RETROSPECTIVE RECALL of EARLY TELEVISION VIEWING: RELATIONS with ADULT AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR by JEFFREY LANE SEGER Master of Scie

RETROSPECTIVE RECALL OF EARLY TELEVISION VIEWING: RELATIONS WITH ADULT AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR By JEFFREY LANE SEGER Master of Science in Psychology Oklahoma State University Stillwater, Oklahoma 2007 Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate College of the Oklahoma State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY May, 2011 RETROSPECTIVE RECALL OF EARLY TELEVISION VIEWING: RELATIONS WITH ADULT AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR Dissertation Approved: Dr. Richard Potts Dissertation Adviser Dr. Jennifer Byrd-Craven Dr. James Grice Dr. Stan Ketterer Outside Committee Member Dr. Mark E. Payton Dean of the Graduate College ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS At this time I would like to show my appreciation and gratitude to the many people who assisted me throughout the course of this project, and indeed, my development as a scholar and a human being. First, my advisor, Dr. Richard Potts, for his countless hours of time and energy on this project and for his guidance, knowledge, and friendship throughout my graduate career. Second, Dr. Jennifer Byrd-Craven, Dr. James Grice, Dr. Stan Ketterer, and Dr. Celinda Reese for their gracious dedication of time and effort as dissertation committee members, a service which helped bring this project to fruition. Thirdly, Macy Beeler and Dillon Langley for their assistance with various tasks during this project, including research, data collection, and tabulation. And last, but certainly never least, my beautiful wife Cynthia and my parents, Steven and Retta Seger, for their steadfast support, their words of encouragement and every kindness, and their unwavering belief in everything I do that makes me feel, regardless of the situation, that it impossible to fail. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................1 II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE....................................................................................2 Television and Aggression .......................................................................................3 Retrospective Recall of Past TV Viewing Practices ................................................5 III. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE .................................................................................8 Hypotheses ...............................................................................................................9 Aggression .........................................................................................................9 Accuracy and Validity of Retrospective Viewing Reports ..............................12 IV. METHOD ..............................................................................................................13 Participants .............................................................................................................13 Materials ................................................................................................................13 Demographic Information ................................................................................13 Aggression Measures .......................................................................................14 Aggressive Behavior..................................................................................14 Hostile Attribution Bias .............................................................................14 Aggressive Beliefs and Values ..................................................................15 Violence in General .............................................................................16 Violence for Self-Defense ....................................................................16 Use of Corporal Punishment to Discipline Children ...........................16 Justification of Violence ......................................................................17 Beliefs about Gun Ownership and Use ................................................17 Mean World View .....................................................................................18 Control Variables .............................................................................................18 Retrospective Television Viewing Reports .....................................................19 Measurement of TV Exposure ...................................................................19 Television Program Content Recall .................................................................21 Validation of TV Viewing Reports ...........................................................21 Perceived TV Realism .....................................................................................22 iv Chapter Page Procedure ...............................................................................................................23 V. RESULTS ...............................................................................................................24 Retrospective Television Viewing Reports ...........................................................24 False Programs .................................................................................................25 Television Program Content Recall .......................................................................26 Aggression Measures .............................................................................................28 Aggressive Behavior ........................................................................................28 Hostile Attribution Bias ...................................................................................32 Aggressive Beliefs and Values ........................................................................33 Justification of Violence ..................................................................................34 Beliefs about Gun Ownership and Use ............................................................35 Mean World View............................................................................................35 Moderating Variables.............................................................................................36 VI. DISCUSSSION......................................................................................................38 Aggression Measures .............................................................................................39 Aggressive Behaviors ......................................................................................39 Aggressive Beliefs and Values ........................................................................41 Justification of Violence ..................................................................................42 Beliefs about Gun Ownership and Use ............................................................43 Hostile Attribution Bias ...................................................................................43 Mean World View............................................................................................44 Exposure to Prosocial TV Content ..................................................................45 Moderating Variables.............................................................................................46 Validation of Aggression Measures .......................................................................47 Validation of Retrospective TV Viewing Reports .................................................48 Strengths ................................................................................................................51 Limitations .............................................................................................................52 Future Directions ...................................................................................................53 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................60 APPENDICES ...........................................................................................................100 APPENDIX A – DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION........................................101 APPENDIX B – AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR ...................................................102 APPENDIX C – HOSTILE ATTRIBUTION BIAS ...........................................103 APPENDIX D – AGGRESSIVE BELIEFS AND VALUES ..............................111 APPENDIX E – JUSTIFICATION OF VIOLENCE ..........................................112 v APPENDIX F – BELIEFS ABOUT GUN OWNERSHIP AND USE ................113 APPENDIX G – MEAN WORLD VIEW ...........................................................114 APPENDIX H – PARENTAL DISCIPLINE STYLE .........................................115 APPENDIX I - RELIGIOSITY ...........................................................................116 APPENDIX J – RETROSPECTIVE TV VIEWING REPORTS ........................117 APPENDIX K – CONTEXTUAL CUES ............................................................118 APPENDIX L – IDENTIFICATION WITH TV CHARACTERS .....................119 APPENDIX M – TELEVISION PROGRAM CONTENT RECALL .................120 APPENDIX N – PERCEIVED TV REALISM ...................................................123 APPENDIX O – IRB REVIEW FORM ..............................................................125 vi LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1 Percentages of Viewing Frequency Ratings by Year ............................................73 2 Correlations between All Covariates and Character/Actor Recall Scores by Ratings Level

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