CHILDREN'S PERSON PERCEPTION: THE GENERALIZATION FROM TELEVISION PEOPLE TO REAL PEOPLE

This study investigated children's perceptions of television people and the extent to which these perceptions are generalized to impressions of peers. Elementary school children (W=172) completed questionnaires measuring viewing, knowledge of, identification with, and the perceived reality of television characters, and ratings of peers on 11 traits (e.g., funny, attractive, kind, nice). Two criterion variables were studied: children's mean rating of peers on each of the traits and the variance in the ratings of peers on each trait. Multiple regression analyses (controlling for grade and sex) revealed that: (1) identification with television characters was a significant predictor of the mean evaluation of peers on the traits; (2) television viewing was a significant predictor of the variance in children's ratings of peers; and (3) the relationship between television viewing and the variance in trait ratings was lower for attributes found in past studies to be suggested by television presentations. Implications of these findings for the traditional concern that television standardizes perceptions of people through stereotyping are considered.     

Exploring Pathways From Television Viewing to Academic Achievement in School Age Children

The author's purpose in this study was to test 4 hypotheses that proposed different paths for the influences of children's television viewing on their academic achievement. Data were drawn from the 1997 Child Development Supplement (CDS) to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). The population for this study included 1,203 children between the ages of 6 and 13 years from the CDS-PSID data set. The author used structural equation modeling to test pathways from children's television viewing to their academic achievement. The author assumed that children's television viewing hindered their academic achievement by reducing certain traits that related to academic achievement. Results showed that 3 hypothetical models fit the data—the time-displacement hypothesis, the mental effort-passivity hypothesis, and the attention-arousal hypothesis. A 4th hypothetical model, the learning-information hypothesis, which proposed that children's television viewing practices stimulate their academic achievement, was not supported. In sum, children who watched more television tended to spend less time doing homework, studying, and reading for leisure. In addition, their behaviors became more impulsive, which resulted in an eventual decrease in their academic achievement.     

An Applied Analysis of Buyer Equity Perceptions and Satisfaction with Automobile Salespeople

General measures of buyer equity perceptions and disconfirmation have been shown to influence satisfaction with and intention towards the salesperson. In this article, specific and thus controllable salesperson and customer equity-related behaviors are shown to be related to satisfaction and intention. In addition, while the general public image of salespeople is thought to be poor, the present study found that buyers rated their salesperson favorably. The results have important implications concerning the public's image of salespeople.     

Portrayals of women in prime-time network television: Some demographic characteristics

This paper examines demographic variables to create a partial picture of current portrayals of women on network television. All prime-time programs for all networks served as the information base. The findings were that few changes had been made in the portrayals of women from the 1970s to the 1980s in terms of observable demographic characteristics.     

An Empirical Examination of a Model of Social Climate in Elementary Schools

Although Gerbner and Gross (1976) maintained that television viewing cultivates impressions of the real world that are distorted in the direction of the TV version of reality, several studies (e.g., Doob & Macdonald, 1979) have found no relationship between viewing and perceptions of crime in the respondent's neighborhood. It is possible, however, that TV viewing may not affect perceptions of crime in the respondent's immediate environment but may affect perceptions of crime in more distant settings. In two separate studies, we examined the effects of TV viewing on perceptions of crime in the immediate neighborhood and on perceptions of crime in more distant, urban settings. Study 1, based on 372 nationwide telephone interviews, found that the total amount of TV viewed is related to fear of distant urban setting (i.e., New York City) but not to fear of respondent's own city or to fear of respondent's immediate neighborhood. Study 2, based on a survey of 192 undergraduates, found that the total amount of TV viewed is related to fear of distant urban setting (i.e., NYC) and to fear of less distant urban setting (i.e., downtown Chicago) but not to fear of respondent's immediate neighborhood. The implications of these studies for clearing up past confusions in the cultivation hypothesis literature are discussed.     

Televised Models of Female Achievement Revisited: Some Progress

In a previous study which analyzed the content of a sample of 1972 primetime television programming, Manes and Melnyk (1974) concluded that television portrayed employment and marriage as incompatible life-styles for women. The present study applied the same content analysis procedures to a sample of 1978 prime-time television programming. Results indicated that female characters employed outside the home were significantly less likely to be married than were employed male characters ( p <.001), a finding which replicated the result obtained previously. In contrast to the 1972 results, however, analyses of the 1978 data revealed that employed married women were not significantly less likely than either their male counterparts or unemployed housewives to be depicted as successfully married.     

Sexual Readiness,Household Policies,and Other Predictors of Adolescents' Exposure to Sexual Content in Mainstream Entertainment Television

Using a national, telephone survey of 1,762 adolescents aged 12-17 years, this study identifies the prospective predictors of exposure to television's sexual content with a particular emphasis on the contributions of teenagers' sexual readiness versus household television policies. Though believing that one's friends approve of sex and having greater noncoital sexual experience predicted heavier viewing of sexual content in the subsequent year, household restrictions had a nearly equal and opposite effect. In particular, having a television in the bedroom and spending more time at home unsupervised at baseline were associated with heavier sexual content viewing one year later. In addition, Black, female, younger, and more highly viewer-involved teens watched significantly more sexually oriented television than did other groups. Results are considered in light of recent findings showing that heavier viewing of televised sexual content leads to more rapid initiation of sexual intercourse in the subsequent year (Collins et al., 2004).     

Researching Blue's Clues: Viewing Behavior and Impact

Blue's Clues is a preschool television series designed to promote mastery of thinking and problem-solving skills. This paper summarizes a series of studies concerning the impact of the program on television viewing behaviors and on cognitive development. Three studies of viewing behavior indicate that as preschool children were in the process of learning from the program they were relatively quiet and highly attentive. As they mastered the content they became increasingly vocal and interactive. Their tendency to interact with Blue's Clues transferred to another program from a different series. A longitudinal study comparing children who regularly watched Blue's Clues to demographically similar children who could not receive the program indicated that the program had a positive impact on cognitive development.     

Presence and Image Quality: The Case of High-Definition Television

Previous research has demonstrated that form variables can increase television viewers' sense of presence. The current broadcasting of high-definition television (HDTV) programming makes testing this relation between form and presence possible in a new context, image quality. In this experiment, television viewers watched either HDTV or standard-definition television images and then rated their viewing experience on a pencil-and-paper questionnaire. The results demonstrate that HDTV provided viewers with a greater sense of presence than the current standard, thus providing empirical evidence for the claim that improved image quality will lead to television viewers' experiencing presence. Additionally, the results suggest that with the coming of HDTV, sensations of presence will be both stronger and more common.     

Mothers’ Perceptions of Young Children,Parenting, and Young Children's Behavior Problems

Historically, research demonstrates that mothers’ attitudes and characteristics of their parenting are intertwined. More recently, mothers’ perceptions of their children are becoming a new focus of interest. To further understand the relationships among mothers’ perceptions of their young children, their parenting behaviors, and their ratings of their young children's behavior problems, this study examines the ratings of a diverse group of mothers who have young children. Correlational results of this study demonstrate that these variables are related in the anticipated directions. Further, results of regression analyses suggest that mothers’ positive and negative perceptions of their young children and their use of limit setting are important in predicting children's behavior problems. These findings suggest that interventions focusing on changing mothers’ perceptions of their young children as well as their parenting behaviors may be related to decreases in young children's behavior problems.     

Changing Perceptions About Self-Change and Moderate-Drinking Recoveries From Alcohol Problems: What Can and Should Be Done?1

Despite abundant indications that resolutions from alcohol problems without treatment are common, there appears to be little awareness that such recoveries occur and a general skepticism regarding their possibility. This paper presents results from a study investigating the impact of hypothetical newspaper articles about self-change and moderate-drinking recoveries on subjects' beliefs. It is concluded that newspaper articles do not appear to have much impact on the public's perceptions. The importance of modifying the general public's knowledge about recoveries from alcohol problems without treatment are discussed.     

An Observational Study on How Situational Factors Influence Media Multitasking With TV: The Role of Genres,Dayparts, and Social Viewing

This study responds to the need for research on individuals' media multitasking behavior using observational data. Media multitasking can have a profound impact on media processing and effects. However, we have little knowledge on when people are likely to engage in media multitasking and, consequently, when these effects are likely to occur. This study examines how three important situational factors—television genres, dayparts, and social viewing—influence the amount of media multitasking. Granular observational data obtained by directly monitoring and recording media consumption behaviors of a large panel at 10-second intervals are used for the analysis. The study reveals that media multitasking with television is most prevalent when people watch sports or engage in channel surfing and less prevalent with commercials, news, and entertainment. Furthermore, the extent of media multitasking is greater in the morning and afternoon than in the evening, and also greater when individuals watch television alone than in the presence of others. Daypart differences are larger for genres associated with incidental viewing (commercials and channel surfing) than for genres associated with intentional viewing (news, entertainment, and sports). Sports is the only genre that is associated with higher amounts of media multitasking when watching television with others.     

The Role of Source Confusions in Television's Cultivation of Social Reality Judgments

The chief hypothesis of this study was that errors in memory (specifically source confusions) contribute to the link between television viewing and social reality judgments. Fiction-to-news confusions (fictional programming remembered as news) were hypothesized to positively predict TV-biased judgments of reality. News-to-fiction confusions (news remembered as fiction) were hypothesized to negatively predict such judgments. The results of an experiment in which subjects watched television programming containing both news and fiction indicated that these hypotheses were supported. Levels of confusion interacted with daily television viewing and with the level of certainty attached to the confusions. A manipulation of the visual similarity of the news and fiction content affected subjects'tendency to make source confusions.     

The Nature and Predictive Value of Mothers' Beliefs Regarding Infants' and Toddlers' TV/Video Viewing: Applying the Integrative Model of Behavioral Prediction

Viewing television and video programming has become a normative behavior among U.S. infants and toddlers. Little is understood about the extent of parents' decision making regarding their young children's viewing, although numerous organizations are interested in reducing time spent viewing among infants and toddlers. Prior research has examined parents' belief in the educational value of TV/videos for young children and the predictive value of this belief for understanding infant and toddler viewing rates, although other possible salient beliefs remain largely unexplored. This study employs the integrative model of behavioral prediction to examine 30 maternal beliefs about infants' and toddlers' TV/video viewing, which were elicited from a prior sample of mothers. Results indicate that mothers tend to hold more positive than negative beliefs about the outcomes associated with young children's TV/video viewing and that the nature of the aggregate set of beliefs is predictive of their general attitudes and intentions to allow their children to view, as well as children's estimated viewing rates. Analyses also uncover multiple dimensions within the full set of beliefs, which explain more variance in mothers' attitudes and intentions and children's viewing than the uni-dimensional index. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Threat and Television Viewing in the United States, 1960-1990

We examined people's television viewing choices to determine whether, during times of societal threat, people watch light programming to escape from self, or meaningful programming to explore their fears. Consistent with previous research (Doty, Peterson, & Winter, 1991; Sales, 1973), societal threat was defined as increases in unemployment, consumer price index, prime interest rate, bombings, crime, work stoppages, suicide, homicide, and divorce. The 20 highest rated television programs for each year from 1960 to 1990 were rated in terms of meaningfulness of content, realism of characters, and complexity of plot and compared to the indicators of societal threat. Results indicate that during times of societal threat people choose meaningful television programming that confronts serious issues.     

Perceptions and attitudes to sexual harassment: an examination of sex differences and the sex composition of the harasser–target dyad

This study examines the role of sex in determining attitudes toward sexual harassment (SH) and perceptions of SH, and studies the extent to which attitudes toward SH predict perceptions of SH by sex. All informants (146 men and 160 women) completed three questionnaires: personal information; perceptions of SH, including cases with variations on the perpetrators and victims' sex; and attitudes toward SH, with a male, female, or unspecified victim. The findings point to significant sex differences in the perception of behaviors as SH. Women were less tolerant of SH regardless of the victim's sex. In all cases, less tolerant attitudes toward SH predicted a stronger perception of behaviors as manifesting SH. In addition, women tended to perceive male harasser/male target behaviors as SH more than men.     

Correlates of children's television viewing: Expectancies,age, and sex

The relationship of interpersonal trust and locus of control expectancies to amounts of television viewing and viewing preferences were examined among children in grades five through eight. Age and sex differences in viewing times, preferences, and viewing habits, as well as children's scores on the Children's Interpersonal Trust Scale and the Intellectual Achievement Responsibility Scale were assessed. Several findings suggested that heavy viewing is associated with less trusting perceptions of others and less belief in controlling one's academic successes and failures, although the pattern found does not suggest so specific an effect of viewing television violence as Gerbner's cultivation hypothesis might suggest. Age and sex differences found were largely consistent with those reported in the previous literature.     

Television and conceptions about sex roles: Maintaining conventionality and the status quo

This paper explores the image of men and women in annual sample of primetime network dramatic television programming, and the relationship between television viewing and espousing sexist views of the roles of men and women in society. The analysis revealed that sex role images, over the past 10–15 years, have been quite stable, traditional, conventional, and supportive of the status quo. The cultivation analysis, a secondary analysis of data from the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) General Social Surveys, provides some evidence that television viewing may be related to more sexist views of women's role in society.     

Children,television, and conceptions about chores: Attitudes and behaviors

This study examines the relationship between television viewing and sex role attitudes/behaviors from the perspective of cultivation theory. It uses a sample of fourth- and fifth grade children to examine if television viewing is related to children's attitudes and behaviors in relation to household chores that are typically viewed as something boys do or something girls do. The sample was equally divided into fourth and fifth graders as well as boys and girls; the racial distribution was 64% white, 21% black, and 14% other races. There were statistically significant relationships between television viewing and scores on an index of attitudes toward sex-stereotyped chores that maintained statistical significance under conditions of multiple controls. Although viewing was not related to which chores the children actually performed, there were statistically significant relationships between attitudes, behaviors, and viewing. For both the boys and girls there were moderate to strong statistically significant relationships which increased with television viewing, between attitudes about who should do certain chores, and about whether or not the children said they did chores typically associated with the other sex.