This report presents the highlights of research activities conducted in 1980 by the Office of Communication Research (OCR), whose job it is to serve the information needs of five distinct entities: the United States Congress, national public broadcasting agencies, local public radio and television stations across the country, decision-making…

A review of research on television's major compositional factors was undertaken to determine the status of such research and to note the major variables involved in the structure of television pictures. It was found that such research could be grouped in four categories--lighting and color, staging, editing, and sound--and that these areas covered…

Television is an integral part of American culture, and has the ability to play a major role in shaping belief systems, particularly for the youngest and most impressionable viewers. This study is the third annual study of diversity of characters in prime time television programming. The study examined the first two episodes of each prime time…

Summarizes research on the impact of televised violence on children. Discusses parents' role and what parents can do to mitigate the impact of televised violence, including starting early to influence children's exposure to television, setting and maintaining family rules regarding television viewing, and changing one's own viewing habits. (KB)

Presents a literature review that addresses sexism and gender misrepresentation on "Sesame Street," the world's most popular children's television program. Discusses the show's content and the correlation between increased exposure to "Sesame Street" and viewers' changes in attitude and behavior. Suggests the presence of gender…

This paper places research findings within a social learning framework to demonstrate that television influences the development of sex typing in children. First, the presence of sex-typed content in television programming and advertising is documented. Then, the nature of children's attention to and comprehension of televised messages is…

Reactions of 50 2-year-old and 46 4-year-old Japanese children to selected experimental television programs were examined in two studies. The child was placed with his or her mother in a room where the experimental program was shown on one television and a fast-moving animation without sound was shown on a second television as a distractor. The…

Research in audience analysis has generally lumped together members of ethnic groups under a broad category of "nonwhites" and has ignored different orientations of these minority groups toward television and mass media. Despite increasing research interests in minority audiences, specific oriental populations have largely been ignored in regard…

This study reviews the literature on the effects of television viewing on children, examines the preferences of children for television programs and commercials, and analyzes selected characteristics of these programs. A stratified sample of 1,416 students in grades 1-6 in six eastern states was polled on their viewing preferences in November of…

Noting that daytime television serials have been used to teach a variety of subjects, including writing and language skills, this paper reviews literature on the nature of soap operas so that instructors can use them more effectively. Following an introduction citing studies on the educational uses of soap operas, the paper explores the following…

This review of recent empirical research on the effects of television on children and teenagers begins by examining the results of two surveys which were conducted to determine the opinions of experts in the field. A brief statement of the findings indicates that experts generally agree that television harms formal scholastic achievement while…

The purpose of this review is to determine the scientific status of the proposition that viewing television in general or viewing "Sesame Street" in particular affects children's attentional skills, abilities, or behaviors. It has been frequently claimed that television viewing negatively affects children's attentional abilities. The…

The mythic structure of the popular television melodrama, "Dallas," may be analyzed in order to shed light on the reasons underlying the program's wide appeal. First of all, "Dallas" combines the conventions of the crime formula in such a way as to create a new mythology of crime for television, one similar to that found in the…

This review of the research on the role of television in family life considers television both as a medium for which the specific content matters little, and as a source of content, i.e., a purveyor of messages about physical and social life. Television viewing is discussed as an activity in which family members participate and about which they…

Television's impact on children is the focus of this document, which includes a review of the research on the subject, a master bibliography containing 3,000 items written between 1955 and the present, and 13 specialized bibliographies. Specific topics addressed include violence and its effects, prosocial television, socialization, television…