Determining what aspects of television entertainment program content influence a viewer in his decision about the real/pretend nature of that content was the purpose of this study, in which interviews were conducted with children, adolescents, and adults. Interview responses were coded in categories of content cues, with the coding of content…

Segments of primetime and Saturday morning television programing were viewed by 225 people who then reported what criteria they used to assess violence on commercial and public television. The subjects also provided data on their visual media experience, their viewing habits, their viewing attitudes, and demographic characteristics. The subjects…

Examines types of adventure show content (violence, conflict, realism, and action) and viewer characteristics which may influence program liking. Findings suggest that the average viewer somewhat dislikes the typical violence portrayed in adventure shows; emotional conflict, however, seems to enhance liking for adventure shows. (PD)

Introduces a theoretical perspective on media viewing choices, grounded in social identity theory. Content analysis demonstrates that child, younger adult, and older adult television viewers show a preference for viewing characters of their own age. The experiment demonstrates that young adults' preference for viewing young adult characters exists…

Reports results of a study of television entertainment programing that tested the relationships between exposure to medical programs and positive affect toward doctors, exposure to entertainment programs in general and acceptance of traditional sex roles, and exposure to ethnic programs and concern about racial problems in society. (GT)