An experiment examined whether children of different developmental stages expressed different levels of fear while viewing episodes of the television program, "The Incredible Hulk." Preoperational (3 to 5 years old) and concrete operational (9 to 11 years old) children were shown short videotaped segments taken from the program. Using Jean Piaget's ideas that preoperational children both are unable to comprehend transformations and are "perceptually bound," the study predicted that preoperational children would express more fear at the events depicted in the transformation and posttransformation segments, or whenever the "Hulk" was present in "monstrous" form. In contrast, it hypothesized that concrete operational children would express more fear during the pretransformation segments, when the "human" hero--David--was in danger. Both predictions were confirmed, as was the theory that preoperational subjects would rate the two manifestations of the hero (David and the Hulk) as significantly more distinct than would concrete operational subjects. (Author/FL)