Explores the psychological origins of media gratification by examining how pertinent psychological variables help explain television viewing motivation. Finds that parasocial interaction, anxiety, creativity, sensation seeking's disinhibition dimension, and television affinity and exposure, helped to predict viewing motivation. (PRA)

Investigates regular viewers' representations of soap opera characters to discover the nature of these representations, the extent to which they reflect the application of social knowledge, and the extent to which they reflect the structure of the program. (MS)

Studies a large sample of Dutch children. Finds that a positive-intense daydreaming style was stimulated by watching nonviolent children's programs and was inhibited by watching violent dramatic programs, while an aggressive-heroic daydreaming style was stimulated by watching violent dramatic programs and inhibited by watching nonviolent programs.…

Explores the interface between ego-involvement and the third person effect. Finds (1) that partisan viewers (pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian) believe that news coverage causes neutral viewers to view their side unfavorably and their antagonist more favorably; and (2) that news coverage did not significantly affect neutral subjects' attitudes. (SR)

Examines the portrayal of family relationships in television domestic comedy. States that subjects were randomly selected to evaluate samples of nine programs. Finds that on television both parent-child and sibling relationships have developed in relational frameworks defined by the changing levels of conflict, cohesiveness, and socializing, with…

Considers two issues in cultivation research. Examines relationships between television exposure and positive statements of social perceptions, and tests a model of instrumental media uses and effects. Finds television exposure to be unrelated to social attitudes, while program selectivity is related to all social attitudes except interpersonal…

Tests the effects (in a large field study) of family communication environment and parental mediation of television content on third, sixth, and ninth graders' (1) perceptions of the realism of television content and its similarity to real life; and (2) their identification with television characters. Finds that the parent directly mediates…

Argues that most public-opinion research results from an implicit metaphor of citizens as "political consumers" and media messages as "hypodermic injections." Offers an alternative "conversational" metaphor. Describes a focus group project examining the relationship between television and public opinion. Presents…

Investigates relationships between television viewing and both the content and form of children's event representations. Examines two narratives, a "television" story and a "real-life" story, written by children in grades three, five, and eight, for the presence of particular kinds of content and for presentational style and…

An analysis of voter attitude changes due to both political advertising and weeknight network television news broadcasts. (CH)

Presents discussion of various studies of the effect of television on aggressive behavior. Argues for a positive and significant correlation between television violence and aggressive behavior. Performs additional tests to solidify conclusions. Provides substantive interpretation. (HB)

Explores children's ability to understand formal features of television and film by investigating their reactions to a televised dream. Indicates that children are able to recognize dreams in mass media programing and that prior knowledge of an upcoming dream can influence children's interpretations of and emotional reactions to dreamed events in…

Explores research done in Latin America concerning audiences of telenovelas. Examines critically the methods employed and the kinds of knowledge generated. Finds that most of the 26 studies examined are severely flawed from a methodological perspective. Suggests that much research still needs to be done. (SR)

Examines developmental changes in children's ability to comprehend visual and verbal narrative. Finds that understanding and integrating temporal aspects of a narrative is more difficult for young children when the story is presented visually than when presented verbally, whereas older children comprehend narratives in both formats equally well.…

Examines adolescents' television and radio use. Finds that (1) Blacks and girls use television and radio more than Whites and boys; (2) television use declines with age while radio use increases; (3) access to cable television and VCRs is not related to frequency of use; and (4) lack of access to parents increases use. (KEH)