| Abstract: | The moral lessons of television situation comedies were explored as possible contributors to children's prosocial development. In order to determine if children comprehend the moral lessons of adult sitcoms, children in small groups watched sitcoms and then were individually interviewed to determine if they comprehended the moral lesson. An over-whelming majority of 1st, 3rd, and 5th graders understood moral lessons contained in an episode of The Cosby Show. Similarly, one third of the 1st graders and half of the 3rd graders were able to identify an overarching moral lesson in an episode of Full House. Finally, a correlational analysis was undertaken between the frequency with which the children viewed prosocial sitcoms and the frequency of their prosocial behavior. As anticipated, viewing emerged as a predictor variable, particularly for those subjects who evidenced understanding of the moral lessons of sitcoms. |
