DOCUMENT RESUME ED 059 624 EM 009 665 AUTHOR Murray, John P., Ed.; And pthers TITLE Television and Social Behdvior; Reports and Papers, Volume II: Television and Social Learning. INSTITUTION Surgeon G3neral's Scientific Advisory Committee on Television and Social Behavior,Washington, D.C. PUB DATE Apr 72 NOTE 378p.; See also EM 009 435, EM009 664, EM 009 666, EM 009 667, EM 009 668 AVAILABLE FROMSuperintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Of f ice, Washington, D.C. 20402(Stock No.1724-0195, $1.50) EDRS PRICE MF- $0. 65-14C-$ 13.16 DESCRIPTORS *Aggression; Children; Commercial Television; Identification (Psychological) ; Imitation; Learning; *Learning Theories; *Social Behavior; Socialization; Television Pesearch; *Television Viewing; *Violence / ABSTRACT C ncentrating on television and social learning, this second volume inhe series of technical reports to the Surgeon Generall Scientific Advisory Committee on Television and Social Behavior consists of an overview and the reports of five investigations. The studies included are: Leifer and Roberts, "Children's Responses to Television Violenceu; Liebert and Baron, "Short-term Effects of Televised Aggression on Children's Aggressive Behavior"; Stein and Friedrich, "Television and Content and Young Children's Behavior"; Feshbach, "Reality and Fantasy in Filmed Violence"; andStevenaon, Television and the Behavior of Preschool Children.11The,overview -reviews the field, points out agreements and inconsistenciesamong the studies, and concludes that "At least under some circumstances, exposure to televisedaggression can lead children to accept what they have seen as a partial guide for their own actions. As a result, the present entertainmentofferings of the television medium may be contributing, in some measure, to the 'aggressive behavior of 'Many normal children. Such an effect has now been shown in a wide variety of situations. (SH) PA <1!, A IF A N TELeniur ANDA41 1,4 ft4 114 Publications of the'Television and Social Behavior Program Report of the Surgeon General's Scientific Advisory Committeeon Television and Social Behavior Media Content and Control (Reports and Papers, Volume 1) Television and Social Learning (Reports and Papers, Volume 2) Television and Adolescent Aggressiveness (Reports and Papers, Vol- ume 3) Television in Day7to-Day Life: Patterns of Use (Reports and Papers, Volume 4) Teleyision's Effects: Further Explorations (Reports and Papers, Vol- ume 5) Television and gocial Behavior: An Annotated Bibliography of Re- search Focusing on Television's Impact on Children For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20103Price $1,30 (paper cover) Stock Number 1721-0195 TELEVISION c) AND SOCIAL BEHAVIOR REPORTS AND PAPERS, VOLUME II: TELEVISION AND SOCIAL LEARNING A TECHNICAL REPORT TO THE SURGEON GENERAL'S SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON TELEVISION AND SOCIAL BEHAVIOR Edited By John P. Murray, Eli A. Rubinstein, and George A. Comstock Editorial Coordination: Susan Lloyd-Jones U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH. EDUCATION & WELFARE OFFICE OF EDUCATION THIS 00CUMENT HAS BEEN REPRO- OUCEO EXACTLY AS RECEIVEO FROM THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIG- INATING IT. POINTS OF VIEW OR OPIN- IONS STATEO 00 NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT OFFICIAL OFFICE OF EOU- CATION POSITION OR POLICY. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE Health Servicetand Mental Health Administration National Institute of Mental Health WOO Fishers Lane Rockville, Maryland ød Staff Members Eli A. RubinsteinVice Chairman, Surgeon General's Scientific Advisory Committee George A. ComstockSenior Research Coordinator John P. MurrayResearch Coordinator Michael Ad letStaff Assistant Eileen MarchakResearch Assistant Susan S. ,loyd-JonesEditor Joseph D. Reck leyAdministrative Officer Margaret D. SalladaySecretary Laura A. De LisiSecretary Former Staff Members Douglas A. FuchsSenior Research Coordinator (through 6/70) John P. Robinson Research Coordinator (through 9/70) Harold LeighAdministrative Officer (through 10/70) Thomas Brubeck Information Officer (through 5/71) Deborah CutlerResearch Assistant (through 8/70) Jan W. LipkinSecretary (through 4/70) Advisory Committee Members Ira H. CisinCharles A. Pinderhughes Thomas E. CoffinIthiel de Sola Pool Irving L. JanisAlberta E. Siegel . Joseph T. KlapperAnthony F. C. Wallace Harold MendelsohnAndrew S. Watson Eve line OmwakeGerhart D. Wiebe 6.4 P reface This document is one of five volumes of technical reports resulting from a broad scientific inquiry about television and its impact on the viewer. In the spring of 1969, by Congressional request, the DHEW ini- tiated a special program under the general auspices of a Surgeon Gener- al's Scientific Advisory Committee on Television and Social Behavior. The major emphasis was to be on an examination of .the relationship between televised violence and the attitudes and behavior of children. During the ensuing two years, more than fifty scientists participated di- rectly in this program of research and produced over forty scientific reports. The reports which are included ,in these five volumes are the inde- pendent work of the pitticipating researchers. These results have all been made available to the Scientific Advisory Committee as eyidence which the Committee could then evaluate and draw its own conclusions in the preparation of its own report. However, this work is of signifi- cance in its own right and is being published independently as source material for other researchers and for such interest as the general public may have in these technical reports. In any broad scientific undertaking of this nature, where many indi- fiduals are involved, a careful balance between collaboration and inde- pendence of responsibility must be established. During the two and half years that this program of research was active, a constant effort was made to protect the scientific independence of the individual investiga- tors and, at the same time: 1) to foster both cooperation and exchange among.the researchers, 2) to develop as much of a total program struc- ture as possible, and 3) to permit maximum communication and feed- back among the researchers,: the full-time staff responsible for planning and impJementing the total research program, and the Scientific Adviso- ry Committee responsible for the final assessment and evaluation of the ' research. This is not the place to describe in detail how that balance of collabo- ration and independence was established and maintained. J believe, however, that these five volumes of technical reports provide an accu- rate and meaningful indication of our success in achieving the goal. The reports themselves are the products of the respective authors. They have been edited only to insure some comparability of format and to delete any excessive redundancies in review of the literature or intro- ductory material. In some instances, where a report seemed initially too long the author was requested to reduce the report without deIeting any ese 5 iv critical material. All editing done by staff was submitted for the author's approval. We believe the result has made each of these five volumes a more readable and integrated totality than would otherwise beexpected from a collection of research reports produced under the time con- straints of this program. In each instance, the integration of the five volumes was further estab- lished by the inclusion of an overview paper which attempts to summa- rize and relate the papers in that volume. These overview papers are also the independent work of the respective authors. It would be difficult to convey to the reader the extraordinary efforts required by all participants in this research program to bring the endeav- or to its published conclusion within the time allotted.Despite that time pressure, these volumes demonstrate an unusually.high level uf both productivity and quality for an area of research which has had more than its share of complexity and controversy. In addition to the work of all persons directly engaged in this program, a very large number of individuals at one time or anotherprovided ad- vice and guidance to the researchers, to the staff, and to the Scientific Advisory Committee. It would be impossible to provide a complete list of these additional consultants. The total count is in the hundreds. While their names are not visible in these products, their counsel was often a very significant factor in the course of an individual piece of research or in a decision on the direction-of the research program. To all those indi- viduals, th;s program owes a special debt of gratitude for the collective wisdom maee available to us. And finally, on behalf both of the members of the Scientific Advisory Committee and of the staff who served the program, I wish especially to express much appreciation to the participating researcherswhO'did the work and wrote the reports that contributed the new knowledge con- tained in these volumes. Eli A. Rubinsteiti' Vice-Chairman, Surgeon General's Scientific Advisory Committee on Television and Social Behavior Contents Page Television and Social Learning: Some Relationships Between Viewing Violence and Behaving Aggressively (Overview).Robert M. Liebert 1 Children's Responses to Television Violence:- AimeeDorr Leiferand DonaldF. Roberts 43 Short-term Effects of Televised Aggression on Children's Aggressive Behavior. Robert M.Liebert andRobert A. Baron 181 Television Conte it and Young Children's Behavior. Aletha H. SteinandLynette K. Fiiedrichwith Fred Vondracek