A study examined the effects of television on dyadic interaction. Subjects, 41 dyads (mostly same sex dyads) consisting of a student in an introductory communication course (students were given extra credit for participation in the research) and a friend, were randomly assigned to one of four treatment conditions and were videotaped by a hidden…

This study examined children's attention to formal features and other attributes during television viewing. Subjects were 40 children, ages 2, 5, 8 and 11 years old, who were videotaped watching television at home during a 10-day period. Among other attributes, children's visual attention to television was coded, along with television program…

A study investigated whether the amount of "soft news" coverage for the three major American broadcast television networks increased during the period from 1972 to 1987. A total of 558 broadcasts were analyzed. Each news story was coded and placed into one of four categories concerning its timeliness and whether it was "hard"…

This paper addresses the role of quality age-appropriate television programming in preschoolers' lives. The paper describes a developmental investigation of preschoolers' knowledge of polite behavior routines and their modeling of host-quest behaviors from a special episode to the television program "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood." The…

A study examined the interactions of siblings in television families in three popular sitcoms of the 1950s--"Father Knows Best,""Leave it To Beaver," and "Ozzie and Harriet." Nine episodes of each sitcom were videotaped, and the behaviors were coded using a system developed to code sibling behavior in 1980s sitcoms.…

The major purposes of this investigation were (1) to contribute to existing research on the preschool child's comprehension of disclaimers in television commercials, (2) to identify specific standard or modified disclaimers that are understood by preschoolers, and (3) to determine logical relationships between study variables. Disclaimers were…

In "God's Work," an episode of the "Miami Vice" television series in which a gay character comes home to reunite with a childhood friend and ex-lover who is dying of AIDS, the show is at odds with itself over the issue of sexuality and AIDS. At one level, that of the "coming-out" story of the main character, it…

Members of the local community should be aware of public access channels on cable television systems, yet large segments of the public are unaware that they exist. To determine how the medium was perceived in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area, a study surveyed 226 individuals by telephone, asking if they were aware of public or community access on…

Prompted by the belief that the noncomparative responses used in earlier studies did not provide accurate and objective measures of cable television subscriber preferences, a study was conducted to investigate subscriber preferences for new program services using a paired-comparison technique. Approximately 400 subscribers in a midwestern city…

Results of a small-scale study involving 20 third-grade students indicated that children who watch considerably less television than their peers nevertheless were effectively persuaded by virtue of what and when they watched. Additionally, while these children seemed to understand the functions of advertisments and had experienced prior…

Eating disorders are more common among women than men, perhaps because of the present cultural emphasis on thinness for women. Television is one potential communicator of this thin standard of attractiveness. To assess how men and women are presented on television, 139 male characters and 82 female characters from 33 popular television shows were…

Noting that media agenda-setting research has seldom examined how the initial media agenda develops, a study examined the connection between news sources and agenda setting by means of a content analysis of sources and channels appearing in network television news and local television news. The findings were compared to similar studies of…

The portrayal of reading, writing, and other selected behaviors on prime-time network television was examined in this two-part study. First, an interest inventory was administered to a sample of 301 elementary students (i.e., grades 1-5) in South Carolina, Virginia, and Pennsylvania to determine their favorite television shows, books, and school…

This investigation of some of the meanings of "woman" that are produced and negotiated in the interaction of television representations, viewer receptions, and the historical/industry context focuses on the "Cagney and Lacey" series--produced in the United States--as a particular instance of the cultural production and…

The image and interactions of the black family depicted on television were investigated in order to determine whether changes occurred in the imagery and interactions of black television families between 1980 and 1985, and to compare the family structures and interactive behavior on situation comedies portraying nuclear black families during the…