Chapter 5

Changing Patterns of
  Television Use

It is difficult to overstate the pervasiveness of American television.
Virtually all children in the United States have television sets in their
homes. TV Guide, with program listings and feature articles about tele-
vision, is the largest-circulation magazine in the United States. The av-
erage home set is on more than six hours a day. Most children watch tel-
evision every day and are likely to watch at least two hours daily. One
research team found that, as early as the late 195Os, the typical child,
during the first 16 years of life, spent, in total, as much time with televi-
sion as in school (Schramm, Lyle, and Parker, 196 1).

But it would be a mistake simply to equate pervasiveness with impact.
Within the broad generalizations about the widespread use of television
are a multiplicity of variations. While television viewing is still a family-
shared experience, more than one-third of U.S. families now own more
than one television set (up from one-quarter of families five years ago).
This figure is higher among larger families and among families with high-
er incomes and more education. The increase in multiple-set homes and
the different patterns of viewing among different age groups and differ-
ent ethnic and socioeconomic groups make average daily viewing time
for individuals a misleading statistic.

Data from the LoSciuto (1971) survey show that most adults report
watching television for at least two hours daily. Many, of course, say
they watch more, while up to 20 percent of American adults say they do
not watch at all on a given day. Women tend to report more viewing than
men, probably because many women work at home where they have
easy access to television sets.

51


52                            TELEVISION AND GROWING UP

Among children, frequent viewing begins at about age three and stays
relatively high until age 12, then gradually declines. Viewing frequency
reaches its low point among teenagers. With the onset of marriage and
family formation, time spent viewing television increases, remaining
stable through the early and middle adult years and rising once again aft-
er middle age when grown children leave home (Robinson, 1971b).

Most children watch some television every day. Like adults, most
watch at least two hours a day, although many watch considerably long-
er. On the other hand, more than one-quarter of the sixth graders Lyle
and Hoffman (1971a) studied reported that they watched no television
"yesterday," and similar numbers in other age groups reported no view-
ing at all. But regardless of age, more than one-quarter of the children
said they watched more than five hours on school days.

According to these studies, many elementary school pupils watch tele-
vision before (one-fifth of Lyle and Hoffman subjects) and after (two-
thirds of Lyle and Hoffman subjects) school as well as in the evening.
Older children (sixth and tenth graders in the Lyle and Hoffman study)
watch evening television through most of the prime time period as well
as during the early evening "family" viewing period.

Several studies made before this research program was launched
showed that children of lower socioeconomic status tended to spend
more time watching television than children of higher economic status
(e.g., Greenberg and Dervin, 1970). Some evidence from the present
research (McIntyre and Teevan, 1971) supports this conclusion. Lyle
and Hoffman (1971a) and McLeod et al. (1971b) found, however, that
viewing differences based on socioeconomic status were minimal-
much smaller than differences found in similar studies ten years ago.

THE DIFFUSION MODEL

What happens when an innovative medium of mass communication
becomes universally adopted by a society?

Over the past 20 years, the medium of television has moved closer and
closer to universal adoption. During this period, the phenomenon of tele-
vision has evolved in much the same way radio listening evolved be-
tween the 1920s and 194Os, from a central to a peripheral activity.

When television was new in the early 193Os, viewing was group-cen-
tered, attention was focused, and interest was high. From the middle
1950s (when about half of American homes had television sets), to the
mid-1960s (when more than 90 percent of homes had sets), the nation
was saturated with television broadcasting. Everyone watched, but tele-
vision became less "magic" and more commonplace. An audience
which may once have altered its living patterns around the new medium
now seemed to reverse the process and fit the medium to their living pat-


PATTERNSOFUSE                                53

terns. Attention to the set has become more diffused; viewers seem to be
more easily distracted (Bechtel et al., 1971; LoSciuto, 1971; Lyle and
Hoffman, 1971a; Murray, 1971; Ward, 1971).

We may be entering a third evolutionary phase, one whose key char-
acteristic is differentiation. Technological advances in miniaturization
and the use of new materials have lowered the cost of television sets and
made television portable and "personalizable." Multiple sets in homes
make possible differentiated and specialized audiences.

As cable systems proliferate and make very large numbers of video
channels available, audiences and programs may become increasingly
specialized: one station may broadcast all sports, another all news, an-
other all Spanish music and drama, and so on. In cities like New York
where cable has made up to 25 channels available, we see channels spe-
cializing in stock market reports, continuous news, weather, public
service announcements, and films. Future audiences may come to de-
pend on television for very specific information and for specific types of
entertainment.

Viewers' uses of television have been changing constantly ever since
the medium was first introduced. As they continue to evolve in the fu-
ture, we will need to develop new research approaches and new meth-
ods of evaluating the entire viewing process. A number of questions still
remain unanswered. For example, how and why do viewers choose spe-
cific programs; indeed, how do viewers choose whether to watch at all?

TO WATCH OR NOT TO WATCH

Because television is ubiquitous in America, and because so many
individuals appear to spend large segments of time with the medium,
there is a tendency to look upon viewing television as a rather universal,
global. nonrational, automatic manifestation of behavior. To the degree
that many aspects of viewing television are indeed analogous to a "hab-
it." some surface truth rests in such observations. On the other hand,
when one probes the viewing process more deeply, one recognizes
quickly that all is not as simple as it appears to be.

The potential viewer of any given television program always is faced
with a number of options which call for active decision-making on his
part. In its crudest form, the initial option hinges on whether the poten
tial viewer chooses to watch television at all or whether he or she wil
engage in some other activity. Here the initial decision turns on a variety
of factors, among which are the time of day; day of the month; season
key sociodemographic attributes such as age, sex, educational level
occupation, and economic status; key "taste" considerations such a'
whether the potential viewer falls into either the "high," "middle," o
"low-brow" rubric: and key psychophysiological variables such a


54                            TELEVISION AND GROWING UP

fatigue, mood, need for relaxation or stimulation, need for information,
ennui, or feelings of loneliness. Undoubtedly, many additional variables
too numerous to cite operate in determining the initial "to view or not to
view" choice.

If, after sifting through all these filters, the individual decides to view
television rather than to engage in other activities, he is then faced with
several secondary decisions. For example, he must choose from among
a number of programs that may be available to him at any given time.
In order to do this he must first find out "what's on television," by refer-
ring to newspaper or magazine program logs, by inquiring from other
individuals, by remembering a previous viewing experience, or by sim-
ply twisting the television receiver dial in random fashion until he finds
something of interest to him-provided, of course, that he has the op-
tion of determining what program will or will not be tuned in at a given
time. At any point in this process, the potential viewer may decide that
there is "nothing on television" and refrain from tuning in.

Where he finds that the receiver is in the control of others, the poten-
tial viewer is forced into still another set of decisions: to view the pro-
gram chosen by someone else; to seek out another receiver over which
he can exert personal control; or not to view television at all for a speci-
fied period of time.

The decision to view a given program at a given time is to a major de-
gree dependent upon key variables of time, demographic-sociological
characteristics, social milieu, personal taste, psychophysiological attri-
butes, past experience with similar programming, content-related expec-
tations, and the content-related gratifications the viewer derives as he
watches the program in progress. Once he has tuned in a program, the
viewer can choose, at any moment, either to continue watching a given
program or not to continue. "Audience flow" data gathered by televi-
sion audience measurement services show that there is considerable
shifting into and out of specific programs (particularly variety programs)
by substantial audiences while the program is being aired. Another alter-
native equally available to the viewer who finds a given tuned-in pro-
gram not to his liking is to cease viewing altogether-at least temporari-
IY.

Even after the viewer has settled into a given program for much or all
of its duration, he is faced with the entire choice cycle all over again at
the point of its termination. Should he continued "to watch television"
-and if so, what shall he tune in, and for how long?

The fact that considerable choice can be, and probably often is, exer-
cised in the complex matter of viewing television necessarily gets us
away from the simplistic notion that television viewers are completely
captive automatons whose only option is to "respond" to everything
that the medium projects. Even though the alternatives offered by tele-
vision are not infinite, there remains room for a certain amount of real


PATTERNS OF USE

choice on the part of viewers. Ultimately, the decisions not to watch tel-
evision or no? to watch particular television programs are always realis-
tic options.

LEVELS OF ATTENTION

How does an American family watch television? Figure I shows what
two minutes in one family's living room looked like. This minute-by-
minute description of a family watching television documents the com-
plexity of the activity we call "watching television" (or "viewing," or
"exposure"). The degree of attention to the television screen is con-
stantly varying. Bechtel et al. (1971)-from whose report the above de-
scription is taken-filmed a number of Kansas City families as they
watched television. These researchers divided the activities they saw
while the television set was on into six levels of attention:

1. Participating, actively responding to the television set or to oth-
ers regarding content from the set.
2. Passively watching (doing nothing else).
3. Simultaneous activity (eating, knitting, etc.) while looking at the
  screen.

4. Positioned to watch television but reading, talking, or attending
to something other than television.
5. In the viewing area but positioned away from the set in a way
that would require turning to see it.
6. Not in the room and unable to see the set.

Bechtel et al. assert that up to half the time the television sets were on,
the viewers they observed fell into one of the last three categories-in-
dicating, essentially, that they did not "watch'`-even though they may
have reported later (via questionnaire) that they had watched the pro-
gram being broadcast. Moreover, the researchers catalogued an exten
sive list of activities the people who did "watch" were simultaneously
engaged in-activities which ranged from eating and conversing to stud
ying and sleeping.

Lyle and Hoffman (197la) note that students say they are likely tc
study while watching television. Fewer than 20 percent of the first grad
ers Lyle and Hoff man interviewed said they never did other things whila
watching television. Murray (1971) reports numerous activities accom
panying viewing behavior. In a study where children were observe1
while they watched television, eye contact with the television scree
diminished markedly in a situation where the television program had t
compete with other attractions like books, games, and toys (Foulkes f
al., 1971).


TIME    Tommie

Jamie

Mother

Father

28'

28'30"

29







29'30"

He is watching TV with
close attention.

Rests his hand on his leg.
He wipes his nose with his
arm and looks at his brother
and father.

Says something to Jamie
and something to his father.
He leaves the room after
looking at them.

Returns and sits on couch.
He places one leg out and
tucks the other underneath
him. Wiggles his foot a little.

out                      out

Returns and sits on couch.
He sits all the way back with
his feet stretched straight out
and his hands between his
thighs. He watches T.V.

Enters living room carrying an
article of clothing on a hanger.
She glances at TV.

Watches TV intently. Answers
his father's question and looks
at him for a few seconds.

Carries article of clothing on
hanger into another room.

Flutters his feet as a swimmer
does and then stops. Still
watching TV.

Returns to the living room,
stands in the doorway and
pays no attention to TV. She
seems to ba clearing something
from the table.

Figure 1: Two minutes of family viewing

He turns his head to ask a
question. He moves the news-
paper and looks back at it.

Looks up as Mrs. Barker passes
through. (At the same time TV
says' "Hey look over there."
He watches TV set for ten
seconds, then turns back to
newspaper. He looks up at set
again. (There is marching music
on TV.)

Takes his hand off his head and
looks at the boys. He asks
something about what is on
television. He then moves his
legs slightly.

He holds the newspaper up;
hard to tell if he is looking at
it or at the television set.


PATTERNS OF USE                               57

According to this evidence, although television is omnipresent in
American homes, it often does not receive the full attention of adults
and older children. This observation probably does not apply, however.
to young children. For example, it is difficult or even impossible for
young children to monitor both a conversation and a television program.

TELEVISION'S IMPACT IN CHILDHOOD

We do not ordinarily think of family mealtimes. play in the neighbor-
hood, and visits in other homes as "episodes of social learning." but in
fact a byproduct of these activities is social learning. The fact that no
one is labeled an "instructor" and the child is not labeled a "pupil" does
not gainsay the fact that the child is learning in these situations. He is
learning how to behave, what to do to please other people, ways that he
may displease them, how to gain attention from adults. how to carry on
conversational give-and-take, how men and women behave. and so
forth.

How does the time a child spends watching television affect his oppor-
tunities for social learning and for direct interpersonal contact? And to
what extent does social learning take place as a consequence of watch-
ing television?

The first question is more easily answered than the second. Much of
the time children now spend watching television is simply the time
which earlier generations of children devoted to such other media as
movies, comic books, and radio (Himmelweit, Oppenheim, and Vince.
1958; Lovibond, 1967; Schramm, Lyle, and Parker, 1961). But some of it
is time which formerly might have been spent in social activities. play
with other children, daydreaming, listening to adult conversation. and
other unsupervised activities. Important changes in children's psycho-
logical functioning may result from this redistribution of their time in
waking hour experiences.

While the child is paying exclusive attention to television (and this by
no means occurs universally), he is observed to be physically inactive.
He has no opportunity to ask questions of those he sees on the screen.
He has no need to plan what he will do next, or how he will carry out his
plan of action. There is no way he can change the pace of the action on
television or divert the inexorable unfolding of events before him.
Whether he smiles or frowns, whether he looks puzzled or enlightened.
whether he. shows amusement or fright, whether he approves or
disapproves, the events roll on. This is a situation very different from his
usual social experiences, in which he can participate actively and
directly. The events he watches on television are exciting and attention-
catching. but his own role is limited to that of a spectator or bystander.


58                         TELEVISION AND GROWING UP

Some evidence points to a relationship between television viewing

and reduced activity (i.e., "passivity"). A study conducted in the 1950s
in Great Britain (Himmelweit, Oppenheim, and Vince, 1958) found little
difference in passivity among children who were viewers of television
and those who were nonviewers. However, within the group of children
who were television viewers, the children described as television "ad-
dicts" were likely to be somewhat more passive. Himmelweit et al. con-
sider that the passivity is essentially a product of environmental and
personality factors, but that it may be increased by the opportunities for
withdrawal offered by television. Essentially similar findings are report-
ed by Schramm, Lyle, and Parker (1961) and Murray (1971). The latter
study indicates that the passive child who is a heavy television viewer at
age six was also a relatively passive child at age three, but information
on the three-year old's television viewing is not available.

As both Lyle and Hoffman (1971a) and Murray (1971) document, not
only do children begin viewing at a very early age, but they also begin to
develop program preferences and habits almost as soon as they com-
mence viewing. By the first grade, a majority of boys and girls are already
showing patterns of program selection and preference for characters.

Among the younger children (Lyle and Hoffman, 1971a) the most
popular programs are situation comedies and cartoon shows. The sixth
graders like family situation comedies and give increased attention to
adventure programs. Tenth graders prefer adventure programs and mu-
sic/variety shows. Children of all ages are attracted to shows featuring
characters their own age. All the studies reporting program preferences,
among black primary and secondary students show strong preferences
for programs featuring blacks.

The studies in this research program which asked children or adults
which programs they watch report relatively little viewing of education-
al programs. Viewing figures for Sesame Street, which has won wide
critical praise, were not available when most of these surveys were
made. However, Lyle and Hoffman (1971a) found some evidence of siz-
able first-grade viewing of Sesame Street: the program's characters
were more frequently recognized by first graders than were characters
on several popular commercial programs. Lyle and Hoffman (1971b)
also found Sesame Street was the second most frequently named as fa-
vorite program (after The Flintstones). among the preschool-age chil-
dren they interviewed. This finding is all the more impressive because
these were the only individual programs named by sizable proportions.
According to Lyle and Hoffman, young viewers avoid news programs
almost totally.

WHY PEOPLE WATCH TELEVISION

As we have pointed out, for many viewers of all ages television is a
discontinuous activity. For the most part, television "fills time," but it


PATTERNS OF USE                                59

does so in a way which many viewers feel is a useful experience (Lyle
and Hoffman, 1971a; LoSciuto, 1971; Robinson, 197Ib). Primarily, of
course, people say they use television for relaxation and pleasure (Rob-
inson, 1971b). A small proportion (ten percent, according to Robinson's
overview of five studies of primarily adult viewers) say they watch spe-
cifically in order to be informed or educated. But at the same time, the
studies suggest, viewers believe they are learning about the world, about
how to handle social situations, about how to cope with personal prob-
lems.
In several survey studies, mothers reported that they thought their
children were learning from television: increasing their vocabularies,
preparing for school, and learning "about life."
Precisely what they do and do not learn about life is unclear. But they
certainly do learn names of products and can identify packages from
commercials, according to Lyle and Hoffman (197Ia), Murray (1971),
and Ward (1971). A very large number of children, beginning at pre-
school age, can recognize characters in television programs. (Only about
5 percent of the first graders Lyle and Hoffman surveyed, for example,
did not know Giliigan of Gilligan's Island. )
Adults, as well as children, tend to identify most strongly with charac-
ters like themselves-characters of their own age, their own sex, their
own race.
Most viewers, according to LoSciuto's survey, see dramatic televi-
sion programs as generally realistic portrayals of the world as it is. They
seem to feel that the behavior of television characters in fictional situa-
tions in dramatic programs is reasonably true-to-life and that watching
these programs can give clues about socially acceptable behavior. Fifth
and eighth graders in Greenberg and Gordon's (1971a, 1971~) studies
reported that they thought certain portrayals of filmed violence to be
"realistic."
The children studied by Lyle and Hoff man (197 la), on the other hand,
were less convinced of television's "reality." Even in first grade, about
half the children expressed doubts about the realism of dramatic pro-
grams. Among older children, about one-quarter were markedly skepti-
cal about the truthfulness of television news programs.
As a child grows older, he becomes more proficient at the task of dis-
tinguishing fantasy from reality, fact from fiction. Identifying the half-
truths and the less-than-half-truths becomes important for the adoles-
cent. Indeed, he is an expert at spotting a "phony." Lyle and Hoffman
suggest that older children are very suspicious and distrustful of televi-
sion commercials.
The origins of this distrust and cynicism are difficult to trace. Howev-
er, one study (Ward, 1971) indicates that they are related to a "consumer
awareness" formed from the child's experience with advertising gener-
ally and with television advertising specifically. More broadly viewed,
they may also, in part, be a reflection of a much more widespread loss of


60                           l-ELEVISION AND GROWING UP

public confidence in the institutions of our society. As a broad indicator
of public confidence, a recent survey (Harris, 1971) compared attitudes
toward 16 major social institutions (such as religion, education, govern-
ment, labor, media, science, and business) with attitudes measured five
years earlier. Without exception, public confidence in these institutions
was sharply down. Thus, evidence of current skepticism is not confined
to television or to the young.

While the development of skepticism may be part of normal psycho-
logical maturation, it is possible to interpret these observations in at least
two diametrically opposed ways. On the one hand, it is possible to spec-
ulate that early experiences with questionable television advertising
engenders a high degree of cynicism among youthful viewers which may
reflect itself ultimately in a general sense of distrust and alienation. In
contrast, these kinds of early experiences may very well be viewed as
helping to develop the kind of healthy skepticism that will serve to im-
munize viewers against propaganda.

YOUNG VIEWERS AND THEIR PARENTS

Parents usually exert little influence over their children's viewing. Our
data indicate that in an overwhelming majority of families, the children
control the use of the television set through the early evening (Lyle and
Hoffman, 1971a; McLeod et al., 1971b). Indeed, one study reports that
parents often ask advice from their children when they select early eve-
ning programs (McLeod et al., 1971b).

In their relationship with their children, parents are in a position to
play the role of gatekeepe'rs, allowing what they approve and barring
what they do not. If parents exert very little control over what their chil-
dren choose to view on television, it is possible that they do not disap-
prove of those choices too strongly. It is also possible that they wish to
avoid family conflict and to prevent frustration and feelings of depriva-
tion in their children. However, it is important to note that parental atti-
tudes toward and comments about the content of television may have
considerable power as mediating influences between the messages pro-
jected and their possible influences on young children. It is here, rather
than in the area of controlling what their children are to view in the first
place, that parental gatekeeping may be of primary importance.


Chapter 6

Television and Violence in
  the World of Children

The fact that young children extensively view television raises impor-
tant questions about the role this medium plays in the child's life. Televi-
sion can be a major force in teaching the child about the complexities of
the world around him. Indeed, some producers of television drama
claim that they attempt to depict many aspects of life-its problems,
happiness and joy, sadness and violence. However, while most people
recognize television's potential for providing the child with a broad
range of experiences, there is much public concern about the possible
harmful effects of television entertainment. This concern focuses on the
possibility that particular aspects of television viewing will overstimu-
late the child. lead to disturbed sleep and nightmares, or incite the child
to aggressive behavior. For example, the National Center for Health
Statistics reports that a survey of the parents of approximately 7,000
children between the ages of six and 11 years indicates that the sleep dis-
turbances of more than one out of four children are considered by the
parents to be related to television and radio programs (Roberts and
Baird, 1971).

In addition, many teachers of young children, especially at the nurs-
ery school level, suggest that television viewing may have negative as
well as positive aspects. While recognizing its potential for entertain-
ment and cultural enrichment, they feel that television viewing may be a
"cop-out on learning." Their view is consonant with early beliefs on the
parts of some researchers that television may reduce creative or produc-
tive activities (Maccoby, 1951). Later studies indicate that the relation-

61


62                              TELEVISION ANDGROWlNG UP

ship between very heavy viewing and low interest in other activities may
be a manifestation of preexisting personality and familial factors in the
heavy viewer. and may constitute "a vicious circle" in which these fac-
tors lead to heavy viewing which in turn reduces the child's contacts
with others (Himmelweit et al., 1958).

For convenience. one can differentiate between the general effects
television may have on the child's intellectual and emotional life and tel-
evision's more specific impact on the child's aggressive behavior. This
chapter attempts to summarize and interpret the available experimental
evidence on the impact of televised violence on children.

If viewing televised violence leads to an increase in the viewer's ag-
gressive behavior, it may do so either by "teaching" novel aggressive
acts which can be learned and imitated or by instigating aggressive be-
haviors which have previously been learned. Studies on the imitation of
aggressive behavior usually focus on identifying the stimulus conditions
under which a child will mimic or copy the behavior that he has just ob-
served on television or in real life. Research on the instigation of aggres-
sive behavior assesses the postviewing incidence of any aggressive be-
haviors. not just those which mimic the behavior the child has previous-
ly viewed.

IMITATION OF MEDIA VIOLENCE

A child may acquire a new item of behavior through attentive observa-
tion. Rehearsal or practice of this new skill increases his competence.
If the initial attempts are rewarded or encouraged, the child is likely to
continue to perform the newly acquired behavior. If they are punished,
he is less likely to persist, especially while he is under the surveillance of
the punisher. Observation, imitation, then practice is a common se-
quence through which new behaviors enter the child's repertoire.

Throughout human history, very young children have been able to
learn from imitating the behavior of others in their presence. These oth-
ers might be members of the household, friends of the family, neigh-
bors, playmates, teachers, priests, etc. With the advent of the modern
pictorial media of communication, children can now also see the behav-
ior of individuals who are not personally present but whose images are
conveyed via film or television. We use the term "models" for individu-
als whose behavior children can observe and thus imitate, whether these
individuals are personally in the child's presence or are observed by him
through the media.

The child with a television set in his own home has the opportunity to
observe the behavior of many diverse models. In forming impressions of
how adult males normally behave, for example, the young boy of today


THE WORLD OF CHILDREN                            63

may rely not only on observing the behavior of his father and his un-
cles, the repairman and deliveryman who come to his house, his doctor,
and other men in his life, but also on observing television newscasters,
comedians, actors, musicians, and cowboys in westerns, and so forth.
The very young child today is exposed to more different models of mas-
culine behavior than any child in human history, in part because of the
television set in his home.

Because psychologists have been concerned with the amount of ag-
gression and violence available to children in the mass media (and par-
ticularly on television) and with the possibility that youngsters will imi-
tate this aggression in their own behavior, many experiments have stud-
ied children's copying of aggressive behavior. Typically in these experi-
ments, one film shows distinctive and novel aggressive behaviors, while
another film-similar in length. use of color, identity of the actors, and
the character of the situation-does not feature aggressive behavior.
The different children who watch the two films are then compared for
their aggressive behaviors in sessions. conducted after the showing of
the films. Careful records are made of the acts which do or do not mimic
the distinctive aggressive behaviors just displayed in one of the films but
not the other.

Albert Bandura pioneered studies of this sort over ten years. ago.
Since the publication of his original work (e.g., Bandura and Walters,
1963; Bandura, Ross, and Ross, 1961), many psychologists in the United
States and abroad have conducted similar experiments. There are now
about 20 different published experiments concerned with children's imi-
tation of filmed aggression shown on a movie or television screen (Ap-
pendix C). All of these studies demonstrate that young children can, and
under some circumstances do, imitate what they observe on television
or in films. Whether they actually do imitate depends on many factors,
including inhibition; social pressures, and socially approved role mod-
els. The fact that children can mimic film-mediated aggressive behavior
is perhaps the best-documented finding in the research literature on the
effects of the pictorial media.

Many other experiments show children's imitation of other kinds of
behavior. Some of these show copying of film-mediated behavior, while
others show mimicking of a live person. These experiments buttress the
findings of the many studies directly concerned with aggression. PSY-
chologists generally consider quite convincing the evidence that children
can readily learn many kinds of behavior, including aggressive actions,
by attentively watching those behaviors being modeled by persons in
their presence, on film, or on television. In this vein, after reviewing the
literature, Weiss (1969) pointed out that "there is little doubt that, by
displaying forms of aggression or modes of criminal and violent behav-
ior, the media are `teaching' and people are `learning.' "


64                             TELEVISIONANDGROWINGUP

MEDIA INSTIGATION OF AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR

The distinction between imitation and instigation is crucial to a precise
understanding of the influence television may exert on the behavior of
the viewer. In the previous section we summarized prior research on the
imitation of acts portrayed on television or in films.

The new research in this program was commissioned after the phe-
nomenon of imitation of aggressive behavior portrayed on film had been
well demonstrated. These new studies do not concentrate on adducing
additional evidence for it, though other new studies will undoubtedly
provide further documentation of this phenomenon. Rather. current
research focuses on the conditions under which children will carry out
the aggressive behavior we already know they can imitate. Given that
children can imitate the aggressive behavior they observe, what are the
inhibiting or disinhibiting factors that make it more or less likely they
will do so? In this section we will review the findings of recent research
which bear on the issue of television's role in stimulating or instigating
antisocial aggressive behavior in children.

During the past decade, a large number of studies have examined tele-
vision's role in facilitating or encouraging aggressive behavior. Many of
these studies deal with aggression in children: another sizable group
focuses on the aggressive behavior of older youth and adults. The re-
sults of approximately 30 previously published experiments (Appendix
D) have been widely interpreted as supporting the thesis that children or
adults who view violence in either films or television programs are more
likely to behave in an aggressive or violent manner than those who do
not view such fare (Baker and Ball, 1969). However, some reviewers
have questioned this interpretation and suggest that additional research
is needed before the question of the impact of televised violence can be
answered (Singer, 1971; Weiss, 1969).

Five reports in this research program focus on television's role in the
instigation of aggressive behavior: Stein and Friedrich (1971); Feshbach
(1971); Liebert and Baron (1971); Ekman et al. (1971); and Leifer and
Roberts (1971). (See Appendix B for brief descriptions of these reports.)
The ten separate studies reported by these authors differ in terms of the
subjects and specific research procedures. However, the general re-
search paradigm is similar in each study. The typical procedure is to
show one group of children films or television programs that contain a
number of violent episodes, while another group views relatively nonvi-
olent material. Subsequently, each child is placed in a setting where his
behavior may be observed. The specific types of aggressive behavior
differed from one study to another, and were not restricted to the mim-
icking or copying of what had just been observed. The child's aggressive
behavior after watching the television program can be quite different in
quality and character from the aggressive or violent behavior displayed
in the television program.


THE WORLD OF CHILDREN                           65

Virtually none of the prior research dealt with effects of actual televi-
sion programs. The earlier investigations typically employed a several-
minute violent excerpt from a motion picture, severed from its original
context. In contrast, much of the new research discussed in this chapter
has made use of actual television programs so that what has been pre-
sented as television has not been unlike television programs seen in the
home. These studies are perhaps more cogent than the prior research for
determining the effects of content as it is presented on home television
screens.

Most of the prior studies on the instigating effects of filmed violence
had used college students as subjects and had assessed each viewer's
aggressive behavior in terms of the number, duration, or intensity of
electric shocks administered to an ostensible victim (e.g., Berkowitz and
Rawlings, 1963; Berkowitz, Corwin, and Heironimus, 1963; and Geen,
1968). In the series of new studies, a wide range of other measures of
aggression (including multiple measures within each study) were em-
ployed. These measures varied from the administration of painful noise
or heat to an ostensible victim to self-rep&t willingness to use physical
or verbal force as a means of conflict resolution. In addition, one study
obtained naturalistic observations of the physical and verbal interper-
sonal aggression occurring in the child's daily life.

The likelihood that a viewer-either child or adult-will behave more
aggressively after watching aggressive behavior portrayed on film or tel-
evision has been suggested by the results of a number of prior studies. In
a review by Atkin, Murray, and Nayman (1971), the majority of studies,
covering various age levels, share the conclusion that viewing violence
increases the likelihood that some viewers will behave aggressively
immediately or shortly thereafter.

Some reviewers (Hartley, 1964; Klapper, 1968; Weiss, 1969; Singer,
1971) have disagreed with this interpretation. These writers have ques-
tioned whether the behavior observed can be regarded as "aggression"
in a socially meaningful sense. They note that the subjects are directed
to administer shocks and that the index of aggression is an extremely
small increment in the number, duration, or intensity of the shocks sup-
posedly given. They note also that the subject gets no feedback from his
supposed victim, who is unseen and unheard, and that the subjects are
in some instances explicitly told that the shocks are mild. These review-
ers contend that this behavior, which they see as explicitly authorized,
very limited, and involving no violation of social norms, cannot be
equated with real interpersonal aggression in the consensuai sense of the
term, nor regarded as necessarily predictive of such behavior.

Catharsis

Some reviewers and researchers have expressed different views re-
garding the general effects of televised violence. Feshbach and Singer


66                            TELEVISION AND GROWING UP

(1971) have in fact suggested that viewing televised violence provides an
opportunity for the discharge (catharsis) of aggressive feelings and thus
reduces the likelihood that the viewer will engage in aggressive or vio-
lent behavior. The same prediction follows from an inhibition hypothe-
sis. which holds that exposure to violent content leads to anxiety, guilt,
or the greater salience of norms and taboos in regard to aggression, with
consequent reduced aggressive behavior.

The theory underlying the catharsis hypothesis (Feshbach, 1961;
Feshbach, 1969) stipulates that the child who views violence on televi-
sion vicariously experiences the violence and thereby harmlessly dis-
charges his pent-up anger, hostility, and frustration.
The Feshbach and Singer (1971) study provides the most comprehen-
sive test of the "catharsis" hypothesis to be published to date. The in-
vestigators presented institutionalized adolescent and preadolescent
boys with a "diet" of either aggressive or nonaggressive television pro-
gramming over a six-week period and concurrently measured the day-to-
day aggressive behavior of these boys. The results indicated that, in
some cases, the children who viewed the nonviolent television programs
were more aggressive than the boys who viewed the aggressive pro-
grams.

These conclusions deviate from the bulk of research findings in this
area. The accumulated experimental investigations sponsored by this
program, fail to support Feshbach's theory and conclusions. This type of
disagreement can be resolved only when other investigators have re-
peated the experiment with appropriate methodological refinements de-
signed to control possible sources of error.

Such a replication has recently been undertaken by Wells (1971), and
the preliminary analysis indicates that the findings do not confirm those
of Feshbach and Singer in reference to physical aggressiveness, al-
though certain other findings are confirmed. Specifically, in both studies,
the behavioral differences attributed to television were detected only in
the lower socioeconomic level schools. Both studies also demonstrated
greater verbal aggressiveness among boys who viewed the less violent
programs. But-in a direct reversal of Feshbach and Singer-Wells
found significantly greater physical aggressiveness among boys who
viewed the more violent television programs. Moreover, the differences
he found, in regard to both verbal and physical aggression, were limited
to boys who were above average in aggression before the study began.
Wells attributes the greater verbal aggression elicited by the less violent
program diet to dissatisfaction with the banning of action-adventure
programs. He interprets the greater physical aggression elicited by the
more violent program diet as a tendency for the action-adventure con-
tent to stimulate aggressive behavior. He found no evidence that would
support a catharsis interpretation, unless the difference in regard to ver-
bal aggressiveness were so interpreted.


THE WORLD OF CHILDREN                           67

As matters now stand, the weight of the experimental evidence from
the present series of studies, as well as from prior research, suggests
that viewing filmed violence has an observable effect on some children
in the direction of increasing their aggressive behavior. Many of the
findings, however, fail to show any statistically significant effects in ei-
ther direction.

New evidence from the present studies

In the present series of studies, the research that bears most directly
on aggressive behavior in the daily life of the child is a controlled experi-
ment by Stein and Friedrich (1971). These investigators observed the
daily behavior of three-and-one-half to five-and-one-half-year-olds (52
boys and 45 girls) who had been exposed to a diet of either aggressive,
prosocial, or neutral programming. The general design of this study
provided for a three-week baseline period during which observers re-
corded the child's usual patterns of social behavior. During the follow-
ing four weeks, the children viewed 12 20-minute episodes in one of
three "diets" of television or film programming. The aggressive pro-
gramming consisted of 12 installments of Batman or Superman car-
toons; the neutral programming consisted of children's films on "na-
ture" or travelogues; the prosocial program consisted of 20-minute seg-
ments of Misterogers Neighborhood, which stressed the themes of shar-
ing, cooperative behavior, and adaptive coping with frustrations. Each
child's daily interpersonal behavior was observed throughout the four-
week period and continued to be monitored during a two-week follow-
up. All observations were conducted in a nursery school (initially a new
setting for the child) during normal interaction with other children.

The investigators used several measures of aggression, two of which
-physical and verbal-were combined into an interpersonal aggression
score. No significant differences were found among the overall effects of
the three types of television treatment. Moreover, exposure to the diet
of televised violence was found to have no consistent effect on children
who had initially displayed a low level of aggressive behavior. Among
children who were initially high in aggressive behavior, the difference in
the changes that occurred is plausibly interpreted as indicating greater
stimulation of aggressive behavior among those who viewed the violent
diet than among those who viewed the neutral diet.' On each of the two

`This conclusion requires some explanation. When subjects are divided into those with
high and low initial levels on any measure and when that measure (or a very similar one) is
repeated, it is frequently found that the "initially high scorers" obtain slightly lower
scores the second time and the initially low scorers obtain slightly-scores the second time.
as a result of a general tendency for imperfectly reliable scores to regress toward the mean.
In the presence of the regression effect, it is difficult to assess the amount and direction of


68                             TELEVISION AND GROWING UP

component measures of aggression, the corresponding differences were
in the same direction. but not large enough to be statistically significant.?

The most striking finding was an increase in prosocial behavior among
the children who viewed the prosocial programs (e.g.. Misterogers
Neighborhood ). This increase was limited to those young viewers who
came from families of low socioeconomic status. These children tended
to become more cooperative. helpful. and sharing in their daily relations
with others; the children from families of high socioeconomic status did
not. Rather, the high-status children showed an increase in prosocial
interpersonal behavior after viewing aggressive programming. An analy-
sis of variance revealed a significant interaction between type of pro-
gram viewed and socioeconomic status (p c.05). The main implications
of the Stein and Friedrich research are that even relatively short repeat-
ed exposure (20 minutes) to the types of television programs available to
children can exert positive or negative effects on the daily life behavior
of nursery school children, but that the effects vary for different types of
children.

In the Stein and Friedrich study, the age of the children was held con-
stant. In other studies which compared younger with older children, age
was an important predispositional factor associated with responsiveness
to aggressive television fare. Liebert and Baron (1971) presented chil-

changes attributable IO an experimental variable. The type of regression effect just de-
scribed seems to run through the data in the Sietn and Friedrich study: the children rated
as low in initial level of aggressive behavior showed an increase in aggressive behavior
while those rated as initially high showed a decrease in aggressive behavior following ex-
posure to television. regardless of which television program they saw. The main finding
bearing on the effects of televised violence is that among those children who were initially
high in aggressive behavior. those given the diet of televised violence showed little de-
crease. whereas the children who were given the neutral diet showed much more decrease
(enough to be a significantly greater decrease) on one of the combined measures of aggres-
sive behavior (interpersonal aggression). In view of the overall regression effect, this find-
ing is tantamount to finding that exposure IO the diet of televised violence gave rise to rela-
tively more change in the direction of interpersonal aggressive behavior than exposure to
the neutral diet.

There was no corresponding significant difference between those initially high in aggres-
sive behavior who received the prosocial diet and those who received either the neutral or
the violent diet.

For subjects who were initially low in aggressive behavior. there were no significant
differences attributable to variations in television diet.
`In another field study. Cameron and Janky reported similar findings. In their study, par-
ents were asked to restrict their child's television viewing to a diet of programs which were
either aggressive or passive and then observe his daily behavior. Although serious metho-
dological problems are inherent in this procedure, the results suggest that the child's be-
havior tended to change in the direction of the type of program content viewed: children
who viewed "pacific" programs were adjudged by their parents to become less aggressive,
while those who viewed the aggressive programs were adjudged to become more aggres-
sive. Because of the strong possibility of biased judgments by the parents, we cannot give
as much weight to this evidence as to the findings from controlled experiments which rely
on trained observers who are "blind" about which type of program each child had seen.


THE WORLD OF CHILDREN                           69

dren with an opportunity to either help or hurt another child after they
had viewed either an aggressive or a nonaggressive segment of televi-
sion programming. The experiment was carried out with 68 boys and 68
girls at two age levels: five and six years old and eight and nine years
old. Each child individually viewed a six-and-one-half minute "pro-
gram." The "aggressive" program included three and one-half minutes
of The Untouchables, preceded and fcllowed by commercials; the "con-
trol" program included three and one-half minutes of a track race film
with the same commercials. Then, so that aggressive behavior could be
measured, each viewer was told that a child was playing a game in an-
other room and that he could either help the other child or hurt him and
prevent him from winning the game. The hurtful act consisted of press-
ing a button which the subject was told would make the handle of a game
that the "other" child was playing become very hot and hard to turn.
The helpful act consisted of pressing another button which he was told
would make the handle very easy to turn and allow the other child to win
more prizes. The experimenter emphasized that the longer the child
pushed on the "help" button the morethe other child was helped, and
that the longer the child pushed the "hurt" button the more he hurt the
other child. This procedure provided several measures of interpersonal
aggression in terms of duration, frequency, and latency of hurting re-
sponses. An additional measure of postviewing behavior was the amount
of aggression observed in a free play situation-specifically, play with
nonaggressive or aggressive toys.

The results indicate that, in both age groups, children who viewed the
televised aggressive episode demonstrated a greater willingness to en-
gage in interpersonal aggression against an ostensible child victim. The
five- and six-year-old children who viewed the Untouchables episode
aggressed sooner and for a longer time than those who viewed the track
race episode. For the older children (eight and nine years old), those
who viewed The Untouchables also showed significantly longer duration
of aggressive responses than the equivalent controls, but they did not
aggress any sooner. With regard to the child's spontaneous aggressive
play behavior, it can again be noted that the children who viewed the
televised violence episode subsequently showed more aggressive play
than those children in the control condition. In this instance, younger
boys were the most likely to behave aggressively.

Additional analyses of the behavior of these same children (Ekman et
al., 1971) suggested that subsequent aggressive behavior is related to the
child's reaction during viewing. Boys aged five and six whose facial ex-
pressions were judged to display such positive emotions as pleasure,
happiness, interest, or involvement while viewing televised violence
were more likely to make hurting responses than boys whose facial ex-
pressions indicated displeasure or disinterest in such fare. In addition.
reactions judged to display happiness while viewing violence were posi-


70                        TELEVISION ANDGROWING UP

tively related to aggressive play. However, this relationship between
emotional reactions while viewing and subsequent aggressive behavior
was not found for girls at ages five and six.
Additional evidence bearing on age differences comes from a study by
Leifer and Roberts (1971). These investigators compared children of
three different age groups, ranging from four to I6 years old, on their
understanding of the ostensibly subtle motivations and consequences
that surround violent acts depicted on television. They asked each child
about his own aggressive tendencies on a questionnaire given immedi-
ately after the child viewed televised violence. Aggressive reactions
were measured in terms of the child's answers to a series of questions
about conflict situations (e.g., "You are walking down the street. Some
kid is mad at you and comes up and hits you. What do you do?" Possible
answers are: "Hit them"; "Call them `stupid' "; "Leave them"; "Tell
a grownup"). One form of the questionnaire was developed for children
four to ten years old, and another was developed for ten- to 16-year-
olds.
In one experiment, 271 children (40 kindergarteners, 54 third, 56 sixth,
51 ninth, and 70 twelfth graders) were presented with a standard com-
mercial television program that contained numerous episodes of vio-
lence. (A panel of adult judges had initially rated two programs, Rocket
Robin Hood and Batman, as comprehensible by children four to five
years old; two westerns, Have Gun Will Travel and Riffeman, as com-
prehensible by ten- to I2-year-olds; and two crime shows, Felony Squad
and Adam i2, as appropriate for teenagers.) Each child was randomly
assigned to view one of the.appropriate programs. Immediately after the
viewing, each child was questioned about his understanding of the moti-
vations for and the immediate and final consequences of each of the vio-
lent episodes in the program. In addition, each child indicated the likeli-
hood that he would behave aggressively by his choice of behavioral op-
tions in the hypothetical conflict Situations described in the question-
naire.
The results showed that, as expected, there were consistent increases
in understanding across the age range: kindergarteners could answer
accurately only about one-third of the questions about either motiva-
tions or consequences; third graders could answer about one-half, and
twelfth graders could answer about 95 percent. The majority of the kin-
dergarten children did not understand very much about the settings of
televised violence. Leifer and Roberts's findings suggest that for most
young children, a violent act depicted on television is a singular event
devoid of its context. For the young television viewers, violence evi-
dently is often perceived in discrete punches.
The results suggest that both age and sex were important in predicting
subsequent aggressive behavior: boys were consistently more aggres-
sive than girls and aggressiveness tended to increase with age. However,


THE WORLD OF CHILDREN                           71
among the variables studied, one of the best predictors of the subse-
quent aggressive score was the amount of violence portrayed in the tele-
vision program: children who viewed the more violent programs gave
more aggressive responses, on the average, than those who viewed less
violence (p< .OS).
Additional studies by the same investigators bear out the conclusion
that adolescents comprehend the depicted motivations for and conse-
quences of aggression better than younger children. However, there was
little evidence in these studies that motivations or consequences had any
influence on the effect of televised violence on aggressiveness. On the
whole, the findings strongly suggest the importance of further investiga-
tion in this area, since it is often claimed that the context in which vio-
lence is portrayed modifies any effects such portrayals may have.
Feshbach (1971) provides evidence that an effective moderating influ-
ence may arise from the way televised violence is labeled. His findings
support the hypothesis that being told about the reality or fantasy char-
acter of acts depicted on television will infiuence the subsequent behav-
ior of viewers. Forty boys and girls, between nine and 11 years of age,
viewed a six-minute film of a campus riot; the film was composed of
both newsreel clips and segments of a Hollywood movie. On a random
basis, half the children were told that the film was an NBC newsreel; the
other children were informed that this was a film made in a Hollywood
studio. After viewing this film, each child was required to play a guess-
ing game with an adult, responding to the adult's errors by pressing but-
tons which allegedly caused noises of various degrees of loudness in the
earphones that the adult was wearing.
The results indicate that, among the children who saw the riot film,
those who were told that the violence was real subsequently produced
louder noises in the laboratory game than those who were told that the
violence was make-believe (pc.01). On the other hand, the response
level of children who viewed the fantasy aggressive program was actual-
ly lower than that of children who did not view an aggressive program
(pc.05). The latter finding provides one of the rare bits of support for
the catharsis or inhibition hypothesis.
If positive findings are confirmed in subsequent studies, one would
expect that when a program is clearly labeled as fiction, young viewers
will react to it in a different way than if they are led to believe that the
program is showing real events. However, it should be noted that Fesh-
bath's results pertain to the behavior of chiIdren at an age when the la-
beling of a program (as fiction or as reality) can be clearly understood. It
is not clear that the young child consistently perceives television enter-
tainment programs to be fantasy. A considerable research literature on
the thought processes of children (e.g., Piaget, 1954 and 1962) suggests
that a distinction between what is "real" and what is "make-believe" in
standard dramatic television programs is probably nearly impossible for


72                         TELEVISIONANDGROWINGUP

the young child below the age of six years. For older children, however,
labels might reduce the tendency to display overt aggressive behavior
among those who are disposed to be adversely stimulated by televised
violence.

A full assessment of the impact of televised violence on children
must, of course, include other forms of emotional reactions besides ag-
gression. We have mentioned parents' complaints that many television
programs stimulate anxiety reactions and produce sleep disturbances
and nightmares in young children (e.g., Hess and Goldman, 1968; Lyle
and Hoffman, 1971a and 1971b; Roberts and Baird, 1971). Very little
systematic re.search has checked on these allegations; consequently, we
simply do not know whether any types of television programs are likely
to create sustained anxiety reactions in a sizable proportion of children.

Some pertinent findings bearing on children's dreams have been re-
ported by Foulkes and his collaborators. Foulkes and Rechtschaffen
(1964) have reported some evidence that viewing televised violence pro-
duced more vivid and emotional dreams in children. However, a more
recent systematic followup study by Foulkes, Belvedere, and Brubaker
(1971) assessed the impact of televised violence in a western program on
the child's dream content (including manifestations of hostility, guilt,
and anxiety) and found little or no measurable effect. This study was
limited, however, to preadolescent boys (aged ten to 12). Whether
younger children exposed to televised violence show any noticeable
change in the degree to which their dreams are characterized by hostili-
ty, guilt, or anxiety remains an open question. In the absence of depend-
able evidence, we can draw no conclusions about the likelihood of sleep
disturbances or other manifestations of anxiety in younger children.

General arousal as a source of instigation

All of the research discussed so far has been concerned with the ef-
fects of the portrayal of violence or aggression in communication con-
tent on subsequent behavior or attitudes. A radically different approach
is presented in the progress report of Tannenbaum (1971).

In a program of research that began before this committee was formed
and that will continue into the future, Tannenbaum has been investigat-
ing the hypothesis that the emotional arousal elicited by a communica-
tion affects the level or intensity of whatever subsequent behavior may
occur. Arousal, then, is conceived of as independent of content as a
predictor of effects.

Preliminary findings. based on college students, support the corollary
proposition that content other than violent or aggressive material may
instigate aggressiveness. With aggressive behavior measured by willing-
ness either to administer electric shocks or to give negative ratings that
might hurt another's career, the effects of videotapes or films judged to


THE WORLD OF CHILDREN                          73

be erotic, humorous, aggressive, or neutral in content were assessed in
several experiments. The viewing of erotic and of humorous materials
was followed by greater aggressiveness than the viewing of neutral ma-
terial, and the viewing of erotic material was followed by greater aggres-
siveness than the viewing of aggressive material. The nature of the sub-
sequent behavior, then, is conceived of as independent of content, as is
the arousal.

However, Tannenbaum also has provided support for the proposition
that violent or aggressive content can instigate aggressiveness. In these
same experiments, the viewing of aggressive material was followed by
greater aggressiveness than the viewing of neutral or humorous material.

Tannenbaum's preliminary findings also support a second corollary
proposition-that aggressive content may instigate behavior which is
nonaggressive, and in fact prosocial. In experiments designed to test this
hypothesis, "humor reactions" of equal magnitude were found to fol-
low a humorous film and an aggressive film. In addition, "rewarding
behavior" (presentation to another person .of tokens presumably re-
deemable for cash) was found to occur after both aggressive and nonag-
gressive stimulus films. Whether "aggressive" or "rewarding" behavior
occurred appeared to be less a product of the film than of attitudes ear-
lier engendered in the subjects regarding the recipient of the behavior.

It remains a matter of speculation whether general arousal should be
taken as a complete explanation of any effects, with violent content hav-
ing an effect on aggressiveness only through a special power to arouse,
or whether specific content and consequent cognitive processes have an
independent influence. The crucial test would involve comparison of the
effects of aggressive content with and without the capacity to elicit emo-
tional arousal. Unfortunately, such a test has not so far been made be-
cause aggressive content devoid of arousing capabilities is difficult--
and, in fact, may be impossible-to devise.

The preliminary nature of this research suggests extreme caution in
advancing any conclusions. If generalized arousal is verified either as
the single or as a contributing factor, the interpretation of many findings
as reflecting exclusively the instigating effects of aggressive content
would have to be modified. However, what can now be said specifically
about the capacity of violent or aggressive content to instigate aggres-
siveness would not be greatly affected. Instead, such effects of such
content to a greater or lesser degree would become a special case of a
more general phenomenon capable of more varied effects.

Other new research

A forthcoming study outside this research program is pertinent to the
discussion in this chapter. Milgram and Shotland (in press) arranged


74                           TELEVISION AND GROWING UP

for the airing in different cities of three different versions of a highly rat-
ed prime time program. In one of the three versions (antisocial with con-
sequences), a young man in need of money violently destroys a series of
charity collection banks and pockets the money. He is ultimately arrest-
ed, suffers certain personal consequences, and experiences remorse. In
a second version (antisocial without consequences), the young man suc-
ceeds in a harrowing escape and flees to Mexico, but is otherwise unpun-
ished. In a third version (prosocial), the man's conscience overcomes
him at the last moment; he does not break the banks, and various trou-
bles he was suffering are cleared up without recourse to antisocial acts.
A fourth "control" program from the same series dealt with an entirely
different subject totally devoid of violence.

Samples of viewers of each of the four programs were thereafter in-
vited to receive a free gift. Upon arrival at the gift distribution center
they found themselves alone in a room confronted by a sign saying that
the gifts were no longer available. Also present was a charity bank in
important respects similar to the one that had been destroyed in the tele-
vision program, along with implements that could be used to break it (a
hammer and screwdriver, apparently left by a worker).

Generally, no main effect was observed, i.e., the rate of theft was not
related to the program which the subjects had viewed. Where the break-
age rate did vary significantly, it was related to differences in subject
population and in response to such variables as the level of presumably
frustrating conditions. These latter variables produced theft rates vary-
ing from 0 to 15 percent.

Null relationships were observed in relation to a second and more eas-
ily imitable act depictedin two versions of the program-an abusive tel-
ephone call. The investigators interpret the results to indicate that natur-
alistic viewing of the antisocial stimulus programs did not stimulate imi-
tation of either of two antisocial acts, but they note three factors limiting
the generalizability of their findings. First, the findings pertain only to
the specific acts depicted in this program, and cannot be casually gener-
alized to all television programs which depict aggression or antisocial
behavior. Second, the study employed an adult population with no par-
ticipants below the level of high school senior, and thus the findings may
not be applicable to the effects of television on children. Third, in com-
mon with many other studies, the experiment does not examine the long-
term, cumulative impact of television.

CONCLUSIONS

The available experimental evidence bearing on the effects of aggres-
sive television entertainment content on children supports certain con-
clusions. First, violence depicted on television can immediately or


THE WORLD OF CHILDREN

shortly thereafter induce mimicking or copying by children. Second,
under certain circumstances television violence can instigate an increase
in aggressive acts. The accumulated evidence, however, does not war-
rant the conclusion that televised violence has a uniformly adverse ef-
fect nor the conclusion that it has an adverse effect on the majority of
children. It cannot even be said that the majority of the children in the
various studies we have reviewed showed an increase in aggressive be-
havior in response to the violent fare to which they were exposed. The
evidence does indicate that televised violence may lead to increased
aggressive behavior in certain subgroups of children, who might consti-
tute a small portion or a substantial proportion of the total population of
young television viewers. We cannot estimate the size of the fraction,
however, since the available evidence does not come from cross-section
samples of the entire American population of children.

The research studies we have reviewed in this chapter tell us some-
thing about the characteristics of those children who are most likely to
display an increase in aggressive behavior after exposure to televised
violence. There is evidence that among young children (ages four to six)
those most responsive to television violence are those who are highly
aggressive to start with-who are prone to engage in spontaneous ag-
gressive actions against their playmates and, in the case of boys, who
display pleasure in viewing violence being inflicted upon others.

The very young have difficulty comprehending the contextual setting
in which violent acts are depicted and do not grasp the meaning of cues
or labels concerning the make-believe character of violence episodes in
fictional programs. For older children, one study has found that labeling
of violence on a television program as make-believe rather than as real
reduces the incidence of induced aggressive behavior. Contextual cues
to the motivation of the aggressor and to the consequences of acts of
violence might also modify the impact of televised violence, but
evidence on this topic is inconclusive.

Since a considerable number of experimental studies on the effects of
televised violence have now been carried out, it seems improbable that
the next generation of studies will bring many great surprises, particular-
ly with regard to broad generalizations not supported by the evidence
currently at hand. It does not seem worthwhile to continue to carry out
studies designed primarily to test the broad generalization that most or
all children react to televised violence in a uniform way. The lack of uni-
formity in the extensive data now at hand is much too impressive to war-
rant the expectation that better measures of aggression or other metho-
dological refinements will suddenly allow us to see a uniform effect.

Several specific directions for subsequent inquiry are repeatedly sug-
gested by the most recent studies. First, identify the predispositional
characteristics of those subgroups of children who display an increase in