N. A., and Vince, P. of Educational Research, 1973, 66, 317-319. Televisio,r1 and the child. LOndon: Oxford Uni- National Assessment of Educational Progress. Nik versity Press, 1958. tional Survey of television and homework habits. Schramm, W., Lyle, J., and Parker, E. B., 1961. Op. Denver, Colorado, 1978. cit. (3) Furu, T. Function of television for children and adoles- 11) t eaYeske, G. W., et .al A ;tudy of. our Nation's school< cents, Tokyo: Sophia University, 1971.. U.S. Department of Health, Education, andwelfare, (4.) Lahtinen, P., and Taipale, H. The effect of TV on Office of 'Education, 1969. ' children's drawings and vocabulary.Institutefor Rubenstein, S. A., and Perkins, M. Rhode IslandState- Educational Research (Finland), 1971. Wide Assessment, 1975-76. Amherst, Mass.: National (5) Garcia, G., El Castenada, L. de Leon, andSchielfelbein,/ --EvaluationSystems,Inc.,1976. 'Federal ID 04 E. Teteritsion y rendimiento . escolar en Venezuala. 2524115. , Revista del Centro de Estudios Educativos (Mexico), Tex,as Assessment Project. Achievementin reading 1974, 4, 43-62. and mathematics, 6th grade. Austin, Texas:Texas (6) Hornik, R. Out.ol-sthool television and schooling: Hy- Education Agency, 1978. pothecer and methods. Paper presented at the meet- Kohr, R. L. The relationship of homeworkand tele- ing of the American Educational Research Assecia- vision to cognitive and noncognitive student out- ,tion, 1979. comes. Paper presented at theMeeting of the Na- (7) Williams, T. M. The impact.of television:_lktural ex- tional Comic& for Measurement in Education, 1979. periment involving three communities. Symposium Connecticut State Boaid of Education. TechnicalRe- presented at the/ meeting of the Canadian Psycho- / port, Connecticut Assessment of EducationalProgress logical Association, Vancouver, 1977. in Reading, 1978779. Hartford: Jaruary, 1980. (8) Medriyh, E. A. Constant television': A trtekground to ,.- daily life. Jour'nal of Communication, 1979, 29(3), (12) Morgan, M., and Gross, L. Television v:ewIng, IQ, and achievement.,Journal of Broadcasting,. 171-176. academic (9) Burton, S. Calonieo, J. M., and MeSeveney, D. R. 1980, 30(1), 117-133. _Effec,ts of preschool television-watching ,on first-grade (13) NORC General Social Survey, 1978.

61 85 , . (14) Morgan, M. Television >dewing and reading: Does (33) Rossiter, W. D., and Robertson, T. S. Children's tek- more equal better? Journal of Communication, 1980, vision viewing: An examination of parent-childcgn- 30-(-1-), 159-165. , sensus. Sociometry, 1975, 38, 308-326. (15) McEvny, G. F., and Vincent, C. S. Who reads and (34) Hicks, R. D. Imitation and retention of :I'm-mediated why? Journal of Comtnunicatiod, 1980, 30(1), 134 aggressive peer and adult models. Journal of Person- 140. ality and Social Psychology, 1965, 2, 97-100. l'-'t. (16) Ste references in the chapteron "Socialization and Safran, C. How TV changes children. Redbook, 1976, Conceptions o(..Social Reality." November, 88, 91, 92, 95, 97. (17) Christiansen, J. B. Television role models and adoles-. (35) Walling, J.I. The effect of parental interaction on cent occupailonal goals. Human COmmunication Re- learning from television. CoAnsunication educatioil, search, 1979, 5;335-337. 1976, 25, 16-24. Jeffries-Fox,S., and Signorielli,N. Television and (36) Corder-Bolz, C. R.; and O'Bryant, S. L. Can people children's conceptions about occupations.In H. S. affect television: Teacher vs. program. Journal of Dordkk/Ed.), PrOaidings of MeSixth Annual Tele- Communication, 1978, 28(1), 97-103. communications Policy Research-Conference, Lex- (37) Primeaux, N. R., and Corder-BOlz, C. R. Teacher'medi- ington, Mass.: Lexington Books,1979. atir of educational television: Electric Company im- (18) Morgan, M., and Rothschild, N.Television and chil- proved. Paper presented at the meeting of the Ameri- dren at a New York flrivate school.Working paper, can' Psychological AssocAation, Toronto, 1978. Annenberg School of Communications,University of (38) Corder-Bolz, C. R. Mediation: The role of significant Pennsylvania, 078. others. Journal of Communication, 1980, 30(3). (19) Cross, L., and Jeffries-Fox, S. Whatdo you want to he (39) O'Bryant, S. L., and Corder-Bolz, C. R. 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86 .- 1 _Chapter X Implicatips for the.Eighties

, , L=. c dist`ribution, and tele-, ...-It-is'nolk time to look'A the totalarray of research1 developments in programming, on television and behavior inthe 1970s and to discern vision usage will probably increase television's poten- 1 the import and implicafons for the comingdecade. tial influence on the viewer. Extending over all other findings is the fac t.that First, an impressieti e , y of scientific 'knowledge Amer.: has been arcumulat nce 1972, when the report of television is so large a part of daily life. Within dvisoryloPommittee was pub- ican society, television is now a universalphenomenon. the Sfirgeon General';., world lished. *fine 3,000 iittorts, iiapers, and bookshave About half the present population never knew a American in- been publishetl. The Whither of scientistsengaged in 'without it. Television is, in short, an , 14 It has changed or influenced mostother research on televisioni;egah to proliferate as a result stitution. a institutions, from the family to the functioningof the of the report of the SurgecM General'scommittee, and number has continued to grow. Yer, in relation to government. tl continue to be the magnitude of the research field andthemany ques- I,n the 1980s, television will no doubt Informa- tions Co which answ rs are urgently needed,the num- pervasive and ubiquitous in American life. ed in the study of television is still tion about its role and its effects' ill be needed by all be-r of scientists in> future and ro miniscule compdred with other researchspecialists. If those who will help to shape tele ision's ". public, these the momentum of research productivityachieved in the make decisions abotifit.Iiside the general professionals in fields, like edu- 1970s is to continue into the 1980s, thenumber will groups include parents; .._ that represent have to be increased. cation'and public health; organizations completed special interests such as those of children,ethnic groupt, When the Surgeon General's committee and Feeeral its report, the membeis belieVed thattheir task was mental health, and business; local, State, governmental agencies; the researchcomniunity: and not really finished. What hadbeen a seemingly straight-, forward question of scientific evidence quicklydevel- the television Thdristry itself.- . bulk of the cur- oped extensive l'amificationsi While theoriginal ques- In contrast to previous research, the tion on televised vinlence had been partiallyanswered, rent findings no longer focuses onspecific cause-effect Television viewing is so en- --the framework in which thequestion-had been posed or input-output results. only be faised larger issues about television andbehavior. Now, trenched in American daily life that it can almost corn-. 10 years later, the committee's concernwith these regarded as a major socializing influence the church, and larger issues becomes even mote urgentand timely. parable to the family, the schools, Socializai'ion can be The research findingsLof-the-pastAtEadehave re- other socializinginstitutions. specific affirmed the powerful influence oftelevisiOn on the,r) thoughtof as the accUmulation of tile many It is not lim- viewers. Almost all the evidence'testifies to 'television's learning experiences throughout one's life. children have role as a formidable5ieducator whoseeffects are both ited to the developing child, although pervasive arid cumulative. Television can nolonger an especially strongneed to .acqu*e knowledge and age, a person repre- be considered as a casual pait of dailylife, as an elec. skills as they grow up. Rut .at any sidce desifoyed sents the product/of cumulative learning, andthinking tronic toy. Research .findings have long leain- the illusion that television is merely i mocuouseriter- andhehavior are affected by a mixture of recent people go threhgtt. tainment. While the learning itproVidei is mainly in- ing anil of learning earlier in life. As the importance of television . cidental rather than directand forMal, it is a signifi- life-cyAe transitions, - - , cant part of the total acculturation/ process.Further- changesIor them. Old people, for example, are more , technological like very young people in their useof television than More,indicationsarethatfuture,. -, . ,. I' . 87 they are like middle-age adults. Further studies of so- whether-early and continued heavy viewing establishes cialization and general learning froin television need enduring patterns of passive', rather than active, parti- be continued with children and expanded to include cipation in daily life. Eating behavior during television the entire lifespan. viewing could be significant. For example, eating junk foods while watching television is common, and it is possible ,that some adults link televison viewing with Health drinking wine and beer. The cumulative effects of these conditioned eating and drinking patterns might With television a central feature of daily life, it is have serious long-term effects. somewhat surprising that little attention has been given Television as a stressor needs to be studied. At times, to its influences on physical and mental health. Tele- it can be stress reducing and at other times stress en- vision's portrayals of mentally ill persons as often being hancing. The noise levels of television may operate as a either violent or victimized is particularly unfortunate, chronic stressor for some persons.It is not known whe- because it may be contributing to the well-known stig- ther stress can be induced by the synergistic effect of ma borne by those suffering from mental illness. The television arousal and other psychosocial variables that widespread consumption of alcohclic beverages on may be operating. television, together with the fact that such consump- There is a dearth of studies on the psychophysio- tion is presented as a pleasant asPect of social life with logical implications of television watching. Possible no deleterious-consequences, may also be fostering atti- areas for research, to name only a few, include sleep -tudes and subsequent behavior that reinforCe the use and sleep disturbances, autonomic nervous system of akohol by viewers. Similarly, the portrayals of snacks functioning, rigorous studies on brain lateralization, and Other nonnutritious foods may be affecting eating biological rhythmsond perhaps even on neurotransmit- habits, especially _of children. Health portrayals on ters, all as related to television. A practical question television thus are distorted-frequently and have the here is: Are 'there children suffering chronic fatigue possibility of unwittingly, encouraging poor health. But from staying up late to look at television? The decade the fact that very little smoking appears on television of the 1980's needs biomedical pioneers to begin this is noteworthy and perhaps an indication that tele- kin'd of important research. vision has been responsive to an important health prob- ale suggestion by the Surgeon General's committee lem. Other effOrts to eliminate depictions detrimental that it would be well to explore television's health- to good health would not i.nhibit .the dramatic impact promoting possibilities may at last be a major research of the programs and could have positive soCial con- direction. sequences. Another area, perhaps more difficult to implement, would be the possibility of programing for special pop- Cognitive Processes ulations, such as institutionalized individuals in psychiatric settings,in homes for the elderly, and in Several issues have emerged from the innovative re- hospitals. This kind of programing offers an excellent search on cognitive processes in the 1970s, all with opportunity for constructive change. implications for continued research into the 1980s. In che 1980s, it can be predicted that there will be Children growing up with television must learn cog- incread use of television' for health campaigns. Such nitive strategies for dealing with the medium. At very campaigns should be very carefully planned and the early ages, children already, demonstrate active and more recent theories and practices of evaluation re- selective viewing strategies, for example, watching ani- search apitlied to them. Campaigns can be a valuable mation, turning away from dialog they do not under- resource to improve the Nation's health, but they re- stand, turning back when music or sound effects sug- quire at least the talent and financial backing that go gest lively 'action or "pixillation" (animated activity). into making a good commercial. Age factors as well as properties of the medium inter- There have been no attempts to assess in systematic act to determine how children develop useful viewing studies the direct effect of television viewing on health. strategies. For example, the passivity of television viewing has Television differs from real life by using structural not been studied in connection with physical fitness of symbols or codes that may be difficult to understand. children and adults. The relationship, if any, of the A character who is remembering things from the past amount of physical exercise to the amount of viewing may fade out of view, and actual past scenes then time is not known, nor is there any clue concerning show the character's memories. Children at young ages

88 may notorecognize these "flashback" _conventions and comprehension and reflective thought. More research be donfused. Conventions, such as split screens (screen also needs to be done on effective learning. The re- divided into two parts with a different picture on each search should address such questions as: What com- part), may not be understood, and magical effects, for binations of structure and content m'aximize interest, example, superheroes leaping over buildings, may be attention, and learning effectiveness of television for taken literally. While children eventually learn televi- different age groups. sion conventions and viewing ;strategies and incorpo- rate some of them into more general thinking, there are suggestions that some forms of presentation are Emotional Development .and more effective than others in helping children to learn Functioning the television codes and also in enhancing general cognitive effectiveness. . Children show a wide range of emotional reacios Age differences are highiy significant in television to television. The evidence suggests that moder7gly viewing. These differences, which themselves reflect rapid pacing leads to arousal and enjoyment in chil- differences in conceptual capacities (for example, the dren. For adolescents and young adults, a good balance inability of preschoolers to engage in conversation), of lively pace and some (but not too much) humor lead to sizable differences in how much sense-Children can make of stories on television. Structural factors, may enhance attention and comprehension. Thereis such as rapid shifts of scene, may lead young children not yet adequate evidence to support some current to misunderstand the intended plots, to overemphasize beliefs that children have been led by lively television the more obvious feattires of a story (for example, vio- progrring to be inattentive to verbal presentations lence), and to be confused about causality. The fact and detailed material Presented in the classrooM. ,that young children do not easily relate consequences While children can learn to be more empathic and to to earlier actions makes the aflult interpretation of the eNpress or understand emotions from televisiOn presen- story quite different from that of the child. The con- tations with`guidance from adults, the data on heavy tention is often made that children's programs, or adult viewing suggest that they tend to be less empathic or progiams watched by children, really are prosocial pro- to show negative reactions, such as unhappy or fearful grams because the "bad guy" gets punished at the end. emotions. What is not recognized in this argument is the critical The decade of the 1970s did not produce mueh fact that young children simply do not see the relation research on the emotions and television. Increasing between the punishment and the earlier antisocial Ve- attention to this area is highly desirable in the 1980s. havior. This finding can be generalized to include a large number of other age-specific responses to, and attributes of, television viewing. The dilemmaand Violence and Aggression the challengeraised by these research findings irthat it is difficult to produce programs that simultaneously Recent research confirms the earlier findings of a satisfy the needs and capabilities of a widely diverse causal relationship bettveen viewing televised violence audience. and later aggressive behavior. A distinction must be Although there is some evidence that young chil- made, however, between groups and individuals. All dren's imaginativeness and the stories they use in spon- the studies that support the causal relationships demon- taneous play are enhanced by television materials, the strate group differences. None supports the casefor predominant evidence suggests that heavy viewing is particular individuals. As with most statistical analyses associated with lower imagination and less creativity. of complex phenomena, group trenas do not predict Under special circumstances with carefully designed individual or isolated events. This distinction does not, programing and with adult mediation, children can of course, minimize the significance of the findings, increase their spontaneous playfulness, imagination, even though it delimits theirapplicability. Moreover, and enjoyment after television viewing. There is reason no single study unequivocallyconfirms the conclusion to believe, however, that under conditions of unsuper- that televised violence leads to aggressive behavior. vised viewing children may not learn necessary distinc- Similarly, nosingle study unequivocally refutes that tions between "realism" and "fantasy" in stories. conclusion. The scientific support for the c'ausal rela- More research is neded to explore ways of presenting tionship derives from the convergence of findings from material that will maximize not only attention but also many studies, the great majority ofwhich demonstrate

9 89 a positive relationihipbetween televised violence and these positive benefits are actually being achieved, since later aggressive behavior. analyses of television content and form suggest that During the 1970s, research on violence and aggres- such potentially useful material is embedded in a.com- sion yielded interesting new information.Recent stud- plicated format and is viewed at home by children ies have extended the age rangeiS which the relation- under circumstances not conducive to effective gen- ship between televised violence and aggressivebehavior eralization. Additional research is requiredo deter- can be demonstrated.Earlier research had been pri- mine the conditiOns under which prosocial behavior is marily with children from 8 to 13 years old. Theevi- most likely to be learned. dence has now been extended to includepreschoolers at If almost everybody is learning from television, the one end of the age spectrumand older adolescents at question of television's influence needs.to be rephrased the other. In addition, mast of the earlierstudies had in terms not only of what specific content is acquired indicated that boys, but not girls, were influencedby but of what constraints or qualifications television im- watching televised violence, while recentresearch in poses on people's learning capacities. Thus, television both the United States and other countriesshows sim- content reflecting certain stereotypes may limit or dis- ilar relationships in samples of gifls aswell as boys. tort fiow people view women, ethnic groups, or the Despite some argument about how to measurethe elderly, for example, and Sow people interpret the ex- amount of television violence, thelevekof violence on tent to which there ar e. dangers that confront them in comMercial television has not markedly decreSsed since daily life. the Surgeon General's committee published its report. There is a clear 'need to study family beliefs and discern. If What this means for the 1980s is difficult to styles as they may be influenced by heavy television 20 years, it can be pre- one extrapolates from the past viewing. And there has been little research on inter- dicted that 47iolence on television will continue tobe personal relations as they have an effect' on, and about the same. Yet there may be various socialforces as they are influenced by, television. and groups that will work to bring about adiminution. Research evidence accumulated dutIng the pastdec- ade suggests that the viewer learns more than aggres- Educational Achievement and learns sive behavior from televised violence. The viewer Aspiration to be a victim and to identify with victims.As a result, many heavy viewers may exhibit fearand apprehension, while other heavy viewers may be influenced to- The evidence now supports the opinion that heavy ward aggressive behavior. Thus, the effects of televised television viewing tends to displace time required to violence may be even more extensive than suggested practice reading, writing, and other school-learning by earlier studies; and they may be exhibited in more skills. These effects are particularly noticeable for subtle forms of behavior than aggression. children from middle socioeconomic levels who might Although violence and aggression are no longer the in the past have spent more time in practicing reading. central `focus of television research, there is still a ,need Television on the whole also seems to interfere with to study them. More research is needed to distinguish educational aspirations. The ctiltivation effects lead- how individual predisposition may interact with and ing to increased cognitive skills and educational aspira- influence the effects oftelevision violence. These tions in heavy-viewing girls frdin lower socioeconomiC studies should include, for example, the relations of levels are evident, suggesting that amount of vie*ing age, sex, race, socioeconomic status, and social setting may influence social class or IQ groups differently. to the effects of violence. Unfortunately, studies examining Ihe value of specific types of programing for reading interest and skill de-

velopment have not been carried out. . Prosocial Behavior and Socialization The sheer attractivness of television may preempt other activities which were part of daily life, such as Potentially, as research suggests, 2hildren (and to sports or hobbies, social activities like playing cards, some degree adults) can learn constructive social be- and, for children, studying and homework activity. havior, for example, helpfulness, cooperation, friend- Thus the medium's pervasive attraction may also be liness, and imaginative play, from television viewing, interfering with certain social and cognitive skill de- especially if adults help them grasp. the material or velopments formerly acquired throughdirect ex- reinforce the program content. It is less certain whether changes between people or through reading. In this

90 o.

sense, television viewing maybe influencing how peo- New Technologies ple learn generally, not only fromwatching television. The report Of th Surgeon General's committee predicted that new jechnologies would fesultin many Critical Viewing Skills changes in television programing andviewing. 'These changes were slow in coming, but it appearsthat they Recognition of the pervasiveness oftelevision has led will be made in the 1980s. Cabletelevision and video- during the past. decade to the beginningsof a new discs may gradually alter the content ofentertainment effort to teach children and others tounderstand the television. They also may make itfeasible to have dif- medium. Several school curricula havebeen con- ferent programing for various specialpopulations. structed. Programs for elementary school childrenthat Interactive television is considered by manypeople to include teacher-taught lessons, sometimeswith video- be a desirable advance because it willrequire greater tape segments to enhanceeffectiveness, have been effort and thus result in more effectivelearning. tested increasingly in the schools.Accumulating evidence suggests that such educational programs arewel7 Ten years ago, the report of theSurgeon General's corned by teachers and pupils and that the programs committee led to significant increases inthe research do produce changes in awareness oftelevision produc- on television and behavior.This research also elpanded tion, special effects, the nature ofcommercialg, the in many directions from the originalfocus on the effects excesses of violence, and so on.Longer term effects of of televised violence. NOW, 10 yearsafter the appeir- genuine critical viewing at home or ofreduced viewing ance of that report, it isclear that research on television research in or more selective viewinghave yet to be demonstrated. is still growing and expanding and that the 6 Teaching about television is considered by manytele- the 1970s has opened new vistasand posed new ques- vision researchers 'to be one of the mostsignificant prac- tions. ComPared with the 1970s,the decade of the intensity of neces- , tical developments of the 1970s, onethat needs to be 1980s should witness an even greater television and behavior. continued, expanded, and evaluated in the1980s. sary research effort on

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91 Appendix A Project Staff and Consultant Advisory Group

Project Staff 3620 Walnut StreetC-5 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104 Dr. Beatrix Hamburg Dr. David Pearl, Department of Psychiatry Project Director Childrens Hospital Medical Center .Chief, Behavioral Sciences Research Branch 300 Longwood Avenue National In3titute of Mental Health Boston, Massachusetts 02115 Ms. Joyce B. Lazar Dr. Chester Pierce Acting Director, Research Advisory Group Professor of Psychiatry National Institute of Mental Health Harvard Medical School Dr. LorraGne Bouthilet Nichols House Science Writer Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 Ms. Muriel Smith Dr. Eli Rubinstein Secretary Adjunct Research' Professor School of Journalism . University of North Carolina Consultant Adyisory Group Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27514 Dr. Alberta E. Siegel Porfessor of Psychology Dr. Steven H. Chaffee - Dept. of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences Director, Institute for Communication Research Stanford University School of Medicine Cypress Hall Palo Alto, California 94305 Stanford University Dr. Jerome L. Singer Palo Alto, California 94305 Professor of Psychology Dr. George Gerbner Yale University Dean, Annenberg School of Cotruounications Box I IA, Yale Station University of Pennsylvania New Haven, Connecticut 06520

101 ^tit

Appendix B Siate of Knowledge Papers and Contributcirs

Cognitive Processing and Television Viewing National Broadcasting Company Dr. W. Andrew Collins New York, New York 10020 Institute of Child Development Violence in Television Programs: Ten Years Later University,of'Minnesota Drs. Nancy Signiorelli, Larry Gross and Michael Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455 Morgan Forms and Codes of Television: Effects on Children's At- Annenberg School-Of Communication tention, Comprehension and Social Behavior University of Pennsylvania Drs. Mabel Rice, Aletha C. Huston and John C. Wright Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104 University of Kansas Television and Role Behaviors Lawrence, Kansas 66045 Dr. Bradley Greenberg Television and the Developing Imagination of the Child Department-of-Comnmnications Dr. Dorothy Singer Michigan State University Family Television ResearCh Center East Lansing, Michigan 48824 Yale University Television and Consumer Role Socialization New Haven, Connecticut 06520 Dr. Charles Atkin TelevisionWiewing and Arousar Department of Communications Dr. Dplf Zillman ,) Michigan State University Institute for Communications Research East Lansing, Michigan 48824 Indiana University Growing Old on Television and With Television Bloomington, Indiana 47401 Dr. Richard Davis Television and Affective Development and Functioning Andrus Gerontology Center Dr. Aimee Liefer Dorr University of Southern California Annenberg School of Communications Los Angeles, California 90024 University of Southern California and Lds Angeles, California 90007 Dr. Robert Kubey Television and Educational Achievement and Aspiration University of WisconsinBaraboo Dr's. Michael Morgan and Larry Gross Bamboo, Wisconsin 53913 Annenberg School of Communication Television and Sexual Learning in Childhood University of Pennsylvania Dr. Elizabeth Roberts Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104 Project on Human Sexuality Television Literacy andCritical Television Viewing Skills Harvard University Dr. Charles R. Corder-Bolz ' Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 Southwest Educational Development Lab. T.V. Influence on Social Reality and Conceptions of the Austin, Texas 79701 Violence in Television Content: An Overview World Dr. George Comstock Drs. Robert Hawkins & Suzanne Pineee Newhouse Schools of Public Communications School of Journalism Syracuse University University of Wisconsin Syracuse, New York 13210 Madison, Wisconsin 53706 Television Violence anti Aggressive Behavior Television and Prosocial Behavior Dr. Rowell Huesmann Dr. J. Philipe Rushton Department of Psychology Department of Psychology University of Illinois, Chicago Crick University of Western Ontario Chicago, Illinois 60680 London, Ontario Television and Aggression: A Longitudinal PanelStudy( Canada N6H M4 Drs. J. Ronald Milavsky, Ronald Kessler, Horn Stipp The Family as Portrayo:I on Television, 1946-1978 and W. S. Rubens . Dr. Lynda M. Glennon

10293 Department of Anthropology Stanford University Rollins College Palo Alto, California 94305 Winter Park, Florida 32789 Television and Persons in Institutions and Dr. Eli Rubinstein Dr. Richard Butsch Adjunct Research Professor Rider College School of Journalism Lawrenceville, New Jersey University of North Carolina Television, Family Influences and Consequences for Inter- Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27514 personal Relations and 1 Drs. Jack McLeod and Mary Anne Fitzpatrick, Carroll Dr. Joyce N. Sprafkin 0 J. Glynn, and Susan F. Fa His Department of Psychology Department of Journalism and Communications State Unitersity of New York at Stony Brook University of Wisconsin Stony Brook, New York 11794 Madison, Wisconsin 53706 The Organization and Production of Prime Time Television Programing Health Portrayals in Television Dr. Muriel Cantor Drs. George Gerbner, Michael Morgan, and Nancy Department of Sociology Signorelli American UnWersity Annenberg School of Communications ,, . Washington, D.C. 20016 University of Pennsylvania Television and American Social Institutions Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104 Dr. George Comstock Mass Media Health Campaigns Newhouse School of Public Communications Dr. Dotiglas Solomon Syracuse University Institute for Communications Research Syracuse, New York 13210

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1 U