Compares American middle-class children, as representatives of heavy television viewers, and Israeli middle-class children, as representatives of lighter television viewers, to determine the extent to which accumulated television viewing enhances the development of particular mental skills. (PD)

This paper discusses the rationale for a cross-cultural (Israeli-American) study of the cognitive effects of the television media on children. The overall purpose of the study are: (1) to examine the extent to which exposure to television has an effect on children's mastery of cognitive skills; and (2) to examine the extent to which activities of…

This study investigated Israeli adolescents' differential perceptions of social conflicts in the "real" world and in television news. Overall results suggest that, when asked to do so, adolescents are able to differentiate between the social conflicts and their symbolic representations in television news. (PD)

States that television has been a "single-station medium" in Israel since 1968, and that cable television is a recent innovation for that country. Describes an experiment that compared houses with cable to ones without, and found that houses with cable had markedly different viewing habits. Concludes that these findings suggest a…

This paper begins by identifying and discussing six attributes or characteristics of television interviews, which include the function of the interview, i.e., information or entertainment; the context within which it is presented in the program; the number of interviews and interviewees; the duration of the interview and the degree of its…

Reports on a study that (1) investigated the validity of the accusations that American television networks displayed an anti-Israeli bias in reporting the invasion of Lebanon and (2) analyzed the quality and quantity of network news coverage of the event. Concludes that CBS had the most assertions unfavorable to Israel. (FL)

Following a 1978 commando raid by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Israeli troops crossed the Israeli-Lebanese border to establish a "security belt" to prevent further PLO action in Israel. A study was conducted to determine whether the coverage of the Israeli invasion by the three commercial television networks in the United…

Analyzes the image of the elderly, those age 60 and over, presented on television programs imported to Israel. Older characters are presented as more independent but less effective; less liberal and more conformist; more "family-functional" and less beautiful; less able; less future-oriented; less clean and orderly; and less sexually…

Children's social and cultural environments may affect their perceptions of the reality of television violence. One of the problems in measuring the importance of societal variables is the difficulty in finding children whose social environments have differed for most of their lives in well prescribed ways. An exception to this are kibbutz- and…

This study analyzes Israeli students' memories of television in the context of family life, and considers culture and systems as well. The study was geared toward broadening the understanding of individuals' perceptions of the role of television in the family, as well as gaining insight into the collective story or stories of life with television…

This report presents two research studies. The first, an experiment using 176 fifth graders, tested three hypotheses: (1) When content is held constant across messages, different formats of a medium differentially call for mental skills. (2) Formats which call for the same skills in different ways affect learners differently. (3) The TV formats…

Discusses methodology, results, and implications of a study testing three hypotheses and investigating perceptions of social, political, and economic conflicts (organized according to complexity, intensity, and solvability) as they occur in society and as portrayed by television news. Findings indicate viewers are able to differentiate between…

Describes study of Israeli children in grades 4, 5, and 6, ages 9-12, that was conducted to test their perception of deceitful behavior in a situation comedy. The influence of television on children's perceptions of the world and on the acquisition of behavioral patterns is discussed, and understanding characters' motivations is examined. (27…

This paper reports the results of a comparative study carried out with populations from two distinct cultural environments: kibbutz and city raised children in Israel. The study examined how perceptions and responses to television differ across social environments and how children's perceptions of, and reactions to, television may affect…

The purpose of this parent education project was to strengthen the Israeli family as an educational unit, to increase its ability and knowledge in the field of education, and to broaden the range of responsibility and influence of the family over its young children. The first stage of this project was devoted to problems of early childhood. A…