Until the 1960's, the prevailing view within the scientific community was that television was a relatively unimportant influence, but studies have shown that television does have an important effect on the behavior of its viewers, particularly aggressive behavior. Consequently, recent research has focused on the role of television in the…

Methods are suggested to measure the program appeal and audience attention of Children's Television Workshop productions. Among these are distractor techniques, one which permits subjects to discriminate between two simultaneously broadcast programs by selecting the audio track they most prefer and one used to rank order several programs.…

Discusses hypotheses (facilitation, inhibition, and no-effect hypotheses) explaining television's influence on children's development of reading skills. Surveys and discusses empirical research on this complex relationship and evaluates the utility of the five research approaches used in the past. (SR)

This study assesses the influence of exposure to television miniseries "Shogun" on adolescents' knowledge of Japanese language, history, and customs; attitudes of a closer social distance; and Japanese stereotypes. Exposure was a predictor of Japanese language, history, and customs knowledge and a limited predictor of social distance.…

Highlights differences between cause-effect and interactive research models that are used to explain television's effects on children. Proposes a schema theory of comprehension and learning that (1) acknowledges the child's prior knowledge, (2) considers television viewing as active communication, and (3) emphasizes critical and literate viewing…

Reports results of study using mass observation and survey data to determine who is responsible for selection of television programs at home, how program selection processes occur, and how roles of family position and family communication patterns influence these activities. Research methodology and dominant selectors of television programs are…

Summarizes past and present television and aging research, identifies several methodological concerns or problems of this research, and considers future directions for mass communication and aging investigations. Television portrayals of the elderly, television viewing behaviors, and the role of television are among the research areas discussed.…

The value of "cultivation analysis" as a theoretical and analytic framework for investigating the effects of television has been questioned. This study suggests that of the viewing/reality variables, the most important is perceived law enforcement program realism, a variable generally excluded from cultivation analysis studies. (PD)

Identifies nine motivations for television viewing and relates these to age, viewing levels, television attitudes of attachment and reality, and program preferences. Implications of the results are discussed in terms of uses and gratifications research perspectives. (JMF)

Assesses the reliability and stability of television exposure, and the relationship of various demographic variables to this hypothetical construct, when measurement error is removed. Analyzes data collected from Black adults. Concludes that more attention should be given to theoretically defining media exposure and to taking into account…

Presents findings of two studies that sought to clarify the issue of the comparative effectiveness of two different methods of prosocial teaching for the very young: depicting the desired behavior in a totally prosocial setting v depicting the desired behavior as a strategy for resolving an explicitly portrayed conflict situation. (Author)

Provides examples from six studies to illustrate how the formative research element of the Sesame Workshop production model has been used to create effective educational media in the United States, South Africa, Egypt, and China. Shows how lessons learned from formative studies provide insights into the development of new research methodologies…

The purposes of this study were to examine group differences in sexual media consumption and to explore how well adolescents' sexual attitudes and behavior can be explained by viewing of sexually suggestive dialogue (SD) and explicit sexual content (SC) in television media. Participants were 473 male and female high school adolescents who were…

C-SPAN (Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network) can be used for communications oriented research. A research project on reactions in the United States to the Chinese pro-democracy movement shows the use of C-SPAN as a representative forum. Primary funding for the project was obtained through grants from C-SPAN. Twenty-one C-SPAN programs since…

A study was conducted to determine (1) if the gratifications sought and obtained model were applicable to local television news viewing, and (2) if the scales constructed from factor analyses of gratifications sought and obtained could predict television news viewing. The focus of the study was a new television station in central Illinois that…