\                               ,


  TELEVISION
AND GROWING UP:

THE IMPACT OF
TELEVISED VIOLENCE

REPORT10 THE SURGEoN GENERAL
UNITED STATES PUBLlC HEALTH SERVICE

FROM THE

SURGEON GENERAL'S SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE
   ON TELEVISION AND SOCIAL BEHAVIOR

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE
    Health Services and Mental Health Administration

National Institute of Mental Health
    5600 Fishers Lane
   Rockville, Maryland


Staff Members

Eli A. Rubinstein

George A. Comstock
John P. Murray
Michael Adler
Eileen Marchak
Susan S. Lloyd-Jones
Joseph D. Reckley
Margaret D. Salladay
Laura A. De Lisi

Vice Chairman. Surgeon General's
Scientific Advisory Committee
Senior Research Coordinator
Research Coordinator
Staff Assistant
Research Assistant
Editor
Administrative Officer
Secretary
Secretary

Former Staff Members

Douglas A. Fuchs

John P. Robinson
Harold Leigh
Thomas Brubeck
Deborah Cutler
Jan W. Lipkin

Senior Research Coordinator (through
6/7(J)
Research Coordinator (through 9/70)
Administrative Officer (through IO/701
Information Officer (through 5/7 1)
Research Assistant (through 8/70)
Secretary (through 4/70)

Richard A. Moore

HEW Secretary's liaison with Advisory
Committee (through spring 1970)


Advisory Committee Members

Ira H. Cisin
George Washington University

Thomas E. Coffin
National Broadcasting Company

Irving L. Janis
Yale University

Joseph T. Klapper
Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc.

Harold Mendelsohn
University of Denver

Eveline Omwake
Connecticut College

Charles A. Pinderhughes
Boston University

Ithiel de Sola Pool
Massachusetts Institute of
Technology

Alberta E. Siegel
Stanford University

Anthony F. C. Wallace
University of Pennsylvania

Andrew S. Watson
University of Michigan

Gerhart D. Wiebe
Boston University

. . .
111


Letter of Transmittal

December 31, 1971

Dr. Jesse L. Steinfeld
Surgeon General
Department of Health, Education, and Welfare
Washington, D.C. 20201

Dear Dr. Steinfeld:

We are pleased to transmit our report on the research available in our
study of television and social behavior.

We have been careful to keep in mind that this committee was estab-
fished as a scientific body. Our major concern has been to assess the
research carefully and come to conclusions justified by the data.

As the report shows, this has been a very complex issue, for which there
are no simple answers. We trust that this report will help to advance the
understanding of these complexities.

Respectfully submitted.

Alberta E.  Sleael.  Ph.%

iv


Foreword

This report is the result of over two years of effort by a distinguished
committee of behavioral scientists. Their task has been difficult. The
impact of televised violence on the viewer, as a reading of the report will
show, is embedded in a complicated set of related variables.

The conscientious effort by the committee to avoid an oversimplifi-
cation of the problem has produced a document which may seem, at
times, too technical. However, I believe that this report and the five vol-
umes of research reports, which serve as a basis for the committee con-
clusions, make a major contribution to an understanding of the role of
television in influencing the social behavior of children and young peo-
ple.

The conclusions reached by the committee are carefully worded and
merit the serious attention of all persons and groups concerned about
the effects of viewing television. As the committee notes, these conclu-
sions are based on substantially more knowledge than was available
when the committee began its deliberations. But the research still leaves
many questions unanswered. Without detracting from the importance of
its conclusions, the committee specifies some of these unanswered ques-
tions and urges that they be addressed in the future.

This report will undoubtedly be scrutinized carefully by people who
will be looking for support for their own prior point of view. Individuals
with strong convictions on either side of the question about the effects
of televised violence may not be satisfied. What these individuals will
fail to recognize is that this set of conclusions, for the first time in this
field of inquiry, sets a solid and extensive base of evidence in an appro-
priate perspective. In that sense, the report and the research on which it
is based represent a major contribution.

V


The committee is to be congratulated for the work it has done. The
successful conclusion of the task is even more significant because of the
explicit consensus among so broadly representative a group of scien-
tists. I wish to commend the committee, the researchers, and the staff
for a job well done.

vi


PREFACE

All the available statistics confirm the pervasive role television plays
jn the United States, if not throughout the world. More people own tele-
vision sets and more people watch television than make use of any other
single mode of mass communication.

It is no wonder then that television is the subject of much attention,
both directly as it serves its purpose and indirectly as a source of con-
cern to examine how well it serves its purpose. All manner of inquiry
&out the input of television on the lives of the American public has
been and is being made. The issues about public television, cable televi-
sion, and the role of television in election campaigns are all in the news
today.

The question of violence on television has been one issue that was
raised almost immediately after television became a major contender for
the leisure time and attention of the public. There have been a number of
prior public examinations of this issue, and a number of statements and
conclusions have been made.

The committee has taken into account these earlier studies in reaching
its own conclusions. We have also had the benefit of an extensive body
of new data which we have carefully examined.
A great deal of work is reflected in the pages of this report and in the
concurrently published five volumes of technical reports, which have
served as the major source of new information. We believe this work
makes a major contribution to this area of scientific inquiry, and we wish
here to acknowledge our indebtedness to the researchers and staff who
brought that research to a successful conclusion.
Our task has not been easy. We have tried to come to as carefully
objective a conclusion as the data warranted. We suspect the debate will
not end here. We are dealing with a complex and changing set of phe-
nomena. Reassessment is inevitable as new evidence becomes available
and as changes occur in what television presents and how it is presented.
Our report consists of two parts: a Summary of Findings and Conclu-
sions and a detailed report.

vii


Table of Contents

Foreword .............................................................................   V
preface ................................................................................
Summary Chapter:  Findings and Conclusions ............................ Vi;'

Chapter 1:
Chapter 2:

Chapter 3:

Chapter 4:
Chapter 5:
Chapter 6:

Chapter 7:
Chapter 8:

Chapter 9:
References

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13
Violence in Society and in the Television
Medium  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  23
Some Problems of Research on the Impact of
Television  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Television Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i:
Changing Patterns of Television Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  51
Television and Violence in the World of
Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  61
Television and Adolescent Aggressiveness  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  77
Current Knowledge and Questions for Future
Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ...*.*. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
The Unfinished Agenda  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

,.......,.................................................................., 129

        
Appendices
  A:  Surgeon General's Scientific Advisory
   Committee on Television and Social Behavior-
   Initial Operations, June-October, 1969 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
  B: Television and Social Behavior Program
   Reports and Papers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
  C: Experiments on Children's Imitation of
   Aggressive Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..I 159
  D: Experiments on Disinhibition of Aggressive
    Behavior  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
  E:  The Interpretation of Correlation
    Coefficients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

The Report

1x


Summary of Findings and
    Conclusions

The work of this committee was initiated by a request from Senator
John 0. Pastore to Health, Education, and Welfare Secretary Robert H.
Finch in which Senator Pastore said:

1 am exceedingly troubled by the lack of any definitive information which would
help resolve the question of whether there is a causal connection between tele-
vised crime and violence and antisocial behavior by individuals, especially chil-
dren. 1 am respectfully requesting that you direct the Surgeon General to
appoint a committee comprised of distinguished men and women from whatever
professions and disciplines deemed appropriate to devise techniques and to
conduct a study under his supervision using those techniques which will estab-
lish scientifically insofar as possible what harmful effects, if any, these pro-
grams have on children.

The question raised by this request has been this committee's central
concern. However, the research program that was undertaken has at-
tempted to place this question within a larger context. For this reason,
the committee's title deliberately emphasizes more than the issue of tel-
evised violence and aggressiveness and more than the question of televi-
sion's harmful effects during childhood and youth.

At the same time the committee was explicitly enjoined from drawing
policy conclusions. Our task has been to state the present scientific
knowledge about the effects of entertainment television on children's
behavior, in the hope that this knowledge may be of use to both citizens
and oficials concerned with policy.

The findings we will summarize represent the issues and questions
treated in the body of the report. They derive primarily from the re-
search conducted under this program but take account also of past re-
search and other current research.

THE TELEVISION EXPERIENCE

It would be difficult to overstate the pervasiveness of television in the
United States. Census data indicate that 96 percent of American homes


2                             TELEVISION AND GROWING UP

have one or more television sets. The average home set is on more than
six hours a day. Most adults report watching at least two hours daily.
Most children also watch at least two hours daily. For most people,
whatever their age, television viewing is a daily experience. Although
not everyone watches every day, many watch for much longer than two
hours.
Television viewing stands in sharp contrast to the theater, movies,
and other entertainment presented outside the home in that it does not
usually involve such exclusive or focused attention. Viewers of all ages
regularly engage in a wide range of activities while the set is on.
The extent to which this discontinuity of attention alters what would
be perceived and understood from television were attention undivided is
a moot question. Young children before the age of six usually cannot
successfully divide their attention. As a result, what they get from tele-
vision is probably generally restricted to what is taken in while viewing
with full attention and is perceived bereft of a larger context. As the
child grows older, he becomes more able to follow at least the rough
continuity of what is taking place on television while he is simultaneous-
ly doing other things.
The casual acceptance of viewing, however, does not equal indiffer-
ence to television. By the first grade, a majority of boys and girls exhibit
individual taste in program selection and preference for characters.
Among younger children, situation comedies and cartoons are most
popular. Sixth graders like family situation comedies and adventure
programs. Tenth graders prefer adventure programs and music and vari-
ety programs. Children and adolescents are attracted to programs fea-
turing characters their own age.
The propensity to view television changes as the individual goes
through the major stages of maturation. Frequent viewing usually begins
at about age three and remains relatively high until about age 12. Then
viewing typically begins to decline, reaching its low point during the teen
years. When young people marry and have families, the time they spend
viewing tends to increase and then remain stable through the middle
adult years. After middle age, when grown children leave home, it rises
again.
Many questions about television are presently unanswerable. Three
basic ones concern the future character oftelevision,the influences and
dynamics involved in the choosing of programs by individual viewers,
and the underlying needs served by television that lead to its present
extensive use.
It would appear that television, like other media, is progressing
through a series of stages from intriguing novelty to accepted common-
place to possible differentiation as a servant of varied tastes. New devel-
opments-UHF, public television, cable, cassettes, portable minisets-
suggest that in the future the programming available may become in-
creasingly varied and that the mass audience may become a diversity of


FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS                         3
smaller segments, each with its special interests. Newspapers, maga-
zines, and radio provide examples of similar evolution.

Why people choose to view what they do, and why they view so
much, remain open questions after 20 years of commercial broadcast-
ing. From the various rating services it is easy to deE?mine what audi-
ences choose to view from among what if offered. The process by which
choices are made, and the basic appeal that leads to persistent viewing at
all ages, remain obscure.

VIOLENCE ON TELEVISION

Studies of media content show that violence is and has been a promi-
nent component of all mass media in the United States. Television is no
exception, and there can be no doubt that violence figures prominently
in television entertainment. People are probably exposed to violence by
television entertainment more than they are exposed by other media
because they use television so much more.

In regard to dramatic entertainment on television, and with violence
defined as "the overt expression of physical force against others or self,
or the compelling of action against one's will on pain of being hurt or
killed," an extensive analysis of content has found that:
-The genera! prevalence of violence did not change markedly be-
tween 1967 and 1969. The rate of violent episodes remained constant at
about eight per hour.

-The nature of violence did change. Fatalities declined, and the
proportion of leading characters engaged in violence or killing declined.
The former dropped from 73 to 64 percent; the latter, from 19 to five
percent. The consequence is that as many violent incidents occurred in
1969 as in 1967, but a smaller proportion of characters were involved,
and the violence was far less lethal.

  -Violence increased from 1967 to 1969 in cartoons and in come-
dies, a category that included cartoons.
--Cartoons were the most violent type of program in these years.
Another study concluded that in 1971 Saturday morning program-
ming, which includes both cartoons and material prepared for adults,
approximately three out of ten dramatic segments were "saturated"
with violence and that 71 percent involved at least one instance of hu-
man violence with or without the use of weapons.
There is also evidence that years high in violence also tend to be years
high in overall ratings, and that the frequency of violent programs in a
year is related to the popularity of this type of program the previous
year. This suggests that televised violence fluctuates partly as a function
of the efforts of commercial broadcasters to present what will be maxi-
mally popular.


4

TELEVISION AND GROWING UP

TELEVISION'S EFFECTS

Television's popularity raises important questions about its social
effects. There is interest and concern in regard to many segments of the
population-ethnic minorities, religious groups, the old, the unwell, the
poor. This committee has been principally concerned with one segment,
children and youth, and in particular with the effects of televised vio-
lence on their tendencies toward aggressive behavior.

People ask behavioral scientists various questions about television
and violence. In our opinion the questions are often far too narrowly
drawn. For example:

(1) It is sometimes asked if watching violent fare on television can
cause a young person to act aggressively. The answer is that, of course,
under some circumstances it can. We did not need massive research to
know that at least an occasional unstable individual might get sufficiently
worked up by some show to act in an impetuous way. The question is
faulty, for the real issue is how often it happens, what predispositional
conditions have to be there, and what different undesirable, as well as
benign, forms the aggressive reaction takes when it occurs.

(2) It is sometimes asked if the fact that children watch a steady fare
of violent material on television many hours a day from early childhood
through adolescence causes our society to be more violent. Presumably
the answer is, to some degree, "yes," but we consider the question mis-
leading. We know that children imitate and learn from everything they
see-parents, fellow children, schools, the media; it would be extraordi-
nary, indeed, if they did not imitate and learn from what they see on tel-
evision. We have some limited data that conform to our presumption.
We have noted in the studies at hand a modest association between
viewing of violence and aggression among at least some children, and
we have noted some data which are consonant with the interpretation
that violence viewing produces the aggression; this evidence is not con-
clusive, however, and some of the data are also consonant with other
interpretations.

Yet, as we have said, the real issue is once again quantitative: how
much contribution to the violence of our society is made by extensive
violent television viewing by our youth? The evidence (or more accu-
rately, the difficulty of finding evidence) suggests that the effect is small
compared with many other possible causes, such as parental attitudes or
knowledge of and experience with the real violence of our society.

The sheer amount of television violence may be unimportant tom-
pared with such subtle matters as what the medium says about it: is it
approved or disapproved, committed by sympathetic or unsympathetic
characters, shown to be effective or not, punished or unpunished? So-
cial science today cannot say which aspects of the portrayal of violence
make a major difference or in what way. It is entirely possible that some


lNDINGSANDCONCLL'SIONS                          5
ypes of extensive portrayals of violence could reduce the propensity to
jiolence in society and that some types might increase it. In our present
;tate of knowledge, we are not able to specify what kinds of violence
portrayal will have what net result on society.

What are the alternatives? If broadcasters simply changed the quanti-
tative balance between violent and other kinds of shows, it is not clear
what the net effect would be. People hunt and choose the kinds of stimu-
lus material they want. Violent material is popular. If our society
changed in no other way than changing the balance of television offer-
ings, people, to some degree, would still seek out violent material. How
much effect a modest quantitative change in television schedules would
have is now quite unanswerable. More drastic changes, such as general
censorship, would clearly have wide effects, but of many kinds, and
some of them distinctly undesirable.

In our judgment, the key question that we should be asked is thus a
complicated one concerning alternatives. The proper question is, "What
kinds of changes, if any, in television content and practices could have a
significant net effect in reducing the propensity to undesirable aggres-
sion among the audience, and what other effects, desirable and undesira-
ble, would each such change have?"

The state of our knowledge, unfortunately, is not such as to permit
confident conclusions in answer to such a question. The readers of this
report will find in it evidence relevant to answering such questions, but
far short of an answer. The state of present knowledge does not permit
an agreed answer.

EFFECTS ON AGGRESSIVENESS

Television is only one of the many factors which in time may precede
aggressive behavior. It is exceedingly difficult to disentangle from other
elements of an individual's life history.

Violence and aggressiveness are also not concepts on which there is
unvarying consensus. This applies equally to events observed in real life
or through the media and to behavior in which an individual may engage.
Violence is a vague term. What seems violent to one may not seem so to
another. Aggressiveness is similarly ambiguous, and its designation as
antisocial depends not only on the act but also on the circumstances and
the participants.

For scientific investigation, terms must be defined precisely and un-
ambiguously. Although various investigators have used somewhat dif-
ferent definitions, generally both televised violence and individual ag-
gressiveness have been defined as involving the inflicting of harm, inju-
ry, or discomfort on persons, or of damage to property. The translation
of such a conception into measurement procedures has varied very


6                          TELEVISION AKD GROWING up

widely, and whether antisocial activity is involved or implied is a matter
for judgment in the specific instance.

Effects on aggressiveness: evidence from
experiments

Experiments have the advantage of allowing causal inference because
various influences can be controlled so that the effects. if any. of one or
more variables can be assessed. To varying degrees. depending on de-
sign and procedures. they have the disadvantages of artificiality and
constricted time span. The generalizability of results to everyday life is a
question often not easily resolvable.

Experiments concerned with the effects of violence or aggressiveness
portrayed on film or television have focused principally on two different
kinds of effects: imitation and insGgation. Imitation occurs when what
is seen is mimicked or copied. Instigation occurs when what is seen is
followed by increased aggressiveness. *

Imitatjon. One way in which a child may learn a new behavior is
through observation and imitation. Some 20 published experiments doc-
ument that children are capable of imitating filmed aggression shown on
a movie or television screen. Capacity to imitate, however, does not
imply performance. Whether or not what is observed actually will be
imitated depends on a variety of situational and personal factors.

No research in this program was concerned with imitation, because
the fact that aggressive or violent behavior presented on film or televi-
sion can be imitated by, children is already thoroughly documented.

Instigatjon. Some 30 published experiments have been widely inter-
preted as indicating that the viewing of violence on film or television by
children or adults increases the likelihood of aggressive behavior. This
interpretation has also been widely challenged, principally on the ground
that results cannot be generalized beyond the experimental situation.
Critics hold that in the experimental situation socially inhibiting factors.
such as the influence of social norms and the risk of disapproval or retal-
iation, are absent, and that the behavior after viewing, though labeled
"aggressive," is so unlike what is generally understood by the term as to
raise serious questions about the applicability of these laboratory find-
ings to real-life behavior.

The research conducted in this program attempted to provide more
precise and extensive evidence on the capacity of televised violence to
instigate aggressive behavior in children. The studies variously involve
whole television programs, rather than brief excerpts; the possibility of
making constructive or helping, as well as aggressive, responses after
viewing: and the measurement of effects in the real-life environment of a
nursery school. Taken as a group, they represent an effort to take into


F~ND~NGSANDCONCLUSIONS                          7
account more of the circumstances that pertain in real life. and for that
reason they have considerable cogency.
In sum. The experimental studies bearing on the effects of aggressive
television entertainment content on children support certain conclu-
sions, First, violence depicted on television can immediately or shortly
thereafter induce mimicking or copying by children. Second. under cer-
tain circumstances television violence can instigate an increase in ag-
gressive acts. The accumulated evidence, however, does not warrant
the conclusion that televised violence has a uniformly adverse effect 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 stud-
ies we have reviewed showed an increase in aggressive behavior in re-
sponse 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 constitute a small
portion or a substantial proportion of the total population of young tele-
vision 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 experimental studies we have reviewed tell us something 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 aggres-
sive to start with-who are prone to engage in spontaneous aggressive
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 con-
cerning the make-believe character of violence episodes in fictional pro-
grams. For older children, one study has found that labeling violence on
a television program as make-believe rather than as real reduces the in-
cidence of induced aggressive behavior. Contextual cues to the motiva-
tion 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-
1~ 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.


8                        `TELEVISION AND GROWING UP
Effects on aggressiveness: survey evidence
A number of surveys have inquired into the violence viewing of young
people and their tendencies toward aggressive behavior. Measures of
exposure to television violence included time spent viewing, preference
for violent programming, and amount of viewing of violent programs.
Measures of aggressive tendencies variously involved self and others'
reports of actual behavior, projected behavior, and attitudes. The be-
havior involved varied from acts generally regarded as heinous (e.g.,
arson) to acts which many would applaud (e.g., hitting a man who is at-
tacking a woman).
All of the studies inquired into the relationship between exposure to
television violence and aggressive tendencies. Most of the relationships
observed were positive, but most were also of low magnitude, ranging
from null relationships to correlation coefficients of about .20. A few of
the observed correlation coefficients, however, reached .30 or just
above.
On the basis of these findings, and taking into account their variety
and their inconsistencies, we can tentatively conclude that there is a
modest relationship between exposure to television violence and aggres-
sive behavior or tendencies, as the latter are defined in the studies at
hand. Two questions which follow are: (1) what is indicated by a corre-
lation coeflicient of about .30, and (2) since correlation is not in itself a
demonstration of causation, what can be deduced from the data regard-
ing causation?
Correlation coefficients of "middle range," like .30, may result from
various sorts of relationships, which in turn may or may not be manifest-
ed among the majority of the individuals studied. While the magnitude
of such a correlation is not particularly high, it betokens a relationship
which merits further inquiry.
Correlation indicates that two variables-in this case violence viewing
and aggressive tendencies-are related to each other. It does not indi-
cate which of the two, if either, is the cause and which the effect. In this
instance the correlation could manifest any of three causal sequences:
  -that violence viewing leads to aggression;
  -that aggression leads to violence viewing;
-that both violence viewing and aggression are products of a third
   condition or set of conditions.
The data from these studies are in various ways consonant with both
the first and the third of these interpretations, but do not conclusively
support either of the two.
Findings consonant with the interpretation that violence viewing leads
to aggression include the fact that two of the correlation coefficients at
the .30 level are between earlier viewing and later measured aggression.
However, certain technical questions exist regarding the measures em-
ployed, and the findings can be regarded as equally consonant with the


FINDINGSANDCONCLUSIONS                         9

view that both violence viewing and aggression are common products of
some antecedent condition or conditions.

Various candidates for such a preceding condition can be identified in
the data. These include preexisting levels of aggression, underlying per-
sonality factors, and a number of aspects of parental attitudes and be-
havior, among them parental affection, parental punishment, parental
emphasis on nonaggression, and habitual types of parent-child commu-
nication patterns. Several of these variables failed to operate statistical-
ly in a manner consonant with common origin interpretations. At least
two, "parental emphasis on nonaggression" and "family communica-
tion patterns,*' operated in manners consonant with such an interpreta-
tion, but the pertinent data were too limited to validate common origin
status for either one.

The common origin interpretation remains viable, however. Improved
measures might possibly change the picture, and there is need for fur-
ther and more refined investigation of the role played by personality fac-
tors and by family and peer attitudes and behaviors.

GENERAL IMPLICATIONS

The best predictor of later aggressive tendencies in some studies is the
existence of earlier aggressive tendencies, whose origins may lie in fami-
ly and other environmental influences. Patterns of communication with-
in the family and patterns of punishment of young children seem to re-
late in ways that are as yet poorly understood both to television viewing
and to aggressive behavior. The possible role of mass media in very ear-
ly acquisition of aggressive tendencies remains unknown. Future re-
search should concentrate on the impact of media material on very
young children.

As we have noted, the data, while not wholly consistent or conclu-
sive, do indicate that a modest relationship exists between the viewing
of violence and aggressive behavior. The correlational evidence from
surveys is amenable to either of two interpretations: that the viewing of
violence causes the aggressive behavior, or that both the viewing and
the aggression are joint products of some other common source. Several
findings of survey studies can be cited to sustain the hypothesis that
viewing of violent television has a causal relation to aggressive behav-
ior, though neither individually nor collectively are the findings conclu-
sive. They could also be explained by the operation of a "third variable"
related to preexisting conditions.

The experimental studies provide some additional evidence bearing
on this issue. Those studies contain indications that, under certain limit-
ed conditions, television viewing may lead to an increase in aggressive
behavior. The evidence is clearest in highly controlled laboratory stud-
ies and considerably weaker in studies conducted under more natural


10                          TELEVISION AND GROWING UP

conditions. Although some questions have been raised as to whether the
behavior observed in the laboratory studies can be called "aggressive"
in the consensual sense of the term, the studies point to two mechanisms
by which children might be led from watching television to aggressive
behavior: the mechanism of imitation, which is well established as part
of the behavioral repertoire of children in general; and the mechanism of
incitement, which may apply only to those children who are predisposed
to be susceptible to this influence. There is some evidence that incite-
ment may follow nonviolent as well as violent materials, and that this
incitement may lead to either prosocial or aggressive behavior, as deter-
mined by the opportunities offered in the experiment. However, the fact
that some children behave more aggressively in experiments after seeing
violent films is well established.
The experimental evidence does not suffer from the ambiguities that
characterize the correlational data with regard to third variables, since
children in the experiments are assigned in ways that attempt to control
such variables. The experimental findings are weak in various other
ways and not wholly consistent from one study to another. Neverthe-
less, they provide suggestive evidence in favor of the interpretation that
viewing violence on television is conducive to an increase in aggressive
behavior, although it must be emphasized that the causal sequence is
very likely applicable only to some children who are predisposed in this
direction.
Thus, there is a convergence of the fairly substantial experimental
evidence for short-run causation of aggression among some children by
viewing violence on the screen and the much less certain evidence from
field studies that extensive violence viewing precedes some long-run
manifestations of aggressive behavior. This convergence of the two
types of evidence constitutes some preliminary indication of a causal
relationship, but a good deal of research remains to be done before one
can have confidence in these conclusions.
The field studies and the laboratory studies converge also on a number
of further points.
First, there is evidence that any sequence by which viewing television
violence causes aggressive behavior is most likely applicable only to
some children who are predisposed in that direction. While imitative
behavior is shown by most children in experiments on that mechanism
of behavior, the mechanism of being incited to aggressive behavior by
seeing violent films shows up in the behavior only of some children who
were found in several experimental studies to be previously high in ag-
gression. Likewise, the correlations found in the field studies between
extensive viewing of violent material and acting in aggressive ways seem
generally to depend on the behavior of a small proportion of the respon-
dents who were identified in some studies as previously high in aggres-
sion.


INDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS                          11
Second, there are suggestions in both sets of studies that the way chil-
lren respond to violent film material is affected by the context in which
t is presented. Such elements as parental explanations, the favorable or
+mfavorable outcome of the violence, and whether it is seen as fantasy
or reality may make a difference. Generalizations about all violent con-
tent are likely to be misleading.
Thus, the two sets of findings converge in three respects: a prelimi-
nary and tentative indication of a causal relation between viewing vio-
lence on television and aggressive behavior; an indication that any such
causal relation operates only on some children (who are predisposed to
be aggressive); and an indication that it operates only in some environ-
mental contexts. Such tentative qnd limited conclusions are not very sat-
isfying. They represent substantially more knowledge than we had two
years ago, but they leave many questions unanswered.
Some of the areas on which future research should concentrate in-
clude: (1) Television's effects in the context of the effects of other mass
media. (2) The effects of mass media in the context of individual devel-
opmental history and the totality of environmental influences, particu-
larly that of the home environment. In regard to the relationship be-
tween televised violence and aggression, specific topics in need of fur-
ther attention include: predispositional characteristics of individuals;
age differences; effects of labeling, contextual cues, and other program
factors; and longitudinal influences of televisian. (3) The functional and
dysfunctional aspects of aggressive behavior in successfully adapting to
life's demands. (4) The modeling and imitation of prosocial behavior. (5)
The role of environmental factors, including the mass media, in the
teaching and learning of values about violence, and the effects of such
learning. (6) The symbolic meanings of violent content in mass media
fiction, and the function in our social life of such content.


Chapter 1

Introduction

Previous scientific efforts to assess evidence of television's effects on
youthful viewers have come to a variety of conclusions. Much testimo-
ny has been collected to support the various positions, and opinions
have been strongly expressed.

At the time the work of this committee began in 1969, the most widely
accepted summary evaluation of the research findings was probably that
which emerged from a well-known 1961 study:
  For some children, under some conditions, some television is harmful. For oth-
  erchildren under the same conditions, or for the same children under othercon-
  ditions. it may be beneficial. For most children, under most conditions, most
  television is probably neither harmful nor particularly beneficial (Schramm,
  Lyle. and Parker. 1961).

Nevertheless, some scientific studies were finding more controversial
evidence. A small body of research had concluded that "witnessing ag-
gressive TV programs serves to reduce or control the acting out of ag-
gressive tendencies rather than to facilitate or stimulate aggression"
(Feshbach, 1969).

Other investigators had concluded that "the observation of aggression
is more likely to induce hostile behavior than to drain off aggressive in-
clinations" (Berkowitz, 1964).

Against this backdrop of conflicting expert opinion, the committee
began its work.

HISTORY OF THE COMMITTEE

The work of this committee was initiated by a request from Senator
John 0. Pastore, Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Communica-
                                        13


14                        TELEVISION AND GROWING UP

tions of the Senate Commerce Committee, in aletter of March 5, 1969. to
Health, Education and Welfare Secretary Robert Finch, in which Sena-
tor Pastore said:

I am exceedingly troubled by the lack of any definitive information which would
help resolve the question of whether there is a causal connection between tele-
vised crime and violence and antisocial behavior by individuals, especially chil-
dren. . . .I am respectfully requesting that you direct the Surgeon General to
appoint a committee comprised of distinguished men and women from whatever
professions and disciplines deemed appropriate to devise techniques and to
conduct a study under his supervision using those techniques which will estab-
lish scientifically insofar as possible what harmful effects, if any, these pro-
grams have on children.

On March 12, 1969, in a statement to the Communications Subcom-
mittee, Surgeon General William H. Stewart announced that he would
appoint

an Advisory Panel of experts in the behavioral sciences. the mental health dis-
ciplines, and communications to study the effects of televised violence. Their
task will be to review what is presently known, and to design and to recommend
the long-range research studies which will help answer the specific questions
now under discussion. The Panel members will be knowledgeable about televi-
sion and violence, and, of equal importance, experts in such related areas as
social psychology. communication and learning, and the etiology of emotional
disturbance.

Dr. Stewart told the subcommittee that he would direct the National
Institute of Mental Health to assume responsibility for the functions of
the Advisory Panel and to provide technical staff for the study. On April
16, 1969, HEW Secretary Finch issued a directive authorizing the for-
mation of the Surgeon General's Scientific Advisory Committee on Tel-
evision and Social Behavior. The Secretary said the committee would
confine itself solely to s-cientific findings and make no policy recommen-
dations. Its approach, he said, would be similar to that of the Surgeon
General's 1962-63 Committee on Smoking and Health, which limited it-
self to developing factual data and conclusions about the possible causal
relationship between smoking and health.

"As far as this department is concerned," Secretary Finch said, "we
have no mandate and no power that relate to commercial broadcasting
and we do not seek any, but we do have a clear responsibility in the area
of public health including the important field of mental health."

Selection of members

In selecting the advisory panel, the Surgeon General noted that it
would be a scientific group and that its credentials should be recognized
by the scientific community, the broadcasting industry, and the general
public.

Letters from the Surgeon General went out to a variety of academic
and professional associations- including the American Sociological


INTRODUCTION                                 15
Association, the American Anthropological Association, the American
psychiatric Association, and the American Psychological Association.
In addition, letters went to the National Association of Broadcasters,
the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), the National Broadcasting
Company (NBC), and the American Broadcasting Company (ABC). All
these groups were asked to recommend knowledgeable scientists for
membership on the Advisory Committee. Other distinguished social sci-
entists, government officials, and members of the broadcasting industry
were also asked for nominations.
From the dozens of names proposed by these groups and individuals,
a list of 40 was drawn up by the Office of the Surgeon General. This list
of "recognized experts in the behavioral sciences and mental health dis-
ciplines" was sent by the Surgeon General on April 28, 1969, to the pres-
idents of the National Association of Broadcasters and the three nation-
al commercial broadcast networks. Dr. Stewart asked the broadcasters
to indicate "which individuals, if any, you believe would nor be appro-
priate for an impartial scientific investigation of this nature ."
"I am taking this step," the Surgeon General said, "because the stud-
ies initiated by this group may involve the active collaboration of the tel-
evision industry. I want to insure that all members of the advisory com-
mittee are acceptable to the major networks and broadcasters."
The National Association of Broadcasters and two of the networks
responded by supplying a total of seven names of individuals they
thought inappropriate to serve on the committee. From the remaining 33
names, II members were chosen. One committee member was not on
the original list but was added to strengthen representation in one of the
scientific disciplines.
We believe some comment on this manner of selection is in order.
Most of us were unaware of the selection procedure at the time the
committee was formed and we believe there was a serious error in this
process. We agree that nominations should have been sought from aca-
demic and professional organizations as well as from broadcasters and
other groups with relevant expertise and knowledge. However, we do
not agree that any group should have been allowed to cite individuals as
unacceptable. Such a procedure in effect shared responsibility for com-
mittee appointment. We do not believe such responsibility should be
shared. Moreover, we feel that future government advisory committees
concerned with matters of public interest should be selected in such a
way that no legitimate criticism about the manner of selection can be
leveled afterward, either by the public or by the committee itself.
We began our work as a committee on June 16-17. 1969. The general
outline of the mode of operation of the committee and its initial activi-
ties were summarized in a brief progress report issued in October
1969 (see Appendix A).


16                           TELEVISION AND GROWING UP
Observations on the general nature of advisory
corn m ittees

While this is not the place to offer elaborate commentary on the organ-
izational and operational problems of committees and commissions
formed to examine complex social problems, some discussion is appro-
priate. More extended analyses have already been advanced by Lipsky
(1971) and Wilson (1971).
If the following elements are present, there will almost certainly be
serious controversy: (1) Present the committee with a complex question
about which there is both public and scientific controversy. This is al-
most bound to be the case, or there would be no demand for the commit-
tee in the first place. (2) Ask the committee to arrive at unequivocal con-
clusions. Again, this is a Iikely circumstance. (3) Announce the commit-
tee formation publicly, thus emphasizing its importance and stature. (4)
Give the committee a severely limited time period in which to reach its
conclusions.
These four circumstances, of course, are almost inevitable attributes
of the commission or committee approach to examining current social
problems. They are cited, not to make excuses for the work done by
such bodies, but rather to point out that these circumstances need to be
recognized as another dimension of the difficulty of dealing with sub-
stantive problems in this way.
Our committee was not immune to these difficulties. The differences
of opinion which have arisen during the life of this committee, about the
meaning of scientific data on the issue of television and its relationship
to social behavior, have.been the sort expected in any complex area of
investigation. They reflect the lack of unanimity among scientists work-
ing in this area.
Comparing the task of this Advisory Committee with that of the Sur-
geon General's Advisory Committee on Smoking and Health may be
useful. In both instances the Surgeon General convened advisory groups
to examine an issue of public health. The original request from Senator
Pastore asking for the convening of this group was stimulated "because
of the outstanding contribution made by [the Surgeon General's] Com-
mittee through its report on smoking and health."
The Committee on Smoking and Health reached its conclusions after
a comprehensive reexamination and reevaluation of existing scientific
evidence. The present committee, in contrast, has had available new
research specifically sponsored to provide it with additional scientific
data.
The committee began its work immediately after a comprehensive
examination of existing evidence in the area of televised violence had
been made by the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention
of Violence. Indeed, on September 23, 1969 (one day before our second


INTRODUCTION                                17
committee meeting), the National Commission issued its statement on
violence in television entertainment programs. That statement, the work
it represented, and the reaction it received underscored the original deci-
sion to sponsor new research rather than to rely solely on reexamining
preexisting material.

THE RESEARCH PROGRAM

One million dollars was made available for the support of new re-
search, and a secretariat, the Television and Social Behavior Program,
was organized within the National Institute of Mental Health to provide
staff support for the work of the Advisory Committee.

The committee worked closely with the staff throughout the life of
this program. However, a committee composed of individuals with oth-
er full-time responsibilities is not able to administer a large scale re-
search program. The staff secretariat took major responsibility for find-
ing competent investigators who were willing to undertake pertinent
research within the time constraints. The staff also was responsible for
selecting those proposals which seemed most likely to provide signifi-
cant data and for monitoring the studies until their completion.

Research strategy

At the outset two alternative research strategies were considered: (a)
attempt to develop a single, unified research project, or (b) seek out a
series of individual studies which would address a variety of related
questions and which would provide an interrelated set of findings. The
former did not seem feasible, given the time limits and the present state
of the art in this field.

Between August 1969 and April 1970, 40 formal research proposals
were submitted and reviewed for possible funding. A system of formal
review, similar to that used to evaluate research contracts for the Na-
tional Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Mental Health,
was instituted to select the applications to receive financial support. For
the Television and Social Behavior Program, groups of four to seven
senior scientists in the researcher's field of expertise met on nine occa-
sions to review proposals. Each review committee consisted largely of
social scientists in the field who were not affiliated with the Television
and Social Behavior program and senior staff members of the National
Institute of Mental Health Intramural and Extramural Programs. In ad-
dition, one or two members of the Scientific Advisory Committee, func-
tioning individually as experts, were present at most meetings. The
committee as a whole did not select the research projects.


18                              TELEVISION AND GROWING UP

Research projects

In the end, 23 independent projects were funded which provided a
multidimensional approach to the assessment of television's effects.
These 23 projects- many of which involved more than one study and
sometimes more than one report- and a number of specially commis-
sioned papers form much of the basis for our inferences and conclu-
sions. (For a list of all reports and papers, see Appendix B.)

Although the projects vary widely in subject, scope, and approach,
there were similarities among them in many instances, and the program
staff and the investigators attempted to link them so that they could
provide a coherent set of findings. This was done at both the investiga-
tion and interpretation levels and resulted in the review and interpreta-
tion as a group of sets of studies with common features, and in the inves-
tigators' sharing of ideas, methods. measures, and in one instance. ex-
perimental subjects.'

The reports and papers were divided into five groups according to
their common concerns and their theoretical and empirical orientations.

`In one instance, two research teams (Liebert and Baron, 1971; Ekman et al.. 1971) col-
laborated in an experimental study to conduct very different investigations using the same
subjects (children), stimulus materials (violent and nonviolent television), and dependent
variable (the choosing of a response that would either allegedly help or hurt an unseen-
and actually nonexistent-other child playing a game). Liebert and Baron (1971) studied
the relationship between exposure IO television violence and a tendency to aggress. Ekman
et al. (1971) used subjects' facial expressions as they viewed to study their emotional reac-
tions to violent and nonviolent television content, and related emotional reaction to subse-
quent aggressive and helping behavior.

In another cooperative endeavor. surveys of adolescents in a Maryland school system
were conducted by three research teams (McIntyre and Teevan, 1971; McLeod, Atkin,
and Chaffee, 1971a; Ward, 1971) who shared both subjects and data collection resources.
In addition, one set of investigators used the Maryland data in conjunction with data on
another sample IO aetter test the consistency of results (McLeod et al., 197la).

To obtain a consistent criterion for assessing the amount of violence viewed by their
subjects, many investigators used the violence ratings of television series arrived at by
Greenberg and Gordon (1971b) in their study of television critics' and public perceptions
of television violence (Baldwin and Lewis. 1971; Foulkes et al.. 1971; Friedman and John-
son, 1971: Lefkowitzet al., 1971; LoSciuto, 1971; Lyle and Hoffman, 197la; Mclntyre and
Teevan, 1971; McLeod et al., 197la. 197lb; Robinson and Bachman, 1971). Several inves-
tigators made use of Gerbner's extensive content analysis (1971b) for a working definition
of violence, and Clark and Blar#enburg (1971) modified this definition for their own pur-
poses and used his data to validate their retrospective content analysis instruments. In a
similar manner, Murray (1971) used Bechtel, Achelpohl, and Akers's (1971) tapes of sub-
jects' viewing behavior in their own living rooms as a means of perfecting interobserver
reliability. Murray (1971) also used the viewing diary developed by LoSciuto (1971) to
measure behavior in regard to television.

Another example of common methods concerns specific questionnaire items. Eight in-
vestigators sought to measure television content in relation to violent or deviant behavior
by asking subjects to name their four favorite television shows (Bechtel et al., 1971: Chaf-
fee and McLeod. 1971b; Friedman and Johnson, 1971; Lefkowitz et al., 1971; LoSciuto,
1971; McIntyre and Teevan, 1971; Murray, 1971; Robinson and Bachman, 1971), and
many used the same wording to query subjects about the amount of time they spent view-
ing. The data provided by these common measures permitted the testing of patterns de-
rived from the totality of results.


[NTRODUCTION                                19
One investigator in each of four groups then attempted to integrate the
findings in an "overview" paper (Chaffee, 1971; Greenberg, 1971; Lie-
bert, 1971; Lyle. 1971); an "overview" for the remaining group was
prepared by the staff (Comstock, 1971). Each of these papers represents
the individual author's perspective. Each of the five published volumes
representing the work sponsored by the Television and Social Behavior
program is introduced by the appropriate overview paper.

NATURE OF THE REPORT

The designation of this committee as one concerned with television
and social behavior is especially significant. The committee's title em-
phasizes more than just the issue of violence, and more than the ques-
tion of the impact of televised violence on the behavior and attitudes of
children and adolescents. While the latter remained a central concern,
research conducted for this program also `studied such topics as the
amount of time spent watching television, activities displaced or en-
hanced by television viewing, television advertising and viewer reactions
to it, learning of specific information and role expectations from televi-
sion, and the comparative effects of black and white and color television
on the information learned from a television program. The research pro-
gram was both strengthened and made more difficult by the effort to
place the problem in a larger context: nonetheless we cannot claim that
this report or the work of this research program covers the entire subject
of television and social behavior.

We are aware of the difficulties of obtaining unequivocal answers to
many questions about television's effects on viewers. Television is only
one part of a complex web of elements that may influence people's atti-
tudes and behavior. It is difficult to design studies which isolate the ef-
fects of television content from these other variables. As a result, gener-
alizing from laboratory experiments, surveys, or short-term studies to
the long-term, real-time world can be risky.

Television and special subgroups

We also believe it important to note that other age groups and seg-
ments of the population may be as responsive to the influence of televi-
sion as are children. For example, elderly people, especially those in
homes for the aged, as well as confined or institutionalized individuals
for whom television is a major recreational activity and source of infor-
mation, deserve special consideration in any assessment of the effects of
television viewing. But little is known about this at present. Ultimately,
of course, the needs and desires of the general viewing public will also
have to be included in any attempt at a comprehensive analysis and eval-
uation of television's influence.


20                          TELEVISION AND GROWING UP
The vicarious nature of television viewing

Moreover. the vicarious nature of television viewing presents another
difficulty in conceptualizing the effects of television. For example, view-
ing televised violence is very different from being present at a violent
encounter. The viewer may identify with the aggressor, but he does not
himself deliver any blows or fire any weapons. He may identify with the
victim, but he does not himself experience any pain, sustain any
wounds, or shed any blood. There is no way he can intervene to prevent
or terminate the aggressive exchange, no way he can retaliate against the
aggressor, bring the criminal to justice, succor the victim, or comfort the
bereaved. His involvement is remote, detached, vicarious, and thus only
partial.

The inactivity of the television viewer as a detached onlooker may it-
self be the essence of the television viewing experience. His detachment
may contribute to his own dehumanization. On the other hand, the con-
scious experiencing of rich and even lurid fantasy without allowing it to
spill over into unacceptable real-life behavior is generally acknowledged
as characteristic of good mental health.
More than a decade ago, Bauer and Bauer (1960) commented on this
issue:

For good or ill, experience via the mass media is predominantly vicarious.
Looked at from the long-range point of view of the impact of the media on the
population, this fact may in itself have more profound implications (which we
cannot anticipate) upon the personality of future generations than the actual
content of the communications conveyed by the mass media.

Changing technology

Equally important is the fact that we are examining television as it is
today. Tomorrow's technological innovations will certainly bring
changes in the medium and in the way it is used. With increased availa-
bility of UHF stations, the growth of cable television, and the develop-
ment of cassette systems, there will be greatly increased potential for
viewer control in selection of programs.

A CAVEAT AND A REQUEST

The very existence of this Committee is perhaps testimony to a public
tendency to expect quick and easy answers to difficult problems and to
abdicate responsibility by "delegating" it to institutions rather than
making individual decisions. Some people, moreover, seem inclined to
be moralistic about the symbolic representation of violence on television
and to blame televised violence for what happens in the real world.
These tendencies may lead to attributing the phenomenon of violence to


INTRODUCT ION                                21

simple and easily correctible factors rather than to the more complex
sources in our society. We wish to emphasize, however, that we are not
concerned with blame or with making moral judgments. Our concern is
with scientific evidence on television's effects.

Throughout our deliberations we have been aware that television is
one of the many influences which affect how people grow, learn, and
behave toward their environment and toward one another. Our know-
ledge of the human organism -to say nothing of the social organism-is
far from definitive. We have attempted to take a small step toward great-
er understanding of the medium of television and the implications it may
have for society.

We must urge that, in addition to this formal report to the Surgeon
General, the serious student of television's effects examine the reports
and papers on which we have drawn. They are being published concur-
rently with this report to permit social scientists and others concerned
with the issues involved to evaluate independently the work supported
by the Television and Social Behavior Program and the validity of the
conclusions reached by this committee. This committee can do no more
than offer our own interpretation and evaluation of the findings.


Chapter 2

Violence in Society and in
the Television Med/um

Individual children differ in the readiness with which they can learn to
be aggressive or nonaggressive; genetic and other biological factors play
a role in these differences (Berkowitz, 1962; Feshbach, 1970). Most
small children are capable of learning to be aggressive and nonaggres-
sive, cooperative and rebellious, trustful and suspicious, accommodat-
ing and initiating, selfish and sharing, and constructive and destructive
to varying degrees. Reinforcing and inhibiting life experiences deter-
mine which patterns are more prominently developed. The frequency
and intensity of activation, associated rewards or punishment, prevail-
ing values, and available role models influence the character of these
patterns.

TELEVISION AND PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT

In infancy, neurophysiological patterns are immature, and behavioral
responses are immediate. direct. generalized, and apt to be "all or
none" in character, with considerable potential for change and reversal
of response. In the course of early childhood development, the matura-
tion of central nervous system tissues and the patterning of tissue func-
tion by experience make available a wide range of direct and indirect,
generalized and localized, complete and partial, immediate and delayed
responses. Some patterns of response are reinforced and some are in-
hibited. Patterns which are reinforced at one time may be inhibited at

23


24                            TELEVISION AND GROWING UP

another. In the course of training, education, and acculturation, patterns
of varying intensity and complexity are developed and associated with
one another, so that particular behavioral responses and roles are mani-
fest in interactions with other persons.
Most children over ten years of age show varying degrees of shame,
guilt, and inhibition associated with crying, sucking, messiness, hitting,
and other behaviors which they freely and comfortably displayed in ear-
ly childhood. A stimulus which reinforces a response in early childhood
may inhibit the same response in later childhood when inhibitory mecha-
nisms are more highly developed. A specific response which has been
learned may be employed at one time for constructive purposes and at
another time for destructive purposes. The act of hitting which initiates
an assault may at other times be employed for protection or for preven-
tion of injustice.
The physical, intellectual, and emotional resources of adolescents;
their motivation toward independence from their families, toward au-
tonomy and development of personal identity; and their proclivities for
forming groups often render them capable of successful aggressive, anti-
authority behavior for the first time. While most of this behavior repre-
sents a phase in development and in this respect is prosocial in nature, it
is often disquieting and disrupting to parents and other author'ities who
are challenged. When these interactions are poorly handled by any of
the parties involved, antisocial behavior may be one result. The precise
impact televised content might have at particular points in the matura-
tion process has yet to be determined.
The complexities of developmental processes in childhood and adoles-
cence and the variations from one individual to another make it difficult
to predict the effects of any single carefully controlled stimulus upon
behavior and impossible to predict fully the effects of the wide variety of
visual and auditory stimuli offered in television programs. We need
much more information in order to delineate the effects of televised vio-
lence upon the behavior and development of children. To obtain it, it
would be necessary to conduct both short-term and longitudinal re-
search in controlled laboratory situations and in naturalistic settings;
with young people at various stages of development, of differing charac-
ter, from differing cultures, in varying emotional states; using a variety
of stimuli arranged in varying sequences and with variable complexity.
Many speculations are possible. but hypotheses have been tested only
for very few circumstances and ages; these cannot be validly general-
ized to apply to ages, states, and situations different from those which
were investigated.

      TELEVISION AND SOCIALIZATION
The socialization process is also a complex one. For a child discover-
ing his inner and outer world and learning to respond to each, television


VIOLENCE IN SOCIETY                             25
may be an important source of models which demonstrate when, why,
and how aggression can be appropriate.

Each individual lives in a comparatively circumscribed context.
Communication media offer opportunities for contact with a broader
spectrum of experiences. Television, with its visual and auditory im-
pact. is capable of providing vicarious experience with lifestyles and
values from many different social contexts. It also provides a setting in
which a young person might learn the strategies, tactics, and techniques
of aggression.

However, whether he puts to use what he learns and behaves aggres-
sively will not depend only on what he sees or does not see on television.
Nor will it depend only on what he sees or does not see in any other dis-
crete experience in his own life. Although the causal antecedents of ag-
gressive behavior are not fully understood, it is certain that they are di-
verse. numerous, and complex in their relationship to each other and to
aggressiveness.

The impact of television viewing can only be fully understood when
we know something about a young person's own-nature. his family, his
neighborhood, his school. and other major circumstances and influences
in his life. The strongly emotional experiences that occur in a child's re-
lations with other members of the family and with peers are especially
important. This is not to deny the potential importance of television.
Rather, it is to say that other factors are also potentially important.
These elements invariably contribute a context which influences the
effects television has on the viewer.

The family, the church, the legal system, and the military, among oth-
er institutions. communicate codes, ethics, and guidelines for aggression
and violence. The extent to which television reinforces or weakens
these codes or guidelines is not presently known.

Commercial television in the United States has not primarily attempted
to be a teaching agent: its self-chosen primary role has been to errtertain.
Entertainment, however-whether via television or not-may unobtru-
sively convey ideas. information, sentiments, and values to the mem-
bers of a society. Enculturating factors and his developing conscience
provide criteria that nay help a young person to clarify which values
and behaviors, presentea in entertainment, are to be emulated in reality
and which are to be kept in the realm of fantasy.

DIFFERENTIATING BETWEEN REALITY AND FANTASY

Each person in the television audience is exposed to a broad variety of
stimuli. These stimuli constitute a complex continuum ranging from
what was conceived of as fantasy to mediated views of reality. Each
person in the audience perceives and further interprets the stimuli
through his own patterns of ideas, values, and responses.


26                           TELEVISION AND GROWING UP

Perceptions, interpretations, and responses to the same stimulus not

only vary from individual to individual, but also vary from time to time
within the same individual. The viewer watching a cartoon or a purely
fictional drama may be aware of and acknowledge the fantasy nature of
the stimuli, but through primitive unconscious identification processes
he may respond psychologically and physiologically as if the stimuli are
real and personally involve him. States of comfort or discomfort, plea-
sure or pain, and even verbal communications or participating move-
ments may be evoked.

It is possible that stimuli from a television screen in a box occupying a
small portion of a room arouse neurophysiological patterns similar to or
different from those aroused in interpersonal experiences with real peo-
ple. We do not yet know how the neurophysiological experience asso-
ciated with witnessing a fight between two real people would compare
with the neurophysiological experience associated with witnessing
filmed images of that fight on a television screen.

Responses of children and adults

Genrally, infants and young children are less able than older persons
to distinguish stimuli which are products of fantasy from those which
are products of reality. Most children are more apt than older people to
respond emotionally and physically, as well as ideationally, to their own
fantasies and to the fantasies presented to them as if they were reality.

In varying degrees adults, too, may experience reactivation of pat-
terns which were more prominent during childhood. Many elements in
the emotional experiences of adults are associated with emotional expe-
riences from their childhood, and it is not uncommon for adults to enjoy
relationships, interests, and activities of which they were fond during
childhood. Indeed, much of the content communicated through the me-
dia, including television. engages the "child part" of adults as well as
their mature aspects.

Parental influence

In normal parent-child interaction, the differentiating of make-believe
from real is a complex and extended process at best. In the television-
child setting, the task is further complicated because the child is often
left largely to his own devices. To him, the difference between film clips
of actual combat or a real riot, and dramatic portrayals of similar con-
flicts, may not always be clear. Commericals may further blur distinc-
tions since they often consist of fantasy about real things.

If fictional violence continues to appear in television entertainment,
should special steps be taken to assist children in identifying it as fic-
tion? Can fictional violence on television play a constructive role as a


VIOLENCE IN SOCIETY                           27

psychological safety valve which vents socially unacceptable hostility
by offering vicarious experience to some persons? Can televised vio-
lence stimulate psychological inhibitory mechanisms in some viewers
which reduce their likelihood of imitating that behavior? Does televised
violence instigate or facilitate for some viewers release of aggressive or
violent impulses? Does a high concentration of violence in televised
content convey impressions of permissiveness toward or expectations
of violent behavior to some persons ? How do influences from family,
school, religion, laws, neighborhood environment, peers, genetic, phy-
siological and cultural factors interact with various television viewing
experiences? Do the images on a television screen provide a "fantasy"
stimulus quite unlike that provided by real people in the room? Which
persons tend to differentiate and which tend to confuse fantasy and real-
ity? Are these behavioral effects beneficial or detrimental, prosocial or
antisocial, adaptive or maladaptive?

These are some of the many questions which have motivated system-
atic inquiry and scientific research on the effects of television on social
behavior.

WHAT THE CONTENT OF TELEVISION REFLECTS

Television content inevitably reflects the values, the points of view,
and the expectation of audience response held by those involved in the
production process.

Drama. light or serious, documentaries, "specials," variety and mu-
sic programs, and news are quite different types of format and in many
respects involve quite different considerations. All, however, require the
making of decisions as to what will be presented from the voluminous
amount of potential material. The values reflected in these decisions are
no less relevant because they are generally unarticulated. The decisions
made take on importance because all these varieties of television fare
can structure the audience member's relationship to reality. To varying
extents and in various ways, they can engage conscience, modify or
mobilize opinion, and challenge or confirm beliefs.

Audience response to news programs, for example, depends to a con-
siderable degree upon the televised content, and this depends in part on
the selection and editing process. Selection of an emotionally charged
part of a speech and omission of the context in which it was given might
increase the audience involvement but also might contribute to false be-
liefs by offering an unbalanced view.

Suggestible persons may be strongly influenced or even exploited by
the ideas and advice offered through television and other media. Other
viewers may be freed from restrictive ideas and false beliefs to which
they have been bound. Media may be used to promote conflict or to re-
solve it. The moderator of a panel show, for example, may help


28                        TELEVISION AND GROWING UP
representatives of different schools of thought to fight with one another
or to find common interests, to collaborate, synchronize, and harmonize
their contributions.

Stereotypes

In addition to violence, an area of major concern has been television's
potentiality for perpetuating, reinforcing, or modifying social stereo-
types about groups defined by such criteria as sex, ethnic background.
and social class.

Many children in the United States, especially those in big cities, have
never met an American Indian. But American children have had endless
hours of experience with "Indians" who ride horses across the plains,
stalk wagon trains, and raid camps of white soldiers. Much of what
American children "know" about American Indians may well have been
derived from watching television dramas and movies rerun on televi-
sion.

For many years, blacks were seen usually as servants, slaves, or buf-
foons, less often as athletes or fighters, almost never as clergymen, phy-
sicians, teachers, attorneys, or policemen. Black Americans protested
that such stereotypic portrayals conditioned other Americans to think of
them as inferior to whites. This protest has now been heard, and vigor-
ous efforts are now being made to present movie and television dramas
in which black actors appear in a broad diversity of roles.

Since television may play a role in shaping opinion and attitudes, it is
important to pay attention to which persons, groups, and interests are
presented in a favorable light and which are presented unfavorably. Tel-
evised content can suggest who may be considered benign and who may
be considered a threat to society.

The responsibility of decision-making

Decisions made by persons at various levels in the television industry
determine what is broadcast, when it is broadcast, and how what is
broadcast is treated-from point of view to camera angle.

The media may offer an avenue of expression for a few or for many.
Unfortunately, the powerful and the powerless, the wealthy and the
poor, the influential elites and nonelites do not have equal access to the
television cameras and microphones, and the impact of television may
be differentially felt. In general, the powerful, influential. and elite have
opportunity to initate and control the content and uses of television in
ways that the powerless, the poor, and the nonelite do not. In these in-
teractions one party's interests are often supported while the interests of
other parties are sacrificed. This places an especially heavy responsibili-
ty on those who determine which aspects of reality shall be given the
special salience bestowed by television treatment.


VIOLENCE IN SOCIETY                             29

DEFINITIONS AND DIMENSIONS OF VIOLENCE

The possible effect of televised violence on the behavior and attitudes
of children is the major focus of this research program. The National
Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence (1969) in examin-
ing the history of American society made these points:

America has always been a relatively violent nation. Considering the tumultuous
historical forces that have shaped the United States, it would be astonishing
were it otherwise.

Since rapid social change in America has produced different forms of violence
with widely varying patterns of motivation, aggression, and victimization, vio-
lence in America has waxed and waned with the social tides. The decade just
ending. for example. has been one of our most violent eras-although probably
not the most violent.

Exclusive emphasis in a society on law enforcement rather than on a sensible
balance of remedial action and enforcement tends to lead to a decaying cycle in
which resistance grows and becomes ever more violent.

For remedial social change to be an effective moderator of violence, the changes
must command a wide measure of support throughout the community. Official
efforts to impose change that is resisted by a dominant majority frequently
prompt counterviolence.

Finally. Americans have been. paradoxically, a turbulent people but have en-
joyed a relatively stable republic. Our liberal and pluralistic system has histori-
cally both generated and accommodated itself to a high level of unrest. and our
turmoil has reflected far more demonstration and protest than conspiracy and
revolution.

Within these broad conclusions, the Commission examined the histo-
ry of violence, with attention to both individual and group violence and
to effects of television and other media upon these. At least two things
are clear from reading the Violence Commission report, as well as the
primary references on violence and aggression which the Commission
used. The first is that violence has characterized our society throughout
its history, and the second is that there is no simple or universal explana-
tion of the causes of violence. In fact, there is not even a clear consen-
sus about what constitutes violence.

What is "violent?"

The character of an act does not, by itself, define whether the act is
violent. The effect, the social context, the moral framework, the degree
of legitimization, and the amount and kinds of group endorsement of the
act are very relevant to the definition of violence in the real world. For
example, while many societies sanction parents' use of physical force to
control and train their children, the same force, employed by other per-
sons in a different context, might be defined as violence. Although their
use of force is not so widely permitted, children often employ force in


30                         TELEVISION AND GROWING UP

their dealings with other persons-especially other children-and in
their expression of feelings. Over time, most individuals will internalize
their society's moral codes and mold their behavior accordingly.
Whether or not the use of physical force will be defined as violence
depends upon one's perspective and upon the context, as well as upon
the nature of the act. The recipients of forceful action generally define
such action as violent more readily than do initiators of the action. Thus:
-The same act may be considered violent under some circum-
    stances and not under others.

-The same act may be judged as violent by one person and not by
another.

-The same act may be generally accepted and labeled nonviolent
when committed by one person but may be generally rejected as
violent when committed by another.
-The same violent act may be accepted at some ages but not all
others. or may be accepted among males but not among females.
-The same violent act may be rejected if one initiates it but may be
approved as self-protection against another's attack.
-Violence may be accepted if it is deemed necessary to protect a
person, a property. or an important belief.
-Destroying or hurting another by psychological or verbal means.
which are generally more subtle than physical actions, will often
not be considered as violence.

-The ethics of violence may be blunt; line-of-duty violent acts of
soldiers and police may be acceptable.
-The ethics of violence may be more subtle. It may be acceptable
to hit back. but not in the groin or in the eye.
-An act by a person we like or idealize is less apt to be considered
violent than the same act by a person we dislike or denigrate.
-Violence to right a wrong may be acceptable by an acknowledged
official but not by ordinary citizens, some of whom may even be
expected to accommodate to injustice.

Defining agcjression
Throughout this report the terms "aggression" and "violence" are

employed almost always in reference to antisocial behavior. We ac-
knowledge that this usage is neither comprehensive nor precise. Howev-
er, this usage is so common that its meaning is communicated easily.

The word "aggression" has generally been associated with antisocial
or destructive implications. Within psychoanalytic theory, on the other
hand, aggression refers to the mobilization, organization, and applica-
tion of energy to a task which may be constructive or destructive, proso-
cial or antisocial.


VIOLENCE IN SOClETY                            31
In his review of literature on effects of media portrayals of violence,

Weiss t 1969) noted the difficulty of arriving at a generally accepted con-
ceptualization of aggression. A vast and varied array of behaviors may
be considered aggressive, depending upon effects. upon intent. upon
context. upon associated feelings and fantasies. and upon other factors.
There is no aggreement either among lay persons or among scientists
about how fantasized aggression. verbal aggression, and physical ag-
gression may be compared. Nor is there agreement about what consti-
tutes an aggressive act in real-life experiences or about the degree to
which behavior measured in a laboratory is analogous to that in a natur-
alistic setting. Aggression against an inanimate object is not always ac-
cepted as the functional equivalent of aggression against an animate
one. Would the inanimate object have been struck if it could hit back? Is
aggressive behavior in play a functional equivalent of aggressive behav-
ior with intent to harm?

Sociopolitical aspects of.violence and
aggression

When we consider behavior within a societal context, the meaning of
concepts such as "violence," "aggression," "order," and "disorder"
is defined by sociopolitical processes. Similarly, decisions about the par-
ticular manner in which "violent" acts are to be handled-for example,
with a "show of force" or the actual use of "deadly force" by officials
-are also essentially sociopolitical in nature.

In a staff report to the Violence Commission, Skolnick (1969) dis-
cussed the political and public policy aspects of defining, labeling, and
handling violence. The kind of acts which are classified as "violent," as
well as those which are not so classified, vary according to who provides
the definition and who has the superior resources for disseminating and
enforcing his definitions. The legislative process is involved in the for-
mulation and enactment of criminal laws and of specific penalties for
engaging in behavior so defined and officially prohibited. For example,
the behavioral act of killing another person does not automatically nor
even necessarily constitute murder. If the killing can officially be viewed
as justified or in self-defense, for example, it will not be labeled as mur-
der. Similarly, the young man setting fire to a Vietnamese hut may be
considered a dutiful citizen and soldier: the same man burning a grocery
store in New York or Chicago may be viewed as a dangerous criminal
engaged in arson and related crimes.

Almost every society, including primitive societies, legitimizes for the
sake of its own maintenance some aggression and violence against inter-
nal and external threats. Every society has inconsistent norms and
mores. Every society talks a better, purer, more noble game than it plays.


32                            TELEVISION AND GROWING UP

Aggression and violence are always the legitimized privilege of authori-
ty, whether it be within the setting of the family. within a tribe, or within
a nation.

Some aggression and violence have been an outcome of disagree-
ments between individuals or groups over cherished values and beliefs
which, in themselves, are conflicting at times. In a competitive society,
strong motivations toward productivity and rewards may lead to high
standards of living for some people and exploitation. suffering. and un-
fairness for others. Those who focus their attention upon the productivi-
ty and the high standard of living have a legitimate basis for their ap-
proval of this process; those who focus attention upon the exploitation
and unfairness have a legitimate basis for their disapproval.

People often accommodate and adjust for long periods of time to
damage, injury, or psychological trauma caused by such inequities as
crippling discrimination on the basis of socioeconomic status or race.
Severely destructive effects may be tolerated, but they are rarely de-
fined as violence if they are brought about slowly enough, within a
framework of accepted values and laws, and by group rather than indi-
vidual action. Such legitimized and processed violence may have a large
number of victims reflected in death rates, morbidity rates, vulnerability
to exploitation, and other forms of human suffering.

Neglect is not considered violence even if it results in death. Sudden
damage to an individual or an object is generally recognized as violence
while slow, erosive damage is apt to be perceived as violence only by the
victim. In like manner, one who holds, envelops, or imprisons another
against his will seldom perceives the violence experienced by the one
who is held.

Dimensions of violence and the television
industry

The television industry, in the production of programs with violent
content, variously deals with or neglects these definitions and dimen-
sions. The length of programs restricts the extent to which complexities
can be developed. The beliefs, values, and definitions which exist in the
minds of television decision-makers produce additional limitations in the
conceptualization of violence on television. The economics of mass
media lead to the presentation of violence in such a way and in such
dimensions as suit the tastes of a highly heterogeneous audience. Addi-
tionally, if content is presented which is not accepted to influential per
sons and important public officials, problems of other kinds may devel-
op. Thus, in many ways the practicalities of continually balancing rela-
tionships with the audience, with public officials, with advertisers, and
with numerous other interests foster limitations of various kinds on tele-
vision content. Unless persuasive influences develop in new directions,


VIOLENCE IN SOCIETY                             33

the present patterns seem likely to continue, as a result of both con-
scious and unconscious psychological and social pressures.

DEFINING VIOLENCE FOR RESEARCH PURPOSES

Any comprehensive consideration of the issue of violence in televi-
sion content must take into account as many dimensions and complexi-
ties of violence as possible, not confine itself to narrowly restricted as-
pects.

When violence must be defined for research purposes, however, it
inevitably is stated in a restricted form. In his analysis of television con-
tent in research sponsored in this program, Gerbner (197 1 b) points out:

Violence connotes a great variety of physical and mental violations, emotions,
injustices, and transgressions of social and moral norms. For this study violence
was defined in its strictest physical sense as an arbiter of power. Analysts were
instructed to record as violent only `the overt expression of physical force
against others or self, or the compelling of action against one's will on pain of
being hurt or killed.' The expression of injurious or lethal force had to be credi-
ble and real in the symbolic terms of the drama. Humorous and even farcical
violence can be credible and real, even if it has a presumable comic effect. But
idle threats, verbal abuse or comic gestures with no real consequences were not
to be considered violent. The agent of violence could be any sort of creature,
and the act could appear to be accidental as well as intentional. All characters
serve human purposes in the symbolic realm, and accidents or even `acts of na-
ture' occur only on purpose in drama.

An example of what investigators considered "violent" filmed materi-
al is a specially assembled 45minute videotape used by Greenberg and
Gordon (1971c), which the authors described as follows:

This 4%minute tape contained 75 separate scenes of violence which varied in
length from five to 120 seconds. All violent sequences were scenes in which
characters physically harmed themselves or another person (e.g., hitting or
shooting), overtly intended such harm (e.g., shooting but missing), or physically
damaged some inanimate object (e.g., smashing furniture). Scenes of yelling or
shouting were also recorded as examples of verbal aggression.

Liebert and Baron (197 1) employed three-and-one-half-minute action
sequences from the television series The Untouchables. Stein and Fried-
rich (1971) used 12 20-minute episodes of Balman or Superman as an
"aggressive" television film diet in their study of four-year-olds. This
illustrates the principle that violence is operationally defined by the
choice of specific stimulus material.

One researcher, however, defined media violence in a very different
and much broader way. Clark (1971) argues that violence can be almost
imperceptible and slow as well as sudden, and that the media can be vio-
lent as well as convey violence. In Clark's view, since television is a way
of learning about the worth of one's self and others, the medium does


34                        TELEVISION AND GROWING UP

violence to blacks and other minorities by portraying them in ways that
lower their self-esteem. Television violence, in his terms, is the "slow
mental disintegration" that "the mass media commit by virtue of their
effects on the black self-image. " As a result, Clark studies identification
with television characters, because he believes that identification is the
psychological process through which the violence he attributes to televi-
sion is inflicted and is an index of the harmful effects of television and
other influences on the wellbeing of minorities.

While violence defined in this manner can produce destructive effects
and many victims, these effects result from the use of psychological
force rather than physical force. Operational definitions of violence and
aggression generally emphasize specific physical actions which cause
discomfort or injury to a person or damage to property.


Chapter 3

Some Problems of
Research on the Impact
   of Television

A number of recurring questions arise in the process of reviewing
what is known about the impact of television. Representatives of many
diverse disciplines are trying to understand and formulate the effects of
media experience upon human behavior. In each discipline there are
diverse schools which rely upon different theories and different meth-
ods. They exist in relatively separated and isolated compartments.

In addition to these general problems, a number of specific research
questions must be addressed before even tentative conclusions on the
nature of television's effects can be advanced: What are the special
problems associated with studying television's impact in childhood?
What is the nature of the television stimulus? What are the strategies for
investigating the impact of television? How much can these studies tell
us about the viewer's behavior in response to television?

BEHAVIOR IN EARLY CHILDI-iOOb

A large number of studies conducted over the past two decades, con-
cerned with the years of immaturity in humad beings and other species,
have convinced specialists in child development that the early period of
life is critically important. These studies support the age-old observation
that "as the twig is bent, so the tree will grow." The child's learning dur-
ing the first five or six years sets the foundation fbr lifelong patterns of
behavior and for further learning. Attitudes and values, as well as habits

35


36                         TELEVISION AND GROWING UP
of thinking and reacting to other people, are set during this formative
period. Child psychologists and child psychiatrists think of the young
child as especially susceptible to influence (whether for good or for ill)
during the years of his life when he is vitally dependent on other individ-
uals for his very survival and growth.
Young children are naturally curious and eager to learn all they can
from life. Television is one potentially important source of knowledge,
and by age two or three most American children have begun to watch
and listen to television regularly (Schramm, Lyle, and Parker, 1961).
However, most research studying the effects of television on children
has not captured children's earliest experiences with television; instead,
studies have concentrated on television's influence on school-age chil-
dren and on adolescents. This is unfortunate; the years before the fifth
birthday, when the child is especially open to new learning and new ex-
periences, should be a period when television viewing might be especial-
ly influential. Earlier studies (e.g., Bandura, Ross, and Ross, 1963) have
documented that three-, four-, and five-year-old children imitate specific
acts (including aggressive acts) which they have observed on film, at
least in experimental circumstances. In the present series of studies,
which will be described below, Stein and Friedrich (1971) were again
able to document indications of television's impact as early as age three.
A young child's reaction to television is potentially quite different
from that of an adult. A child has only a limited range of past experience
and does not have a well-established set of conceptual categories for
clarifying his perceptual experiences.
Many adults assume that because children catch the fun of some adult
humor, they regularly operate on a higher level of sophistication than
they actually do. If the stories or scenes which appeal to each age group
were explored, one would probably discover that the child relates to
humor which has a concrete rather than an abstract theme. The thinking
of the three- and four-year-old is not logic as the adult sees it. At that age
children are still free-associating through the day. The evolution of their
thinking processes has not yet reached the stage where they voluntarily
or involuntarily classify, sort, select, and organize information except in
`very concrete and immediate terms. Certain children of superior intelli-
gence who have had help with language and thinking in the family context
do sometimes indicate that they can at least follow simple logical argu-
ments, and their conversation often appears to make good sense to
adults. However, the conversation of the overwhelming number of
three- and four-year-old children is not always sensible in adult con-
texts. In the same vein, the young television viewer often is unable to
follow the theme of even a simple story (Klapper, 1969; Leifer and Rob-
erts, 1971). It is unlikely that young children will understand the relative-
ly complex motivations for and consequences of the behavior demon-
strated by the television actor.


RESEARCH PROBLEMS                             37

DEFINING THE TELEVISION STIMULUS

In order to assess the impact of television, we must clearly understand
the nature of the television stimulus. A number of questions about tele-
vision content, which raise important issues for research in this field,
have been raised in earlier writings (e.g., Siegel, 1969).

To what degree is the symbolic language of television different from
or similar to other "languages" such as those used in interpersonal
communication, live drama, serious music, and such? Is the "language"
of television entertainment fare taken seriously by audiences, or does it
carry within itself a heavy discounting element because of the potential
artificiality of its excesses of cordiality, good humor, sincerity, intima-
cy, and violence? Do audiences carefully attend to the symbols of tele-
vision entertainment, or do these symbols merely reflect on irrelevant
dimensions of life and thus require nothing more than superficial or cas-
ual attention?

Is the language of television especially "vivid," as some observers
suggest? While television may be more vivid than other media like news-
papers, comic books, or radio, how does it compare to listening to one's
father or to a live concert or to seeing a professional football game in a
stadium? And if the language of television is indeed more "vivid," is it
necessarily more "effective" than, let us say, reading a fairy tale or lis-
tening to a stereo recording of Peter and the Wolf?

Can distinctions between "pure" entertainment content and "pure"
information content be made from content analyses alone? Much re-
search has shown that what may be information content for some view-
ers may serve as entertainment content for others. Consequently, it is
not easy to separate entertainment content from other types of content
simply on the basis of an a prioriclassification scheme. Typically, televi-
sion viewers in American homes are exposed to a complex mix of news,
information, educational materials, advertising, propaganda, and enter-
tainment fare. Any concern about the totality of reactions by viewers to
television fare must also be concern about the totality of the symbolic
stimuli to which they are exposed.

A good deal of the "violent" content found in selected televised en-
tertainment programs refers to times, places, characters, and events that
are far removed from the actual life-space of the viewers; the programs
are, in truth, fantasies which have no direct explicit application to con-
temporary life (e.g., the "western," "science fiction," "ghost and hor-
ror stories," the "period/costume drama"), but may in fact be symbolic
of contemporary life. An interesting question arises here-namely, how
and to what degree do content variables like "time of action," "type of
action," and "place of action" that are removed from the current scene
relate to contemporary audience reactions to this fare? Does this "dis-
tancing" of symbols serve as another discounting factor so that the view-


38                         TELEVISION AND GROWING UP
er dismisses the materials as reflecting "just another story?" Or do
these variables "wash out" and allow viewers to develop personal ana-
logs for themselves regardless? Perhaps even more important questions
are whether the young viewer perceives this "distancing," and, if so,
how this perception relates to the likelihood that the child will adopt the
televised behavior as a guide for his actions.

What precisely constitutes portrayals of violence on television? In
one approach, mentioned in Chapter 2, violent content is described in
terms of discrete manifestations of physical aggressive behavior units in
television programs. The unit of measure recorded in these studies is a
specific act of observable behavior (e.g., punching, kicking, shooting).
Each manifest act is generally given equal weight; the acts are summed
up to reflect "violent" content as such. In another approach, it is sug-
gested that aggressive behavior in television portrayals consists of an
event made up of overt or covert aggression within the context of other
nonaggressive events, or of an interpersonal tactic wherein aggressive
behavior of some sort (rather than a nonaggressive tactic} is used to gain
a specific end. Consequently, this unit of measure is the totality of the
event or situation which includes the specific "aggressive" tactic em-
ployed. Cutting across these two approaches are considerations of (1)
whether the events and interpersonal tactics are reasonably capable of
being adopted by a viewer quite literally, or (2) whether the portrayed
event or tactic is symbolic and can only be adopted in keeping with the
viewer's individual mode of expression of aggressive behavior.

RESEARCH STRATEGIES

In order to explore the possible influences on subsequent social be-
havior of exposure to portrayals of violence on television, most of the
studies in this program used one of two modes of investigation. One
method can be described as applying the concepts and data-gathering
techniques of field social survey research; the other, as applying the
concepts and data-gathering techniques of the controlled laboratory
experiment.

Because the techniques used in either data-gathering method-survey
or laboratory experiment-have critical bearing on the outcome of re-
search, both methods will be given detailed attention as this report prog-
resses.

At this point it suffices to note that the distinctions between these two
methods lie fundamentally in the manner in which data are gathered,
rather than in the way they are ultimately analyzed and interpreted.
Essentially, the social survey seeks to determine the relationships
among and between variables as they may be distributed in relatively
large samples either of a universe or of specific subpopulations. In con-
trast, the laboratory experimental approach calls for isolating one varia-
ble and testing its influence on the behaviors of small selected groups.


RESEARCH PROBLEMS                            39
One of the least complex experimental designs usually is composed of
(I) a group (i.e., experimental group) which is exposed to a stimulus and
(2) a group matched for similarities with the experimental group (i.e.,
control group) which is not so exposed.

Implications of research

Understanding the relationship between research results and free-
ranging human behavior has been a persistent difliculty in attempts to
apply scientific findings to the problems of daily life. Surveys and other
correlational studies are usually unable to clarify sequential or causal
relationships; experiments, while elucidating causality, usually require a
simulation of certain behaviors in an experimental setting. Thus, each
research strategy has some limitations.

In experimental studies of the impact of television in early childhood,
the problem is even more acute, according.to some observers, because
the most definitive evidence comes from experiments in special play-
rooms which are somewhat strange to the child. When achild views tele-
vision, he usually watches in his own home surrounded by his family;
critics suggest that the things the child learns and the behavior he dem-
onstrates in this setting are quite different from what he learns and how
he behaves in a special playroom. ' Some specialists concerned with the
growth and development of children, on the other hand, believe that
there is no clear distinction among settings for studying a child's behav-
ior. They maintain that, for young children, the playground, the nursery
school, and the playroom with a television set are not artificial but rather
are part of the child's natural daily environment. Therefore, they hold,
the behavior demonstrated in these settings can indeed be considered
representative of the child's free-ranging behavior.
Suspension of norms for behavior. The attempt to study the social
effects of viewing television drama might be restated as the attempt to
study the real-life behavior consequences of vicarious'experience. This
relationship between a "fantasy stimulus" and a "reality response"
raises some important questions for research. Certain aspects of this
issue were discussed in the preceding chapter; however, further aspects
have implications for research methodology.
In culture after culture, for example, societies have exhibited games,
entertainments. and ceremonies during which established norms for

`The playroom in which a child psychologist conducts his or her research with young
children is usually a small private room furnished with a table and chairs, a rug on the
floor. and various toys. When the research concerns television, the furnishings include a
television receiver. Usually there is a one-way vision mirror on the wall through which
observers in the adjoining room may watch the child and make records of his behavior
without intruding on it. Any technical monitoring apparatus-e.g., a tape recorder-is
housed in the adjacent observation room. The playroom itself is planned to be cheerful,
uncomplicated. and inviting. to provide a comfortable setting for the child.


40                        TELEVISION AND GROWING up

behavior are suspended; special codes which permit encroachments on
norms or taboos come into force for a limited period. The requirement
of truthfulness is suspended while the storyteller relates tales of youth-
ful adventure. The prohibition of physical violence is suspended during
games of contact sports. Norms for behavior between the sexes are
somewhat relaxed during the Mardi Gras. In all such cases, the specta-
tor, for a well-defined time period, enters into a moratorium on norms
during which vicarious experience of otherwise unacceptable behavior
is not only permitted but encouraged.

This pattern may be referred to as an "entertainment scenario," in
contrast to a "reality scenario" in which a person is expected to order
his behavior in compliance with approved norms for everyday living.
While the entertainment scenario tends to indulge impulse, the reality
scenario tends to inhibit it.

The entertainment scenario involves the assumption that socialization
is well enough established that those involved can agree that during their
interval of vicarious experience, everyday norms are suspended, not
abolished. For example, a father and son at a football game may join in
shouting to their team to commit all manner of violence against the op-
posing team (entertainment scenario), and the son may have a little trou-
ble "settling down" immediately after the game. But they both know
that, once they have returned home, the son's interactions with his sister
must conform to a completely different set of ground rules (reality scen-
ario) than those which were appropriate on the playing field.

Everyday experience suggests, at the same time, that the mood estab-
lished in the entertainment scenario tends to persist. The demands of the
reality situation and individual personality characteristics probably in-
fluence the speed with which one moves from the entertainment scena-
rio back to the reality scenario. The strength of the stimulus may also be
a factor.

For measurement to be fully valid, these potential differences be-
tween the reality scenario and the entertainment scenario need to be
taken into consideration. Unfortunately, there is little information avail-
able that bears directly on this issue.

Limitations of research

In some research instances, it is necessary to alter or modify some
aspects of the behavior studied. In research dealing with the impact of
televised violence on children's aggressive behavior, the requirement
that aggressive behavior be simulated is particularly important. No in-
vestigator would place a child in a setting where he could clearly harm
either himself or another child. Instead, he might substitute inanimate
objects like large dolls for live persons as the object of aggression. Thus,
experiments on the impact of televised violence have generally focused


RESEARCH PROBLEMS                              41

on indicators of interpersonal aggression, such as the child's report of
his feelings and attitudes about hurting another person or his behavior in
striking inanimate objects. Moreover, as Weiss (1969) points out in his
review, "the testing situation is designed to give the impression that ag-
gression is permissible if not encouraged; in the shock studies,2 aggres-
sion is required and only the degree of aggression can vary." These con-
siderations, as Weiss indicates, raise questions about "the propriety of
referring to the responses used in the research as aggressive behavior."

There are, of course, other aspects of research which must be under-
stood in attempting to translate the experimental findings to daily life.
Where the study of children's television viewing behavior is concerned,
one aspect which must be studied is the child's overall psychological
state for the day as well as for the moment. If he has been getting into
mischief all day long, or if his caretaker has been irritable, or if he has
not been feeling well, the sight of people being attacked and punished on
television could have quite a different effect on him than the same scene
might on a day when he had been generally successful and when his cop-
ing skills were strong.

To some extent, these variations in background conditions can be
taken into account by a research design which uses an adequate number
of subjects and randomly assigns these subjects to the various treatment
conditions. But other factors enter in when we try to extrapolate the
results from experimental studies to real life. When a young child is feel-
ing strong. confident, and cared-for, he is not so prone to confuse fanta-
sy with reality and decide that the world is too dangerous for him to cope
with. The two-, three-, or four-year-old child whose mother is in the
house may watch punishment and aggression on television with more
detachment or aplomb than when she is not present and when he is un-
certain that he is being well cared for.

`Weiss refers to experiments in which subjects are directed to administer ostensible
electric shocks.


Chapter 4

Television Content

Studies of television program content leave no doubt that among en-
tertainment programs, violence figures prominently. There is also much
violence in news programs, but the research on television content has
focused mainly on dramatized entertainment programs. This focus, in
itself, precluded a complete examination of the full spectrum of televi-
sion and social behavior.

Television offers a remarkable variety of program content, including
news, sports, music, politics, education, discussion programs, and wor-
ship services. These types of programs are scarcely mentioned in our
studies, nor is any attempt made to explore their constructive contribu-
tions to American life. It is taken for granted that television program-
ming is on the whole consonant with modal interests and values. Indeed,
if it were not, it could not survive, since it is dependent on voluntary
audiences.

There are few places in the United States where people receive as few
as two television channels, and there are probably few individuals who,
if they review the weekly schedules, will fail to find programming to suit
their tastes. If they or their children spend large amounts of time view-
ing television, they are under no requirement to do so. The emergence of
public television and of cable systems promises further extension of al-
ternatives, further diversity of offerings.

It is widely believed that television increases children's vocabulary
and extends their horizons (Steiner, 1963; Witty, 1966; Lyle and Hoff-
man, 1971a). At the same time, and precisely because of the enormous
popularity of television programming, there is concern about the possi-
bility of negative effects on children. This concern relates particularly to
fictional violence in entertainment programs. It is primarily this concern
that motivated government sponsorship of the present project, and our
studies are almost exclusively addressed to its exploration.

43


44

                 TELEVISION AND GROWING UP

VIOLENCE: SENT AND RECEIVED

As we noted in a previous chapter, violence takes many forms. There
is verbal violence, fist fighting, violence with weapons, and there is the
slapstick violence among cartoon characters. There is the violence of
nature in storms, in fires, in hunting by predatory animals. There is so-
cially approved violence (when the sheriff defeats the criminal) and dis-
approved violence (when the criminal holds up the storekeeper). For
reasons that are not clear, it is customary, in studies of violence in enter-
tainment programs, to exclude the violence of football, basketball,
hockey, baseball, boxing, automobile racing, skating derbies, wrestling,
rodeos.

The portrayal of violence cannot be assumed to have a one-to-one re-
lationship with the perception of violence nor with the response to it.
Although we know of no studies that would justify generalizing on this
point, there are reports that individual children may experience distress
at the televised portrayal of a pet being wounded but apparently feel no
such reaction to what many adults would consider more extreme forms
of violence.

To speak of violence in television programs, then, is to speak of many
things. Nevertheless, a study by Greenberg and Gordon (1971b) indi-
cates a high'degree of agreement among ratings by 303 adult audience
members and 43 television critics as to which television programs are
most violent. Particularly interesting is their finding that, though half of
their audience sample was given a definition of violence and half was
not, the rank ordering of the raiings by the two audience groups led to
nearly identical lists of "most violent" programs. The definition
was: "By violence, I mean how much fighting, shooting, yelling or kill-
ing there usually is in the show ,"

The 43 television critics were provided with this same definition of
violence. Their ratings corresponded closely with those of the sample of
audience members. The critics and the public agreed as to the 20 series
they considered most violent.

VIOLENCE IN PROGRAMS

The most thorough study of violent content in television entertain-
ment programs, or segments of programs, "that tell a story" has been
conducted by Gerbner (1971b). His definition of an instance of violence
is "the overt expression of physical force against others or self, or the
compelling of action against one's will on pain of being hurt or killed."
In addition to such acts as fighting, shooting, or killing, Gerbner includ-
ed humorous and farcical acts, accidents, and acts of nature, so long as
they appeared to be "credible and real."


TELEVISION CONTENT                            4s

Gerbner's most recent study includes findings from his two earlier

studies of the same sort. thus providing comparisons between findings in
1967, 1968. and 1969. These studies are primarily devoted to the enumer-
ation and classification of violent incidents by trained coders who
watched and coded videotapes of selected network programs for one
week in October for each of the three years. He points out that his study
is an analysis of program content, not of effects.

Because Gerbner's findings have been inaccurately cited in several
instances as referring to all network programs during the week of each
year he studied, clarification of his data base is appropriate. The hours
studied in Philadelphia in 1967 are shown in the following table. The
hours studied in 1968 and 1969 are similar but not identical:

                   ABC             CBS            NBC

Sunday         4:00- 5:OO p.m.    7:00- 8:00 p.m.     7:30-10:00 p.m.
         7:00-\O:OO p.m.     9:00-10:00 p.m.

Monday         7:30-10:00 p.m.     7:30-10:00 p.m.    7:30-IO:00 p.m.

Tuesday         7:30-10:00 p.m.     7:30- 8:30 p.m.     7:30-10:00 p.m.
                         9:30-10:00 p.m.

Wednesday       7:30-1O:OO p.m.     7:30-10:00 p.m.     7:30- 9:OO p.m.

Thursday        7:30-10:00 p.m.     7:30-10:00 p.m.     7:3X&10:00 p.m.

Friday          7:30-10:00 p.m.     7:30-10:00 p.m.     7:30-1O:OO p.m.

Saturday         9:00-l 1:OO a.m.     9:00-l 1~00 a.m.     9:00-l 1~00 a.m.
             9:30-10:00 p.m.     8:30-10:00 p.m.     7:30-10:00 p.m.
News programs. variety shows, and network specials were excluded
because they did not contain plots or story lines.
Within the,se samples. Gerbner found that:
-The general prevalence of violence did not change markedly be-
tween 1967 and 1969. The rate of violent episodes remained constant at
about eight per hour.

-The nature of violence did change. Fatalities declined, and the
proportion of leading characters engaged in violence or acting as killers
declined. The former dropped from 73 percent to 64 percent: the latter
from 19 to five percent. The consequence is that as many violent inci-
dents occurred in 1969 as 1967, but a smaller proportion of characters
were involved, and the violence was far less lethal.

  -Violence increased from 1967 to 1969 in cartoons and comedies.
These two program types are not mutually exclusive in Gerbner's classi-
fication system. Much of the increase in violence in comedies is attribut-
able to the inclusion of cartoons in the comedy category.
-Cartoons were the most violent type of program. The number of
cartoon programs increased. from 37 in 1967 to 38 in 1969. The percen-
tage of these programs containing some violence increased from 94 per-
cent in 1967 to 97 percent in 1969. Although the percentage of leading


46                          TELEVISION ANDGROWING UP

characters involved in killing declined from 14 percent in 1967 to one
percent in 1969, on the average 88 percent of leading characters in car-
toons were involved in violence for the 1967-69 period.

-Whereas in noncartoon shows in 1969 the agent of violence was a
human being in 78 percent of the cases, in cartoons this role was depict-
ed as human in only 23 percent of the cases. Nature, animals, and acci-
dents are the agents of violence in more than three-quarters of the cases.
Gerbner also tried to place the violence he observed into some social
and moral context by looking at its time, place, and setting and by noting
the kinds of people who engaged in violence and the kinds of people who
were its victims. He found that:

-In 1969, law enforcement agents appeared in four percent of the
cartoon episodes and in 19 percent of the noncartoon. When they did
play a role in noncartoon episodes, law enforcement agents were in-
volved in violence in 79 percent of the cases.
-Violence is more likely to take place in the past or the future
(rather than in the present) and tends to be set in exotic, far-off, or uni-
dentifiable places (rather than in surroundings familiar to viewers).
-Violence is most frequently committed by white middle- and
upper- class males, unmarried and in the young adult or middle years.
-Most televised violence occurs between strangers or slight ac-
quaintances.

Gerbner's study combines Saturday morning programming with dra-
matic programs in prime time evening hours. Barcus (1971) focused on
Saturday morning programming in a content analysis using a sample of
19 hours broadcast in Boston by three network stations and one inde-
pendent. He found:

-In regard to broad program format categories, that commercial
and promotional messages accounted for approximately 19 percent of
the time; that when programs were roughly classified either as entertain-
ment or as information, entertainment accounted for 89 percent of the
time; and that 62 percent of total content consisted of animation.

-In regard to violent content, that approximately three out of ten
dramatic segments were "saturated" with violence; that 71 percent had
at least one instance of human violence with or without the use of weap-
ons; and that, although in 52 percent of the segments violence was di-
rected at humans, in only four percent did this result in death or injury.

Qualitative aspects of violence portrayals

While these content analyses deal with the more readily quantifiable
aspects of violence on television (e.g., How many acts? Who committed
them? Where did the action take place?), they do not focus on the more
qualitative aspects (e.g., Was the violent act related to character and
plot development or was it gratuitous? How vivid or gory was the act


-~ELEvISI~NCONTEN-I-                             47

itself? What were the consequences?), which may well have a bearing
on possible deleterious effects (see Heller and Polsky, 1971).

In this connection it should be noted that the National Association of
Broadcasters Television Code, the self-regulatory instrument of the
industry, has definite strictures on these more qualitative aspects of the
presentation of violence. For example, the code stipulates: "Such sub-
jects as violence and sex shall be presented without undue emphasis and
only as required by plot development or character delineation. Crime
should not be presented as attractive or as the solution to human prob-
lems and the inevitable retribution should be made clear." At another
point the code states that "the detailed presentation of brutality or phys-
ical agony by sight or by sound are not permissible." Unfortunately,
Gerbner's study does not indicate the extent to which these industry
guidelines for mitigating possible negative effects of violent content
have actually been achieved in current television programming.

POPULARITY OF VIOLENCE IN THE MEDIA

Violence, of course, has been portrayed in entertainment since the
earliest dramas were sung by traveling musicians. Clark and Blanken-
burg's (1971) data on a variety of media-prime time television drama,
movies, a family magazine, newspaper front pages, and television news
-make it clear that violence appears regularly and frequently in all me-
dia. It has been a major component of American mass media since their
inception.

Because of the crude measures used and the inherent differences be-
tween media. direct comparisons among media as to violent content are
not feasible. However, since people report using television much more
than other media. they are presumably exposed to more fictional vio-
lence on television than in any other medium.

Clark and Blankenburg (1971), using TV Guide synopses from 1953
to 1969 as their source of information, observed some tendency for the
frequency of violence in prime time evening programs to peak approxi-
mately every four years. They found no evidence that such fluctuations
were related either to national crime rates (a point to which we will re-
turn) or to Congressional or other prominent criticism of violence in tel-
evision. They did find evidence that is consistent with the interpretation
that televised violence fluctuates as a function of the efforts of broad-
casters to satisfy public taste and achieve as large an audience as possi-
ble-a .53 correlation between percentage of programs classified as vio-
lent and mean Nielsen ratings for all evening programs and a .49 correla-
tion between the average Nielsen rating of programs classified as violent
in one year and the number of such programs broadcast in the following
year. Thus, the years that are high in violence also tend to be high in


48                           TELEVISION AND GROWING UP

overall ratings, and new season program formats are likely to vary ac-
cording to what was popular with audiences the previous year. The in-
vestigators report that the latest violence "peak" occurred in 1967.
Heavy viewers of televised violence

The remarkable popularity among the adult population of television
drama that includes violence is a social reality that cannot be avoided. In
order to study the audience size and some demographic characteristics
of adult viewers of television violence, Israel and Robinson (1971) ana-
lyzed marketing research data collected by W. R. Simmons and Asso-
ciates. Using data from 1968, 1969, and 1970, and employing a
nationally projectable sample of respondents who kept viewing diaries
for two weeks, Israel and Robinson classified as heavy viewers of "vio-
lent television" those who reported viewing 8.5 hours of programs clas-
sified as violent during the two-week period in 1969-70. (Six hours was
the cutoff point in 1967; in 1968 it was 7.5 hours.) Approximately 12 per-
cent of the males and 11 percent of the females qualified as heavy vio-
lence viewers on this criterion in 1969-70.

These heavy viewers account for only about one-third of the total au-
dience for the programs classified as "violent." These figures, projected
nationally, mean that more than one-tenth of American adults watch
more than four hours a week of television violence. The heavy viewers
of violence are disproportionately clustered among males over 50 years
old and among males with less than a full high school education.

Crime statistics an.d televised violence

Clark and Blankenburg (1971) tested the hypothesis that crime statis-
tics in real life might vary with the frequency of fictional crime and vio-
lence in television content. They obtained crime statistics.from the Fed-
eral Bureau of Investigation, which had "recently adjusted" them for
"greater reliability." The statistics showed, for example, that murder in
the U.S. declined between the 1930s and the early 196Os, when it began
to increase; in 1968, the most recent year for which data were reported,
the murder rate had reached approximately the level of the 1930s.

The investigators found that the percentage of violent programs does
not correlate with Uniform Crime Report data on violence in the U.S.,
on either a direct or a delayed basis.

In other instances, however, media portrayals of antisocial or aggres-
sive behavior appear to be related to similar events in the real world. For
example, Siegel (1969) noted that approximately five years ago, NBC
aired a Rod Serling film called The Doomsday Flight. The film revolved
around a character who had placed a bomb-on an airliner and then re-
peatedly phoned the airline company giving "hints" about the place-
ment of the bomb. Before the broadcast ended, one airline had received
a bomb threat. Within 24 hours, four more threats were reported. By the


TELEVISION CONTENT                             49

end of the following week, during which the previous threats had been
reported by other media, a total of eight bomb threats had been tele-
phoned to airline ofhces- a figure twice that recorded for the entire
month preceding the broadcast.

In May 1971 The Doomsday Flight was rebroadcast in Australia. Sub-
sequent events paralleled the plot of the film: several days after the
broadcast, Qantas Airlines paid approximately $500,000 in ransom to
protect 1 I6 passengers aboard a flight to Hong Kong. I

Bandura (1971) has suggested that the incidence of airline hijackings
may be related to news coverage of such events. He points out that no
incidents of hijacking were reported in the United States before 1961. A
number of Cuban airliners, however, were hijacked from Havana to
Miami during the 1957-60 period; these hijackings were given heavy
media coverage. The first American plane was hijacked to Havana in
1961.

THE COMPLEXITY OF PROGRAMMING DECISIONS

That identifying and responding to general audience preferences is a
major concern to broadcasters in planning programs is amply borne out
by three sets of interviews with network personnel and with producers
and writers of television programs (Baldwin and Lewis, 1971; Cantor,
1971; Gerbner. 197la).

Although many among network personnel express interest in reducing
violence in their programs, they feel constrained by the economic reali-
ties of broadcasting. In order to induce advertisers to finance program-
ming, networks must draw large audiences with demographic character-
istics attractive to advertisers. As both network officials and creators of
programs see it, "action" is among the best, fastest, and easiest ways of
attracting and keeping large audiences, and "action" is considered as
almost synonymous with violence. This reality looms large and is a
source of contention among both the creators of programs and the net-
work officials who oversee and judge the programs.

A multitude of important factors and considerations-dublic opinion,
artistic and creative concerns, economic competition, and many private
psychological proclivities- impinge upon the small army of decision-
makers who decide which programs will be broadcast. We can easily
surmise that, under these circumstances, whatever programs are ulti-
mately screened are not just the products of a rational, conscious proc-
ess. As ideas are thrashed out and as the creative brainstorming confer-
ences occur, judgments are made about "what they will approve up-
stairs." " what the public wants (likes), " "will the advertiser buy it,"
and "will this ruin my artistic reputation." Each of these questions,
however, gives the individual who provides the answer an opportunity


50                          TELEVISION AND GROWlNG UP

to imagine that he knows the answer. Likewise, selective remembering
and forgetting, unconscious self-serving, and just plain personal interest
will bring about differences of opinion and conflicting interests. The de-
cision-making process is complex, and the attempt to accommodate
many viewpoints limits the creative freedom with which any single par-
ticipant can work.
In the studies of television program regulation undertaken for this
program (Baldwin and Lewis, 1971; Cantor, 1971), it is easy to see this
kind of process at work. Persons at all levels of decision-making imple-
ment the conscious and unconscious notions referred to above, in their
efforts to satisfy the many competing value-impositions on their work
product. Though most of the people interviewed in these studies imagine
they know why they do what they do, and think that they respond in ra-
tional ways, quite clearly there is a substantial amount of reaction to
what "they" think and expect. "Their" views, however, may never rise
to the tangible level where they can be accurately checked. We do not
imply that this internal regulatory process is peculiar to the television
industry; it is characteristic of any group's decision-making process. In
light of the underlying psychological processes described above, the
presence of a regulatory code and/or the tendency to imagine the atti-
tudes of "those higher up," may cause such constriction of outlook that
values like "freedom of speech" may be encroached upon.
The theory that television violence is encouraged and perhaps made
inevitable by the competitive economic structure of the American
broadcasting industry is given some support by a set of reports describ-
ing the structure and control of television in three other developed na-
tions: Great Britain, Israel, and Sweden (Halloran and Croll, 1971; Shi-
nar, 1971; Dahlgren, 1971). The television offerings of different nations
are difficult to compare in a meaningful way; these studies, moreover,
are preliminary, and they do not claim to make definitive comparisons.
They do indicate, however, that when rough comparisons are made, the
proportion of violence on American television is greater than that broad-
cast in any of the other three nations.
In the United States, public television-which is free of competitive
restraints-is in its infancy. Its financial resouces (provided by govern-
ment and private foundations) are very modest compared with commer-
cial network budgets. Public television, however, represents a potential
way of changing the balance of television content in directions other
than those dictated by audience size.


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


76                           TELEVISION AND GROWING UP

aggressive behavior in response to televised violence. Second, ascertain
at what ages different reactions occur. Third, check on the moderating
influence of labeling, contextual cues, and other factors under the con-
trol of television producers which may reduce the likelihood that predis-
posed children will react adversely to televised violence. Fourth, further
investigate the possibility that content other than violent content may
increase the likelihood of subsequent aggressiveness, that violent con-
tent may instigate other behavior besides aggressiveness, and the applic-
ability of such findings to preschool children, elementary school chil-
dren, and adolescents. Finally, we must call attention once again to the
gap in longitudinal research on the effects of television programs on chil-
dren. This gap needs to be filled before we can learn something dependa-
ble about the long-term effects of repeated exposure to standard televi-
sion fare on the personality development of the child.


Chapter 7

Television and Adolescent
  Aggressiveness

The origins of human behavior are generally traceable to early child-
hood influences. It is during adolescence, however, that drives and de-
sires are first expressed in a manner and context that approximate adult-
hood. In the earlier years, personality and character are shaped. In ado-
lescence, the results begin to be displayed in a relatively grownup man-
ner, and tendencies become modulated or confirmed.

Adolescence would seem to be both a potentially informative and a
socially important laboratory for studying aggressiveness. When aggres-
sive behavior occurs in adolescence, it is quite likely to have real social
consequences in both the short and the long run. Unfortunately, a num-
ber of factors make such study difficult.

In some respects adolescents are easier to study then other age
groups. They are somewhat easier to reach than adults because they can
be found in groups in schools rather than one by one in homes. Unlike
young children, they can understand and answer questions. When it
comes to studying aggressive behavior, however, there are at least three
very serious difficulties:

(1) Aggressiveness in real life cannot easily be studied directly. The
reasons are partly ethical and partly practical. Real aggression against
real people could hardly be encouraged on behalf of measurement and
analysis, however highly an increase in the understanding of human
behavior may be valued; science is not exempt from the cultural taboo
against inflicting discomfort, pain, or injury. Aggressiveness that occurs
naturally is not a convenient substitute. On the one hand, its observation
within a large and varied population would be prohibitively expensive
and time-consuming; on the other, it would often be impossible for an

77


78                          TELEVISION AND GROWING UP

observer, despite an allegiance to science, to remain a bystander, and
intervention would destroy the validity of measurement.

(2) The array of possible inf7uences and concomitants is vast. A few
examples will suggest how long and varied is the list: family, friends,
physical prowess, intellectual ability, socioeconomic status, intelli-
gence. academic achievement, ethnicity, occupational aspirations and
expectations, individual values and attitudes toward aggressiveness, and
the various media. Television, the specific focus of our inquiry, is only
one. The situation is made more complicated by the fact that the factors
on such a list will have varying kinds of relationships, both with one an-
other and with one or both of the variables with which we are primarily
concerned-television violence and aggression. Thus "academic
achievement" might plausibly be found. on inquiry. to be related to view-
ing habits and attitudes toward aggression, and so might "socioeconom- ,
ic status." But "academic achievement" and "socioeconomic status"
might equally as plausibly be related to each other. and related in such
ways that differing combinations of the two might be differently related
to viewing television violence and to aggression. The potential complex-
ities become progressively greater in reference to such generic and
complex factors as "family," "friends," and "individual values and at-
titudes toward aggressiveness."

(3) The role of earlier infioences, which may be crucial, is difficult to
assess. Such earlier influences not only lengthen the list of pertinent fac-
tors, but increase the problems of taking them into account. Records
may not exist or may be inaccessible; memory is faulty; what once may
have been influential may no longer be observable or may no longer have
the same effects.

The research on which we will draw has attempted to deal with many
of these problems. It has attempted to deal with aggression in real life
and to examine the influence of some of the pertinent factors, both cur-
rent and past, which have been cited. But the research has addressed
these problems on a very limited basis and to only a limited extent. Giv-
en the complexity of the research task and the brief duration of the pre-
sent program, such limitations are not only understandable but inevita-
ble. For these reasons, the conclusions which can be drawn from the
research are necessarily tentative, and less definitive than might be
hoped. Here again. as in many similar situations, continued research is
clearly desirable, and its directions and focuses are to a considerable
extent suggested by what has been accomplished to date.

THE RESEARCH SOURCES

The research findings discussed in this chapter are drawn in the main
from a set of reports bearing on studies involving, among them, more
than 7,500 young people. The vast majority of these young people,


ADOLESCENT AGGRESSIVENESS                       79
about 6,900, were adolescents, ranging in age from 12 to 19 or ranging in
school placement from the first year of junior high school to the year fol-
lowing graduation from senior high school. The remainder were nine to
I1 years old and in the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades. The number of
children involved in individual studies ranged from 80 to 2,260.

The several studies dealt with in this chapter all report answers by
adolescents to questions put to them in surveys. In that respect this
chapter differs from the preceding one. That chapter, which dealt largely
with the behavior of preadolescent children, was based almost entirely
on experimental results. Not surprisingly, young children who do not
answer questions fluently, but who perform tasks that adults assign
them, have been studied in the laboratory, while adolescents in school
have been preferred subjects for researchers with questionnaires. This
incidental consideration of convenience has unfortunately meant that in
some respects it is difficult to compare findings about adolescents with
findings about younger children. That, however, is the present state of
affairs.

The several surveys that we are about to review differ considerably in
the nature and size of the samples, the methods employed, and the spe-
cific objectives pursued. Complete descriptions of these aspects of each
study are perhaps rendered unnecessary by the publication, concurrent
with this report, of the papers themselves. Summary descriptions of the
various studies are in Appendix B to this report. Such additional details
as are necessary to the discussion of findings will be presented at appro-
priate points throughout the text. The reports here reviewed are: Chaf-
fee and McLeod (1971a, 1971b); Dominick and Greenberg (1971); Fried-
man and Johnson (1971); Lefkowitz et al. (1971); McIntyre and Teevan
(1971); McLeod et al. (1971a, 1971b); and Robinson and Bachman
(1971).

THE MEASURES OF TELEVISION BEHAVIOR AND OF
           AGGRESSION

One or more measures of television behavior and one or more meas-
ures of aggression were used in every study. The measures varied con-
siderably.

Measures of television behavior

Behavior in regard to television was variously measured by time spent
viewing, by preference for violent programs, and by amount of viewing
of violent programs. The measures in each of these three categories
were almost all self-reports, but the particular questions asked differed
from study to study.


80                        TELEVISION ANDGROWING Up

Time* spent viewing was ascertained by self-reported estimates of hours viewed on an

"average day" (Robinson and Bachman. 1971: McIntyre and Teevan. 1971); from various-
ly combining self-reports, or self-reports and mother's reports. ot hours viewed on an av-
erage day. on the preceding day. and on the day before that (McLeod et al.. 1971a and
1971b: and Friedman and Johnson. 1971): and by combining self-reports of hours viewed
yesterday and hours viewed the previous eveningfchaffee and McLeod. 1971). Lefkowitz
et al. (1971) summed self-reports by their Grade 8 and Grade 13 respondents of hours
viewed "Saturday and Sunday" and "the rest of the week." and they obtained informa-
tion from mothers in regard to their Grade 3 respondents.

Preference for violent programs was. except in one instance. ascertained by asking re-
spondents to name either three or four favorite programs and by assigning a violence score
IO tnese programs on the basis of ratings by various types ot judges. The judgments of a
"sample of newspaper and magazine critics" as to whether the program contained "vio-
lent content" (reported by Greenberg and Gordon. 197lb) were used for this purpose by
McIntyre and Teevan. by Robinson and Bachman. by Friedman and Johnson. and by
Chaffee and McLeod tl971b). who also employed ratings by a sample of Minneapolis high
school students. Lefkowitz et al. classified the favorite programs of their Grade 8 respond-
ents on the basis of ratings made four years later by industry censors. and they classified
the favorites of their Grade I3 respondents on the basis of rattngs by two undergraduate
students. which ratings correlated at .94 with those of the Greenberg and Gordon scale.

Considerable variety existed in reference to the possible range of numerical scores in
scales employed by the several investigators. and in reference to classification of programs
not included in the Greenberg and Gordon listing. Football. for example, was omitted by
Greenberg and Gordon. classified as highly violent by Robinson and Bachman. and classi-
fied as nonviolent by Lefkowitz et al. Another source of variation apparently exists but
cannot be fully described: Robinson and Bachman report that 44 percent of their all-male
sample could not name three favorite programs, and they present this group separately in
their tables and analyses: the other investigators do not always report the proportion who
could not name three (or four) favorites and do not differentiate such respondents from the
others in their tables and analyses.

The Lefkowitz Grade 3 program preference measure differed from all others in that it
was not obtained from the children (aged eight) but from their mothers and fathers, who
were asked to name the three favorite television and radio programs of their children. Pro-
grams cited by mothers were classified as violent or nonviolent by two coders on the pro-
ject staff who worked independently and agreed in 94 percent of the cases. The fathers'
reports were apparently not used. but the reason for this is not stated.

The amount of viewing of television violence was variously ascertained by self-reports
of "kinds of TV programs" (i.e.. program types) viewed at least "pretty often." with
"westerns" and "spy-adventure shows" considered to be violent (Chaffee and McLeod.
197la): by self-reported viewing of 20 specific programs classified as violent in the Green-
berg and Gordon list. which were embedded in a list of 28 programs (Dominick and Green-
berg): by the number of programs Greenberg and Gordon classified as violent which were
among those which respondents selected from a list of evening programs and said they had
watched five times in the preceding five weeks (Friedman and Johnson); and by a more
complex procedure embracing self-reported frequency of viewing each of 65 listed prime
time programs, each of which was assigned a violence score based on the Greenberg and
Gordon classification. combined with ratings by a sample of Minneapolis high school stu-
dents (McLeod et al.. 1971a and 197lb).

The three types of measures of television behavior (time spent view-
ing, preference for violent programs, and amount of violence viewing)
would seem to have some prima facie relationship one to another. Ado-
lescents who view television more heavily would seem likely, overall, to
view more violent programs than those who view television less often.
Similarly, those who are high in preference for violent programs would

*Throughout this chapter, some material appears in this indented and reduced-size for-
mat. Such material documents and explains statements in normal type.


ADOLESCENT AGGRESSIVENESS                        81
seem likely to view more of them than those whose preference for such
material is low.

Such limited data as are available. however, suggest that the three
measures are not in fact closely related. In the one study in which perti-
nent and precise data were supplied on the same sample (Chaffee and
McLeod. 1971b), preference for violent programs and violence viewing
were found to be correlated to only a modest degree (r = .25). as were
also violence viewing and total viewing (r = .29). Further, as will be
shown below, when inquiry is made into the relationship (if any) be-
tween each of these three measures and aggressive tendencies, the re-
sults for each of the three measures differ quite markedly from the re-
sults for each of the others.

These findings suggest that the three measures do not in fact bear to
any great degree upon the same behavior and are not equivalent meas-
ures for characterizing exposure to television violence. Although defin-
itive tests are not available in the data, it would seem under the cir-
cumstances reasonable to suppose that, of the three measures, "amount
of violence viewing" is the best measure of actual exposure to television
violence. Future researchers would be able to clarify these questions
and suppositions by using all three measures on the same samples and
exploring the interrelationships among them.

Measures of aggression

The measures of aggression used in the several studies (and indeed in
several of the individual studies) are numerous and extremely varied.
Both the number and the variety are to be expected, since there is no
simple or uniform definition of "aggression," and the various research-
ers understandably sought to tap several of its different aspects. In ac-
cord with scientific tradition, each study defined the word. explicitly or
implicitly, in terms of the specific measures used in the particular study.
But responsible interpretation of the pool of findings from the group of
studies requires attention to the considerable variety of phenomena to
which the same label has been applied.

In each of the studies, some form of aggression score (or scores) was
determined for each respondent on the basis of self-reports and/or oth-
ers' reports of whether or to what degree the subject engaged in speci-
lied behaviors or asserted specific attitudes or beliefs. A full description
of the numerous measures and indices will be found in the texts and
appendices of the papers themselves. It will perhaps suffice here to indi-
cate, with appropriate examples, some of the various dimensions along
which the measures differ, and the kind of range involved in each of
these dimensions. Two notes of caution and explanation about the list
which follows are in order. First, the cited examples have been selected
to illustrate the variety and do not purport to indicate the relative weight


82                         TELEVISION AND GROWING UP
given to different measures in the pool of studies or in any single study.
Second, since the cited dimensions are conceptually independent of one
another, any item can be characterized in terms of its position on each of
the dimensions; for this reason, any of the examples could appear under
more than one dimension.

1. Dimension: Degree of reprehensibility. The behaviors and be-
liefs spread along a range including:
a) some which are consensually regarded as socially reprehensi-
  ble, or even heinous ("Set fire to someone else's property on
  purpose");

b) some which by comparison seem trivial (". . .gives dirty
  looks or makes unfriendly gestures to other children");
c) some which manifest widely held values and seem likely to be
  applauded by a considerable portion of society (Approves of
  "a man punching an adult male stranger who was beating up a
  woman").
2. Dimension: Actuality of behavior. The items spread along a

range including:

a) behavior which has actually been performed ("Hurt someone
on purpose to get back for something they have done to YOU");
b) projected behavior in hypothetical situations ("What would
you do. . .if somebody picks a fight with you on the way
back from school? Fight? Back out of it? Try to discuss the
problem?");

c) subscription to statements expressing aggressive attitudes
(Disagrees with statement "I can't think of any good reason
for hitting anyone");

d) subscription to statements which do not in themselves ex-
  press any aggression at all, but are presumably correlates of
  aggression (Does not agree that "dealings with policemen and
  government officials are usually pleasant").
3. Dimension:  Source of report. The measures include:
a) self-reports (Disagrees with statement "I would rather give in
  than argue about something");

b) peer reports ("Who makes up stories and lies to get other stu-
dents in trouble?");

c) reports by others who are not peers ("When [your child] was
  younger, how often did he show aggressive behavior toward
  other children?").
4. Dimension:  Temporal reference. The items variously refer to:
a) behavior at an earlier age ("When I was younger I often hung
  around with the wrong kinds of kids");
b) behavior in the recent past (Has within the last year "dam-
  aged school property on purpose");


ADOLESCENT AGGRESSIVENESS                       83
  c) current or characteristic behavior ("If somebody hits me first,
    I let him have it").
Such a variety of measures of aggression can hardly be expected to

interrelate at any consistently high level. The fact that almost all such
correlation coefficients reported are positive suggests the existence of
some general factor running through the indices; the fact that many of
the correlation coefficients are not high suggests that differences among
the findings of the several studies may well in part be a product of their
using different measures. It therefore becomes the more pertinent to
inquire into what measures were involved in relationships found to be
weak and, more important, what measures were involved in the observ-
ably stronger relationships.

FINDINGS

We turn now to a consideration of the findings reported in the papers
with which we are here primarily concerned. The basic question, and
first to be considered, is what the papers report concerning the relation-
ship between exposure to television violence and aggressive tendencies.
The appropriate findings are here organized in terms of the several broad
measures of exposure: time spent viewing, preference for violent pro-
grams, and amount of violence viewing.

Relationship between time spent viewing and
aggression

Two surveys performed more than a decade ago found no relationship between televi-
sion viewing as a whole and tendencies to aggression. In one of these (Himmelweit, Op-
penheim. and Vince, 1958). performed when television was not yet in all British homes, no
differences in aggression were noted between children who viewed television and matched
controls who did not. Essentially if not precisely similar conclusions were reported by
Schramm. Lyle, and Parker (1961) in a study of American and Canadian children.
Two of the current studies inquired into the relationship between time spent viewing and
aggression. Lefkowitz et al. report. without citing supporting data, that among their Grade
I3 respondents, total vtewing time was not related to peer reports of aggression. McLeod
et al. (1971a), on the other hand, found modest but significant correlations, ranging from
.l7 to .23. between total viewing time and both self- and others' reports of aggression in
both their Maryland and Wisconsin samples.

The data on this topic are limited and permit no very meaningful con-
clusion. As far as they go, they may be said to suggest that time spent
viewing is at most tenuously related to aggressive tendencies.

Relationship between preference for violent
programs and aggression

The relationship between preference for violent programs and aggression was a topic of
inquiry in several studies. McIntyre and Teevan found trivial correlations, ranging from
.02 to .06 (of which only the highest was statistically significant), between the violence lev-
el of their respondents' favorite programs and five different types of "deviance." Subse-
quent measurements involving the average violence level of the respondents' four favorite


84                          TELEVISION AND GROWING UP
programs produced statistically significant but still small correlations. ranging from .07 to
.16 and in relation to atI bve measures of deviance. The two highest of these coefficients,
.I1 and .16, occurred in relation to self-reported "aggressive deviance" and "serious devi-
ante, " which respectively focused on antisocial physical aggression (fighting with peers)
and on getting into trouble with the police. (The three other scales bore on "petty delin-
quency, " "fighting with parents," and "political deviance.")
Chaffee and McLeod (1971b) observed a trivial correlation (r = .08) between violence

level of favorite programs and aggressive tendencies with a sample of 473 junior and sen-
ior high school students in Maryland.

Robinson and Bachman, working with data bearing on over 1,500 19-year-old boys, re-
port a monotonic but weak relationship between preference for violent programs (three or
four favorites) and self-reports of aggressive interpersonal behavior. The relationship
reaches statistical significance, however, only when those boys whose favorite programs
include "some," "much," and a "great deal" of violence are combined and compared
with those boys whose favorite programs include "almost none." A slight relationship was
also observed betwee.n violence level of three or four favorite programs and self-reports of
specific delinquent acts. Boys who most favored such programs were more likely than
boys who did not to get in trouble with the police or to engage in car theft. They were not
more likely to engage in arson, minor theft, or various sorts of petty delinquency.

Friedman and Johnson found that a group of 39 junior high school students judged to be
high in aggressiveness indicated a somewhat greater preference for violent programs than
did 41 of their peers who had been judged to be low in aggression.

Lefkowitz et al. inquired into the relationship between preference for violent programs
and aggression at three different points across a ten-year age span in the lives of their re-
spondents. The favorite program measure at Grade 3 was obtained from mothers rather
than from the children and correlated, for boys, at a level of .21 with peer reports ot ag-
gressive tendency. No relationship was observed for girls. The relationships for the boys
at Grades 8 and 13 were essentially null (or trivially negative, viz., - .lO and - .05), as were
those for girls. A positive correlation of .31 was, however, observed between boys' prefer-
ence for violent programs at Grade 3 (as reported by mothers) and peer-rated aggression at
Grade 13.

Several studies investigated the relationship between adolescent pref-
erence for violent programs and aggressive tendencies. The relation-
ships observed were essentially null, or positive but weak. An exception
was the correlation coefficient of .31 observed by Lefkowitz et al. be-
tween mothers' reports of boys' favorite programs at Grade 3 and peer-
rated aggression ten years later. Aside from that result, which will be
further discussed below, the findings suggest a weak and perhaps ten-
uous relationship between some kinds of aggressiveness and preference
for violent programs.

One finding from McIntyre and Teevan-that a measure based on four
favorite programs consistently produced slightly higher relationships
than a measure based on one favorite program-suggests that the
amount of exposure to violent programs might prove a more predictive
variable. The findings of the studies to be discussed immediately below
are in fact based on such a measure.

Relationship between viewing of violence and
aggression

The relationship between viewing of violence and aggressive tenden-
cies was investigated in two of the current studies.


ADOLESCENT AGGRESSIVENESS                       85
Dominick and Greenberg found that boys who were more highly ex-
posed to violence were more likely than those not highly exposed to hold
some attitudes favorable to aggression, and no more likely to hold other
presumably related attitudes. Specifically, the mean scores of the highly
exposed boys were slightly but significantly higher than those of the
lower exposed boys on scales entitled "Willingness to Use Violence"
and "Perceived Effectiveness of Violence"; no significant differences in
means occurred on scales entitled "Approval of Aggression" and "Use
of Violence in Conflict Situations." This is to say that the highly ex-
posed boys were somewhat more likely to agree with such statements
as, "Anybody who says bad things about me is looking for a fight" (will-
ingness to use violence) or "Sometimes a fight is the easiest way to get
what you want" (perceived effectiveness of violence). They were not
more likely than others to agree with such statements as "I see nothing
wrong in a fight between two teenage boys" (approval of violence) nor
to suggest the use of violence in reply to open-end questions such as,
"Pretend somebody you knew took something from you and broke it on
purpose. What would you do ?" (use of violence in conflict situations).
No overall score of expressed attitude was calculated, but the mix of
positive and random results would produce some positive relationship
between violence viewing and such an overall score. Among girls stud-
ied by Dominick and Greenberg, the mean scores of those who were
more highly exposed to television violence were slightly but significantly
higher than the mean scores of the less exposed on all of the scales ex-
cept "Approval of Aggression."
McLeod et al. (1971a) inquired into the relationship between viewing
of violence and various scales of aggressive behavior, including "over-
all" scores which combined several selected scales. They report statisti-
cally significant correlations of .30 and .32 between violence viewing
and overall self-report aggression scores for mixed-sex samples of Mar-
yland and Wisconsin high school students. When these samples are bro-
ken down by sex and grade level (junior vs. senior high), the relation-
ships remain positive. although half lose significance as the sample sizes
drop. The relationship was again found to be at least as strong, if not
perhaps stronger, for girls than for boys, and is at its lowest among
junior high school boys.
In their study of the Wisconsin sample, McLeod et al. (1971b) em-
ployed additional measures of both aggression and violence viewing.
Aggression ratings were obtained from peers and nonpeer others, and a
statistically significant but modest correlation coefficient of .17 was ob-
served in reference to an overall sum of "other" reports of aggression.
The investigators also inquired into their Wisconsin respondents' view-
ing of television programs that had been on the air "three or four years
ago." This measure of "past violence viewing" correlated as well as did
current violence viewing with both current overall self-report aggression
scores and current overall other-report aggression scores.


86                          TELEVISION AND GROWING UP
In sum. the two studies which inquired into the relationship between

violence viewing and aggression reported several weak relationships,
plus one relationship which stood at or about the .30 level in reference to
two samples and regardless of whether past or current violence viewing
was employed as the exposure measure.

Summary

All but one of the studies with which we are here primarily concerned
inquired into the relationship between exposure to television violence
and aggressive tendencies. Some studies employed total viewing time as
an index of exposure: some employed preference for violent programs;
and some employed amount of violence viewing. Most of the relation-
ships observed were positive, but most were also of low magnitude, at-
taining levels ranging from null relationships to .21. A few of the ob-
served relationships, however, reached levels at or just above -30.
These were the relationships between violence viewing and overall self-
report aggression scores reported by McLeod et al. t.30 and .32), and the
correlation of .31 reported by Lefkowitz et al. between mothers' state-
ments of boys' favorite programs at Grade 3 and peer-rated aggression
of the boys ten years later.

On the basis of these findings, and taking into account their variety
and their inconsistencies, we can tentatively conclude that there is a
modest relationship between exposure to television violence and aggres-
sive behavior or tendencies, as the latter are defined in the studies at
hand. We turn, therefore, to consideration of what this relationship sig-
nifies. What is meant by correlation at the .30 level? And finally, since
correlation is not in itself a demonstration of causal relationship, what
can be deduced from these data regarding causation?

THE INTERPRETATION OF CORRELATION
        COEFFICIENTS

Since a large part of the data presented in the studies reviewed here
consists of correlation coefficients, it seems appropriate to discuss the
nature, the meaning, and the limitations of these measures. Such a dis-
cussion, which must of necessity be relatively technical, appears in
Appendix E. A summary of that discussion follows.

The correlation coefficient is basically an indicator of the strength of
the tendency of two variables to vary concomitantly. However, it is a
summary statistic and as such may be the outcome of a number of dif-
ferent patterns of relationships among the two variables concerned. For
example, a correlation coefficient in the middle range, like the .30
relationships that appear in two of the studies, might occur if quite a


ADOLESCENT AGGRESSIVENESS                       87
small number of individuals were high in both violence viewing and ag-
gression and another small number were low in both violence viewing
and aggression, even though there was no relationship between the two
variables for the great majority of individuals.

Whatever may be the data configurations that led to the reported cor-
relation coefficients between exposure to television violence and aggres-
sive tendencies, there are other problems in the interpretation of their
significance. First, there is the possibility that with so many correlation
coefficients reported, a few might have turned out to be significant by
chance alone. However, the fact that most of the other values observed,
though often trivially small, were generally in the positive direction
lends some support to the few significant correlations that were found.
Only replication, however, will indicate whether the higher coefficients
are a result of special characteristics of the measures in the studies in-
volved or are simply chance findings. Second, the observed relation-
ships may be either overestimates or underestimates of the "true" rela-
tionship; these possibilities derive from technical considerations bearing
on what may be called "the inherent statistical unreliability" of the
measures involved.

"Variance accountability. " A correlation coefficient is often said to
"account for" a certain percentage of the "variance." The percentage
is the square of the correlation coefficient. Thus, correlation coefficients
of .30 account for about ten percent of the variance. This technical
statement defies brief explanation. Two considerations, however, must
be kept in mind. First, the statement indicates that the relationship be-
tween violence viewing and aggression, as so far observed, is relatively
modest. Second, the statement does not mean that violence viewing
causes ten percent of the aggression, nor even that the relationship bears
on ten percent of the aggression.

Correlation and Causation

It is an axiom of science that correlation does not demonstrate causa-
tion. Covariation of two variables may occur for a great variety of cau-
sal and noncausal reasons, or for no discernible reason at all. Correla-
tion is a necessary but not sufficient condition for causal inference. In
this sense correlation techniques have great strength as a screening de-
vice: if the relationship between variables is demonstrably trivial, then
there is little justification for further pursuit of causal explanations.

CAUSE-EFFECT INFERENCES

The data provided by the studies under review in this chapter are ex-
clusively correlational, and correlational data are inadequate in them-
selves for causal inference. Even correlations between two variables,


88                        TELEVISION AND GROWING UP

one of which occurs before the other, are not necessarily conclusive
evidence of causation.

Philosophically, the concept of causation implies that change in the
value of a precedent variable will systematically result in change in the
value of a consequent variable. Although such causation can never be
demonstrated beyond the shadow of a doubt, scientists tend to recog-
nize three requirements as necessary conditions for causal inference:
  a. Association (the variables must be shown to covary);
b. Time order (change in the specified cause must occur prior to
   change in the specified effect);

c. Reasonable explanation or functional relationship in a nonmath-
ematical sense.

Correlation coefficients can satisfy the first of these requirements.
Correlation coefficients between changes from earlier to later measure-
ments also meet the second test. In regard to the third requirement, the
judgment of the reasonableness of a theoretical explanation of an ob-
served relationship can never be definitive. Where experimental con-
trols cannot be applied, conformity with existing theory and a recourse
to "common sense" are frequently the best tests available for judgment
of the reasonableness of an assertion of causation.

If correlation analysis fails to support association, however, or if it
provides negative evidence on the issue of time order, the proposition
may be abandoned. Otherwise, the possibility of causality remains via-
ble, and its nature remains a question to be explored.

Correlational designs and experimental designs

The plausibility of causal hypotheses can best be investigated by ex-
periments because the controlled conditions make unambiguous conclu-
sions possible about association and time order, and the dynamics of the
hypothesized relationship are made explicit in advance.

Some comment on the distinction between controlled experiments
and correlational studies is necessary. As modes of scientific investiga-
tion, the two differ in an important way.

In experimental studies, like those described in the preceding chapter,
the effect of a single stimulus can be isolated. Subjects can be randomly
assigned to a control condition where the stimulus is absent and to one
or more experimental conditions in which a stimulus of interest is pre-
sent. Thus, the impact of other stimuli, preconditions, and associated
variables is equated among conditions, and a manipulated stimulus can
be isolated as to effects in which other things may be taken as equal.

In a correlational study, exposure to the stimulus of interest is the re-
sult of a self-selection process. Other things cannot be assumed equal,
and the attribution of effects is difficult and sometimes impossible. In
short, the stimulus of interest is confounded with a large number of oth-
er stimuli, with preexisting conditions, and with associated variables. AS


ADOLESCENT AGGRESSIVENESS                        89
a result, there is a risk that the stimulus of interest may be credited with
the entire impact that should partly or wholly be credited to other com-
ponents of the constellation of which it is a part.

Despite the advantages of laboratory experiments in achieving con-
trol, they have some limitations. The circumstances in which they are
conducted and control obtained, the ways in which exposure to some
special experience is manipulated, and the ways and constrained time
periods in which behavior is measured open them to criticism in regard
to generalizability. Such criticism is less applicable to experiments per-
formed in the field rather than in the laboratory, but under field cir-
cumstances the degree of control and precision is almost certain to be
decreased. Nonexperimental studies such as those we are reviewing in
this chapter, despite their inconclusiveness, are crucial to an under-
standing of relationships as they occur in real life. In this sense, they
provide further real-life tests of experimental findings.

Nonexperimental studies have definite strengths. They do measure
things as they actually occur-in all their variety, profusion, and com-
plexity. They can falsify the applicability of hypotheses to real life; for
example, if violence viewing and aggressiveness proved not to be asso-
ciated, concern over causal links in either direction could be abandoned.
They can supply suggestive hypotheses for experimental test. They also
provide, when the population involved is diverse, considerable power
for generalization.

The challenge

The comm:ttee is left with a challenge. It would be easy and scientifi-
cally justifiable to abandon the search for real-world causal relationships
with the declaration. "Not demonstrable." The more difficult and ven-
turesome alternative course is to search for patterns in the data and to
attempt to evaluate-to the extent that it is possible-the merits of cau-
sal interpretations. In this spirit of speculation, the following alternative
interpretations are offered. No pretense is made, of course, that these
interpretations are in any way exhaustive of the possibilities.

Interpretation One: For some children, aggressive tendencies, what-
ever their origin, cause changes in television viewing behavior, so that
those who show high aggressive tendencies will, as a result, subsequent-
ly watch or prefer more violent television programs, and those who
show low aggressive tendencies will, as a result, subsequently watch or
prefer fewer violent television programs.

Interpretation Two: For some children, the amount of violence view-
ing in television entertainment, however motivated, will lead to changes
in aggressive tendencies, so that those with relatively high levels of vio-
lence viewing will, as a result, subsequently show an increase in aggres-
sive tendencies.


90                          TELEVISION AND GROWING UP

Interpretation Three: For some children, a third variable or set of var-

iables can account for or elucidate the observed correlational relation-
ship. In other words, the level of violence viewing and the level of ag-
gressive tendencies and the relationship between the two may be affect-
ed by one or more explanatory variables. The various mechanisms by
which this interpretation might operate will be discussed below.

First, however, it must be emphasized that these interpretations are
not necessarily competitive. The size of the correlation coefficients and
the nature of the available bivariate distributions would indicate that the
relationship might be attributable to the behavior of a relatively small
group of persons, and no one of the interpretations need account for the
behavior of all members of this small group. It is quite conceivable that
each interpretation is true for some persons; we need not advance a uni-
versally applicable theory. By the same token, it is quite conceivable
that one of the interpretations would explain the behavior of some per-
son or group of persons at one time and that another of the interpreta-
tions would explain the behavior of the Same person or group at some
other time.

The statements of the first and second interpretations are deceptively
simple. The incomplete character of these statements is attributable to
the phrases "whatever their origin" (referring to aggressive tendencies)
and "however motivated" (referring to the level of violence viewing).
These phrases seem to imply that one enters the explanatory arena at a
fixed instant in time, ignoring the preceding dynamics and measuring
and interpreting from that time on. But suppose, in the case of Interpre-
tation One, that the aggressive tendencies observed were attributable to
some previous exposure to mass media portrayal of violence; then a
shift in time perspective would turn Interpretation One into Interpreta-
tion Two. Or suppose that the aggressive tendencies were (as is quite
likely) not innate but somehow produced by a combination of consitu-
tional-environmental-social factors; then Interpretation One would de-
volve into Interpretation Three. The danger, of course, is that the search
for reasonable causal interpretation will devolve into a search for first
causes and that the problem will become that of the chicken and the egg.

Types of "third variables"

The introduction of a third variable requires some elaboration of the
forms it may take and the mechanisms by which it can operate. Simply
stated, the introduction of a third variable into the analysis of the rela-
tionship between two variables may explain the relationship between the
two variables, or it may explain the level of the two variables, or it may
explain both.

Such elucidation of the observed relationship may occur in one of several ways. Figure 1
indicates, in a stylized way, how a third variable can break the data into two groups in each
of three ways.


ADOLESCENT AGGRESSIVENESS                        91

I. The third variable (Figure I, Case I) may pinpoint subgroups in which the relation-

ship is particularly applicable and those in which it is inapplicable or less applicable; i.e., it
explains the observed relationship, but may or may not be related to the observed levels of
the original variables.

2. It may elucidate the relationship through the discovery of a common origin (Case II);
i.e., it explains the level or range of the two original variables, but may or may not be relat-
ed to the observed relationship between them.

3. In a very special case (Case III). the third variable may account for both the level of
the two original variables and the relationship between them, in such a way as to demon-
strate that the original observed relationship was spurious or potentially misleading.

Some hypothetical examples may help to explain. Consider first the simple interactive
case: a positive correlation hae been observed between violence viewing and aggressive
tendencies. It is not reasonable to expect that this relationship is equally strong in all ele-
ments of the population. Certainly, such factors as sex, age, and socioeconomic status are
likely to affect the relationship (if not also the level) of the two phenomena. The third vari-
able. then. serves to split the population into two (or more) groups, and the finding is that
the observed relationship is strong in one of the groups and weak, nonexistent, or even
negative in the other group. An example of this phenomenon is found in Lefkowitz et al.
(1971). in which the relationship was found only for boys. Much of this investigation of
interactive third variables has been done by the authors of the studies we have reviewed.
In the search for such interactive variables, one may find such variables correlated or un-
correlated with either or both of the original variables: in other words, it is quite possible
that the two groups defined by the third variable may have the same range of levels and
variability.

Consider next the kind of third variable that explains an observed relationship in terms
of a common origin. This implies either that the third variable is precedent to the other two

Figure 1: How `third variables' operate


92                             TELEVISION ANDGROWING UP

in time or that it provides an explanatory concept at a higher order of generality. This is the
kind of explanation that suggests itself when the two original variables are symptoms of
the same disease. The implication is that the two original variables are related because
they have a common origin. Thus, frequency of sneezing and frequency of coughing are
positively correlated. If the population is then divided according to those who have no
colds, those who have mild colds, and those who have severe colds, we would discover
that the level of the two original variables differed markedly in the three groups tin other
words, that the third variable is highly correlated with the other two). The relationship
between the two original variables in each of the three third-variable groups is not at stake
here. In each of the three groups. the relationship between the two original variables might
be identical to the overall relationship. or it might be quite different (Figure 1. Cases 11,111,
and IV). The fact that the third variable seems to control the level of the two original varia-
bles is sufficient to produce the original observed relationship. In the present area of inter-
est, the search for such third variables might well concentrate on preexisting psychological
states such as high aggressiveness, environmental conditions which promote aggressive-
ness, home atmosphere, and similar variables that might give rise to a characteristic level
of hostility at which the subject operates and might indeed account for the level of the two
"symptoms" observed. Unfortunately, the search is hampered by the fact that so little has
been done to investigate the early childhood environment.

In some cases of "common origin" explanation, it may be discovered that the third vari-
able not only controls the level of the two original variables but, indeed, controls the rela-
tionship; i.e., the third variable defines groups which differ from one another in mean level
of the original two variables. In addition, within each of these defined groups, the original
observed relationship disappears. As a hypothetical case. consider the relationship be-
tween presence of acne and interest in the opposite sex among young people. Chances are
that the original relationship would be positive. Then. suppose that the group were divided
into those before and after the onset of puberty. In each of these two third-variable
groups, it would be quite possible to observe a null relationship between the two variables.
The term "spurious" has sometimes been used to describe relationships which disappear
when a third variable produces groups in which the original relationship disappears. Dis-
covery of such third variables is a by-product and not necessarily the primary focus of the
search for common origins.

THE FINDINGS CONSIDERED IN THE LIGHT OF THE
      POSSIBLE INTERPRETATIONS

We turn now to consideration of the research findings in the light of
the various interpretations cited above; but before we actually do so, a
few words of review seem in order.

We have noted that the observed correlations between violence view-
ing and aggressive tendencies might be manifestations of one or more of
three different processes, viz. (and stated somewhat summarily),
-that aggressive tendencies lead to violence viewing;
-that violence viewing leads to aggressive tendencies;
-that both aggressive tendencies and violence viewing, as well as
  the relationship between them, are products of some third varia-
   ble or set of variables.

Two other points which have already been made also merit brief re-,
statement. First, we have noted that the demonstration of one of the
three processes would not preclude the occurrence of the others; rather,
all three could be operative among different persons, or even in the same
persons at different times. Second, and perhaps most important, we


ADOLESCENT AGGRESSIVENESS                        93

have noted that the correlational data available from the several reports
reviewed in this chapter are by their nature inadequate to demonstrate
causality. Under these circumstances, we have said, the most that we
can do is search for and evaluate such specific data, or such patterns in
the data, as appear to be consonant with or supportive of one or another
of the interpretations, in the full knowledge that this exercise will pro-
vide no conclusive proof that any one of the three processes is actually in
operation. We begin with data which appear to support the interpreta-
tion that violence viewing leads to aggressive tendencies.

Evidence for the interpretation that violence
viewing causes aggression

Findings supportive of this interpretation are reported by Lefkowitz
et al. (1971) and by McLeod et al. (1971b). Two findings are consonant
with the occurrence of the process, and two others identify mechanisms
by which the process might plausibly occur.

Lefkowitz et al. report a correlation of .31 between a measure of ex-
posure to television violence among Grade 3 boys and peer ratings of
aggression among the same boys ten years later. This finding, in and of
itself, is supportive of the interpretation that relatively high early expo-
sure to television violence produces, in some boys, aggressive tenden-
cies which are manifested in behavior years later. However, other find-
ings of the same study, together with certain unresolved problems re-
garding the measures employed, leave the dynamic not nearly as clear as
the .31 correlation coefficient suggests, and are also supportive of an in-
terpretation which would ascribe a considerable causal role to early
(Grade 3 or earlier) aggressive tendencies, however these may have
been engendered.

Lefkowitz et al. collected data on the violence level of favorite television programs fhere-
after "TVL") and aggression from rural New York stare residents in the third grade.
again in the eighth grade. and again in the "thirteenth" grade (one year after graduation
from high school). Favorite programs were reported by mothers when the children were in
Grade 3 and by the subjects themselves in Grades 8 and 13. The principal measure of ag-
gression was a peer rating. containing such questions as. "Who starts a fight over no-
thing?"

Lefkowitz et al. found that for boys in Grade 3 there was a modest correlation (r = .?I)
between TVL and aggressive tendencies. No such relationship was found for the same
boys at Grades 8 and 13 (r's = -_ IO and -.OS1 nor for girls at any time. However. among
boys. the "time-lagged correlation" between TVL at Grade 3 and aggression at Grade I3
was .31.
Several questions exist about the data which enter into this finding. The validity of
mothers' reports of children's favorite programs at Grade 3 is uncertain. and such reports
are in any case clearly not comparable with the self-reports obtained in later years. Per-
haps more important. the peer-rating instruments used ar Grade 3 and Grade 8 were essen-
tially identical. but the instrument used at Grade 13 was phrased in the past tense (e.g..
"Who started fights over nothing?" " Who used to say mean things?"). and the temporal
reference of the replies is thus ambiguous: the Grade 13 youth may have been referring to
the behavior of their prior classmates at different times across the ten-year span.


94                           TELEVISION AND GROWING UP

Data obtained from the boys at Grade 8 also complicate the process, although only a rel-

atively small group was available at the time. As will be noted in Figure 2. TVL at Grade 3
correlated with aggression ratings at Grade 8 more weakly than the two had correlated at
Grade 3 (.I6 as compared to .21), and TVL at Grade showed a null relationship (- .02) with
aggression ratings at Grade 13. Thus, the predictive power of TVL appears to have been
decaying across the span of years covered in the .31 correlation. The strongest relation-
ships involving television were based on TVL at the earliest stage. Concurrently, howev-
er, the predictive power of aggression ratings appears to have been growing. Aggression
ratings at Grade 3 correlated .48 with aggression ratings at Grade I-and these in turn corre-
lated .65 with aggression ratings at Grade 13. Across the entire ten-year span. aggression
ratings at Grade 3 correlated .38 with aggression ratings at Grade 13. The predictive power
of both TVL and aggression ratings behaves one way from Grade 3 to 8 and Grade 8 to 13,
but another way across the overall ten-year span.

Examination of the bivariate distribution (scatter plot) underlying each of the correla-
tion coefficients may help to clarify rhe situation.

The correlation coefficient between the index based on mother's report of program pref-
erences when the child was about eight years old and the peer rating of past aggressive
behavior when the boy was about 18 years old depends almost entirely on a small number
of boys at the extreme high end of the preference scale who scored extremely high on the
peer-rated measure of aggressive behavior (a measure with virtually no upper limit). With-
out question, these boys would justify individual case study, but there appears to be hard-
ly any relationship elsewhere in the range.

There seems little doubt that in these data aggressiveness is a continu-
ing trait manifested by autocorrelation over time. At the same time,
there is some indication that television viewing at an early stage (not lat-
er) may also have contributed to aggressiveness among a few boys.

In short, the data from the Lefkowitz et al. study may be interpreted
in terms of two quite different, but not incompatible, developmental
sequences. One of these emphasizes the correlation of .31 between
mothers' reports of the children's radio and television program prefer-
ences at Grade 3 and peer-rated aggression at Grade 13. The other em-
phasizes the predictive power of the aggression measures in five-year
steps. These findings suggest the need for additional research attention
to early aggressive tendencies and their early sources.

McLeod et al. (1971b) asked their Wisconsin high school subjects
"how frequently they had watched each of 13 shows that were on televi-
sion three or four years ago" and' constructed "an index of past vio-
lence viewing" from their replies. This measure correlated as well with
current overall aggression scores as did the measure of current violence
viewing.

Thus, in reference to a pooled sample of junior and senior high school boys and girls.
current violence viewing correlated with the overall summed score of self-reports of ag-
gression at .30, and past violence viewing correlated at .33. Both current and past violence
viewing correlated at .I7 with the overall summed score of others'reports of aggression.
When the pooled sample is broken down by sex and age, the relationships are less regular.

These data, as far as they go, are consonant with the interpretation
that violence viewing leads to aggressive behavior, for they indicate a
relationship between earlier television exposure and later aggression.
However, two points must be noted. First, the "past violence viewing"
measure was less refined than the current violence Viewing measure, in


ADOLESCENT AGGRESSIVENESS

95

Figure 2: Correlations observed by Lefkowitz between television violence
    and aggression for 211 boys over a ten-year lag

that it involved 13 programs as compared with 65 and relied upon sub-
jects' retrospective recall to a period three or four years ago. Second,
and more important, the investigators had no opportunity to obtain a
past aggression measure. Had such a measure been available, and de-
pending on its relationship to the other measures, it might variously have
strengthened the likelihood that the viewing was the causal element,
weakened that likelihood, or left the question in abeyance. Lacking such
a measure, we can conclude only that the data cited are consonant with
the interpretation that violence viewing leads to later aggresion, but are
not conclusive.

Mechanisms. If the available data were to indicate clearly that vio-
lence viewing does lead to aggression, a logical next question would be,
"By what mechanisms ?" We may inquire whether anything in the data
suggests the existence of "plausible mechanisms" through which the
process could occur. It is important to keep in mind that such an inquiry,
in the face of data whose causal implications are not conclusive, is an
exercise in hypothesis building, rather than in hypothesis testing. Fail-
ure to find any such mechanisms would not nullify the possibility of the
causal sequence occurring, but might merely indicate that the necessary
mechanisms have not yet been discovered. Finding such mechanisms
would in turn merely indicate means through which the causal sequence
could occur.


96                           TELEVISION AND GROWING UP

Keeping these cautions in mind, let us consider what mechanisms
might exist. Two obvious possibilities are identification and learning. If
viewing violence on television did lead some youths to become more
aggressive, it might do so through the viewers' identification with violent
characters or through their learning of techniques of aggression or their
development of attitudes more favorable to aggression.
McLeod et al. (1971a) investigated the relationship between both of
these processes and violence viewing, and between both of these proc-
esses and aggression. "Identification with violent characters" was meas-
ured by replies to questions about the one person on television the re-
spondent "would most like to be," and about which of several actors he
would most "like to see at the movies." The scale was found to relate
mildly to violence viewing (correlation coefficients of .21 and .lS in two
pooled samples) and to relate somewhat better to aggression (.22 and
.3 1).
The same investigators' scale of "perceived learning of aggression,"
further described below, related to violence viewing (.24 and .21) and
more strongly to aggression (S3 and .33).
In assessing the role which "learning of aggression" might play in a
behavioral dynamic, it is of course important to know precisely what is
learned. The scales used in the studies under review contain items which
variously bear on at least three different types of what might loosely be
called "cognitive effects." More specifically, individual items variously
bear on
-acquisition of knowledge about techniques (e.g., how to hit some-
   one);
-acquisition of knowledge of pertinent facts of life (e.g., that hit-
   ting someone is in fact one way of gaining ends);
-acquisition of values (e.g., that hitting someone is a preferred
   way of gaining ends).
For learning to increase the likelihood of aggressive behavior, the
acquisition of knowledge about techniques and about facts of life is a
necessary, but not a sufficient, condition unless values favorable to ag-
gression were also learned or had previously been learned.
The scale of "perceived learning of aggression" employed by Mc-
Leod et al., which correlated with violence viewing .24 and .21, consists
of five items which constitute a mix of all three types of cognitive effects
noted above. McLeod et al. (1971a) also employed a scale called "link-
age of television violence to real life," which was found to relate mod-
estly to violence viewing (.27 and .21 in two pooled samples) and to ag-
gression (.31 and .13), but the content of the scale is again somewhat
ambiguous in reference to the type of perception or learning which it
represents.
The data that deal with violence viewing in relation to evaluation of
violence are not fully consistent. Dominick and Greenberg (197 1) found


ADOLESCENT AGGRESSIVENESS                       97

no significant difference in "approval of aggression" between high-ex-
posed and low-exposed subjects of either sex. McLeod et al. (1971b)
found no meaningful relationship (a correlation coefficient of .09) be-
tween current viewing of violence and "approval of aggression" within
their pooled sample of junior and senior high school boys and girls in
Wisconsin, but did find a relationship of .27 between past violence view-
ing and approval of aggression.

These data on "identification with violent characters" and on "per-
ceived learning of aggression" (at least in other respects than evaluation
of violence) are consonant with a violence viewing-to-aggression hy-
pothesis. On the other hand, the propensity to identify with violent char-
acters or to learn aggression can also be conceived as a preexisting psy-
chological condition. Such a dynamic might be summarized as a pro-
pensity leading both to violence viewing and to aggression. This is in
essence a "third variable" or "common origin" sequence.

We may now summarize the discussion of "plausible mechanisms."
Briefly, three candidate mechanisms (identification, learning, and link-
age to real life) have been identified, and'each has been found to be re-
lated-in most instances modestly-to both violence viewing and ag-
gression. The evidence for the operation of one plausible mechanism,
that of learning favorable evaluation of violence, appears to be weak. If
a causal relationship of the viewing-leads-to-aggression type does exist,
however, the remaining mechanisms might be operative. This is not to
assert,that that sequence does exist, since the same mechanisms are
equally consonant with a causal relationship involving an antecedent
common origin of both viewing and aggression.

Summary: correlational evidence for the
interpretation that violence viewing leads to
aggression

We may now summarize the correlational evidence for the interpreta-
tion that violence viewing leads to aggression. (In the next chapter we
will bring together the correlational and experimental data.) Within the
studies reviewed in this chapter, all of which present correlational data,
two of the highest correlation coefficients (both at about the level of .30)
involved correlations in which earlier viewing was correlated with later
aggression ratings. These data are supportive of the interpretation that
viewing leads to aggression, within the parameters of a relationship at
the .30 level. However, certain technical questions exist regarding the
adequacy of the measures. In addition (or perhaps as a result), the corre-
lational findings are equally consonant with a common origin interpreta-
tion, in which both violence viewing and -aggression are conceived to
stem from an antecedent condition or set of conditions. A quest for


98                          TELEVISION AND GROWlNG UP

"plausible mechanisms" by which the violence viewing-to-aggression
sequence might operate provided some candidate mechanisms, but
these again were equally consonant with a common origin intetpteta-
tion. It should be reemphasized that both a directly causal and a "third
variable" process can be operating simultaneously. It is not an either-or
choice.

Evidence for the common origin ("third
variable") interpretation

We turn now to consideration of whether the data contain any eci-
dence supportive of or consonant with the interpretation that some
antecedent condition or set of conditions may produce both violence
viewing and aggression, or may in some way explain the association
noted in the correlation studies. Since such an association, though a
weak one, has been found, a scientific approach requites that instead of
considering the matter explained, we explore for third variables that
might explain it. Some ways in which such a third variable might operate
have been discussed above.

Since we are here primarily interested in "common origin" third vati-
ables, we will touch only lightly on "interaction" third variables, which
serve chiefly to identify different population subgroups in which the re-
lationship between violence viewing and aggression is variously stronger
and less strong. Several such variables can be observed in the data. al-
though their action is not always consistent across the various studies.
Two examples of such inconsistently behaving interactive variables will
perhaps suffice to make the point.

Socioeconomic status. Robinson and Bachman (1971) observed a
modest monotonic relationship between the violence level of 19-yeat-
old boys' favorite programs and certain indices of aggression. Conttol-
ling for "education of mother" nullified the monotonicity for some
groups but not for others. On the other hand, McLeod et al. (I971a)
found that controlling for socioeconomic status or for school petform-
ante did not affect rhe relationship between violence viewing and ag-
gression in either their Maryland or Wisconsin mixed-sex samples.

Age and sex. Upon breaking down their samples by sex and age,
McLeod et al. (1971a) found the relationship between violence viewing
and aggression to be at its lowest among junior high school boys, and
generally to be as strong or stronger among girls than it was among boys.
Dominick and Greenberg likewise found the relationships they tested
generally higher among fourth- to sixth-grade girls than among fourth- to
sixth-grade boys. Lefkowitz et al., on the other hand, found virtually no
relationship between their principal exposure and aggression measures
for girls in Grade 3,8, or 13, or across any of these time spans.


ADOLESCENT AGGRESSIVENESS                        99
Sex differences. insofar as they exist, could in fact consirute a candi-

date common origin variable. If, for example, it were consistently found
that a relationship between exposure to television violence and aggtes-
sion existed for boys but not for girls, it could be plausibly hypothesized
that sex role conditioning was in itself sufficient to preclude the relation-
ship developing among girls and (by the other side of the coin) to maxi-
mize the likelihood of its development among boys. However, as we have
noted, the findings of these studies in reference to sex differences ate fat
from consistent. Clarification of these inconsistencies is obviously nec-
essary before sex role conditioning can meaningfully be considered a
plausible candidate for a common origin variable.

Other candidate common origin variables exist in the data at hand,
although none can be observed to be serving such a function completely,
not even sufficiently to validate it as a definite common origin variable.
We will here discuss three such variables, or types of variables: pteex-
isting levels of aggression, subjective or personality factors, and a group
of variables related to the attitudes and behavior of the respondents'
families.

Preexisting levels of aggression

Robinson and Bachman found that controlling for levels of aggression
one year ago virtually eliminated the relationship between preference
for violent programs and aggression for some 90 percent of their sample,
and destroyed the monotonicity of the relationship for the remaining
and most aggressive ten percent.

This finding can be interpreted as supportive of a common origin intet-
pretation, with the third variable being the condition or conditions which
produce the earlier levels of aggression. The interpretation is weakened,
however, by the lack of a parallel early program preference measure
(which could strengthen or weaken the interpretation) and by the fact
that the male respondents were 19 years old at the time of the survey.
Both their characteristic levels of aggression and their viewing ptefet-
ences may by that age, or even a year earlier, have attained sufficient
stability to be beyond any further interactive effect upon each other.
Indeed, thet data do not rule out the possibility that one of the antecedent
determinants of their aggression level may have been their program
preferences at some earlier stage of development.

Personality factors

The data at hand contain several discrete findings which, though not
individually particularly impressive, hint at a possible personality fac-
tor. or set of factors, which deserve'investigation as a possible common
origin variable. Thus, as previously noted, Robinson and Bachman


100                           TELEVISION AND GROWING UP
found that controlling for aggression level a year ago nullified a pte-
viously observed relationship between violence level of favorite pto-
grams and aggression for all but the most aggressive ten percent of their
sample-a finding which suggests the possibility of a qualitative as well
as quantitative difference between the ten percent and the 90 percent. In
related vein, available details regarding Lefkowitz et al.`s sample of
boys suggest that the observed relationship between violence level of
favorite programs and aggression may be essentially a product of a very
small number of extremely aggressive boys. Again, in the same vein,
McIntyre and Teevan found that only about ten percent of their sample
agreed with either of two statements about their favorite program ("The
main character shoves people around" and "The tough guy gets his
way"). The ten percent who agreed with either statement were more
aggressive than the others, perceived violence in programs where others
did not perceive it, and possessed various other deviant traits.'

Possibly related to the McIntyre and Teevan finding is the statistical
behavior of a variable called by McLeod et al. "perceived learning of
aggression." We have already noted that this index correlates with ag-
gression mote strongly than does violence viewing and have suggested
that it could serve as a "plausible mechanism" in a violence viewing-to-
aggression dynamic. We have suggested also that, to the degree that
selective learning is a manifestation of a psychological set, that psycho-
logical set is a candidate for a common origin variable.

Taken together, these isolated findings from several studies suggest
the possible existence of a set of traits characteristic of about ten pet-
cent of youth-or at least of boys-which merits better definition and
measurement than it has yet received, and which merits investigation to
see whether it is a common source of both violence viewing and aggtes-
sion.

Variables relating to the family

In reference to a host of topics other than exposure to television vio-
lence and its correlates or effects, the attitudes and behaviors of young
persons' patents have been found to be important, and in some in-
stances critically determinative, influences upon the attitudes and behav-
ior of the young persons themselves. The data at hand suggest that

`Controlling for agreement with either statement completely eliminated a previously
observed relationship between violence level of favorite programs and "aggressive" or
"serious" deviance in both the ten percent and 90 percent groups, leading the investiga-
tors to state "that the subjects' perception of violence is more closely related to deviant
behavior than is the objective rating of the violence content of television shows." Precise-
ly what psychological characteristic of the respondents' psychological makeup was tapped
by these statements is unclear, and the relationship which was nullified was originally so
trivial (r's = -04 and .06) as to call into question the validity of the authors' quoted state-
ment.


ADOLESCENT AGGRESSIVENESS                       101
"family" may well also play an important role in whatever causal se-
quence produces an association between violence viewing and aggres-
sion. Unfortunately, however, the available data are limited in scope. In
sum, they cannot be said to identify "family" as a common origin third
variable; they can rather be said to suggest its candidacy for such a func-
tion and to underline the need for further investigation of the role of
"family" in this process.

Dominick and Greenberg tested the relative strengths of association
between aggressive attitudes and three "antecedent variables," viz.,
"family attitudes toward violence," "social class," and "exposure to
television violence." Their scale of "family attitudes" consisted of sev-
en questions on how children "thought their parents feel about various
forms of violence." Because many of the respondents could not provide
adequate answers, the group was split into two groups: those whose
families were "definitely antiviolence" and those whose parents had not
demonstrated disapproval.* The failure of families to demonstrate dis-
approval was found to be more strongly related to aggressive attitudes
than was "exposure to television violence" in regard to every attitude
scale employed and in regard to both boys and girls. Interpretations of
this finding must be tempered by the fact that the child's perception of
his family's attitude may tell us more about his attitude than theirs, and
by the fact that "exposure to television violence" was found to have
some independent relationship with aggressive attitudes.

Within the studies under review, virtually all other data bearing on the
relationship of "family" to the association between violence viewing
and aggression are found in McLeod et al. (1971a and 1971b). Neither
the considerable number of pertinent variables treated by these investi-
gators nor the extensive data thereby generated can be adequately treat-
ed within this summary report. Suffice it here to say that all of the varia-
bles were measured by indices composed of several questions, and that
in reference to several such indices the replies of the youth and their
parents are combined.3

Two of these variables, "parental control over television viewing"
and "parental interpretation of television violence," cannot be regarded
as "common origin candidates*' in and of themselves, but could con-
ceivably be manifestations of more general aspects of child rearing. Fur-
thermore, they bear directly upon violence viewing. One of these,

`These definitions will be found in Dominick and Greenberg (1971). Tables refer to the
two groups as "low approval" and "undefined" respectively.
`More specifically. McLeod et al. (1971a) employed a sample of Maryland youth and a
sample of Wisconsin youth. McLeod et al. (197lb)dealt more fully with the same Wiscon-
sin sample. but did not deal with the Maryland sample. The measures in McLeod et al.
(1971b)are in many cases relined as compared with similarly named measures in the earlier
study. These more refined measures are. where possible, used in this summary. The use of
the less refined measures. when available for parallel inquiries, would in general either
present a weaker case or would not appreciably change the thrust of the data.


102                           TELEVISION AND GROWING UP

"parental control over television viewing," was found to bear virtually
no relationship to the association between violence viewing and aggres-
sion (controlling for this variable left the originally observed correlation
coefficient virtually unchanged). The other variable, "parental interpre-
tation of television violence," refers to "how often" parents "used to"
indicate to their children that interpersonal violence in "western and
crime shows" was unlike real life and an undesirable way of solving
problems. Surprisingly, the relationship between violence viewing and
aggression was found to be higheramong youth whose parents relatively
often engaged in such interpretation than it was among youths whose
parents less often provided such interpretations. A tempting speculative
explanation of this finding is that parents may be more likely to provide
"interpretation" for youth who view a great deal of television violence,
but the available data do not provide much evidence either for or against
this supposition.4

Other aspects of paiental attitudes and behavior investigated by
McLeod et al. are more generic and thus are more logical candidates for
common origin variables. Of these, the most fully treated are "parental
affection, " "parental punishment, " "parental emphasis on nonaggres-
sion, " and "family communication patterns. "
"Parental affection" was assessed in McLeod et al. (1971a) by re-

spondents' replies to a single question ("How often do y&r parents

. . .show that they love you?") and in McLeod et al. (1971b) by the
combined answers of respondents and mothers' to that question and two
others (". . . tell you they love you" and "show their affection by hug-
ging and kissing you"). As so measured, "parental affection" was
found to be essentially unrelated to violence viewing, to aggression, or
to the relationship between them. Doubts may arise about the adequacy
of the measure, and further inquiry, employing a more refined measure,
is obviously desirable before "parental affection" can be regarded as
unrelated to the phenomenon under investigation.

Parental punishment, including "restrictive
punishment"

McLeod et al. employed a five-item index of parental punishment. A
series of statistical operations, using their most refined measures, indi-
cated that "parental punishment" and "violence viewing" were inde-

4"Parental interpretation of television violence"  was found to be related to violence
viewing at the approximate level of r = .I5 in each of two pooled samples, and to be essen-
tially unrelated to summed self- or other-reports of aggression (r's ranging from -.03 to
.07).

`Appropriate pronoun substitutions were provided for mothers, e.g., ". . .tell him that
you love him ."


ADOLESCENT AGGRESSIVENESS                       103
pendently related to aggression, and at almost the same level.6 Parental
punishment, as thus defined and measured, therefore cannot be regard-
ed as a strong candidate for a common origin variable.

The same investigators, however, also separated components of the
five-item "punishment scale" into measures of "physical punishment,"
"verbal punishment," and "restrictive punishment." The latter index
was found to be significantly related to both violence viewing and ag-
gression in two pooled samples. In one sample, "restrictive punish-
ment" proved to be more strongly related to aggression, as measured by
others' reports (.41) than was violence viewing (.17). The question thus
arises whether "restrictive punishment" or some frustrating child rear-
ing practice it manifests may be a common origin variable, but the avail-
able data unfortunately provide no basis for further inquiry.

Parental emphasis on nonaggression

Under this rubric, McLeod et al. inquired into the degree to which
parents discouraged their children from being "mean to other kids,"
fighting back in self-defensive situations, doing "the bad things people
do on television," and (in reference to one sample) behaving aggressive-
ly in hypothetical situations. Although this index was found to have only
a trivial and generally negative relationship to either violence viewing or
aggression (Chaffee and McLeod, 1971b), it was nevertheless found to
be very strongly related to the relationship between violence viewing
and aggression. Thus, the investigators report that "the average correla-
tion (between violence viewing and all measures of aggression in both of
the samples) is .26 in families where little stress is placed upon nonag-
gression; in families where such an emphasis is found, the average cor-
relation is only .07."' Parental emphasis on nonaggression emerged as a
strong candidate for a third variable. Where such emphasis is low, the
relationship between violence viewing and aggression occurs; where it is
high, the relationship is markedly reduced. This finding is consonant
with the earlier mentioned finding of Dominick and Greenberg, to the
effect that family attitudes regarding violence are more strongly related
to aggressive attitudes than is violence viewing for fourth- to sixth-grade
boys and girls. Taken together;the two findings strongly underscore the

%iolence viewing correlated .26 with aggression, with "parental punishment" and
"parental affection" simultaneously partialled out. "Parental punishment" correlated .20
with aggression, with violence viewing and "parental affection" simultaneously partialled
out. The partial effect of "parental affection" was negligible (McLeod et al., 197lb).

`A decreased correlation in the presence of high parental emphasis on nonaggression, as
compared to low parental emphasis on nonaggression, was furthermore observed in all but
one of the eight sex-and-age subgroups, the single exception being senior high school boys
in the Wisconsin sample. McLeod et al. (1971a) and McLeod et al. (197lb) confirm the
direction of effect.


104                         TELEWSION AND GROWING UP
need for more extensive inquiry into the role which pertinent family at&
tudes play in the relationship between violence viewing and aggression.
Family communication patterns
For some years prior to the institution of the present research pro-
gram, Chaffee. McLeod, and their colleagues had been studying various
types of "habitual structure. .of parent-to-child communication"
(Chaff ee and McLeod. 197 1 b). Partly before and partly within the pres-
ent program, some of these investigators have examined the relation-
ships between these patterns and media use and between these patterns
and aggression.
The array of identified patterns is too complex to describe in any de-
tail in this summary report. Suffice it here to say that two basic dimen-
sions were identified and respectively labeled "socio-oriented" and
"concept-oriented." The "socio-oriented" dimension involves "pa-
rents urging rhe child to keep discussions pleasant, avoid controversy,
defer to his elders, and generally maintain harmony at the expense of his
own ideas and opinions" (Chaffee and McLeod, 197lb). The "concept-
oriented" dimension, in contrast, involves "encouraging the child to
challenge parental beliefs. to reach his own conclusions. . . (and to be
aware of) contrasting views on controversial issues." The investigators
found that "about equal numbers of families stress either. neither, or
both of these orientations."
It seems reasonable to suggest that emphasis upon the "socio-orien-
tation" pattern would seem likely to engender considerable frustration
in the child, whereas emphasis on "concept orientation" would seem
likely to minimize frustration at least as regards child-parent communi-
cation.
McLeod et al. generally found relationships between these concepts
and either violence viewing or aggression to be in the direction which the
frustration hypothesis would suggest. Youth living under the presuma-
bly frustrating high "socio-orientation" patterns view significantly more
violence than do those living under low "socio-orientation" patterns.
With respect 10 self-reported aggressiveness, the highest scores are
found under the presumably most frustrating conditions (high socio-ori-
entation, low concept-orientation). With respect to both self-reported
and other-reported aggressiveness, lowest scores are found under the
presumably least frustrating conditions (high concept-orientation, low
socio-orientation) [Chaff ee and McLeod, I97 I b].
The crucial question-whether these family communication patterns
may be common origin third variables- can be answered only by testing
the relationship between violence viewing and aggression within each of
the four patterns. The question remains unanswered, and parent-child
communication patterns remain viable but as yet unvalidated candidates
for common origin third variables.


ADOLESCENT AGGRESSIVENESS

Summary: evidence for the common origin
interpretation

105

The data in the studies here under review have been examined for
evidence consonant with the interpretation that some antecedent condi-
tion or set of conditions (one or more "third variables") may produce
both violence viewing and aggression, or may in some way explain the
association noted between them.

Although we have been primarily interested in possible "common ori-
gin variables," we noted in passing some "interactive" third variables,
which identified different population subgroups in which the relationship
between violence viewing and aggression was variously stronger and
weaker. The behavior of these interactive variables was found to be in-
consistent across studies. Socioeconomic status, for example, was
found to serve this function in one study, but not in another. Sex was
found to serve such a function in at least three studies, but in diametri-
cally opposite ways: in two studies the relationship was found to be as
strong or stronger for girls than it was for boys, while in one virtually no
relationship was found for girls.

Preexisting levels of aggression were found in one study (Robinson and
Bachman) to operate in a manner consonant with the common origin in-
terpretation, but unavoidable limitations of the data left in abeyance the
question of whether or not they actually served such a role. Personality
factors, or what might well be personality factors, were found in several
studies to operate in a manner indicating the need, for further investiga-
tion, but the data at hand were again deemed inadequate either to vali-
date or to reject the candidacy of these factors for the role of common
origin variables.

A number of variables relative toparental attitudes and behavior were
examined. Two of these could be regarded only as manifestations of
possible common origin candidates, but they were noted because of
their direct bearing on television viewing and aggression. Of these, one,
"parental control over television viewing,"  was found to bear no rela-
tionship to the association between violence viewing and aggression
(McLeod et al.); the other, "parental interpretation of television vio-
lence, " was found to be associated with high relationship between vio-
lence viewing and aggression (McLeod et al.), possibly because its oc-
currence might be a response to considerable such viewing on the part of
young people.

Among more logical candidates for common origin variables, McLeod
et al. (and for the most part only these investigators) examined a number
of generic aspects of familial attitudes and behaviors. They found that
"parental affection " was unrelated to violence viewing, to aggression,
or to the relationship between them, but questions exist about the ade-
quacy of this measure. "Parental punishment" was found by the same


106                         TELEVISION AND GROWING UP
investigators to be associated with both violence viewing and aggres-
sion, but its association with aggression was found to be independent of
violence viewing, rather than to be the source of violence viewing.
"Parental emphasis on nonaggression" was found by McLeod et al.
to be strongly related to the association between violence viewing and
aggression, to the degree that the association was greatly reduced among
youth whose parents strongly emphasized nonaggression. Related and
supportive data were noted by Dominick and Greenberg, who found that
family attitudes toward violence were more strongly related to aggres-
sive attitudes in preadolescents than was violence viewing. Family atti-
tudes toward aggression and violence thus remain a viable candidate for
the role of a common origin, or controlling, variable.
Parent-child communication patterns were found by McLeod et al. to
be strongly related to violence viewing and to aggression. Communica-
tion patterns presumably creating frustration were found to be strongly
associated with high violence viewing and high aggression, while pat-
terns presumably minimizing such frustration were found to be associ-
ated with low violence viewing and low aggression. Because the relation-
ship of these patterns to the associafjon between violence viewing and
aggression has not yet been adequately investigated, these patterns can
at present be regarded only as promising, but not validated, candidates
for common origin variable status.
Thus, several candidate common origin or explanatory variables have
been identified in the data. Several have failed to operate statistically in
a manner consonant with common origin interpretations. Others have
not been analyzed sufficiently to permit meaningful inferences about the
possibility of their serving as common origin variables. At least two,
"parental emphasis on nonaggression" and "family communication pat-
terns," have operated in manners consonant with such an interpretation,
but the pertinent data are as yet too limited to validate common origin
status for either one.
The common origin interpretation remains viable, however, despite
the fact that these variables, as defined by the scales employed, do not
completely explain or nullify the observed relationships between vio-
lence viewing and aggression. Improved measures might change the pic-
ture, and so might the combination of several of these variables into a
composite index of related conditions. Finally, and probably most im-
portant, necessary limitations of the studies at hand have left largely
unexamined a considerable number of variables which have been found
to be important or determining influences on other behaviors and atti-
tudes. A continued examination of possible third variables is clearly in-
dicated. Findings both in other areas and in these studies suggest that
such investigation might profitably focus on personality factors and on
aspects of family and peer attitudes and behaviors which are both more
inclusive and more precise than those which have thus far been em-
ployed.


ADOLESCENT AGGRESSIVENESS

107

GENERAL SUMMARY

The research studies whose findings are reviewed in this chapter all
report answers by adolescents, or in some cases by younger children, to
questions presented in surveys. In general, the questions were designed
to elicit data on exposure to television violence and on aggressive tend-
encies. The data were analyzed by the investigators to determine wheth-
er there was any relationship between such exposure and aggressive
behavior.

Measures

One or more measures of television behavior and one or more meas-
ures of aggression were used in every study. The measures varied con-
siderably .

Behavior in regard to television was variously measured by time spent
viewing, by preference for violent programs, and by amount of viewing
of violent programs. Pertinent findings suggest that the three are not
equivalent measures for characterizing exposure to television violence.
Under the circumstances, and lacking definitive tests, it seems reasona-
ble to suppose that "amount of violence viewing" is the best measure of
such exposure.

The measures of aggression differed along various dimensions and
along a range within each dimension. Behavior reported upon differed in
degree of reprehensibility, in degree of actuality (including, for exam-
ple, actually accomplished behavior and projected behavior in hypothet-
ical situations), in source (self-reports and others' reports), and in tem-
poral reference (current and past). Pertinent data indicate a degree of
communality among these measures, coupled with considerable differ-
ences between them. It is therefore important to inquire into what meas-
ures of aggression were involved in relationships found to be weak and
what measures were involved in the obviously stronger relationships.

Findings

The several studies investigated the relationship between exposure to
television violence and aggression. employing various measures to do
so. Most of the relationships observed were positive, but most were also
of low magnitude, attaining levels ranging from null relationships to .2l.
A few of the observed relationships, however, reached levels at or just
above .30.These were the relationship between violence viewing and
summary self-report aggression scores reported by McLeod et al. (.30
and .32), and the correlation of .31 reported by Lefkowitz between
mothers' statements of boys' favorite programs at Grade 3 and peer-rat-
ed aggression of the boys ten years later.


108                         TELEVISION AND GROWING Up

On the basis of these findings, and taking into account their variety

and their inconsistencies, we can tentatively conclude that there is a
modest relationship between exposure to television violence and ag-
gressive behavior or tendencies, as the latter are defined in the studies at
hand. The question which must therefore be considered is what this rela-
tionship signifies. More specifically, (1) what is indicated by correlation
at the .30 level, and (2) since correlation is not in itself a demonstration
of causal relationship, what can be deduced from these data regarding
causation?

The meaning of correlation coefficients and the
basis of causal inference

Because the data of this chapter consist so largely of correlation coef-
ficients, the meaning and limitations of this type of statistic must be kept
in mind. As explained more fully within the chapter, a correlation coeffi-
cient of .30 may betoken any of several types of relationship, some of
which do and some of which do not involve the majority of the individu-
als studied. We discussed "variance accountability" in Appendix E and
cautioned against common misinterpretations of this technical term.
Finally, we noted that positive correlation coefficients indicate that a
relationship exists, but do not indicate whether that relationship is cau-
sal. In reference to the present topic, the correlation coefficients indicate
that a modest relationship exists between violence viewing and some
types of aggression. This relationship could conceivably manifest any or
all of at least three causal sequences:

--that violence viewing leads to aggression;
-that aggression leads to violence viewing;
-that both violence viewing and aggression are products of a third
variable or set of variables.

Evidence for the interpretation that violence
viewing causes aggression

Within the studies reviewed in this chapter, all of which present corre-
lational data, the two highest correlation coefficients (both at about the
level of .30) involved correlations in which earlier viewing was correlated
with later aggression ratings. In and of themselves, these data are
supportive of the interpretation that viewing leads to aggression, within
the parameters of a relationship at the .30 level; but certain technical
questions exist regarding the adequacy of the measures. In addition the
findings are equally consonant with a common origin interpretation in
which both violence viewing and aggression are conceived to stem from
an antecedent condition or set of conditions.


ADOLESCENT AGGRESSIVENESS                      109
The data were examined for "plausible mechanisms" by which vio-
lence viewing might cause aggression, if that were in fact occurring.
Three such possible mechanisms ("identification," "perceived learning
of aggression," and "linkage to real life") were identified. All of these,
however, are equally plausible components of a process in which some
antecedent condition or conditions served as the common origin of both
violence viewing and aggression.

Evidence for the common origin
interpretation

The data in the several studies were examined for findings supportive
of the common origin interpretation.

In the course of this examination, several "third variables" were not-
ed. While neither explaining nor accounting for the relationship between
violence viewing and aggression, these variables identified subgroups of
the population in which that relationship was variously weaker and
stronger. However, the findings in reference to these variables were not
consistent across studies: in two studies, for example, the relationship
between violence viewing and aggression was found to be as strong or
stronger for girls than it was for boys, while in another study virtually no
relationship was found for girls.

A number of candidate common origin variables were identified:
preexisting levels of aggression, underlying personality factors, and a
number of aspects of parental attitudes and behavior. Data on "family"
variables related to parental control of television viewing, parental inter-
pretation of television violence, parental affection, parental punishment,
parental emphasis on nonaggression, and types of parent-child commu-
nication patterns.

Of this group of candidate common origin variables, several failed to
operate statistically in a manner consonant with common origin interpre-
tations. Others have not been analyzed sufficiently to permit meaningful
inferences about the possibility that they are common origin variables.
At least two, "parental emphasis on nonaggression" and "family com-
munication patterns," have operated in ways consonant with such an
interpretation, but the pertinent data are as yet too limited to validate
common origin status for either one.

The common origin interpretation remains viable, however, despite
the fact that the candidate variables here observed, and as here meas-
ured. do not completely explain or nullify the observed relationship
between violence viewing and aggression. Improved measures, includ-
ing indices which represent combinations of antecedent conditions,
might possibly change the picture. In addition, there is need for further
and more refined investigation of the role played by personality factors
and by family and peer attitudes and behaviors.


110                          TELEVISION AND GROWING UP

Conclusion

The studies reviewed in this chapter indicate that a modest relation-
ship exists between the viewing of violence on television and aggressive
tendencies. Because all of the studies present correlational data, defini-
tive conclusions about causal relationships cannot be drawn. The evi-
dence reviewed here is consonant both with the interpretation that vio-
lence viewing leads to aggression to a limited degree and among a limited
number of young people, and with the interpretation that both the view-
ing and the aggression are products of an as yet unidentified third varia-
ble. The data are also consonant with the interpretation that both these,
processes occur simultaneously.


Chapter 8

Current Knowledge and
Questions for Future
    Research

In this brief closing chapter we shall try to do two things: draw togeth-
er the evidence from laboratory studies of children's responses to filmed
violence (reviewed in Chapter 6) with the evidence from field surveys of
television viewing and aggressive behavior (reviewed in Chapter 7). and
identify remaining gaps in knowledge which future research should ad-
dress if we are to know with confidence what television viewing does to
affect the development of children.

INDICATIONS FROM THE DATA

The best predictor of later aggressive tendencies in some studies is the
existence of earlier aggressive tendencies, whose origins may lie in fami-
ly and other environmental influences. Patterns of communication with-
in the family and patterns of punishment of young children seem to re-
late, in ways that are as yet poorly understood, both to television view-
ing and to aggressive behavior. The possible role of mass media in very
early acquisition of aggressive tendencies remains unknown. Future
research should concentrate on the impact of media material on very
young children.

While the data are by no means wholly consistent or conclusive, there
is evidence that a modest relationship does exist between the viewing of

111


112                         TELEVISION AND GROWING UP

violence and aggressive behavior. The correlational evidence from field
studies is amenable to either of two interpretations: that the viewing of
violence causes the aggressive behavior, or that both the viewing and
the aggression are joint products of some other common source. Several
findings reviewed in Chapter 7 can be cited to sustain the hypothesis that
viewing of violent television has a causal relation to aggressive behav-
ior, though neither individually nor collectively are the findings conclu-
sive. First, we note that, among the correlations of violence viewing
with aggressive behavior, two of the strongest ones, on the order of -30,
are between earlier viewing patterns and later aggressiveness; both of
these findings, however, involve methodological problems and could be
explained by operation of a "third variable" related to preexisting con-
ditions.
Second, the experimental studies reviewed in Chapter 6 provide some
additional evidence bearing on this issue. Those studies contain indica-
tions that, under certain limited conditions, television viewing may lead
to an increase in aggressive behavior. The evidence is clearest in highly
controlled laboratory studies and considerably weaker in studies con-
ducted under more natural conditions. Although some questions have
been raised as to whether the behavior observed in the laboratory stud-
ies can be called "aggressive" in the consensual sense of the term, the
studies point to two mechanisms by which children might be led from
watching television to aggressive behavior: the mechanism of imitation,
which is well established as part of the behavioral repertoire of children
in general; and the mechanism of incitement, which may apply only to
those children who are predisposed to be susceptible to this influence.
There is some evidence that incitement may follow nonviolent as well as
violent materials, and that this incitement may lead to either prosocial or
aggressive behavior, as determined by the opportunities offered in the
experiment. However, the fact that some children behave more aggres-
sively in experiments after seeing violent films is well established.
The experimental evidence does not suffer from the ambiguities that
characterize the correlational data with regard to third variables, since
children in the experiments are assigned in ways that attempt to control
such variables. However, the experimental findings are weak in various
ways, and not wholly consistent from one study to another. Neverthe-
less, they provide some suggestive evidence in favor of the interpreta-
tion that viewing violence on television is conducive to an increase in
aggressive behavior, although it must be emphasized that the causal
sequence is very likely applicable only to some children who are predis-
posed in this direction.
Thus, there is a convergence of the fairly substantial experimental
evidence for short-run causation of aggression among some children by
viewing violence on the screen and the much less certain evidence from
field studies that extensive violence viewing precedes some long-run


CURRENT KNOWLEDGE, FUTURE RESEARCH                113

manifestations of aggressive behavior. This convergence of the two
types of evidence constitutes some preliminary indication of a causal
relationship, but a good deal of research remains to be done before one
can have confidence in these conclusions.

The field studies and the laboratory studies also converge on a number
of further points.

First, there is evidence that any sequence by which viewing television
violence causes aggressive behavior is most likely applicable only to
some children who are predisposed in that direction. While imitative
behavior is shown by most children in experiments on that mechanism
of behavior, the mechanism of being incited to aggressive behavior by
seeing violent films shows up in the behavior only of some children who
were found in several experimental studies to be previously high in ag-
gression. Likewise, the correlations found in the field studies between
extensive viewing of violent material and acting in aggressive ways seem
generally to depend on the behavior of a small proportion of the respon-
dents, who were identified in some studies aas previously high in aggres-
sion.

Second, there are suggestions in both sets of studies that how children
respond to violent film material is affected by the context in which it is
presented. Such elements as parental explanations, the favorable or
unfavorable outcome of the violence, and whether it is seen as fantasy
or reality may make a difference. Generalizations about all violent con-
tent are likely to be misleading.

Thus, the two sets of findings converge in three respects: a prelimi-
nary and tentative indication of a causal relation between viewing vio-
lence on television and aggressive behavior; an indication that any such
causal relation operates only on some children (who are predisposed to
be aggressive); and an indication that it operates only in some environ-
mental contexts. Such tentative and limited conclusions are not very sat-
isfying. They represent substantially more knowledge than we had two
years ago, but they leave many questions unanswered. We turn now to
review the questions that still need answering.

FOCUS ON THE FUTURE

The research reviewed here has uniformly been sharply focused on
exposure to televised violence on the one hand, and on aggressive tend-
encies on the other. The narrowness of this focus is not surprising, but
exposure to televised violence does not exist in a vacuum. The narrow-
ness of concentration in these studies has severely hampered the inter-
pretation of results. Some of the most important questions that this
committee would like to answer are relegated to the realm of future re-
search.


114                          TELEVISION AND GROWING UP

The research to date has whetted rather than satisfied our desire to
increase our understanding of the complex psychological and social in-
fluences leading to antisocial tendencies. On the basis of the findings we
have reviewed in this report, we recommend that future research con-
centrate in the following areas:
(1) Television in the context of other mass media. It is reasonable to
expect that there is a positive relationship between an individual's use of
television and his use of other mass media. As indicated earlier, when a
stimulus exists in a constellation of highly related stimuli, any member
of the constellation can, if studied in isolation, receive credit for the res-
ponses evoked by the entire constellation. So far, the attempts to isolate
exposure to television have resulted in possible confounding of attribu-
tion.
(2) Mass media in the context of the total environment, particularly
the home environment. If the analogy is not too far-fetched, we would
recall that "high fever" is seldom if ever listed as a cause of death; yet if
high fever were studied in the same isolated way that exposure to televi-
sion has been studied, we might reach some startling conclusions. The
importance of developmental history and social environmental context
is emphasized in the testimony of Federal Communications Commission
Chairman Dean Burch before the Subcommittee on Communications of
the Senate Commerce Committee. On September 28, 1971, Chairman
Burch posed the question: "To what extent does what the young viewer
brings to the TV screen determine what he carries away-which is an-
other way of asking where the television ranks among all the other as-
pects of a child's environment?"
Indeed, the studies `reviewed in Chapter 6 suggest several specific
directions for further exploring the relationship between television and
aggression. First, identify the predispositional characteristics of those
subgroups of children who display an increase in aggressive behavior in
response to televised violence. Second, ascertain at what ages different
reactions occur. Third, check on the moderating influence of labeling,
contextual cues, and other factors under the control of television produc-
ers which may reduce the likelihood that predisposed children will re-
act adversely to televised violence. Fourth, further investigate the possi-
bility that content other than violent content may increase the likelihood
of subsequent aggressiveness, the possibility that violent content may
instigate other behavior besides aggressiveness, and the applicability of
such findings to preschool children, youngsters, and adolescents. Final-
ly, we must call attention once again to the gap in longitudinal research
on the effects of television programs on children. This gap needs to be
filled before we can learn something dependable about the long-term
effects of repeated exposure to standard television fare on the personali-
ty development of the child.


CURRENT KNOWLEDGE, FUTURE RESEARCH                115

(3) Functional and dysfunctional aggressive behavior. The lines
which separate violence, hostility, aggression, and vigorous competition
tend to become blurred in studies of the kind we have reviewed. Certain-
ty, our society does not assign negative value to all these concepts; al-
though traditional sex roles may be breaking down, there are few boys
who are not taught to "stand up for your rights and defend yourself."
There are those who argue that the realities of life require a certain set or
readiness for aggressive behavior. The study of values, mores, and the
realities of adaptation in this area would provide an important backdrop
for our interest in media effects.
(4) Modeling and imitation of prosocial behavior. In our concentra-
tion on potential antisocial effects, we have seriously neglected any bal-
ancing effect that may occur. Perhaps this question ought to be more
broadly stated as a cost-benefit problem, involving a balance between
potential damage and potential benefit. In -the current trend toward
rejection of alleged overpermissiveness, are we risking a swing of the
pendulum all the way to overprotection and overmanipulation? To state
this position another way: we want children to climb trees, even though
it would be easy to prove that tree climbing causes broken legs.
(5) Teaching and Iearning of values about violence: We have noted
and deplored the paucity of research about the manner in which values
with respect to many areas of behavior, including violence, are transmit-
ted, and about the role played by television and other mass media in this
communication. In the long run, societal values are shaped by a great
variety of environmental forces and institutions; television programs
may contribute a great deal or only a small amount to the process. It is
conceivable that prolonged exposure of large populations to television
violence may have very little immediate effect on the crime rate, but that
such exposure may interact with other influences in the society to pro-
duce increased casualness about violence which permits citizens to re-
gard with increased indifference actual suffering in their own or other
societies, and to reflect that indifference in major political and economic
decisions. Research may indicate that such fears are unfounded, but the
research needs to be done.
(6) Symbolic functions of violent conffict in fiction. The experience of
humanistic scholars suggests that, for adults at least, violent content in
fiction is sometimes a vehicle for presenting to a general audience "mes-
sages " about important social and cultural issues. The authors and pro-
ducers need not be fully aware that they are doing this. The Oedipus plays
are perhaps the best-known example from the humanities. They have
widely been held to be not merely "violence on stage," but also power-
ful statements in a symbolic medium about pervasive psychological or
cultural conflicts. To suppose that plays about the tragic life of King
Oedipus were significant to the early Greeks merely because people


116                            TELEVISION AND GROWING UP

liked stories about violence would be simplistic. It would likewise be
far-fetched to accuse the Greek theater of inciting Greek warriors to
repeated assaults on Troy by exposing them to episodes of meaningless
violence.
There is a considerable body of literature on the symbolic meanings of
primitive (and not-so-primitive) myths and legends, which often are ex-
tremely violent. Anthropological literature supports the contention that,
whatever else it may do, such folk literature communicates conventional
social values and moral standards, and also provides folk interpretations
of the pervasive conflicts and problems of life in a given society at a par-
ticular point in its history. It would be desirable to look upon television
drama and cartoon programs-crude as they may be-as folk literature
in this sense. It would be important, in order more fully to understand
the role of television in American life, to investigate the latent symbolic
"messages" that even violent television plays and cartoons may convey
over and above the content of individual scenes.
These are but a few examples of the kinds of research that have been
discussed at meetings of the Advisory Committee; for the good reasons
described earlier, little attention has been paid thus far to the contextual,
developmental, and societal variables. It is our sincere hope that, as per-
tinent research continues, these more fundamental questions will be at-
tacked.


Chapter 9

The Unfinished Agenda

The committee has not had an opportunity 10 process this chapter in the way in which it
has dealt with the foregoing sectrons. theretore, since we have not been able to subject
this material to the same procedures of detailed review and discussion we have applied to
the other chapters, the material to follow represents, to a greater extent than the forego-
ing, personal opinions and points of view rather than a formal position of the committee.
However, the committee endorses the spirit and intent of these concerns as representing a
significant broadening of the perspective of this report, and feels that even though they
have been incomplerely worked over by the group they should be made available to the
readers of this report.

FURTHER NOTES ON COMMITTEE PROCESS

When a committee as diversely composed as this one embarks upon a
project as global as studying and reporting upon "the effects of televi-
sion violence on children," it will scout a vast terrain. Not all of the
material and ideas encountered will be thoroughly explored, and at the
end of its tenure many important issues will remain which have been less
than fully examined. While the reasons for this uncompleted business
are many, some of the ideas and observations we generated but did not
fully develop are of sufficient importance to justify reporting them even
in their less than fully considered condition. Also, a few additional
comments are in order about the nature and the dynamics of our work
and the psychological processes which determine partially the outcome
of this and any committee's work.

We have remarked several times in earlier sections of this report that
there is a conspicuous paucity of information about the influence of tele-
vision on the psychological growth and development of young children.

117


118                         TELEVISION AND GROWING UP

One of the conclusions of our report notes the high probability that some
factor (or factors) in early childhood experience substantially shapes the
aggressive potentiality of most (or many) children, which may then be
later influenced in any of several ways by the ongoing effects of violence
viewing on television. This conclusion is no surprise to clinicians work-
ing in the psychotherapeutic professions; indeed, it would be an a priori
hypothesis for most such persons. In the early and the ongoing discus-
sions of this committee, this probability was frequently noted, and the
strong recommendation to explore such a hypothesis was the subject of
much committee discussion. Nevertheless, only a small proportion of
our research focused on this crucial area. This fact is a reflection of the
life history of this committee and the way in which it was organized and
functioned,
When a committee like this is formed, it is usually under the aegis of
some political body, such as Congress, which urgently desires an answer
to some question far too complex for easy solution. Such committees
are usually organized in haste, staffed under nearly emergency pressure,
and sent upon their work mission with unrealistically short deadIines.
Not surprisingly, the work product will usually be below expectations
and less fruitful than a somewhat more deliberate course of action could
have provided.
If asked to do so, the multidisciplinary experts who comprise the
membership of this commitee could have rendered a sophisticated set of
"expert opinions" on the effects of television violence on children, with
no additional research work whatever. While their views would have
lacked the reassuring quality lent by "hard" scientific research data,
they still would have warranted substantial weight. We described in
Chapter 1 the course which our committee followed. What alternative
strategy might have been followed? Let us suggest a proposal for future
projects which might make them potentially more valuable.
After an advisory committee for the project is selected, sufficient time
should be allowed for ir to involve itself in committee process and to
explore adequately the multiple views of committee members. This
would engender reasonably clear images of the kind of work which they
wished to carry out. At that point in time and not before, the kind of
staff selection and hiring should be carried out which would facilitate
implementation of all of the committee's goals.
After a committee's research is completed and the results are in, the
second important logistical need is to assure the committee adequate
time to subject that data fully to the "committee process." There should
be sufficient time to enable the committee to thrash out thoroughly the
complex and controversial material they have obtained through their
research, in the context of the various professional viewpoints repre-
sented in the committee membership. Such deliberation inevitably gen-
erates useful ideas which reflect the varied insights and skills of the sev-


UNFINISHED AGENDA                            119

eral disciplines. However, such a process is slow and very time-con-
suming. The necessary time for such a process has rarely been available
to committees concerned with important public issues.

SOCIALIZATION AND REPRESSED BEHAVIOR: SOME
      RELATIONSHIPS TO TELEVISION

In order for human beings to live in social groups, group members
must share their common interests, beliefs, and communication, and
they must attempt to exclude from the group setting behavior which is
disruptive to the group. Every social group makes value judgments
about hostile behavior, sexual arousal, elimination of body wastes, dis-
quieting excitement, and inadequate respect for group values, and when
such things are defined as forbidden, they must be repressed and exclud-
ed from direct expression in the group by all who are mature enough to
be socialized. Repressions of this kind constitute a part of the learning,
conditioning, socializing, and acculturating processes experienced by
every individual.

In sports, entertainment, and fine arts forms such as literature, drama,
art, music, and dance, repressed group-disruptive impulses can be
permitted expression within the group context in symbolic form. For
this reason, among others, television viewers may be strongly attracted
to content which portrays conflict and violence. The relationships be-
tween television viewers' interests and their repressed behavior have
received very little attention in this committee's deliberations or in anyI
other setting.

As we have noted in Chapter 4, persons making decisions about tele-
vision program content, like all other people, may be largely uncon-
scious of some psychological pressures, inside or outside their minds,
which influence their behavior by inhibiting or reinforcing one pattern of
judgment or another. By selection of content, by omission of content, or
by minor distortion, all taking place on an unconscious basis, a news
reporter can record what is in fact a "faithful" record of what he him-
self sees and hears, even though he may be much in error. The report-
er's preexisting set programs his perception so that, literally, he tends to
comprehend only that which fits what is already in his mind. Sensitive
viewers may respond aggressively to underlying biases and prejudiced
opinions which they might perceive in the content, even when the re.
porter is completely unaware of their existence.

Since the media compete with one another for the attention and in.
volvement of the audience, they must choose emotionally involving con
tent. The more emotion and conflict connected with an issue, the more
newsworthy that issue is, and by the same token the more are false be
liefs apt to be evoked in relation to it. Unconscious identification am


120                       TELEVISION AND GROWING UP

projection mechanisms from early childhood, as well as many vaguely
conscious attitudes and interests which impute "good" and "right" to
one's own views and "evil" and "wrong" to outsiders, may be impor-
tant determinants of viewer responses to television content. It is quite
possible that television can arouse unconscious responses in adults that
can facilitate violent behavior much later in time. This possibility should
be explored by appropriate research methods, including longitudinal
case studies with psychoanalytic methodology.

ON OUR STEREOTYPES OF WHATCONSTITUTES AN
          ADULT OR A CHILD

We generally discuss children and adults as if they functioned through
simple, one-tracked systems, and fail to perceive mature reactions in
children and immature reactions in adults. We do not often talk of "nor-
mal childishness" -that is, the child-parts of each person which remain
throughout life, and which may come into dominance under certain cir-
cumstances every day. Television producers are generally aware of this
emotional mix and cater to all of its parts in their competitive program-
ming. Likely as not, if a person is deeply enjoying a program, some
child-part of himself is much engaged emotionally, even while a more
"mature" part, critical of that indulgence, may be encouraging attention
to "more appropriate" interests and concerns. Viewed from this
perspective, the committee might have included adults in its charge by
formulating the question: What is the effect of televised violence upon
the child-part of adult viewers? In this connection, both the Cantor and
the Baldwin and Lewis papers note that sometimes producers respond
to network pressures and networks give in to audience wishes, regard-
less of other judgmental considerations.

TELEVISION IN THE CONTEXT OF OUR NATIONAL
             ETHICS

In our quest for more ideal social structures, we have developed in the
United States a basic philosophy and many laws which observe, honor,
and seek to protect certain basic rights defined for all human beings.
However, in the interpretation, administration, and living out of these
philosophies and laws, we have employed sociopolitical processes1
which regularly favor and idealize some people while devaluing and ne-
glecting others. Despite the aspirations for a more human society held by
some of the founders of this country, the institution of slavery, racism,
various forms of classism, and discrimination based upon sex also
emerged.


UNFINISHED AGENDA                            121

The idealization of some persons and the denigration of others charac-
terized this process. Even inequitable distribution of resources and
power may be more palatable if each person's worth as a human being is
acknowledged as equal to that of any other person. Affection and sup-
port for the social order, and trust and belief in it, are widespread and
strong when this equal worth is reflected (1) in mutuality of considera-
tion, (2) in equality of opportunity for health and liberty (as long as it
does not infringe upon the health and liberty of others), and (3) in the
equal application of laws to all individuals and groups. These desiderata
have been sought after and partially achieved under various kinds of
governments and in differently structured social orders from time to
time, but never in any lasting way.

In the normal behavior of children with their parents, we can observe
an example of this occurrence. Between the ages of three and seven,
many children transiently select one parent as the preferred one with
whom they are primarily affectionate, while the other parent may be
renounced and related to in a competitive or aggressive way. The differ-
ence in the nature of the attachment does not reduce the importance or
worth of either parent to these children, although there may be a clear
preference to be with one parent rather than the other. Moreover, the
children identify with, empathize with, and have some fondness for the
parent toward whom there is a more competitive feeling. Although feel-
ings tend to be split between the two parents and a preference devel-
oped, usually there is no dehumanization, and the object of aggression
retains importance as a human being of equal worth and importance.

When people form groups and relate to one another as representatives
of groups, affectionate feelings are freely directed toward members of
one's own group, while aggressive feelings are easily diverted toward
outsiders. However, when this happens, humanization of one's own
group members and dehumanization of the outsiders is a frequent con-
comitant. Such dehumanization offers rationalization potential and also
reduces associated guilt. This facilitates the exploitation, neglect, vio-
lence, or other aggressive behavior which may then be directed toward
those outsiders. Any perception of these exploited victims as humans
with whom we can identify, empathize, or feel fondness, increases our
personal discomfort and reduces our freedom to exploit or do violence
against them. These psychological factors are extremely relevant to tele-
vised violence, since whenever victims are devalued or dehumanized,
violence toward them may become more acceptable or even endorsed.

Antisocial acts may occur among human beings from any group and
from any walk of life, and within the context of tragedy and conflict they
always do occur. Since special circumstances in the lives of some indi-
viduals or groups can reinforce antisocial behavior, it becomes impor-
tant to identify and change those circumstances if we wish to alter that


122                         TELEVISION ANDGROWING UP

kind of behavior. Whether presenting drama or news, it would therefore
seem important for television decision-makers to convey, insofar as
possible, the human contexts and conflict-filled human circumstances to
engender, rather than discourage, humanitarian responses to the plight
or behavior of other human beings.

Television should seek to avoid presenting any human beings as ani-
mal-like, without conscience, or without concern for the persons they
care for or who care for them, since to do so endorses and facilitates the
dehumanization and destruction of the victims of that treatment. Overt
or subtle cues about the victims' characteristics may reinforce in the
viewer's mind images which he identifies and dislikes in himself. He
then represses, renounces, and imposes them upon some dehumanized
outsider. Insofar as television presents victims with which viewers can-
not identify and empathize, it may encourage viewers to accept and
endorse violence as a simplistic solution to the conflict portrayed. Inso-
far as television more realistically presents both human beings and hu-
man conflicts in their complex human form rather than in simplistic de-
humanized form, it could well offer opportunity for more full experience
as a human being. While there might be less pleasure and more conflict,
more humanity would be encouraged in viewers.

This view is not unique. In fact, it parallels a view expressed in the
report of the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Vi-
olence on "Violence in Television Entertainment Programs." The
Commission noted that the code of the National Association of Broad-
casters prohibits the presentation of alarming and offensive material,
including emphasis upon the pain, helplessness, despair, and uncomfort-
able conflicts in persons involved in violent interactions. Portraying the
humanity of perpetrators and of victims in a manner which permits
viewers to identify with and vicariously live through their experience is
not often done. The Commission points out that part of this "sanitizing"
process results in only rare portrayal of violent interactions between in-
timates, although this type of violence is actually quite common in real
life. The hurts delivered to one's loved ones are seldom portrayed, while
conflict between representatives of different groups is emphasized. The
Commission report contained a speculation that if viewers were exposed
to the horror and painful results of violence, it might sensitize them to
their own potential for harming or being harmed.

A MORE HUMAN DEFINITION OF VIOLENCE

In order to define violence as realistically, as ethically, and with as
much psychological accuracy as possible, the definition should be
broadened to include the experience of its victims. Everyone who consi-
ders humanitarian values important should have concern about the ex-
perience of all persons who are physically or psychologically victimized
or destroyed unnecessarily.


UNFINISHEDAGENDA                            123

When deaths occur from air, water, or food pollution, or from unsafe
drugs which have been authorized. or from defective mechanical equip-
ment, the violent annihilation of human beings has been caused by the
acts of other human beings. Also, the operation of a vehicle or factory.
or the casting of a vote in Congress, or the signing of an executive order
have only rarely been defined as violence, when such acts have had vio-
lent effects on a few or a multitude of persons.
The physical and psychological violence experienced under the cir-
cumstances just described may go unrecognized when violence is de-
fined only in terms of the physical acts of perpetrators who are account-
able. In situations where responsibility and accountability are unclear, it
is essential to define violence in terms of the victims' experience if we
are not to overlook or neglect the extensive misery experienced through
such acts. When a society legislates and institutionalizes the definition
of violence in terms of victims, then all violent experience becomes a
matter of concern. When the definition reflects only accountable de-
structive behavior, much, if not most, violent experience may not even
be acknowledged.
When accountability is divided among many people, it is easy for each
individual person to avoid any sense of responsibility. When an action is
taken by an organization, a company, or a bureaucracy, decision-mak-
ing and action-taking may be so well rationalized and divided between
many levels, departments, or individuals, in a maze of interlocking
complexities, that individual responsibility and accountability are in
some respects impossible to assign. Persons in a large organization may
have no conscious awareness of its destructive effects nor of their own
personal contributions to them. The mass violence and genocide admin-
istered to six million European Jews could only have been accomplished
through such an institutional arrangement, with its own obscure individ-
ual accountability. Similarly, mass violence and slavery were imposed
upon uncounted millions of Negroes in a nation where freedom and
equality were valued. Such authorized and legitimized aggression is
usually not even seen as violence, and sometimes efforts are made to
define the perpetrators as intelligent people of good will who were mere-
ly doing their jobs according to their assignments under the laws and
codes of their day.
The ease with which a definition can be used unwittingly to justify, to
rationalize, or to obscure from our awareness vast amounts of violent
experience is apparent. It seems very possible that television has great
potential as a social force to modify progressively society's definition
and awareness of violence. Clearly, this would necessitate a marked
change in current practice, where it largely entertains and informs.
When violent real-life experiences are televised, the audience is con-
fronted with uncomfortable visual and auditory stimuli which must be
interpreted and dealt with in some manner which can ultimately reduce
discomfort. For that reason, the violence is often rationalized. justified,


124                         TELEVISION AND GROWING UP

or denied by the viewer, if perpetrated by people with whom he identi-
fies. Violence arouses sadness, indignation, rage, and urges to retaliate
or reform when it victimizes people with whom we identify. If it is over-
ly painful, we may turn it off or campaign against the televised content
which disturbes our complacency. Clearly, some of the violent content
televised in newscasts during the 1960s evoked complicated responses
of these kinds in viewers. Just as politicians believe in the value of tele-
vision, so persons who wished to direct attention to some matter about
which they were gravely concerned found that televised demonstrations
and confrontations helped to produce the interest and excitement need-
ed to attract attention. This attention and response on the part of per-
sons sympathetic to the cause, as well as those antagonistic to the cause,
enlarged the arena of confrontation, often to the point of creating a pub-
lic issue. Television became one of the principal media, along with radio
and newspapers, through which confrontations on issues could be por-
trayed in B manner which aroused widespread concern and interest.

It is a matter of record that the Civil Rights movement led by Dr. Mar-
tin Luther King, Jr., in the early 1960s was based upon mutual love, re-
spect, and consideration, equality of opportunity and correction of in-
justice in line with our most cherished national and religious ethics.
Large numbers of blacks and whites sympathized with and supported
this movement until 1965-66. Also at that time, many whites, who were
stirred from their indifference and threatened as the integration move-
ment'gathered impetus, disrupted demonstrations and precipitated vio-
lent confrontations. The strength and influence of this "White Back-
lash" countermovement became one of the factors which partially neu-
tralized the movement led by Dr. King, even as it mobilized others to
join him. The size and intensity of confrontations, and the frequency
with which violence occurred during them, converted the movement
from one of hope into one of pain, failure, and despair. The integration
movement progressively appeared'to many as a nonviable political ap-
proach to the problems of black Americans in the face of white indiffer-
ence on the one hand and "White Backlash" on the other. Such frustra-
tion and despair, fused with mounting impatience, fed into a counter-
movement of blacks referred to as the "Black Power Movement."
Black ethnic group formation, with emphasis upon development of
group integrity and strength to deal with the white strength opposing
them, began to compete with integration as a goal. This polarization
effect became an important factor in the ongoing struggle for integra-
tion, as well as the continued pressure for segregation. The swift pas-
sage of information about this swirl of conflicted emotions and ideolo-
gies can surely be attributed in large part to the communication efficien-
cy of the television medium.

The development by blacks of forceful responses as a group when
they perceived unjust force being used against a black person led to
remarkably violent interactions between large numbers of whites and


UNFINISHED AGENDA                            I25

blacks in 1966-68. These violent interactions, together with the violence
of the war in Vietnam and a series of assassinations of leaders with inte-
grative orientations, emphasized with clarity that the dynamics of power
between polarized groups led only to more violence. Since 1968, integra-
tive activity has been undertaken with renewed effort because further
polarization seemed nonviable. Conflict between polarized groups has
been contained and undermined by the invocation and organization of
greater power to manage confrontations and other polarized situations.
The dynamics and ethics of power continue to be operative between in-
dividuals and groups with conflicting interests, but they are modulated
by stronger forces which manage conflict in our society. Conflicts be-
tween management and labor, men and women, whites and red people,
English-speaking and Spanish-speaking people, educators and students,
and the rich and the poor have been analogous to those between whites
and blacks in their dynamics and central issues.

Television has been unparalleled as an instrument of mass communi-
cation in its capability for engaging the interests, feelings, attitudes, be-
liefs, and behavior both of the participants in telecasting and of viewers.
The dynamic interplay of the forces involved in each important social
issue can be readily observed in television news, dramatic, and enter-
tainment content. Moreover, since television is perceived as an instru-
ment with potentially powerful impact upon the outcome of social, polit-
ical, and economic issues, it has become an instrument which individu-
als and groups seek to influence and manipulate in their own interests.

The excitement and entertainment potential of televised violence has
engaged the attention of both viewers and programmers. This reality has
become a "cause" for many, and has stimulated general concern. On
the other hand, the discomfort of audiences and television programmers
with the plight of victims and with injustice constitutes another reality
that leaves us with a problem. It seems very possible that television
could stimulate a more general awareness of the plight of many victims
whose needs now go unattended. Moreover, if an orderly means were
found for bringing attention to these victims, so that they might receive
appropriate consideration and concerned response, it might be unneces-
sary for them to rely upon social conflict in order to get attention. Also,
it should not be forgotten that when conflict is used to gain attention and
interest, the underlying cause may go unattended as social concern is
shifted and focused on management of the disruption. Since access to
media also follows the dynamics of power and influence, it follows that
by comparison most victims in society are relatively without power and
without influence. How, then, can victims gain access to television and
other media so that their plight may receive the attention and appropri-
ate human concern which is their due?

Television entertainment may contribute to insensitivity. In such pro-
grams the primary victims seldom exhibit the repulsive physical conse-
quences of violence, and the effects of. such violence on secondary vic-


126                            TELEVISION AND GROWING UP

tims such as bereaved family members are rarely shown. Entertainment
program content which creates sympathy for the victim is thus relatively
rare, and indeed such content might well be avoided by many people in
the audience. Who is comfortable empathizing with and sharing the
suffering of the victim? Victims have usually been portrayed in a manner
which does not cause the kind of discomfort which would alienate view-
ers, and these portrayals may therefore directly or indirectly produce
comfort and pleasure for the audience. This situation poses a very diffi-
cult set of problems.

Many changes in attitudes toward economic and political, as well as
social welfare and health, issues might well be set in motion if violence
is defined to include victims. Inevitably it would lead toward better rec-
ognition and better control of the violence some groups do, and of the
violence some organizations and bureaucracies commit. It is likely that
many institutions and bureaucracies, and individuals with vested inter-
ests in them, would resist invocation of such a broadly humanitarian
definition of violence. In this regard, television has the potentiality to
provide remarkable psychological assistance to our society and its insti-
tutions as, and if, they seek greater understanding and greater response
to the plight of victims. This psychological preparation might help to
give the time and the impetus for psychological, emotional, and behav-
ioral changes in responsible officials and personnel of our institutions.

It is well known that in some cultures and under some circumstances
those who feel victimized may come to identify with aggressors and lat-
er become aggressors themselves. A great deal of the individual and
collective violence which has been studied reveals this pattern. Al-
though this fact can easily be observed, it is less well known that under
the circumstances when identification with the aggressor can occur, it
only occurs after the victims fail in their repeated attempts to have the
aggressors identify with them. Moreover, whenever aggressors can be
helped to identify with victims, the aggression ceases. When aggressors
continually fail to identify with victims, power is required to improve
the victims' lots. Such dynamics underlie the various power movements
which periodically emerge in the victimized groups of society. Power
tactics might become unnecessary if broadscale identification with vic-
tims could be encouraged and reinforced, and television might be an
important tool.in such a movement. Thus, television might be able to
move people to be "more human" on a plane where identification with
victims would occur as readily as with aggressors and where the devel-
opment of alliances would reduce divisiveness and conflict. Obviously,
the utilization of television for this purpose involves some complex poli-
cy decisions by all of society. Psychological sacrifice would be involved
if audiences were carried along and obliged to identify with and suffer
along with victims, seeing them as they are in real life. If violence were
more realistically portrayed on television, it would not be so easy to


UNFINISHED AGENDA                            127

watch, to accept, or to enjoy, and even less easy to participate in vicari-
ously. It would even press the viewer in the direction of accepting his
own violent and "evil" self. With this in mind, the television industry's
code could be modified so that portrayal of the humanity of all victims
would be encouraged. It is also important to portray and demonstrate
persistently the humanity of all persons who play some role in the vic-
tims' experience. In this way viewers may identify victimizing tenden-
cies within themselves instead of denying them and imputing them to
less thoughtful, less considerate, less humane persons only. More realis-
tic, higher-quality drama could emerge which might be more emotionally
involving to individuals in the audience. Great drama, after all, involves
the audience in the roles of all characters and limits the degree to which
one may be accepted while another is rejected. Were changes in these
directions to be introduced, the effects could be profound. For under-
standing of them, ongoing evaluative research programs would be need-
ed.

Economic or political interests, and audience interests, are generally
motivated to influence programming because of their strong profit and
pleasure-seeking incentives respectively. We hope that more people in
the community will develop an active concern with television and its
educational potential so that society can perhaps speed up its snail-
paced approach to the multitude of social problems involving human
beings and their value systems. Though the television industry has made
some contribution in this direction, there is very much more they might
do. When this committee focused its efforts on the effects of televised
violence upon children, we restricted ourselves to just a tiny portion of
the field of television and social behavior. The Department of Health,
Education and Welfare would do well to consider increased involvement
in this field, not just in relation to the possibly harmful effects of televi-
sion, but also to develop the experience and professional relationships
needed to consider and stimulate television's health-promoting possibili-
ties.


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Appendix A: Initial Operations, June-
      October 1969

On June 3, 1969, HEW Secretary Robert H. Finch announced the
appointment of the Surgeon General's Scientific Advisory Committee
on Television and Social Behavior. The committee's mission: to study
the effects of television on social behavior, with its focus on the effects
of televised violence on the behavior, attitudes, development, and men-
tal health of children; the study is to be confined to scientific findings and
the committee will make no policy recommendations.

Secretary Finch noted that if the study reveals there is an adverse
connection between violence and television and mental health of chil-
dren, it is likely that corrective action will be taken by the broadcast
industry on a voluntary basis.

The original framework for the study had been laid down by Surgeon
General William Stewart in his testimony, on March 12, 1969, before the
Senate Subcommittee on Communications. Dr. Stewart said that there is
little doubt that television has an impact on the viewing public. He point-
ed out that the average American child, by age 16, has spent more hours
in front of a television set than in a classroom.

The Surgeon General stated that the task "cannot be accomplished by
narrowly focused studies, since the violence a child sees on television is
randomly interwoven into the total skein of television fare. . . .it is es-
sential to recognize that, with such a complex phenomenon, all the an-
swers will not be forthcoming within the next few weeks or the next few
months. The panel's findings and recommendations should be an impor-
tant step in increasing our understanding of our social environment and
of ourselves."

Thus the committee's work is concerned with producing new knowl-
edge and will not restrict itself to reexamining existing information. A
series of new research projects is now being developed which will in-
crease our understanding of the effects of mass media and to answer the
Surgeon General's question, "What kind of impact and how does it in-
fluence behavior?"

139


140
Early inquiries

TELEVISION AND GROWING UP

Early research of televised programming consisted mainly of limited
studies and recorded testimony from scientists, educators, and irate
parents.

The first public examination was taken in the early 1950s when the
National Association of Educational Broadcasters, under a Ford Foun-
dation grant, conducted monitoring surveys in four large cities.' The
surveys found that in each of the four cities, drama accounted for about
one-fourth of the total programming time; drama of crime and horror
comprised approximately ten percent of all programming time. This per-
centage jumped when westerns were included in this category.

The issue of the effect of television violence on human behavior was
brought up before the Congress of the United States in 1954 by the late
Senator Estes Kefauver, who headed the Subcommittee to Investigate
Juvenile Delinquency. That committee launched hearings in response to
mounting concern of parents and educators over the amount of time
devoted to shows containing crime, brutality, sadism, and sex. Based on
the testimony, the committee issued a report indicating that it felt televi-
sion violence could be potentially harmful to young viewers.*

Representatives of television networks acknowledged the large
amount of televised violence and promised to change the content, but
subsequent surveys by the Senate subcommittee, in 1961 and 1964, re-
vealed that the degree of violence in prime time programming had sub-
stantially increased. After this third survey in 1964, the overriding con-
clusion of the subcommittee was that "the extent to which violence and
related activities are depicted on television today has not changed sub-
stantially from what it was in 1961 and remains greater than it was a dec-
ade ago. Further, violence and other antisocial behaviors are, to an
overwhelming degree, televised during time periods in which the chil-
dren's audience is a large one."

In 1964, Senator Thomas Dodd held hearings to review what had hap-
pened in the past three years, and he reported: "Not only did we fail to
see an appreciable reduction of violence in new shows, but we also
found that the most violent shows of the 1961-62 season have been syn-
dicated and are now being reshown on independent networks and sta-
tions."

`The National Association of Educational Broadcasters conducted surveys of television
content in Los Angeles (May 23-29, 1951), New York (January 4-10,1951,1952, 1953, Jan-
uary 25-31, 1954). New Haven (May 15-21, 1952, and Chicago (July 30-August 5.1951).
*U.S. Senate Commit(ee on the Judiciary, Investigation of Juvenile Delinquency in the
United States, Television and juvenile delinquency, 84th Congress, 2d session, January
16,1956. Report No. 1466.


APPENDIX A                                  141

The Dodd committee reported that a relationship has been established
between televised crime and violence and antisocial attitudes and behav-
ior among juvenile viewers.3 The report added: "And we are greatly
impressed by television's achievements in the public areas and by its
potential for good in both the education and entertainment fields. Yet it
seems clear that television has been functioning as what an informed
critic has termed `a school for violence* ."

On June 10, 1968, President Lyndon Johnson charged his newly creat-
ed National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence with
answering the question, "Are the seeds of violence nurtured through the
public's airways. . .that reach the family and our young?"
In addition to holding hearings and reviewing existing research, the

Commission undertook a content analysis of a week of entertainment
television programming in 1967 and a comparable week in 1968, and
conducted a survey of the public's actual experience with violence and
its norms for violence.

On September 23, 1969, the Commission issued a statement in which
it concluded that violence on television encourages real violence, espe-
cially among the children of poor, disorganized families. The Commis-
sion recommended: a reduction in programs containing violence; elimi-
nation of violence from children's cartoon programs; adoption of the
British practice of scheduling programs containing significant violence
only after 9 p.m.; permanent Federal financing for the Public Broadcast
Corporation; and intensified research by the networks into the impact of
television.4 The Commission's report provides a valuable synthesis of
existing information, adding a new content analysis of television pro-
gramming and also an analysis of attitudes of television violence. Recog-
nizing the need for new research, the National Commission called for
long-term studies and cited the importance of evaluating televised vio-
lence over a protracted period.

Scientific advisory corn m ittee formed

Despite the repeated examination of televised violence in the past
decade and a half, no effective or integrated program of research was
initiated. And no significant financial support had been available to stim-
ulate new research in this one area, much less in the general area of tele-
vision and social behavior.

`U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Effects on young people of violence and crime
portrayed on television, Part 16 of Investigation of Juvenile Delinquency in the United
States, July 30, 1964, p. 3731

4National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence, Commission Statement
on Violence in Television Entertainment Programs, September 23, 1969.


142                            TELEVISION AND GROWING UP

Some areas of social behavior as related to television viewing will
always be in doubt. No answers stand unchallenged in our rapidly
changing society. It has become obvious that a comprehensive program
to stimulate research in this area is long overdue. The National Commis-
sion's recommendation for further study is another indication that the
pervasive medium of television, which is so much a part of our environ-
ment, must become the object of a more scientific analysis if we are to
understand its impact and use it constructively.
In March 1969, Senator John 0. Pastore, Chairman of the Senate
Subcommittee on Communications, wrote to Secretary Finch, request-
ing that the Secretary direct the Surgeon General to appoint a committee
"to devise techniques and to conduct a study under his (the Surgeon
General's) supervision using those techniques which will establish scien-
tifically insofar as possible what harmful effects, if any, these programs
have on children.
President Richard Nixon, in a letter to Senator Pastore, affirmed his
support for the proposed study.
The Surgeon General said that if television can have a negative effect
on children, it can also be a positive stimulus. "We must learn more
about how to promote this latter capability," he said, "while we learn to
avoid the hazards of the former."
The National Institute of Mental Health was charged with the respon-
sibility for the functions of the committee. On June 3, 12 distinguished
scientists were appointed to the Advisory Committee. The Surgeon
General was named Chairman; Eli A. Rubinstein, Ph.D., Assistant
Director for Extramural Programs and Behavioral Sciences, NIMH,
Vice-Chairman; and Richard A. Moore, Special Consultant to the Secre-
tary, Secretary Finch's liaison with the Committee.
On June 16-17, ten days after its formation, the Scientific Advisory
Committee held its first formal meeting. The general task and `mode of
operation were defined as follows: (1) The Committee will serve in a
scientific advisory role to the Surgeon General and to the research, to be
developed by the National Institute of Mental Health when the full-time
staff has been organized. (2) NIMH will serve as the central resource for
the work and will be the referral point for inquiries and responses about
the Committee's work. (3) The next step will be the development of re-
search projects to obtain new knowledge about television's effects on
social behavior. Approximately $1,000,000 has been earmarked for ac-
tual research initiated by or recommended by this committee. (4) The
Advisory Committee recommended that recent relevant activities such
as the work of the Mass Media Task Force of the National Commission
on the Causes and Prevention of Violence be carefully examined to en-
sure maximum use of any recent findings in the initiation of research
studies. (5) Because the present state of research in television and social


APPENDIX A                                  143
behavior is the work of individual investigators and is largely uncoordi-
nated, the Advisory Committee recommended that the NIMH National
Clearinghouse for Mental Health Information provide a comprehensive
and continuing source of information about research on television and
social behavior. (6) The committee agreed that it would be inappropriate
to take a narrow view of the problem of television and social behavior. It
is therefore recommended that the research efforts be undertaken in two
phases: a short-term objective of a year or two to try to obtain better
immediate answers, and a long-term objective to develop a continuing
comprehensive examination of the process of child development which
is influenced by the impact of television on social' behavior. (7) No firm
completion date for the study was set.

During July, August, and September of 1969 a series of activities was
initiated to launch a comprehensive program of research. A staff of pro-
fessional and technical personnel was employed to serve as the pro-
gram's staff secretariat. Invitations were.extended to 50 research organi-
zations and to about 100 key research scientists to participate in the pro-
gram. This was done through extensive personal and telephone contact
with scientists in relevant fields of research and by direct letters of in-
quiry to selected research centers. In addition, an announcement was
placed in the Commerce Business Daily inviting inquiry about the pro-
gram from qualified research organizations.

The Scientific Advisory Committee held its second meeting on Sep-
tember 24-25 to discuss an overall research play and to consider a varie-
ty of research proposals in various stages of development.
Additional full committee meetings will be held periodically. At the
same time, members are also individually participating in those aspects
of the program development related to their specific areas of compet-
ence.

Related projects are studied

The National Clearinghouse for Mental Health Information, NIMH,
is providing the committee with information on relevant studies now
being conducted by various research groups. Being compiled is a com-
prehensive bibliography of all published research which has some bear-
ing in this area. A listing of about 804 broadly relevant citations is now in
development. The most pertinent of these will be made into an annota-
ted bibliography.

Some currently active research projects funded by Federal programs
relate to our goals. One researcher, over the past seven years, has investi-
gated the factors that affect the imitation of aggressive behavior in chil-
dren. Specifically, he has investigated the likelihood that children will
display aggressive behavior after seeing a film whjch shows adults en-
gaged in various kinds of aggressive action.


144                        TELEVISION AND GROWING up

Another researcher has proposed a new line of research that attempts
to map the ecology of aggressive behavior in order to understand not
only the characteristics of the aggressor but also the "target" of the ag-
gression. The study's hypothesis is that some individuals and events are
more likely than others to stimulate aggressive behavior.
Another major project analyzes the forms of aggressive behavior,
which are described as anger, hostility, and overt aggression. The object
is to investigate ways in which people respond to provocation. Other
researchers have studied the role of imitation or vicarious learning in
social development.

A different line of research is investigating the factors in social devel-
opment that relate to aggressive acting-out in various population sub-
groups. It is related to the finding that in clinically isolated delinquents
and impulsive persons one's self-concept is a major influence on the
likelihood of aggressive behavior.

Other research deals with the process of communication in the family
setting as it related to antisocial behavior in early childhood: analyses of
the problem of imitation; and the effects of mass media on altruistic
behavior, family interaction, and attitude change.

Summary of proposed research

Through an intensive effort at stimulating new research, and as a re-
sult of discussions with various scientists. a number of projects are un-
der way and others are now under consideration. Most of these projects
are being developed by leading researchers at some of the major uni-
versities in the country.

Research projects ttiat have been initiated and other research propos-
als that are being considered bear on a number of interrelated issues.
Central among these explorations is an effort to obtain a much better
understanding of television viewing behavior and thereby establish a
meaningful base for evaluating effects. One proposal attempts to assess
the types of television fare viewed by adolescents but also relating these
viewing patterns to such factors as parent-child communication, disci-
plinary practice, attitudinal similarity, and a host of demographic varia-
bles.

Along a somewhat different line of analysis, there is an attempt to
study the viewing behavior of young children within the family setting.
In this instance, however, the emphasis is not on the content, but rather
on the process of viewing. The proposed study attempts to map the
child's behavior during the period of actual viewing, with specific refer-
ence to parent-child and peer interaction and attentional variables. The
study also will include comparisons between black-white and varying
socioeconomic levels.


APPENDIX A                                  145

Overlaying these projects, a procedure is being developed to assess
attitudes about television. The main thrust of this survey will attempt to
relate program preferences and viewing patterns with a wide range of
variables such as experience with aggressive activities, personal value
orientation and moral development, and attitudes about aggression. The
proposed survey will sample from a specified population with a wide age
range and varying socioeconomic and ethnic groups.
One researcher, in response to criticisms of previous laboratory in-
vestigations, has proposed a series of interrelated experiments designed
to more directly assess the effects of televised violence. This study
would use stimulus materials which reflect standard television program-
ming and will measure behaviors which directly relate to the child's
daily experiences.
Much of the proposed research activity is specifically directed at chil-
dren.One major project being considered begins with the assumption
that the usual procedures for studying the effects of television violence
may not be easily generalizable to the real world of children. The re-
searchers suggest that the observation of televised violence does not
influence the child to act out this particular scene but that, rather, such
observation operates to modify the child's attitudes toward violence.
They propose to study this hypothesis with a developmental approach to
gain an understanding about levels of moral development and attitudes
about the acceptability of violent behavior.
While others are concerned with the effects of media use, one re-
searcher will attempt to investigate young children's patterns of media
use per se, as they relate to the children's personal style, parent and peer
group conflicts, and antisocial aggression.
Several researchers have designed investigations of the content of
standard television fare with particular emphasis on aggressive material.
One investigator has addressed himself to an analysis of physical vio-
lence in the mass media, while in another approach we will be more con-
cerned with manifestations of verbal aggression. Still another proposal
concentrates on racial and social class differences in the perception of
televised violence.
The committee and the staff are examining the possibility of initiating
an extensive field study in which differing television programming would
be offered for two or more hours a day for a number of months to two
matched audiences of children at home. This could be done through
CATV. While this would be an unusual opportunity for measuring ef-
fects, there are a number of unsolved research problems which need to
be considered before such a study can begin.
The framing of the total research program is complicated. Staff mem-
bers are making a special effort to develop as much interrelationship and
integration of the individual studies as possible. Where appropriate,


146                           TELEVISION AND GROWING UP

common measuring instruments will be used. In certain instances the
same stimulus material will be used. It also is anticipated that the var-
ious investigators collaborating with the total research program will be
called in from time to time to discuss mutual problems.

No final completion date has been established for the entire effort.
Much depends on the initial progress in the studies now being organized.
It seems clear even at this early date that an integrated research program
has been initiated. The study of television's effects on social behavior is
not easily approached solely by examination in a laboratory setting. Nor
can any single project-whether an analysis of content, examination of
attitudes, or even a careful exploration of viewing behavior-provide
definitive answers. What seems necessary is a comprehensive research
effort which can effectively facilitate the exploration of the broad ques-
tion of the relationship between television and social behavior.

The Surgeon General's Scientific Advisory Committee, therefore, is
exploring many phases of the process of transmitting and receiving tele-
vised communications: in the clinical laboratory and the natural setting,
on both the child and his milieu, both physical and verbal violence, tele-
vised violence in both real and fantasy form, and recognizing positive
and negative elements in this powerful form of mass communication.

October 30. 1969


Author and Title            Subjects

1.   Baldwin & Lewis
     Violence in Television:
    The Industry Looks at
     Itself

Appendix B: Television and Social
   Behavior Program
   Reports and Papers

2.   Bechtel, Achelpohl & Akers
      Correlates between
      Observed Behavior and
     Questionnaire Responses
     on Television Viewing

3.   Blatt, Spencer & Ward
    A Cognitive Develop-
    mental Study of
     Children's Reactions to
     Television Advertising

4.   Cantor
     The Role of the Producer
    in Choosing Children's
     Television Content

Description

48 producers, writers
and directors

Interviews were conducted with the writers, producers, and directors of net-
work action-adventure programming. The respondents were asked to describe
the role of violence in such programs and how the industry handles this aspect
(i.e., censorship activities). In addition, the subjects were asked to respond to
the critics of television violence and to comment on their beliefs about the
possible effects of viewing televised violence.

20 families
Total N = 82

20 children
5 kindergarten
5 second grade
5 fourth grade
5 sixth grade

24 producers and
  writers

Video tape cameras were installed in the homes of participating families. Obser-
vations of viewing behavior were continuously recorded for five days. The
video-tape records were coded, in 2-l/2 minute intervals for attention to the
sat (e.g., watching/not watching), and types of simultaneous activity (e.g., eat-
ing, reading). These behavior records were compared with the viewer's responses
to questionnaire measures of viewing behavior.

Children were shown a one-hour videotape of "Saturday morning" television
programming which included cartoons and other children's programs, plus 15
minutes of commercials. On the following day, the children were interviewed,
in groups of five, concerning their reactions to the commercials (e.g. recall and
understanding of the commercial message) and general attitudes toward adver-
tising.

Twenty producers and four writers of children's programs were interviewed.
Respondents were asked to describe the manner in which shows are selected by
the networks and sponsors; the relationship between the producers and net-
work; and the producer's conception of the audience for his program.    5


Author and Title

5.   Chaffee
     Television and Adolescent
    Aggressiveness

6. Chaffee 81 McLeod
     Adolescent Television Use
    in the Family Context

7.   Clark
    Race Identification, and
     Television Violence
      Experiment I

Experiment I I

8.  Clark & Blankenburg
     Trends in Violent
     Content in Selected
     Mass Media

9. Comstock
     Media Control and
     Content: An Overview

Subjects

Description

1292 junior and
senior high school
641 eight grade
651 tenth grade

7 1 teenagers
  38 white
  33 black

45 white, college
  students

A summary of current research on the relationship between viewing televised
violence and the aggressive behavior of adolescents.

This survey related adolescent's television viewing (e.g. viewing televised vio-
lence) to factors such as; IQ, parent's television use, SES. and family communi-
cation patterns. The latter factor was defined by the parent's relative emphasis
on either socio-(i.e., maintaining interpersonal harmony/repression of conflicts)
or concept-(i.e., free discussion and mutual understanding of conflicts) orienta-
tions.

Adolescents were shown a videotape of a Dragnet episode which featured three
main characters: "Black Militant", "Black Policeman", and "White Policeman."
The subjects viewed the program in either racially "mixed" or "homogeneous"
groups. Post viewing questionnaires assessed the viewer's identification with the
various characters and the role of black consciousness in such identification.

Subjects viewed the Dragner program in dyads composed of either a black or   ;;1
white confederate who either engaged in social communication (i.e. friendly   L
conversation) or remained silent during the viewing period.                 <
                                         t;
Several forms of mass media (e.g. front-page newspaper stories, a weekly maga-
zine, and television entertainment programming) were inspected for the presence $

of violent content and their treatment of violent themes. Comparison were       >

obtained between media violence and environmental or real violence (i.e. FBI   is
Uniform Crime Reports).                   52
A review of this program's research on decisionmaking in television production
and violence in television content.        z
                                                    0
                           s


Author and Title            Subjects

10.   Dahlgren
      Television in the Sociali-
      zation Process: Structures
     and Programming of the
     Swedish Broadcasting
     Corporation

11.   Dominick & Greenberg
      Attitudes Toward
      Violence: The Interaction
     of TV Exposure, Family
     Attitudes, and Social
      Class

12.   Ekman, Liebert, Friesen,
   Harrison, Zlatchin, Malstrom
    & Baron
     Facial Expressions of
     Emotion While Watching
     Televised Violence as
     Predictors of Subsequent
     Aggression

13.   Feshbach
     Reality and Fantasy in
      Filmed Violence
       Experiment I

Experiment II

Description

A description of the broadcast policies of Sveriges Radio.

838 children
434 4th. 5th and 6th
grade boys
404 4th. 5th and 6th
grade girls

Each child's prior exposure to televised violence, his perception of his parents'
attitudes concerning the appropriateness of violence, and his family's socio-
economic level were related to various measures of the child's attitudes toward
violence (e.g. willingness to use violence, perceived effectiveness of violence,
and approval of aggre&ion).

65,5-6 yr. children
(30 boys and 35 girls)

Children's facial expressions while viewing televised violence were used as an
index of the child's emotional reaction to such fare. This index was then used
to assess the relationship between the child's emotional response to observing
violent acts and his subsequentwillingness to engage in interpersonal aggression

129,9-l 1 year old
  children

40,9-l 1 year old
  children

Children viewed either real (i.e., newsreel), fantasy (i.e., Hollywood movie), or
control (e.g. circus movie) films and were then allowed to play a game in which
they could engage in aggressive acts against an ostensible victim.

In this study, each child was informed that the movie he was about to view
was either real ("NBC newsreel") or fantasy ("Hollywood movie"). Measures
of the child's subsequent aggressive behavior were identical to the first study.
                                    z
                                                      ko


Author and Title

Experiment I II

14.   Foulkes, Belvedere &
    Television and Aggression:
    A Reply to Liebert, Sobol,
     and Davidson

15.  Feshbach & Singer
    Television and Aggression:
     Some Reactions to the
     Liebert, Sobol, and David-
    son Review and Response

16.   Foul kes, Belvedere &
    Brubaker
     Televised Violence and
      Dream Content

17.   Friedman & Johnson
     Mass Media Use and
    Aggression: A Pilot
    Study

18.   Gerbner
     The Structure and Process
    of Television Program
    Content Regulation in
      the United States

Subjects

30,9-l 1 year old
  children

Description

This study was similar to the second experiment except that each child was
informed that his aggressive behavior in the "guessing game" was only make
believe. Results of this study were compared with,the results of the previous
experiment.

WI
0

A reply to a critique of the catharsis thesis (see items 15,34, and 35).

A response to a comment on a reply to a critique of the catharsis thesis (see
items 14, 34 and 35).

40. lo-12 year-old boys    This study was designed to assess the relationship between viewing televised
             violence the subsequent content of the child's dreams. Children viewed either
             a violent or non violent program immediately prior to bedtime. Their dreams
             were monitored during the sleep period and scored on a variety of dimensions
              (e.g. hostility, vividness and hedonic tone).               ;;1

80 preadolescent boys    Adolescent's attitudes toward aggression (e.g. tendency to engage in overt    G
                                                                           e
40 "aggressive"      physical aggression) and his patterns of television use (e.g., amount time spent   t;
40 "nonaggressive"    viewing, program preferences) were studied in an attempt to assess the rela-
             tionship between viewing televised violence and engaging in antisocial acts.   2
                                                                           >

A description of broadcast and content control structures operative in Ameri-
can television programming.                 2
                                                       n
                           g
                                         s
                   :
                           5


Author and Title           Subjects

.lQ.   Gerbner
      Violence in Television
      Drama: Trends and
     Symbolic Functions

20.

Greenberg
Television's Effects:
Further Explorations

21.  Greenberg, Eriaon & Vlahos
     Children's Television
     Behaviors as Perceived
     by Mother and Child

22.  Greenberg 81 Gordon
    Perceptions of Violence

  in Television Programs:
  Critics and the Public

23.  Greenberg 81 Gordon
     Social Class and Racial
     Differences in Children's
     Perceptions of Televised
     Violence

24.  Greenberg & Gordon
    Children's Perceptions
     of Television Violence:
     A Replicetion

25.

Gurevitch
The Structum and Con-
  tent of Television
Broadcasting in Four
Countries: An Overview

B5.4th and Sth grada
  children and their
  mothers

53 critics
  303 men and women

325 fifth grade boys
89 low SES white
89 low SES black
90 middle SES white
57 upper SES white

263 eight grada boys
66 low SES black
  78 low SES white
  37 middleSES white
82 upper-middle SES
   white

Description

This study provided an analysis of the content of a one week sample of prime-
time, entertainment programming. It described various factors relating to the
frequency and symbolic characteristics of televised violence.

An overview of several current research projects that provide a diversity of
theoretical and methodological approaches to research on the effects of
television.

Mothers, interviewed at home, were asked to describe their child's television
viewing patterns (e.g., program praferences, rules about viewing) while each
child answared similar questions in the dassroom. The child's salf reported
television viewing behavior was compared with the mother's description.

A telephone survey ipublic) and mail questionnaires (critics) asked the
respondents to rate the amount of violence contained in various television
entertainment programs.

This study assessed boys waluation violenca portrayed on television in terms
of the degree of perceived violence, acceptability of violence, liking, degree
of arousal, and perceived reality of the violent act.

A replication of the prior study conducted with youngar boys Bee item #23).

An introduction to a rev&w of the broadcasting policies of Great Britain, Israel,
Sweden, and the United States.


Author and Title           Subjects

26.

Halloran & `Croll
Television Programmas
in Great Britain:
Content and Control

27.  Johnson, Friedman & Gross
    Four Masculine Styles in
    Television Programming:
    A Study of the Viewing
     Preferences of Adolescent
     Males

80, 8th grada boys
39 "aggressive"
41 "non-aggressive"

28.   Katzman
     Violenca and Color
     Television: What
     Children of Different
    Agss Learn

240,4th, 6th and 9th
grade boys

29.  Kenny
     Threats to the Internal
    Validity of Cross-Lagged
    Panel Inference, as related
     to "Telwision Violence"
    and Child Aggression:
     A Follow-up Study

30.  Lefkowitz, Eron, Walder, (I
   Huesmann
     Television Violence and
    Child Aggression: A
    Follow-up Study

875 children-third grade
sample
382 adolescantaighth
grade sample
427,lQ year-olds

31.   Leifer & Roberts
    Children's Responses to
     Television Violenat

Description

A discussion of television broadcasting in Great Britain.

This study compared the program preference patterns of boys with a history
of "social aggressiveness' with their non-aggressive peers in an attempt to con-
struct a program classification scheme based on the masculine role concept
portrayed in each program.

Children viewed (in either color or blackend-white format) a color television
program which had been edited into either "high-violence" or "lowviolence"
versions. Post-viewing measures tested the child's recall of central and peri-
pheral details and related this recell to the color/violence variations.

A methodological note on the research design employed in a study by
Lefkowitz, Eron, Walder, 8 Huesmann bee item #30).

As part of a longitudinal study of childhood aggression, the investigators   H
queried the child and/or his parents about his television viewing patterns
(e.g. program preferences). Cross-laggad correlations between television    t?
viewing at age three and adolescent aggressiveness at age 19 were obtained   :
to provide causal inferences regarding television's role in the development
of aggressive behevior.            9
                  g
                         s


Dascriotion

Author and Title

Experiment I

Experiment II

Experiment III

Experiment IV

32.   Liibrt
    Some Relationships
     Betwen Viewing
    Violence and Behaving
    Aggressively

33.   Liebert & Baron
     Short-Term Effects of
    Televised Aggression
    on Children's Aggres-
     siw Behavior

271 children
40 kindergarten
  54 third
  56 sixth
  51 ninth
  70 twelfth

132 children
62 preschool
40 fifth
30 twelfth

160 children
51 fourth
56 sewnth
53 tenth

349 children
Bg third
  138 sixth
  112 tenth

136 children
(66 boys 8 88 girls)
(65.66 yeeroldsj
(71, B-B year-oldsj

Subsequent to viewing a television program which contained a number of
violent acts each child wes asked to evaluate the motivations and consequences
surrounding each depicted act of violence. The child's understanding of these
characteristics of violent act was then assessed in terms of the child's willingness
to engage in aggressive behavior.

Each child viewed a television program which was edited to provide one of four
combinations of motivations/consequences for the portrayed violent acts:
goobgo~& good-bed, bad-good, and bad-bad. Post-viewing maasures were
similar to the prior study.

Children viewad one of two versions of a movie in which the justifications for
aggmssion had been edited to provide for an "aggmssion-less justified" wrsion.
Post-viewing measures of aggressive behavior were similar to those employed
in the first experiment.

The temporal separation of the motivations for an aggressive act end conse-
quences accruing to the aggressor on the child's part-viewing aggressive
behavior, was explored in this present study. Measures of aggressive behavior
ware similar to previous studies.

A raview of currant research on television's role in the imitation and/or dis-
inhibition of aggressive behavior (with en additional raport: Strauss 81 Poulos,
"Television and Social Leerning: A summary of the Experimental Effects of
Observing Filmed Aggression").

In this study the childuia~r's willingness to engage in interpersonal aggression
was assessed subsequent to viewing either aggressive or neutral television
programming.


Author and Title           Subjects

34.  Liebert, Davidson, & Sob01
    Catharsis of Aggression
     Among Institutionalized
     Boys: Further Comments

35.  Liebert, Sobol, & Davidson
    Catharsis of Aggression
    Among Institutionalized
     Boys: Fact or Artifect?

36.

LoSciuto
A National Inventory of
Television Viewing
  Behavior

37.  Lyle
     Television in Day-to-Day
     Life: Patterns of Use

38.  Lyle & Hoffman
     Children's Use of
     Television and Other
      Media

39.  Lyle & Hoffman
     Explorations in patterns
     of television viewing by
     preschool children

40.  McIntyre & Teevan
     Television and Deviant
      Behavior

252 families

1682 children
300 first
793677,6th
468-50s. 10th

159 children
40 3 yearolds
82 4 yeer-olds
35 5 yearolds
  1 6 year-bid

2270 junior and senior
hi&r school students

Description

A comment on a reply to a critique of the catharsis thesis (see items 14, 15
and 35).

A commentary on a study of the role of catharsis in evaluating the effects of
viewing telwised violent, (see items 14,15 and 341.

A nation-wide sample of American families were interviewed concerning various
aspects of television viewing such es; why people watch television, what they
learn from programs, extent of viewing, and program preferences.

A review of current research in this program, on the role of television in some
aspects of daily life.

E

Children were interviewed about the role television plays in their daily life
(e.g. extent and duration of viewing, program preferences, attitudes toward
television, use of other forms of mass media). In eddition, the mbthers of first
graders were also interviewed concerning their perceptions of the role of    7
television in their child's daily life.                      z

A selected sample of Caucasian, Negro and Mexican-American preschool boys  H
and girls were intewiewed concerning their television viewing (e.g. program
preferences, extent of viewing recognition of television characters). In addition  5
mothers were interviewed concerning their child's television viewing patterns  2:
and perceived extent of learning from television.           g,
Questionnaire responses wem used to provide an estimate of the relationship   s
betvmen television viewing patterns (e.g. program praferenossj and self-reported
aggressive and delinquent behwior.              5
                          5


Author and Title

Subjects

41.  McLeod, Atkin, & Chaffee     648 students
     Adolescent, Parents and      Maryland sample
      Television Use:           229 7th Gradars
     Self-Report and Other       244 10th Graders
     Report Measures from the     Wisconsin sample
     Wisconsin Sample          56 7th Graders
                       83 10th Graders

42..   McLeod, Atkin & Chaffee
     Adolescent, Parents and
      Television Use: Adolescent
     Self-Report Measures from
     Maryland and Wisconsin Sample

43.   Murray              27,5-6 year-old boys
     Television in Inner-City
     Homes: Viewing
     Behavior of Young Boys

44.   Neale
      Comment on: Television
    Violence and Child Aggres-
     don: A Follow-up Study

A methodological note on the Lefkowitz, Eron, Walder, & Huesmann study
bee item #30).

45.   Rabinovich, MacLean,      57 6th grade children     This study wes designed to assess changes in the child's perception of violence
   Markham, & Talbott         24 girls          as a result of viewing televised violence. Children viewed either an aggressive
     Children's Violence Per-      33 boys          or nonaggressive television program and were then presented with a discrimina-
     ception as a Function                   tion task (i.e. identifying a tachistoscopically presented slide as either "violent"
     of Television Violence                      or "nonviolent").

46.   Robinson
     Television's Impact on
     Everyday Life: Soma
      Cross-National Evidence

This study was focussed on the respondent's allocation of tirna ("timebudgets")
to various activities (e.g. work, child care, leisure, mass media use) in his daily
life. Time budgsts were sampled in 15 cities in 11 countries.
                      5

Description

Self-report, peer, and "other" rated indicies of aggressive behwior were related  ?
to various aspects of the adolescent's pattern of telwision use (e.g. extent of    Ei
viewing, program preferences, cognitiw reactions to televised violence).        x
                                                       m

See item #41: A comparison between adolescent television viewing and self-
reported aggressive or delinquent behavior.

Observation of in-home television viewing, parent-child interviews, diary
records of ona week's television viewing, and measures of cognitive and social
development were used to provide a description of the role television plays
in the daily lives of a selected sample of young.boys (with an additional report:
Furfey, "First Graders Watching Television).


Author and Title

47.   Robinson
     Toward Defining the
      Functions of Television

4s.   Robinson & Bachman
     Television Viewing
     Habits and Aggression

49.   Robinson & Israel
     Demographic Charac-
     teristics of Viewers of
      Television Violence and
     News Programs

50.   Shinar
     Structure and Content
     of Television Broadcast-
     ing in Israel

51.   Stein & Friedrich
     Television Content and
    Young Children's
      Behavior

52.   Stevenson
     Television and the
     Behavior of Preschool
      Children

Subjects            Description

A review of current research on the role of television in relation to other daily
activities.

1559, 19 year-old males

As part of a nation-wide survey of the changing characteristics of youth,
respondents were asked to indicate the extent of their television viewing,
program preferences, and the locus of "greatest-learning-about-life"-television
vs. school. These findings were then related to the respondents self-reported
incidence of aggressive and delinquent behaviors.

6,834 adults

Information on preferences and viewing patterns of a nation-wide survey of
adult television viewers were related to various demographic characteristics
(e.g. age, education, income and sex).

A review of television broadcasting policies in Israel.

97, 3% to 5% year-olds    Preschool children were exposed to either an "aggressive, neutral, or prosocial"
52 boys         television diet and then observed during the course of their daily interaction     m
45 girls           with other children in their classroom. The observations were conducted over    <
             a nine-week period including three-week baseline, four-week controlled viewing,  r-2
             and two-week follow-up periods. Changes (over baseline1 in either aggressive or  $!
            prosocial behaviors were used to provide a measure of the impact of television
                programming.                      5
             A discussion of research findings on the impact of television in early childhood  4:
              and suggestions for future research.               g
                                                        e
                                             z
                                                                         0
                                    5


Author and Title           Subjects

53.   Tannenbaum
     Studies in Film-and TV-
     Mediated Arousal and
     Aggression

54.  Wackman, Reale & Ward
      Racial Differences in
     Responses to Advertis-
     ing Among Adolescents

55.   Ward
      Effects of Television
     Advertising on Children
      and Adolescents

56.  Ward, Levinson & Wackman
      Children's Attention to
     Television Advertising

57.  Ward, Reale, & Levison
    Children's Perceptions,
    Explanations, and
    Judgments of Television
     Advertising: A further
     Exploration

58.   Ward & Robertson
     Adolescent Attitudes
     Toward Television
     Advertising

59.   Ward & Wackman
     Family and Media
      Influences on Adoles-
     cent Consumer Learning

1149,8th-12th graders
1049 whites
  100 blacks

134 mothers of 5-12
year old children

1094,8th-12th graders

1094,8th-12th graders

Description

A review of research and theory on mediating factors (e.g. emotional arousal)  g
in the relationships between viewing televised violence and subsequent aggres-   E
sive behavior.                                              x
                                                      m

`This study was focused on a comparison of the responses of black and white
adolescents to television advertising in terms of their favorite ads, extent of
"learning consumer roles", and reasons offered for viewing commercials.

A review and discussion of research, in the current program, on the impact of
television advertising.

interviews were conducted with the mothers of young children in order to
determine the short-term consequences of watching television advertising.

An elaboration of the Blatt, Spencer, & Ward study (see item #3.)

This study was designed to relate adolescent's attitudes toward television adver-
tising to demographic characteristics, family communication patterns, and
television use.

This survey assessed the adolescent's "consumer skills" (i.e., recall of advertising
content, attitudes toward commercials, materialistic attitudes, and buying
behavior) and related these skills to various demographic character.


Author and Title

60.   Ward & Wackman
     Television Advertising
     and Intra-Family
     Influence: Children's
     Purchase Influence
     Attempts and Parental
     Yielding

Subjects

109 mothers of
5-12 year-old
children

Descriotion

Interviewers asked the mothers of young children to describe the "effects of
television advertising" in terms of the frequency and intensity of their child's
"requests" for advertised products.


Appendix C: Experiments on
Children's Imitation of Aggressive
       Behavior

Bandura, A., and Huston, A.C. Identification as a process of incidental
acquisition of imitative responses. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 1(6):589-595, 1965.

Bandura. A., Grusec, J. E., and Menlove, F.L. Observational learning
as a function of symbolization and incentive set. Child Development,
37:499-506, 1966.

Bandura, A., and Huston, A. C. Identification as a process of incidental
learning. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 63:311-318,
1961.

Bandura, A., Ross, D., and Ross, S.A. Transmission of aggression
through imitation of aggressive models. Journal of Abnormal and
Social Psychology, 63:575-582, 196 1.
Bandura, A., Ross, D., and Ross, S.A. Imitation of film-mediated ag-
gressive models. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 66:3-
II. 1963.

Bandura, A., Ross, D., and Ross, S.A. A comparative test of the status
envy, social power, and secondary reinforcement theories of identifi-
cation learning. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 67:527-
534, 1963.

Bandura, A., Ross, D., and Ross, S. A. Vicarious reinforcement and
imitative learning. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology,
67:601-607, 1963.

Christy, P. R., Gelfand, D.M., and Hartmann, D.P. Effects of competi-
tion-induced frustration on two classes of modeled behavior. Devel-
opmental Psychology, 1971, in press.
Hanratty, M.A., Liebert, R.M., Morris, L.W., and Fernandez, L.E.
Imitation of film-mediated aggression against live and inanimate vic-
tims. Proceedings of the American Psychological Association, 457-
458, 1969.

159


160                         TELEVISION AND GROWING UP

Hicks, D. J. Imitation and retention of film-mediated aggressive peer
and adult models. Journal of Personality and Socia/ Psychology, 2:97-
100, 1965.

Hicks, D.J. Effects of co-observer's sanctions and adult presence on
imitative aggression. Child Development. 39:303-309, 1968.
Kniveton. B.H.. and Stephenson, G.M. The effect of pre-experience on
imitation of an aggressive film model. British Journal of Social and
Clinical Psychology, 9:3 l-36, 1970.

Kuhn, D. Z., Madsen, C. H., Jr., and Becker, W. C. Effects of exposure
to an aggressive mode] and "frustration" on children's aggressive
behavior. Child Development, 38:739-745, 1967.
Madsen, C.. Jr. Nurturance and modeling in preschoolers. Child Devel-
opment, 39:221-236, 1968.

Martin, M.F., Gelfand, D.M., and Hartmann, D.P. Effects of adult and
peer observers on children's responses to an aggressive model. De-
velopmental Psychology, 1971, in press.
Nelson, J.D., Gelfand, D. M., and Hartmann, D. P. Children's aggres-
sion following competition and exposure to an aggressive model.
Child Development, 40:1085-1097. 1969.
Rosekrans, M.A., and Hartup, W.W. Imitative influences of consistent
and inconsistent response consequences to a model on aggressive
behavior in children. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
7:429-434, 1967.

Walters, R. H., and Willows, D.C. Imitative behavior of disturbed and
nondisturbed children following exposure to aggressive and nonag-
gressive models. Child Development. 39:79-89, 1968.


Appendix D: Experiments on
Disinhibition of Aggressive Behavior

CHILDREN

Albert, Robert S. The role of the mass media and the effect of aggressive
film content upon children's aggressive responses and identification
choices. Genetic Psychology Monographs, 55:221-285, 1957.
Emery, F. E. Psychological effects of the western film: a study in
television viewing. II. The experimental study. Human Relations,
12:215-232, 1959.

Feshbach, Seymour, and Singer, Robert D. Television and aggression:
An experimental field study. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1971.
Foulkes, David, and Rechtschaffen, Allan. Presleep determinants of
dream content: effects of two films. Perceptual and Motor Skills,
19(3):983-1005, 1964.

Goldstein, Naomi Slutsky. The effect of animated cartoons on hostility
in children. New York University, 1956. Djssertation Abstracts,
17:1125, 1957.

Hartman, Donald P. Influence of symbolically modeled instrumental
aggression and pain cues on aggressive behavior. Journal of
Personality and Social Psycho/ogy, 11(3):280-288, 1969.
Kuhn, Deanna Zipse, Madsen, Charles H., Jr., and Becher, Wesley C.
Effects of exposure to an aggressive model and "frustration" on
children's aggressive behavior. Chifd Development, 38(3):739-745,
1967.

Larder, Diane L. Effects of aggressive story content on non-verbal play
behavior. Psychological Reports, 11: 14, 1962.
Lovaas, 0. Ivar. Effect of exposure to symbolic aggression on
aggressive behavior. Child Development, 32:37-44, 1961.
Maccoby, Eleanor E., Levin, Harry, and Selya, Bruce M. The effects of
emotional arousal on the retention of aggressive and nonaggressive
movie content. American Psychologist, 10(8):359, 1955.

161


162                       TELEVISION AND GROWING UP

Maccdby, Eleanor E., Levin, Harry, and Selya, Bruce M. The effects of
emotional arousal on the retention of film content: a failure to
replicate. Journal of Abnormal and SocialPsychology, 53(3):373-374,
1956.
Maccoby, Elearnor E., and Wilson, William Cody. Identification and
observational learning from films. Journal of Abnormal and Social
Psychology. 55:75-87, 1957.

Meyerson, Leonard Jack. The effects of filmed aggression on the
aggressive responses of high and low aggressive subjects. University
of Iowa, 1966. Dissertation Abstracts, 27,3291-B, 1967.
Mussen, Paul, and Rutherford, Eldred. Effects of aggressive cartoons
ofi children's aggressive play. Journal of Abnormal and Social
Psychology, 62(2):46 l-464, 196 1.

Siegel, Alberta Engvall. Film-mediated fantasy aggression and strength
of aggressive drive. ChiId Development. 27:365-378, 1956.

YOUNG ADULTS

Berkowitz, Leonard, Corwin. Ronald, and Heironimus, Mark. Film
violence and subsequent aggressive tendencies. Public Opinion
Quarterly, 27:217-229, 1963.

Berkowiti, Leonard, and Geen, Russell G. Film violence and the cue
properties of available targets. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 3(5):525-530, 1966.

Berkowitz, Leonard, and Geen, Russell G. Stimulus qualities of the
target of aggression/ a further study. Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology, 3(5):525-530, 1966.
Berkowitz, Leonard, and Geen, Russell G. Stimulus qualities of the
target of aggression: a fuither study. Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology, 5(3):364-368, 1967.
Berkowitz, Leonard, and Rawlings, Edna. Effects of film violence on
inhibitions against subsequent aggression. Journal of Abnormal and
Social Psychology, 66(3):405-4 12, 1963.
Bokander, Ingvar, and Lindbom, Kerstin. The effects of aggressive
films on minors. Nordisk Psykologi, 19(l): l-56, 1967.
Feshbach, Seymour. The drive reducing function of fantasy behavior.
Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 60(1):3-l 1, 1955.
Feshbach, Seymour. The stimulating versus cathartic effects of a
vicarious aggressive activity. Journal of Abnormal and Social
Psychology, (63)(2):381-385, 1961.

Geen, Russell G. Effects of frustration, attack, and prior training in
aggressiveness upon aggressive behavior. Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology, 9(4):3 16-321, 1968.


APPENDIX D                                  163

Geen, Russell G., and Berkowitz, Leonard. Name-mediating aggressive
cue properties. Journal of Personality, 34:456-465,1966.
Geen, Russell G., and Berkowitz, Leonard. Some conditions facilitating
the occurrence of aggression after the observation of violence.
Journal of Personality, 35:66-676, 1967.
Kaufman, Harry,  and Feshbach, Seymour. The influence of
antiaggressive communications upon the response to provociation.
Journal of Personality, 31(3):428-444, 1963.
Lefcourt, Herbert M., Barnes, Keith, Parke, Ross, and Schwartz, Fred.
Anticipated social censure and aggression-conflict as mediators of
response to aggression induction. Journal of Social Psychology,
70:251-263, 1966.
Walters, Richard H., and Llewellyn-Thomas, Edward. Enhancement of
punitiveness by visual and audiovisual displays. Canadian Journal of
Psychology, 17:244-255, 1963.
Walters, Richard H., Llewellyn-Thomas, Edward, and Acker, C.
William. Enhancement of punitive behavior by audiovisual displays.
Science, 136(3519):872-873, 1962.


Appendix E: The Interpretation of
  Correlation Coefficients

The Pearson product moment correlation coefficient is an abstract sta-
tistic which, under certain restrictive conditions, precisely describes the
relationship between two variables. Although the restrictive conditions
or "assumptions" underlying the application of the correlation coeffi-
cient (normal distributions in both variables, strict linearity of regres-
sion, stratified random sampling in one of the variables, and homosce-
dasticity or equal variance in the arrays) are seldom if ever met in prac-
tice, the correlation coefficient is widely used-albeit with a grain of salt
-as a crude indicator of a relationship.

Many misunderstandings arise from what appears to be a general
tendency to misinterpret or overinterpret correlation coefficients.

At certain levels, there can be no mistake in interpretation. A correla-
tion coefficient of 1 .O means unequivocally that, as the value of one vari-
able increases, the value of the other variable increases proportionately;
a correlation coefficient of - 1.0 means that increase in one variable is
accompanied by proportionate decrease in the other. A value of 0.0
clearly means that there is no linear relationship between the two varia-
bles.

But what about the cases where the correlation coefficient is in some
middle range, like the .30 relationships which stand out from the mass of
trivial relationships reported in these studies? If, indeed, the assump-
tions listed above are met, one can still say that, as one variable increas-
es in value, the mean value of the other variable increases, although at
each level of the first variable, there is considerable variation around the
mean of the second variable. Furthermore, if the assumptions are not
met (as in many of the correlation coefficients in these studies), such a
bland statement of a functional relationship is clearly misleading. Thus,
if the requirements for linearity and homoscedasticity are not met, two
important pitfalls await the unwary interpreter of correlation coeffi-
cients:

165


166                          TELEVISION AND GROWING UP

(1) The functional relatioriship may exist strongly in one or more
parts of the range of the variables, but not in other parts of the range.
(2) Frequently, the locus of the relationship is at the very top or very
bottom of the range in both variables, so that a relatively small number
of outlying cases may produce a relationship which exists nowhere else.
Statisticians universally advise users of summary statistic,s to examine
the data. In the use of correlation coefficients, such advice calls for
examination of bivariate distributions or scatter diagrams.

Figure E-l : Linear, homoscedastic

Figures E-l through E-4 illustrate, in a highly stylized way, the variety
of data configurations that can lead to approximately equal correlation
coefficients. In each figure, each dqt represents an individual case; the
solid line represents the least-squares regression line. We have not at-
tempted to make these figures precise, nor to use real data. Adjustment
of scale and frequencies can modify the size of the correlation coeffi-
cients. Nevertheless, comparison of the four figures will indicate that
similar correlation coefficients can summarize different situations which
vary markedly in regard to the actual overall relationship between two
variables among a group of individuals.


APPENDIXE                                  167

                           .
                  .::
                        ....
                       .....
                      ......
                     .......
                    ........
                   .........
                  ..........
                 ...........
                .t ..........
               .............
              ..............
             ...............
            ................
           .................
          ..................
         ...................
        ....................
       .....................
      ......................
     .......................
    ........................
  .........................
  ..........................
...........................
............................

Figure E-2: Linear, heteroscedastic

Variance accountability

The square of the correlation coefficient is legitimately interpreted as
the "proportion of variance accounted for." This powerful-sounding
accomplishment is perhaps even more widely misapplied and misunder-
stood than the correlation coefficient itself. Each of the component vari-
ables is characterized by a "variance'`-i.e., an abstract indicator of
dispersion of values around the mean of the variable. If certain condi-
tions (homoscedasticity and linearity) are met, and if the correlation
coefficient is greater than zero, then, for any given value of one of the
variables, the associated values of the other variable will cluster more
closely around their mean (i.e.. have less variance) than the original var-
iance of the second variable. The proportionate reduction in variance
thus achieved, is the "variance accounted for." Thus a correlation coef-
ficient of .30 would lead to the statement that nine percent of the vari-
ance in each variable is accounted for by variation in the other. This
phenomenon is sometimes popularly phrased in terms of improvement
over chance in the ability to guess at the value of one of the variables,
given knowledge of the value of the other. Of course, if the specified


168

TELEVISION AND GROWING UP

Figure E-3 : Non-linear, homoscedastic

conditions do not apply (as in Figures E-2 through E-4), then the propor-
tion of variance accounted for is an average across the range of the two
variables and may be higher in certain parts of the range and lower in
others.

Figure E-4: Non-linear, heteroscedastic

Chance and unreliability

In dealing with a mass of reported summary statistics, as this commit-
tee has tried to do, two opposing kinds of criticism are likely to be heard:
(1) With so many correlation coefficients being reported on the rela-
tionship of television exposure and aggressive tendencies, some few of


APPENDIX E                                 169

them will turn out to be significant by chance alone. Indeed, the results
here reviewed include a distribution of values for correlation coefficients
all purporting to be of operational measures of the same underlying vari-
ables. The majority of the values are trivially small, but the central tend-
ency of the values is clearly positive. En masse, they indicate a small
positive relationship between amount of violence viewing and aggres-
sive behavior. We have paid particular attention to the few larger corre-
lation values, because it is reasonable to assume that some specific qual-
ity of the measures used accounts for the stronger relationship found.
But, ultimately, only replication will establish whether the stronger rela-
tionships derive from such characteristics of the measures or whether
they are products of chance.

(2) Since the measures used in these relationships are not highly relia-
ble (in a psychometric sense), the observed relationships among them
are likely to be underestimates of the "true" relationships between the
concepts. This, too, is an untestable assertion, since, both for sampling
reasons and for reliability reasons, any observed relationship may be
either an underestimate or an overestimate of a "true" relationship. In
particular, if the "true relationship is 0.0, the probability that an ob-
served relationship is an underestimate is exactly equal to the probabili-
ty that it is an overestimate. On the other hand, if the "true" relation-
ship is positive, then the probability that an observed relationship will,
because of unreliability, be an underestimate is larger than the probabili-
ty that it will be an overestimate. In the absence of knowledge about the
nature of the "true" relationship, any conclusions on this point would
be technically unjustified. If we were to assume that the mass of data
would lead us to the conclusion that, in truth, there is a low positive rela-
tionship between the concepts under consideration, we could say that
because of unreliability, the possibility that we are reporting underesti-
mates is very slightly higher than the probability that we are reporting
overestimates.

t ". s. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : ,071  120-717/633


DHEW Publication No. HSM 72-9090
      Printed 1972

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE
    Health Services and Mental Heahh Administration