Defines the violence profile as a set of indicators tracing aspects of the television world and of conceptions of social reality they tend to cultivate in the viewer's minds. Suggests using cultural indicators as a framework for a progress report on a long-range study of trends in television content and effects. (MH)

Contributes to research on schema theory and media effects by examining how violence is portrayed in comedy programs. Finds a high rate of violence (especially verbal forms) on comedy programs; and the combination of humor, minor acts of violence, and program context tend to trivialize its presence. Suggests that viewers' schema for comedy uses…

Assesses the number of violent episodes aired on television each hour of each day during a one week period, and assesses the rate of this violence which is attributable to each of the major commercial sponsors of television programs. (MH)

Indicates that prime-time television presents a remarkably consistent portrayal of the world across program genres and that it offers few scheduling alternatives to avoiding violence-laden adventure programs. Finds that the average viewer has little opportunity to exercise any kind of choice in viewing. (JD)

Examines the relative relationship of heavy and light television viewing and anxiety. Studies the effect of action adventure programs in which justice triumphs and those with a preponderance of injustice on anxiety and on viewers' voluntary selective exposure to further action adventure fare. (JMF)

Discusses the findings of the eighth annual TV Violence Profile report confirming a sharp increase in televised violence across dramatic program categories. (MH)

Investigates the validity of the television industry's labeling of sensitive program content following the advent of the V-chip television ratings system. Examines programs for the nature and extent of portrayals of violence, sexual behavior and dialogue, and adult language. Suggests there are substantial limitations in the ability of the V-chip…

Provides support for the hypothesis that a causal relationship exists between exposure to television violence and aggressive behavior in children. (MH)

Describes a study measuring the amount and kind of violence and sex presented in prime time music videos during a seven-week period. Compares sex and violence on music television to known data on conventional TV. (MS)

Presents a taxonomy of formal features of television and examines ways in which these features are used in current productions for children. Coding categories for formal features include action, pace, visual events, and auditory features. Concludes that commercial producers stress formal features as much or more than content. (PD)

Presents data on the kinds of physically intimate and sexual behaviors dealt with on prime-time television during the 1977-1978 season. Results indicate an increasing tendency to tease the audience behaviorally (through flirting), verbally (through innuendo), and visually (through contextually implied intercourse). (JMF)

Reports results of part of a long-range project studying cultural indicators. Suggests that television viewing is associated with a cultural "mainstream" that tends to absorb or assimilate groups that otherwise diverge from it, and that the salience of certain real-life circumstances is likely to boost television's cultivating potential. (JMF)

Examines the differences between Japanese and U.S. television in portrayal of violence. Concludes that while the amount of violence on Japanese television does not differ noticeably from that on American television, the nature of Japanese violence differs with much greater emphasis on suffering and the consequences of violence. (JMF)

Traces the conception, development and formulation of the Family Viewing Plan and contends that Family Viewing represents an important step in the evolution of industrial self-regulation in the public interest. (MH)

Examines violence in music video programming. Reveals that 15% of music videos feature violence, and most of that aggression is sanitized, not chastised, and presented in realistic contexts. Discusses the findings in terms of the risk that exposure to violence in each channel and genre may be posing to viewers' learning of aggression, fear, and…