Data on the attention patterns of Sesame Street's intended target audience were analyzed and compared with data on middle-class children. Attention scores gleaned from a series of formative research studies performed in New York day care centers in 1972 and 1973 yielded the following conclusions: (1) within each of the four categories of affect…

A study of 64 Canadian 7-12-year-olds and of adults who might influence their television viewing habits was made to measure the receptivity and acceptability of "Monkey Bars," a children's television program created as an alternative for Saturday morning viewing. A 50-minute composite tape of program segments was shown, after which…

A total of 687 children, aged 7 through 11, was interviewed in fall, 1974 to determine the extent to which the Harlem Globetrotters Popcorn Machine television programs communicated "pro-social" messages to its audience. Viewers of four different episodes of the Globetrotters were questioned about the program they had seen. Among the…

This 1967 summary of closed circuit television (CCTV) activities in medical education presents descriptive information on 35 different medical institutions in Great Britain. Specific data on CCTV are offered by institution, equipment, and uses under each medical field: anatomy, anaesthetics, geriatrics, medicine, obstretrics and gynaecology,…

A staff paper to the President's Task Force on Communications Policy examines the future of broadcast television. The central question in formulating broadcast policy is how to mesh traditional policies with new technology to exploit fully the potential value of television. Two areas are stressed--the basic structure of TV broadcasting in the…

Groups of boys and girls at two summer day camps in 1970 were interviewed on the manner in which they viewed television, thought about it, and talked about it among themselves. The areas explored were: (1) the types of programs which they reported liking or disliking, (2) the types of programs which they felt informed them, (3) their attitudes…

Since television programs portray a wide variety of masculine styles, this aspect of a program may become the most important feature for adolescent boys seeking information about ideal prototypes. The program preferences of a sample of 14-year-old boys, evenly divided between white and black and between aggressive and non-aggressive subjects, were…

A study was conducted to investigate certain characteristics of respondents who renovated furniture during a Washington County educational television 19-program series on chair renovation, who had previously renovated furniture, and who planned to renovate a chair following the series, and to compare them with those respondents who had not. Data…

Presents answers to some commonly asked questions about video copyright. Provides hotline phone numbers, costs, and addresses for information packets and magazines. Discusses restrictions on rented videotapes as well as recordings of cable and broadcast television programs, including instructional programs. Includes a brief reference guide to…

With regard to sexual content, an argument is often made that sexual jokes, innuendoes, and behavior on television "go over kids' heads." To address this issue, focus groups were conducted with children between the ages of 8 and 13. Children viewed a tape of a selection of clips containing sexual content from programs aired in 1996…

Researchers who study television's cultivation effects believe that heavy television viewing exposes people to consistent messages that lead them to be more fearful and mistrustful of others. The widespread adoption and use of new television technologies, such as cable, VCR, and remote control devices (RCD), however, have the potential to alter…

This digest describes the overall pattern of the results of research on television violence and behavior. Several variables in the relationship between television violence and aggression related to characteristics of the viewers and to the portrayal of violence are identified. Viewer characteristics included: age, amount of television watched,…

To determine if variables predicting cable subscription differed in markets of different demographic makeups, a survey was administered to 596 adults in two suburban areas served by the same cable company. Analysis of data on audience demographics, media use, knowledge of and attitudes toward television and cable television, channel popularity,…

A study was conducted to determine whether the phenomenon known as "parasocial interaction" (PSI)--the perception of a face-to-face relationship between spectator and media performer--precedes the formation of loyalty to a particular television newscast, or whether viewers see newscasts as a way of reaffirming their ties with the…

Children's attention to four cartoons was observed in a laboratory session at the end of a two-year longitudinal study of home television viewing. Age (5 or 7), verbal ability (PPVT-R score) and home viewing history were examined as predictors of visual attention. There were no age differences, but PPVT-R scores were positively related to…