This study investigated the attitudes, beliefs, and behavior of Canadian and American children in terms of television viewing of sports, preference for professional or amateur sport models, and proportion of violent to nonviolent television viewing. The written opinionnaire items used in the research determined: 1) demographic information on…

The psychoanalytic theory of identification and the cognitive-developmental and social-learning theories of imitation are briefly described. Pertinent empirical research in the following areas is summarized and critically evaluated: imitation in infants, observational learning, clinical use of modeling, and the relation of imitation to aggression,…

This paper describes three interrelated studies which investigated the cognitions, feelings, and motives involved in the emergence and progression of prosocial behaviors. The first study examined the child's emerging sensitivities to the affective events in his environment through data collected over a 9-month period from groups of 10-, 15-, and…

The document discusses the effects of frustration on the aggressive behaviors of emotionally disturbed and normal children with high or low self concepts. Predicted were that greater amounts of verbal and behavioral aggression would be shown by: (1) emotionally disturbed subjects in special education classes than for normal subjects; (2) subjects…

Assessment of the format and content of a teacher in-service program on the aggressive child is the topic of this study. The program was presented by the Alexandria Community Mental Health Center to 284 elementary teachers from the local community. The teachers were asked to fill out pre- and post-workshop questionnaires regarding their…

Designed to investigate verbal aggression in State of the Union messages during times of war and peace, this study attempted to devise a method for quantitatively analyzing verbal aggression in public, political communication and to describe and explain the relationship of verbal aggression in State of the Union messages to the existence of war…

A group of social scientists met to advise the National Institute of Mental Health on how best to follow up on the work of the Surgeon General's Scientific Advisory Committee on Television and Social Behavior. Participants were asked to: 1) define research issues and approaches, 2) identify means for conducting research, and 3) provide guidance…

The problems mankind faces are of such overwhelming importance that it is easy to see why we are interested in integrating the academic disciplines to study war, violence, and social change. Could not the behavioral sciences, properly mobilized, enable us to reduce the probabilities of war and violence, and make social change more tolerable?…

The studies in this fifth volume of technical reports to the Scientific Advisory Committee on Television and Social Behavior explore the role of mediated aggression and violence on relevant human behaviors in some new and interesting ways. The volume begins with an overview of the studies, presenting a statement of the principal questions asked,…

A series of three studies investigated the role of play materials in supporting social interactions of nursery school children. Subjects were 14 boys and 11 girls, 4 and 5 years of age, who came from a variety of socioeconomic and racial backgrounds. Observations were made for 16 days, during the free play hour at each of four play centers: art,…

The Mataco Indians are members of the Mataco-Mataguayo family which included several different groups that to some extent were related culturally speaking. According to the National Indigenous Census, there are 21,800 Mataco in Argentina today. The six Mataco settlements, situated in the land belt which extends from Pozo del Mortero to Laguna Yema…

Observations of social interactions of elementary students in self-contained emotionally disturbed (ED) and learning disabilities (LD) classrooms revealed significantly more nonphysical aggression and noncompliance among ED than LD boys across settings, and significantly higher rates of physical and nonphysical aggression and immature behavior…

Reviews experimental studies and field investigations of the influence of violence in the mass media on aggressive behavior. Relates this research to recent developments in cognitive psychology. Suggests that the cognitive-neoassociationist hypothesis provides the best explanation for the overall findings and may subsume other hypotheses…

Argues that field research can provide evidence about the long-term socialization and developmental effects of media violence on viewer's behavior. Summarizes findings from a number of quasi-experimental studies about the effects of naturally occurring media violence. Concludes that these findings are often consistent with the hypothesis that…

Examines some of the ways television may influence the imagination, motor activity, and aggressiveness of preschool and early school-aged children. Proposes a model in which a number of family and personal variables influence the growing child's response to television, and reports the results of several empirical studies that investigated family…