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Iv-igg 1 fi -—"—-—'— —_—-——__.’

THE ROLE OF INTENSITY AND FREQUENCY OF STIMULUS
EXPOSURE IN ATTENTIONAL AND LEARNING

PROCESSES OF CHILDREN

BY

Nadyne Gail Edison

A DISSERTATION

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Department of Communication

1984

Accepted by the faculty of the Department of
Communication, College of Communication Arts and Sciences,
Michigan State University, in partial fulfillment of the

requirements of the Doctor of Philosophy degree.

 

 

Director of D18 rtati

Guidance Committee: MSW , Chairman

“AL W0
WM
if)! ”m

 

ii

THE ROLE OF INTENSITY AND FREQUENCY OF STIMULUS
EXPOSURE IN ATTENTIONAL AND LEARNING

PROCESSES OF CHILDREN

BY

Nadyne Gail Edison

AN ABSTRACT OF A DISSERTATION

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Department of Communication

1984

ABSTRACT
THE ROLE OF INTENSITY AND FREQUENCY OF STIMULUS

EXPOSURE IN ATTENTIONAL AND LEARNING
PROCESSES OF CHILDREN

BY

Nadyne Gail Edison

This study initially posed a perceptual approach to
the effects of television on children which emerges from
the social psychological perspective. The first chapter
of this study sought to identify and explain stimulus
variables that can provide a theoretical system for the
analysis of children's attention to and learning processes
of television behaviors. In examining the properties of
a stimulus, theory suggests that certain properties will
direct exploratory behavior in children and, in turn,
influence selective attention. It is suggested that
children investigate and attend to complex, moving, and
changing stimuli. This type of stimulus has been catego-
rized under the heading of "intensity." Theory predicts
that repeated exposure to high intensity stimuli will
enhance and maintain attention, arousal, positive effect,
and learning of such stimuli, whereas repeated exposure to
low intensity stimuli will produce boredom, and thus result
in a decline in attention, arousal, positive affect, and
social learning. High intensity stimuli can compensate

for familiarization with the stimulus.

Nadyne Gail Edison

An experiment was then reported in which the level of
intensity and frequency was manipulated at two levels, high
and low. Three separate content areas were used to test
the effects of frequency and intensity. They were physical
aggression, verbal aggression, and altruism. Two hundred
and sixty male and female subjects from fifth and sixth
grade classes participated in the experiments. Subjects
were asked to make ratio judgments for 18 hypothetical
situations and a series of dependent measures. Analysis
of these responses comprise the data base.

Results suggest the manipulations of the independent
variables were inadequate, thus making subsequent inter-
pretation of results difficult. An effect for intensity
is predicted for dependent variables but found only for
altruism. An effect for frequency is predicted and found
for positive affect and verbal aggression. The hypothesis
suggesting that greater amounts of the dependent variables
will occur in the high frequency, high intensity condition
as compared to the low frequency, low intensity condition
is not confirmed.

The final chapter of this study consists of a critique
and reconsideration of the methods and the theory used in
the study, as well as a proposal for areas of future

investigation.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Many individuals are responsible for the completion
of this dissertation. First, a very special acknowledgment
must go to Dr. Bradley S. Greenberg, advisor and friend.
It is because of Dr. Greenberg's patience, guidance, and
continued understanding that these acknowledgments are
being written today. My growth as a social scientist
and as a person are due to Brad's support and wisdom.

I will always be most grateful to him.

I would also like to thank my committee members,
Professors Erv Bettinghaus, Charles Atkin, and Ellen
Strommen. They offered valuable suggestions and advice
on this dissertation.

A very special thank you is reserved for Dr. Barnett
and Ritta Rosenberg. Friends, since I first arrived at
MSU, Ritta and Barney have always provided encouragement,
support, and love. I am very privileged to have them as
friends.

Last, I would like to thank my parents, Herman and
Sylvia Edison. My mother struggled with me through the
completion of the dissertation and was always confident
that I would finish and my father's memory kept me from

giving up. To my parents, my love and my gratitude.

iii

LIST OF TABLES

CHAPTER

1.

2.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ATTENTIONAL AND LEARNING PROCESSES . . . .

1.1

1.2

1.4

1.6
METHOD

2.1
2.2

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . .
1.11 Overview . . . . . . . . . .
1.12 Stimulus Properties and
Repeated Exposure . . . . . .
Children's Learning Processes . . .
1.21 Stimulus Selection . . . . .
1.22 Stimulus PrOperties and
Exploratory Behavior . . . .
1.23 Selective Attention . . . . .
1.24 Determinants of Attention . .
Stimulus Properties and Television
Stimuli . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.31 Intensity . . . . . . . .
1.32 Visual Complexity . . . .
1.33 Novelty . . . . . . . . .
1.34 Summary . . . . . . . . .
Intensity of Television Stimuli
1.41 Definition of Intensity .
1.42 Example of Intensity . . . .
1.43 Children's Discrimination of
the Components of Intensity .
Frequency and Intensity of Exposure
1.51 "Mere" Exposure Effects . . .
1.52 Interpretation of Intensity/
Frequency Relationship . . .
Summary and Perspective . . . . . .

Overview of Design . . . . . . . .
Experimental Design . . . . . . . .
2.21 Design Considerations . . . .
2.22 Measurement Procedures for
Act Intensity . . . . . . . .

iv

Page

vii

CHAPTER Page

2.23 Manipulations . . . . . . . . . . 49
2.24 General Manipulation
Considerations and Stimulus
Presentation . . . . . . . . . . . 52

2.25 Stimulus Tapes . . . . . . . . . 53
2.26 Pilot Study . . . . . . . . . . . 55
2.27 Subjects . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
2.3 Questionnaire Instruments . . . . . . . 63
2.31 Instrument Considerations . . . . 63

2.32 Development of Dependent
Variables . . . . . . . . . . . 64

2.33 Manipulation Checks . . . . . . . 68
2.34 Consideration for Direct

Magnitude-Estimation Procedures . 69
2.35 Development of Direct-Magnitude

Estimation Procedures . . . . . . 71
2.36 Ratio-Scale Training Procedures . 75
2.37 Description of Post-Experimental

Questionnaire . . . . . . . . . . 77
2.38 Schedule of Interviews . . . . . . 78
Experimental Procedures . . . . . . . . 79

Facilities and Apparatus . . . . . . . . 83
Ethical Considerations . . . . . . . . . 84
Footnotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

NNN
O‘U‘lub

3. RESULTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

3.1 Index Construction . . . . . . . . . . . 88
3.11 Dependent Variables . . . . . . . 88
3.12 Reliability of Indices . . . . . . 100
3.2 Effectiveness of Manipulations . . . . . 102
3.21 Content Manipulation . . . . . . . 102
3.22 Frequency Manipulation . . . . . . 105
3.23 Intensity Manipulation . . . . . . 107
3.3 Establishing a Metric . . . . . . . . . 108
3.31 Problem of Heteroscadacity . . . . 108
3.32 Logarithmic Transformations . . . 110
3.4 Treatment of Missing Data . . . . . . . 112
3.5 Analytical Procedures . . . . . . . . . 113
3.6 Effects of Independent Variables . . . . 116
3.61 Main Effect for Intensity . . . . 116
3.62 Main Effect for Frequency . . . . 136

3.63 Combined Effects of Frequency
and Intensity . . . . . 138
3.64 Summary of the Effects of
Independent Variables . . . . . . 145
3.7 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Footnotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

CHAPTER

4.

APPENDIX

A.

B.

E.
F.

G.

I.

REFERENC

CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.1 Internal Validity . . . . . . .
4.11 The Design . . . . . . . .
4.12 Validity and Analysis . .
External Validity . . . . . . .
Theoretical Validity . . . . . .
Future Research . . . . . . . .
4.41 Theoretical Application .
4.42 Future Methodological and
Statistical Research . . .
Footnotes . . . . . . . . . . .

ub-bb
nwa

DISCUSSION OF CONTENT ANALYSIS . . . .

YARDSTICK FOR PHYSICAL AND VERBAL
AGGRESSION I O O O O O O O O O O O O

INSTRUMENT FOR RESPONSE CATEGORIES . .

POST-EXPERIMENTAL QUESTIONNAIRE "SCHOOL
SURVEY " O O O O O O O O C O O I I O O

SAMPLE OF INTERVIEW INSTRUMENT . . . .
TESTER TRAINING INSTRUCTIONS . . . . .
CONSENT LETTER TO PARENTS . . . . . . .
UNTRANSFORMED AND TRANSFORMED MEANS AND
STANDARD DEVIATIONS FOR ALL DEPENDENT
ITEMS AND MANIPULATION ITEMS . . . .

INTERCORRELATIONS AMONG DEPENDENT ITEMS
AND INDEPENDENT ITEMS . . . . . . . .

ES 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 0

vi

Page
155
155
155
160
162
164
167
167

169
173

174

180
181

186
210
212
216

217

218
223

TABLE

2.1

LIST OF TABLES

Intensity Means for Altruism, Verbal
Aggression, and Physical Aggression by

Experimental Condition

Description,
Seconds of Each Act of
Frequency Altruism . .

Description, Intensity
Seconds of Each of Act

Score, and Length in

of Low Intensity,

High Frequency Altruism

Description,

Description, Intensity Score, and Length in
Seconds of Each Act of Low Intensity, High
Frequency Verbal Aggression

Description, Intensity Score, and Length in
Seconds of Each Act of High Intensity, High
Frequency Physical Aggression

Description, Intensity Score, and Length in
Seconds of Each Act of Low Intensity, High
Frequency Physical Aggression

Intercorrelations for Ratio Scaled Physical
Aggression Social Learning Items for Three

Content Treatment Groups

Intercorrelations for Ratio-Scaled Verbal
Aggression Social Learning Items for Three

Content Treatment Groups

Intercorrelations for Ratio-Scaled Altruism
Social Learning Items for Three Content

Treatment Groups . . .

vii

Intensity Score, and Length in
High Intensity, High

Intensity Score, and Length in
Seconds of Each Act of High Intensity, High
Frequency Verbal Aggression

Page

51

56

57

58

59

6O

61

89

9O

91

TABLE

3.6

3.10

3.11

Intercorrelations for Likert-Scaled Physical
Aggression Social Learning Items for
Physical Aggression Treatment Group . . . . .

Intercorrelations (and One-Tail Levels of
Significance) for Likert-Scaled verbal
Aggression Social Verbal Aggression

Treatment Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Intercorrelations (and One-Tail Levels of
Significance) for Likert-Scaled Altruism
Social Learning for Altruism Treatment

Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Intercorrelations for Arousal Items for
Three Content Treatment Groups . . . . . . . .

Intercorrelations for Positive Affect Items
for Three Content Treatment Groups . . . . . .

Intercorrelations for Attention Items for
Three Content Treatment Groups . . . . . . . .

Factor Score Coefficients, Means, and
Standard Deviations for All Dependent Items
for Three Content Treatment Groups . . . . . .

Factor Score Coefficients, Means, and Standard
Deviations of Likert-Scaled Social Learning
Items for Each Content Treatment Group . . . .

Reliability Estimates for Constructed Indices

Results of thests (One-Tailed) for Content
Manipulation Item for Each Content Treatment
Group by Two Other Treatment Groups . . . . .

Results of t—Tests (One-Tailed) for Frequency
Manipulation Item for Each Content Treatment
Group by Level of Frequency . . . . . . . . .

Results of thests (One-Tailed) for Intensity
Manipulation Item for Each Content Treatment
Group by Level of Intensity . . . . . . . . .

Intercorrelations (and One-Tail Levels of
Significance) Among Dependent Variables . . .

viii

Page

92

93

94

95

95

96

98

99

101

104

106

109

114

TABLE

3.17

Results of Analysis of Variance for Physical
Aggression Social Learning Variable for
Physical Aggression Treatment Group by
Level of Frequency and Level of Intensity .

Results of Analysis of Variance for Physical
Aggression Social Learning Variable for
Physical Aggression Treatment Group by
Level of Frequency and Level of Intensity .

Results of Analysis of Variance for Verbal
Aggression Social Learning Variable for
Verbal Aggression Treatment Group by Level
of Frequency and Level of Intensity . . . .

Results of Analysis of Variance for Verbal
Aggression Social Learning Variable for
Verbal Aggression Treatment Group by Level
of Frequency and Level of Intensity . . . .

Results of Analysis of Variance for Altruism
Social Learning Variable for Altruism
Treatment Group by Level of Frequency
and Level of Intensity . . . . . . . . . . .

Results of Analysis of Variance for Altruism
Social Learning Variable for Altruism
Treatment Group by Level of Frequency
and Level of Intensity . . . . . . . . . . .

Results of Analysis of Variance for Altruism
Social Learning Variable for Altruism
Treatment Group by Level of Frequency
and Level of Intensity . . . . . . . . . . .

Results of Analysis of Variance for Arousal
for Physical Aggression Treatment Group by
Level of Frequency and Level of Intensity .

Results of Analysis of Variance for Arousal
for Verbal Aggression Treatment Group by
Level of Frequency and Level of Intensity .

Results of Analysis of Variance for Arousal

for Altruism Treatment Group by Level of
Frequency and Level of Intensity . . . . . .

ix

Page

117

118

120

121

122

123

124

126

127

128

3.29

3.31

3.35

3.36

Results of Analysis of Variance for Positive
Affect for Physical Aggression Treatment
Group by Level of Frequency and Level of
Intensity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Results of Analysis of Variance for Positive
Affect for Verbal Aggression Treatment Group
by Level of Frequency and Level of Intensity .

Results of Analysis of Variance for Positive
Affect for Altruism Treatment Group by Level
of Frequency and Level of Intensity . . . . .

Results of Analysis of Variance for Attention
for Physical Aggression Treatment Group by
Level of Frequency and Level of Intensity . .

Results of Analysis of Variance for Attention
for Verbal Aggression Treatment Group by Level
of Frequency and Level of Intensity . . . . .

Results of Analysis of Variance for Attention
for Altruism Treatment Group by Level of
Frequency and Level of Intensity . . . . . . .

Results of E-Tests (One-Tailed) for Social
Learning Variables for Three Treatment

Groups by High Frequency and Level of
Intensity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Results of thests (One-Tailed) for Arousal
for Three Treatment Groups by High Frequency
and Level of Intensity . . . . . . . . . . . .

Results of EeTests (One-Tailed) for Positive
Affect for Three Treatment Groups by High
Frequency and Level of Intensity . . . . . . .

Results of EfTests (One-Tailed) for Attention
for Three Treatment Groups by High Frequency
and Level of Intensity . . . . . . . . . . . .

Untransformed and Transformed Means and
Standard Deviations for all Dependent Items
for Three Content Treatment Groups . . . . . .

Page

129

130

131

133

134

135

140

142

144

145

217

TABLE Page

H.2 Untransformed and Transformed Means and
Standard Deviations for Manipulation
Items for Three Content Treatment Groups . . . . 218

1.1 Intercorrelations (and One-Tail Levels of
Significance) for Ratio and Likert Scale
Physical Aggression Social Learning Items
for Physical Aggression Treatment Group . . . . 219

1.2 Intercorrelations (and One-Tail Levels of
Significance) for Ratio and Likert Scaled
Verbal Aggression Social Learning Items
for Verbal Aggression Treatment Group . . . . . 220

1.3 Intercorrelations (and One-Tail Levels of
Significance) for Ratio and Likert Scaled
Altruism Social Learning Items for Altruism
Treatment Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

1.4 Intercorrelations (and One-Tail Levels of
Significance) for Ratio Scaled and Likert
Scaled Social Learning Dependent Variables
for Each Content Treatment Group . . . . . . . . 222

xi

CHAPTER 1

ATTENTIONAL AND LEARNING PROCESSES

1.1 Introduction

 

1.11 Overview. Television has become an important
tool in shaping and directing children's interactions with
others as well as with the social system in which they are
to live. How and why children learn from television is in
need of empirical investigation. Research in the field of
child psychology has long sought to explain the learning
process in children. Recent investigation of the impact
of television on children's social behavior has also tried
to determine why and how a child learns from what he/she
sees on television. Considerable research evidence has
been provided which already indicates that children do
learn from television (see for example, Goranson, 1970;
Kaplan and Singer, 1976); however, the process by which
this learning occurs still remains in need of theoretical
and empirical inquiry. This dissertation will be directed
to explicating the learning process in children. Specifi-
cally, the concern here will be with how and why a child
learns to differentiate among television events, why certain

behaviors are attended to and elicit responses, why children

exhibit preference for certain television content, and
how continued exposure to television stimuli enhances

or impedes learning in children. An examination of the
role of selected stimulus properties and repeated exposure
to stimuli will provide a theoretical framework for which
empirical testing of the effects of television content on
children's learning can be developed.

The study of how children learn has provided several
theoretical perspectives from which the learning process
can be examined. Early studies (Hull, 1943; Spence, 1950)
considered learning to occur through the gradual strength-
ening of stimulus-response associations. In this view,
the child was considered to respond to the environment in
a passive and indiscriminate manner. Behavioral growth and
change in the child was said to occur by continuous increase
in the strength of stimulus-response relations. Although
neither Hull nor Spence were particularly concerned with
children's behavior, the stimulus-response notions have
had considerable influence on research in child psychology.
This theoretical perspective, however, has generally been
inadequate in explaining children's behavior. Research
endeavors using this approach have failed to provide sup-
porting evidence for the theoretical assumptions (see
Stevenson, 1972, pp. 10-34, for reviews of this literature).

Reinforcement, the crucial concept in S-R theories, rather

than strengthening the stimulus-response relationship,
has often brought about a change of response by the child.
One-trial learning in discrimination studies (see Gibson,
1969, pp. 61-75, for reviews of research in discrimination
learning) as well as "no-trial" learning has been demon-
strated when children have had the opportunity to observe
another individual's performance (see Bandura, 1965, for
reviews of observational learning research). Studies
in reinforcement and associative learning also suggest
that not all stimuli are equally effective in eliciting
responses from children, and that children respond to
salient or preferred stimuli (of. Gibson, 1969:114).
These findings indicate that children actively attend
to environmental cues and are not passive organisms
waiting for experiences or events to impinge upon them.
The lack of confidence in stimulus-response theories
of learning led the way to the consideration of cognitive
and perceptual theories of learning in children. Piaget
(1954) proposed a cognitive theory of learning in which
the child is viewed as an active and discriminating orga-
nism who structures or changes the way of thinking rather
than the mode of response. While the Piagetian approach
to learning has been concerned with the changes in the

child's cognitive structure, it has been less than

adequate in explaining the causal determinants of these
changes. That is, research testing this view had not
thoroughly investigated why or how specific combinations
of a child's experience produce change in cognitive
structure.

Another theoretical perspective has sought to explain
why behavioral patterns change in children and why children
respond differently to environmental stimuli. This is a
theory of perceptual learning presented by Eleanor Gibson
(1969). In accord with Piaget, this theory contends that
the child is an active and self-regulating organism. How-
ever, unlike Piaget, the theory seeks to explain chidren's
learning through the development of perceptual processes
rather than cognitive ones. Perceptual learning is defined
(Gibson, 1969:77) as:

. . . an increase in the ability of an organism
to get information from its environment, as a
result of practice with the array of stimulation
provided by the environment. This definition
implies that there are potential variables of
stimuli which are not differentiated within the
mass of impinging stimulation, but which may be,
given the proper conditions of exposure and
practice. As they are differentiated, the
resulting perceptions become more specific with
respect to stimulation, that is, in greater
correspondence with it. There is a change in
what the organism can respond to. The change

is not acquisition or substitution of a new
response to stimulation previously responded

to in some way, but is rather responding in any
discriminating way to a variable of stimulation
not responded to previously. The criterion of
perceptual learning is thus an increase in

specificity. What is learned can be described

as detection of properties, patterns, and

distinctive features.

Perceptual learning requires the child to explore and
search for stimulation. Stimuli will be differentiated by
their distinctive features. Berlyne (1960), interested in
which types of stimuli will be responded to, sets forth a
process by which an organism responds to oncoming stimuli.
Berlyne isolates those stimulus properties which have the
potential to bring about arousal and curiosity in the child.
He posits that learning depends on the prOperties of the
stimulus. If we imagine that social behaviors or actions,
as portrayed on television, are sources of stimulation for
the child, we should then be able to classify them according
to their potential ability to stimulate a child's arousal
and their potential to be perceptually learned. The goal
here is to integrate the assumptions proposed by Berlyne
with Gibson's theory of perceptual learning. In this dis-
cussion a system for categorizing stimuli for their poten-
tial in eliciting responses will be proposed. Specifically,
it will be suggested that television stimuli vary with
regard to a stimulus property labeled "intensity."
Attention, positive affect, arousal, and learning of
social behaviors will be said to be dependent on the
"intensity" of the stimulus. Specification of these

processes will be provided in the subsections to follow.

1.12 Stimulus Properties and Repeated Exposure.

 

The repetition of exposure to a stimulus has been considered
a necessary component in children's learning. Regular tele-
vision viewing provides children with an opportunity to
observe repeated performance of diverse social behaviors.
Generally it would be posited that the more a child sees
these behaviors the more likely it is that they will elicit
a response from the child. Zajonc (1968) proposes that
"mere" exposure to a stimulus is a sufficient condition

to enhance positive affect (pleasure and interest) and
learning of a stimulus. However, considerable evidence
from both the fields of child psychology and advertising
suggests that the effectiveness of a stimulus in eliciting
a response decreases as the child becomes more familiar
with it (see Cantor, 1969a, 1969b, and Krugman, 1968,
1972). This decrease in effectiveness for repeatedly
exposed stimuli is not found for all types of stimuli.
Berlyne (1970, 1971) suggests that stimuli which contain
qualities such as complexity, uncertainty, and arousal
potential will maintain their effectiveness with regard

to attention and learning when children are repeatedly
exposed to them. Berlyne (1970) has proposed that repeated
exposure to simple (non-complex) stimuli will produce a
satiation effect. Initially, he suggests, repeated

exposure to non-complex stimuli will enhance learning

and positive affect; however, since learning of this type
of stimuli should occur quickly, subsequent exposures will
lead to boredom and decrease in affect. An inverted U—
shaped function is demonstrated for repeated exposure to
non-complex stimuli. Complex and/or arousing stimuli, on
the other hand, are more difficult to learn. Repeated
exposure is necessary to learn complex stimuli. A learning
curve function is suggested by Berlyne (1970) for repeated
exposure to complex stimuli. These curves are illustrated

below.

Simple Stimulus Complex Stimulus

Learning and
Affect
Learning and
Affect

 

 

 

 

Exposure Exposure

Examining the interrelationship between stimulus
properties and repeated exposure to a stimulus is necessary
to investigate the effects of television stimuli on chil-
dren's behavior. However, before one can determine what
happens after a child is exposed to stimuli, the process
by which the child initially comes in contact with stimuli

must be clarified.

It will be suggested here that selective attention
to events is a necessary condition for perceptual and
social learning, and that various stimulus properties
determine selective attention. The subsequent sections
of this chapter will (a) examine attention and perception
processes in children's learning; (b) examine the determi-
nants of attention; (c) explicate the stimulus properties
that have been associated with attention; (d) conceptualize
"intensity" of television stimuli; (e) indicate how "inten-
sity" and repeated exposure (also refered to as frequency)
are intimately linked in the learning process; and (f)
provide hypotheses for the test of the intensity/frequency
relationship using diverse social behaviors from commercial

television programs as stimuli.

1.2 Children's Learning Processes

 

1.21 Stimulus Selection. Why does a child look at

 

certain objects and places in the environment? Common

sense would tell us it is because certain events are
pleasing or exciting. Visual stimulation can also be
arousing. However, a basic biological function of visual
exploration is to investigate, examine, and learn about
events in the environment that will be relevant to the
child's growth (cf. Fantz, 1972). Through visual explor-
ation, what a child discovers or learns may elicit immediate

responses or may be filed for future reference or perhaps

both. The child must attend to and perceive a stimulus;
a response or reaction to a social behavior in the form
of a physical demonstration or verbal description will
indicate that social behavior patterns for the child have
developed. Perceptual learning, hence, is a twofold
process. First, there is discrimination among stimuli
and second there is response to stimuli.

Discrimination among stimuli requires the child's
capacity to do so, plus the act of attending to a stimulus.
Studies in visual preference indicate that infants from
birth discriminate patterned stimuli and selectively attend
to distinct events in the environment (e.g., Fantz, 1972).
Visual events are structured in such a way that certain
aspects of them attract attention. What determines this
attention? Why are some visual stimuli preferred by the
child? Certainly experience is a factor in stimulus
selection but of equal importance is the actual "make-up"
of the stimulus.

Early learning theorists were not concerned with the
role of attention or perception in learning. Investigation
of stimulus effects involved looking at "patterning" of
stimuli (Hull, 1943) or "configural conditioning" (Razran,
1939). This research sought to determine what types of
responses would be evoked by combining stimuli rather than

determining which parts of the combination or pattern

10

would attract perceptual focus and attention. During the
last 20 years, the study of cognitive and perceptual
processes in learning has emphasized the role and
definition of the stimulus.

The concept "stimulus" has had a long history in
psychology (see Gibson, 1950, for early definitions of
the stimulus). Skinner noted that "we frequently define
the stimulus by the very doubtful property of its ability
to elicit the response in question, rather than by any
independent property of the stimulus itself" (1959:355).
Similarly, a stimulus has been said to be ". . . any event
to which a response can be so connected" (Miller and
Dollard, 1941:59). Definitions of the stimulus which
specify its independent components have also been provided.
Estes claims that the stimulus "refers to environmental
conditions, describable in physical terms without reference
to the behavior or an organism" (Koch, 1959:455), or as
Hayek states, “the distinction between different stimuli
must be independent of the different effects they have on
an organism" (l952:9). The different conceptions of the
stimulus represent a controversy in psychology. That is,
are stimuli defined by certain physical prOperties or by
effects on behavior of perceivers? It would appear nec-
essary to define the stimulus with regard to its individual

components if we are to determine how and why stimuli are

11

discriminated. Gibson (1960) claims the crucial issue
in defining the stimulus is the decision as to whether
a stimulus is "that which does activate a sense organ or
that which can activate a sense organ" (p. 696). To define
a stimulus by its potential to excite an organism allows
us to examine the stimulus in isolation from responses and
to categorize stimuli for their potential ability to elicit
perception and action. The issue then lies with determining
those stimulus properties that are potential sources for
excitation. By pursuing this line of thought we should be
able to establish a systematic study of the laws by which
children perceive and respond to environmental events.
Research investigations seeking to isolate those
stimulus prOperties which will affect attention, excitement,
or arousal and learning have generally manipulated the set
of visual stimulus variables suggested by Berlyne (1960).
They are complexity, novelty, physical intensity, and un-
certainty of the stimulus. Much of the research generated
on these properties of visual stimuli has relied on stimuli
which have little meaning to subjects. Stimuli have been
composed of polygons, varying in size and color (e.g., Day,
1967), Chinese ideographs (e.g., Harrison and Crandall,
1972), random figures (e.g., Munsinger and Kessen, 1964),
nonsense words (e.g., Matlin, 1971), Turkish words (e.g.,

Stang, 1974, 1975), and Japanese characters (e.g., Zajonc,

12

Swap, Harrison and Roberts, 1971). The more meaningful
stimuli used have been musical tones (e.g., Vitz, 1966),
non-representational paintings (e.g., Zajonc, Shaver,
Tavris, and vanKreveld, 1972), photographs of the envi-
ronment (e.g., Wohlwill, 1968), and stereotyped pictures
of black and white males (Perlman and Oskamp, 1971).

Of these many research studies, none have attempted
to use moving stimuli, i.e., action stimuli, and only
Perlman and Oskamp (1971) chose to relate the theoretical
notions of stimulus qualities and repeated exposure to
social learning from television. The authors, concerned
with the development of stereotyped race attitudes because
of the portrayal of minorities on television, tested the
"mere exposure hypothesis," which states that "mere"
repeated exposure to a stimulus will enhance positive
evaluation of that stimulus, regardless of the content
or consequences of the stimulus. Perlman and Oskamp (1971)
found, however, that only repeated exposure to positive
portrayals of black and white males increased positive
evaluation. Repeated exposure to negative portrayals,
however, did not increase or decrease evaluation. Perlman
and Oskamp concluded that the learning process involves the
content of the stimulus, as well as the frequency of expo—
sure. This conclusion has been supported by others as well
(of. Burgess and Sales, 1971; Brickman, Redfield, Harrison,

and Crandall, 1972).

13

Television provides a child viewer with a reservoir
of possible stimuli to perceive and respond to. Social
behaviors as portrayed on television are frequently learned
by child viewers (Bandura, 1977). Three social behaviors,
in particular, have received considerable attention with
regard to children's learning. These behaviors are altru-
ism, a socially positive behavior; verbal aggression, a
socially negative behavior; and physical aggression,
defined by acts of hitting, another socially negative
behavior. These social behaviors as visual stimuli are
portrayed on television frequently and vary in their
representation (Greenberg, Atkin, Edison, Korzenny, 1976).
Therefore, in the development of an empirical methodology
for examining children's learning from television, these
behaviors will be chosen as visual stimuli. The process
by which children investigate and seek stimulation will
now be discussed.

1.22 Stimulus Properties and Exploratory Behavior.
The motivational effects of stimulus properties like
complexity or variety have been investigated because of
their influence on exploratory behavior in children (e.g.,
Cantor, 1968). These stimulus properties are major deter-
minants of attention and, as such, are important independent
variables in the regulation of exploratory and curiosity

behavior in children (of. Dember and Earl, 1957:91).

14

Intrinsic or cognitive motives have been said to cause
exploratory behavior (of. Gibson, 1969; Berlyne, 1960).
Hunt (1963) suggests that incongruity or dissonance between
incoming stimuli and a cognitive state such as expectation
produces arousal and directs exploration.

Berlyne (1971) also suggests that when an individual
is left in a state of uncertainty, conflict, or arousal,
exploratory behavior will occur. Subjective uncertainty
or arousal can cause curiosity which then becomes a motive
for exploration. According to Berlyne, the curious adult
or child will seek out stimulation. Stimulation can be
sought specifically to alleviate uncertainties originally
experienced. Berlyne (1960) calls this specific explora-
tion. Stimulation can also be sought, regardless of its
content or uncertainty reducing abilities. This latter
type of exploration Berlyne termed diverse exploration..
The curious child explores stimuli which offer an "optimum
amount of novelty, surprisingness, complexity, change, or
variety" (Berlyne, 1970:70). Specific exploration requires
that an unpleasant degree of subjective uncertainty be
reduced. Stimulation sought should have an interest value
to the child. Diversive exploration takes place because
the child is searching for exciting and pleasing stimuli.
Exploratory behavior has been measured by both the amount

of time spent on observing the stimulus (Berlyne, 1963)

15

and measures of stimulus preference, pleasantness, interest,
and liking (Wohlwill, 1968; Vitz, 1966; Munsinger and
Kessen, 1964).

Considerable research suggests that children do prefer,
seek out, and retain visual material that possesses a high
degree of complexity or variety (e.g., Reese, 1970; Emmerich
and Ackerman, 1976). Cantor (1968) reports that children
verbally expressed a preference for more complex stimuli
and more readily exposed themselves to such stimuli.

Television content provides children with an array of
stimuli to explore. Whether exploration is motivated by
subjective uncertainty, curiosity, or a desire for arousal,
a child can find stimulation from television viewing.
Obviously, all that is available on television will not
be perceived by the child. The selective process which
is central to the regulation of stimulus input is attention.

1.23 Selective Attention. Exploratory behavior can

 

be thought of as attending to aspects of the environment
that are peripheral to one's visual field (of. Berlyne,
1960; Wohlwill, 1968). It is the first phase in the process
of bringing a child in contact with stimuli. Exploratory
behaviors determine what kinds of stimuli will reach one's
sense organs before the sense organs are stimulated (cf.
Gibson, 1969). Selective processes must control or limit

which stimuli reach the sense organs. Selective attention

16

means selecting or concentrating on elements which are in
the stimulus field (Gibson, 1969:115). Attention is the
directive aspect of perception (Gibson, 1969:121). Selec-
tive attention becomes more systematic as the child matures
or develops. Selective attention determines which stimuli
will reach a sense organ and be perceived, and a response
can or will be elicited. The process discussed thus far

is illustrated below.

Events . Exploratory Sense Selective

. . .fi . # r a d .
(st1mu11) Behav1or 0 g n. Attent1on
Impress1on l

Perceptual
Learning

1

Response

Above, there is an array of events or stimuli. The
child explores and searches among these events. Exploratory
behavior brings these into "focus." The selective process
of attention filters out or rejects certain stimulus inputs
and exposes the visual receptors to chosen aspects of the
events which are potentially stimulating. Those aspects
of the stimuli attended to will be perceived. Whatever
is perceived now has the potential for evoking responses.

Next, the components or properties of the stimulus

which determine selective attention will be specified.

17

1.24 Determinants of Attention. Stimuli can embody

 

physical characteristics which are so visually distinct
that attention to them will be assured. Studies in dis-
crimination learning have used several different techniques
to highlight the characteristics of a stimulus. The attri-
butes of the stimuli that children are to learn have been
shown in isolation of other stimulus patterns. Techniques
such as fading-in (gradual emphasis) the stimulus (Caron,
1968), illuminating (by the use of lighting techniques) the
stimulus (Spiker, 1959) and centering the stimulus (Bijou
and Baer, 1963) have enhanced attention to features of the
stimulus. In addition, spatial dimensions (size) (e.g.,
Stevenson and Langford, 1957) and spatial relations
(location of the stimulus in the child's visual field)
(e.g., Murphy and Miller, 1959) have influenced learning
by determining where the child directs his/her attention.

Visual enhancement accomplished by exaggeration of
distinctive stimulus features, such as cartoon caricatures,
or by maximizing the number of possible feature contrasts,
or by eliminating nondistinctive features have also enhanced
a child's attention to stimulus objects (see Gibson, 1969:
102-105).

Bringing about attention to stimuli using these types
of techniques usually requires manipulating some aspect of

the stimulus object. While research of this nature gives

18

us an indication of what will influence attention, a set
of invariant stimulus properties are still needed if one
wishes to explain what a child attends to after he/she has
developmentally matured and is capable of discriminating
among stimuli that are in the environment.

The classical determinants of attention were set forth
by Titchener (1903). His four conditions are as follows:

0 High Intensity of Stimulus--defined by great strength
(i.e., color, size, configuration) of stimulus that

will not succumb to counter excitations.

. Suddenness of Stimulus-~defined as increased or sudden
changes of the stimulus.

. Novelty of Stimulus--novelty means, according to
Tichener, "non-associatedness." A novel impression
stands in isolation.

. Movement of Stimulus-~the influence of movement is
explained by the avoidance or reduction of fatigue
in the parts of the organ stimulated. (pp. 207-208)
Berlyne (1960) has suggested that the complexity or

variety or uncertainty, intensity and change or movement
are factors of the stimulus which when combined will direct
selective attention towards one stimulus rather than another.

The conceptualizations of these properties will be provided

and related to television stimuli.

1.3 Stimulus Properties and Television Stimuli

 

1.31 Intensity. Intensity of a stimulus was one of

 

the first stimulus prOperties to be examined for its effects

on attention (Berlyne, 1951). In the literature on

l9

psychophysical aspects of stimuli, intensity generally
refers to the brightness, color, and size of a stimulus
object. Other stimuli examined for intensive traits have
included sounds, ranging in pitch, color patterns varying
in color combinations, and geometric figures varying in
size, shape, or color (see Berlyne, 1950, for a general
description of intense stimuli). The studies in discrim—
ination learning of children generally manipulated some
aspect of intensity. More intense stimuli attract greater
interest and receive more visual attention (e.g., Bartlett,
1932; Caron, 1968; Spiker, 1959).

Relating this definition of intensity to television
stimuli, it can be thought that television content, in
general, shown in color rather than black and white would
have greater intensity, as would television programs viewed
on a larger television screen. Specifically, within a pro-
gram, a scene which is brighter by the use of lighting or
color or perhaps louder will be more intense than a scene
where colors are muted or sounds are dull. Television
stimuli can be described by psychophysical terms; however,
intensity, as defined, alone will not account for selective
attention. While intensity describes physical attributes
of the individual elements of a stimulus pattern, it does
not describe the interrelationships of the elements. The
interrelationship of the components of a stimulus is best

described by the stimulus property termed complexity.

20

1.32 Visual Complexity. Complexity is defined in

 

terms of the amount of variety or diversity which exists

in a stimulus pattern (Berlyne, 1960:38). A stimulus
pattern becomes more complex as the number of elements

or parts increases. In two stimulus patterns with the

same number of elements, the one with less similarity among
its elements or less redundancy of information will be
judged more complex (e.g., Vitz, 1966; Dorfman and McKenna,
1966; Day, 1967).

We can imagine a scene from a movie increasing in
complexity as the number of characters and actions increases.
Complexity in music, likewise, increases as more instruments
are introduced and as different sounds or notes are blended
together. In this respect, complexity can be thought of as
the degree of heterogeneity among the components of the
stimulus pattern.

Complexity is often associated with other properties
of a stimulus. Stimuli are said to be more complex when
the stimulus pattern changes or when there is movement
(Titchenor, 1903). A changing stimulus may in addition
have an element of surprise. This implies that the stimulus
was not expected to be different from the one that had
preceded it (cf. Osgood, 1957).

As already noted, complexity is closely associated

with the information-theoretic concepts of "relative

21

uncertainty," "information content" (Hochberg and
McAlister, 1953; Atteneave, 1954; Berlyne, 1957).

Complexity is also defined in terms of concepts such as
"order," "diversity," and "structure" (e.g., Berlyne, 1970).

Similarly, complexity has been described with respect
to picture detail (Emmerich and Ackerman, 1976). Degree
of "detail" has been operationalized by adding color or
additional lines to drawings (Reese, 1970) or by adding
characters and movement in pictures (Wohlwill, 1968).

Complexity has been found to be positively associated
with ratings of interest and pleasure, suggesting specific
and diversive exploration (e.g., Berlyne, 1963). In gen-
eral, the complexity of visual patterns has been demon-
strated to increase attention and to influence the direction
and duration of exploratory behavior with adult subjects
(e.g., Berlyne, 1957, 1958, 1963) and with children (Smock
and Holt, 1982; Clapp and Eichorn, 1965; Minton, 1963).
Complexity also has influenced verbal expressions of
preference (e.g., Munsinger and Kessen, 1964; Day, 1967;
Berlyne and Peckham, 1966).

Complexity as defined by Berlyne and Tichener can be
applied to the examination of action stimuli; i.e., behav-
iors or acts taken from television. Social behaviors (e.g.,
altruism, verbal aggression, physical aggression) as they

appear in television content vary with regard to the amount

22

of diversity or variety of information, movement, and
change. The complexity of such a stimulus can increase

by adding more characters to the scene, or by using dif-
ferent types of characters. A fight scene between two men
is less complex than a fight scene involving several men,
all hitting one another. Complexity will also increase by
changing the pace and by increasing the duration of the
behavior. In an extended fight scene there is more poten-
tial for different types of blows (e.g., pushing one person,
slapping another), more potential for greater and faster
movement as well as more sudden changes. Movement and
suddenness of change, two of Titchenor's (1903) determi-
nants of attention, can be best operationalized with an
action stimulus.

In addition to complexity, movement, and change in
a stimulus, an action stimulus is also defined by another
stimulus component to be called involvement. Involvement
will refer to the amount of participation (both physical
and emotional) exhibited by characters of action.
Involvement will be discussed further in section 1.41.

1.33 Novelty. Berlyne (1960, 1970) and others (e.g.,
Cantor and Cantor, 1964; Cantor, 1968; Berlyne and Parkham,
1968) have examined the effects of nove1,or unfamiliar
stimuli on attention and learning. Children do prefer what

is novel to what is familiar (Cantor, 1968). Novel stimuli

23

are more effective in attracting children's attention (e.g.,
Odom, 1964; Gullickson, 1966). Novelty, although defined in
this literature as a property of a stimulus, is a function
of a child's experience and development (of. Gibson, 1969)
and a function of repeated exposure to the stimulus, and
thus, not an invariant property of a stimulus. Hence, the
concept of novelty does not fit in a conceptualization of
an attention-attracting stimulus property; however, it is
necessary to discuss novelty in relation with the effects

of repeated exposure to television stimuli. This
discussion is found in section 1.5.

1.34 Summary. The stimulus properties of complexity,
movement, and change provide a foundation for categorizing
television stimuli for their ability to attract attention
in children. Using this foundation as a beginning point,
one can investigate the question of what types of television
stimuli children will attend to, prefer, and respond to. A
television stimulus, however, is different from an inanimate
stimulus object, which for the most part has been used to
study stimulus properties. Television stimuli in the form
of social behaviors have action and movement and contain
human interaction. A definition of an attention-attracting
action stimulus needs to reflect these differences. In the
following section a conceptualization of a television
stimulus property termed "intensity," which is specific

to action stimuli, will be provided.

24

1.4 Intensity of Television Stimuli

 

"Intensity" as a psychophysical property of a stimulus
has been used to refer to the size or color or sound of a
stimulus object. Stimulus objects were perceived as more
intense if they were larger, brighter, or louder than other
objects in a child's visual field. Intensity implied the
physical visual/audio strength of an object. If one thinks
of "intensity" not in terms of the physical attributes of a
stimulus, but rather in terms of the strength or contribu-
tion of the elements or components of a stimulus pattern,
one can begin to understand what is meant by the "intensity"
of a television stimulus. Berlyne (1971:70) also discusses
the strength of a stimulus pattern which he terms arousal
potential, but here he is referring to the "psychological
strength" of the pattern as a whole to attract attention.
Specifically, he states that arousal potential denotes:

the "psychological strength" of a stimulus pattern,

the degree to which it can disturb and alert an

organism, the ease with which a stimulus can take

over control of behavior and overcome the claims

of competing stimuli. . . . It will also represent

the ease with which a stimulus can become associated

with a response through learning and the likelihood
that information of it will be retained in memory.

(p. 70)
Although the reaction to high "intensity" stimuli as defined
in this dissertation might be the same as the stimuli which
have high arousal potential, "intensity" does not imply

"effects." Rather, "intensity" refers to the actual

25

strength or representation of the stimulus pattern. It
is a property of the stimulus and is not determined by
its effects on attention and learning. More simply put,
"high intensity of a television stimulus" would imply a
greater degree of presence of the components which make
up intensity. The components of intensity will now be
specified.

1.41 Definition of Intensity. Intensity of television

 

behaviors consists of stimulus complexity, stimulus move-
ment, stimulus change, and character involvement. Intensity
increases as its components increase.

Complexity is defined by the diversity or variety of
the stimulus elements. Stimulus elements for television
behaviors include the physical aspects of the environment
(e.g., the setting or location in which the behavior takes
place) and the number and types of characters participating
in the behavior. Complexity increases as the physical set-
ting becomes more diverse and as the number of characters
and contrasts between them increase. Contrast between
characters refers to demographic differences such as age,
sex, race, nationality, and socioeconomic status.

Movement or motion refers to the pace and the duration
of the behavioral act. Movement increases as the activity
of characters increases and as the behavior continues to

be exhibited.

26

Change in the stimulus refers to the suddenness of
movement in the stimulus elements or the surprise or quick-
ness of movement in the stimulus pattern. Change increases
as the number of sudden movements increase.

Character involvement refers to the physical and
emotional effort extended by the characters participating
in the behavioral act. Effort includes elements such as
the risk to one's well being and the costs (i.e., sacri-
fices) for performing the given behavior. Character
involvement increases as the risks and costs involved
for participants in the behavior increase. Let us
illustrate intensity.

1.42 Example of Intensity. To illustrate "intensity"

 

of a television behavior, two acts of altruism will be
analyzed. One will be a low intensity act and one will
be a high intensity act. Altruism is exemplified by acts of
helping or sharing or cooperation (see Greenberg, Atkin,
Edison, and Korzenny, 1976, for more detailed conceptual-
ization and operationalization of altruism).

A low intensity act of altruism portrayed on television
may consist of the following:

One man, about 30 years old, is loading boxes

on a truck. A second man, also about 30 years

old and a friend of the first man, offers assistance.

Both men are dressed casually and are caucasian.

The second man then begins to lift some boxes and

places them in the truck. He helps his friend for
a short period of time and then leaves.

27

According to the definition of "intensity" the above
act is not very intense. First, it is low in complexity.
There are two characters. These two men are similar in age,
appearance, and race. The physical setting in which the
act takes place is a truck. The setting does not change
throughout the act. Second, the movement or motion involved
in the behavior is steady and consistent. The characters'
activities do not increase nor do they decrease. In addi-
tion, the act of helping only lasts for a short time.
Third, there is no marked change in this stimulus. There
are no sudden or quick movements with regard to the char-
acters or the setting. Fourth, character involvement is
also low. There are few risks or costs involved in this
act of altruism. However, if the helper was an older
individual or had physical impairments (e.g., a broken
arm) character involvement would be greater.

Now consider a high intensity act of altruism.

An old barn begins to burn. An elderly black

man is trapped inside. Two young, white para-

medics rescue the man from the burning building

as it begins to collapse. Once outside, they

try to revive him. Fire fighters and on-

lookers are also present.

First, this scene is higher in complexity. There are
at least three main characters. There are distinct con-
trasts between these characters. Two are young and white

and one is old and black. In addition, there are also minor

characters, i.e., on-lookers and fire fighters. The

28

physical setting also provides diversity. There is a

barn in flames as well as fire trucks and sirens. Second,
there is considerable movement in this scene. The two
paramedics are seen running into the building; the elderly
man is dragged out of the building; fire fighters are
preparing to arrest the blaze. In addition to the pace

of movement, this act of altruism takes considerable time
to complete. Third, there is sudden and surprising change
in this stimulus pattern. The burning building begins

to collapse. Fourth, there is considerable character
involvement. This act of altruism involves life-threatening
risks for the two paramedics. The risks for these two men
are not as great as they might be for two less-trained
individuals. This act of altruism has high intensity.

It can be seen comparing the first act of altruism
with the second act of altruism that the second act has
higher intensity. It should be noted that in scaling
intensity for this study, for the actual measurement of
act intensity, each particular behavioral act would be
compared to a stimulus pattern of the same behavior which
is chosen as a standard for comparison purposes. This
"standard" stimulus of intensity for a given behavior will
contain all stimulus elements to a certain degree. One
could then determine the relative contribution of the
components of intensity by evaluating them in relation

to the stimulus standard. (Measurement procedures for

29

evaluating act intensity will be discussed in Chapter 2
of this dissertation).

Now, with a working definition of intensity, children's
ability to perceive the components of itensity will be
discussed.

1.43 Children's Discrimination of the Components

 

of Intensity. A child's ability to discriminate among

 

distinctive features or components of a stimulus increases
with age (Gibson, 1969). Visual preference studies clearly
indicate that children from birth are capable of receiving
and discriminating patterned stimuli (e.g., Fantz, 1958).
Although infants' visual attention to stimulus objects is
more of a fixation than exploration (of. Gibson, 1969:342),
attention continues to be more exploratory, and thus more
selective. The preference of and attention to "complex"
patterns also increases with age. In early months of
infancy a child can distinguish human faces (Kagan and
Lewis, 1965). Differentiation of features of the face
object begins with the eyes and then proceeds to the mouth,
especially when it is moving (e.g., Kagan and Lewis, 1965;
Fantz, 1966). Older children perceive movement as well as
velocity (speed of movement) in a stimulus. Children aged
4% to 5% years correctly judged the speed of two objects
(i.e., which was going faster; Fraisse and Vautrey, 1952,

cited in Gibson, 1969:383).

30

Discrimination and perception of distinctive features
of real, inanimate and animate moving stimuli increases
with age; however, one might ask if stimuli as they appear
in moving pictures (e.g., television and film) are dis-
criminated and learned in the same way as real stimulus
objects?‘

While there is very little evidence to date on
perceptual learning of moving pictures, observation of
young children tells us that they enjoy and are attracted
to motion pictures of real adults as well as cartoons. It
can also be observed that young children are especially
attracted to television commercials. Television commercials
have very fast pacing, considerable movement, and quick
changes. Children are obviously attracted to such stimulus
elements, but will children perceive these features in
moving pictures? Gibson (1969:400) suggests that perceiving
distinctive features in motion pictures should follow the
same developmental pattern (as described above) as for
perception of features of real objects. Thus children
who have developed appropriate attentional and discrim-
inative habits should be capable of applying those habits
to an array of stimuli.

With regard to the components of intensity, older
(i.e., ten years of age and older) children should be

capable of distinguishing and perceiving variety in a

31

stimulus pattern as well as movement and change in the
pattern. The component of character involvement might
present some difficulty for children. It is possible

that children will not distinguish between someone who is
trained to do a certain job (e.g., fire fighters) and an
untrained person. Children, also, may not have enough
experience to discriminate possible life—threatening
situations from relatively safe ones. Obviously,

individual differences and experience will affect

children's perception of character involvement; however,
children ages 11 to 13 do appear to perceive character
involvement (information gathered from children during
interviews conducted by the author). When children were
interviewed with regard to social behaviors on television,
they were asked to discuss what they thought about televi-
sion scenes such as the examples of altruism provided in

the previous section. While the children did not use the
exact labels for the components of intensity, they suggested
that they liked scenes that were exciting, where things
happened quickly and where unexpected events and actions
occurred. When children were asked to specifically describe
the high intensity act of altruism, they were capable of
reenacting the scene as well as verbalizing that people
might have been hurt or killed. Although these interviews
only allow for a qualitative analysis of children's discrim-

ination and perception of the components of intensity, the

32

interviews do imply that (1) children can and do
discriminate and perceive the components of intensity;

and (2) it is these types of stimulus elements that attract
a child's attention.

At this point hypotheses concerning the effects of the
stimulus property labeled "intensity" on children's atten-
tion, arousal level, affect, and learning can be suggested:
1-H4: Attention, arousal, affect, and learning

Will be greater for children exposed to
high intensity television stimuli than
those exposed to low intensity stimuli.

The process by which children explore, attend to,
perceive, and respond to stimuli has been explicated. The
central focus thus far has been on the role of stimulus
properties in children's attention to and learning of
stimuli. Now concern must be focused on the effects of
repeated exposure to a stimulus. Considerable research
has sought to examine the effects of frequency of exposure
to stimuli on children's attention and learning processes.
This research will be reviewed, followed by a presentation

of the theoretical relationship which exists for the

stimulus property, intensity, and frequency of exposure.

1.5 Frequency and Intensity of Exposure

1.51 “Mere" Exposure Effects. It has generally been

 

suggested that affect and learning are mostly influenced

by complex, novel, low frequency stimuli (e.g., Berlyne,

33

1960, 1970; Cantor, 1968). Contrary to this contention,

it has been posited (e.g., Harrison, 1969; Martin, 1970;
Zajonc, 1968) that affect ratings and learning are
dependent on common, familiar high frequency stimuli.

This latter position falls under the heading of "mere"
exposure effects. The general hypothesis states that "the
mere repeated exposure of an individual to a stimulus is a
sufficient condition for the enhancement of his/her attitude
toward it" (Zajonc, l968:1). By "mere exposure" is meant a
condition which makes the stimulus available to the indi-
vidual's perception. The exposure hypothesis suggests that
in the absence of negative consequences associated with

the encounter of the stimulus (negative consequences would
enhance an avoidance reaction), as well as the absence

of positive consequences associated with the encounter
(positive consequences would strengthen an approach
reaction), a favorable attitude will increase as exposure
increases (of. Zajonc, 1968; Mooreland and Zajonc, 1976).
This would suggest the following hypothesis.

H -H : Children will respond with more positive

5 6 affect (pleasure and interest) and learn-
ing to a high frequency stimuli than to
low frequency stimuli.
A positive monotonic relationship between exposure
and affect, however, is usually only found with complex
stimuli (Harrison, 1968; Matlin, 1971; Mooreland and Zajonc,

1977). The mere exposure effect for this type of stimulus

34

is explained by the notion of response competition (of.
Harrison, 1968). It is suggested that a high complexity
stimulus poses a problem to an individual because the
individual has had little experience with such a stimulus
and does not know how to respond to it. Initially, this
stimulus will elicit negative affect. However, the stimulus
will have some resemblance to prior stimuli experienced and
through generalization of response many possible responses
will be elicited. These possible responses will be in com-
petition for selection. Repeated exposure will familiarize
the individual with the high complexity stimulus and allow
for one response to become dominant. (Then initial negative
affect will be reduced and the stimulus will be viewed more
favorably (of. Martin, 1970). For high complexity stimuli
(e.g., Japanese ideographs) up to 81 exposures have produced
a positive monotonic relationship with affect (Zajonc, Swap,
Harrison and Roberts, 1971). However, a curvilinear rela-
tionship between frequency of stimulus exposure and affect
is usually found with low complexity stimuli (e.g., non-
complex drawings; Zajonc, Shaver, Tavis and van Kreveld,
1972).

Interestingly enough, similar patterns for exposure
to stimuli are not found in the area of advertising effects.
Krugman (1968, 1972) proposes that three exposures to tele-
vision commercials are sufficient for perceiving and learn-

ing the message. He suggests that the first exposure

35

produces curiosity in the child, indicated by a reaction
of "What is it?" The second exposure produces a more
evaluative response of "What of it?" During the second
exposure there is also recognition of the stimulus.
Krugman suggests that by the third exposure a decision
has been made with regard to what type of response the
stimulus will elicit. Any further exposure to the message
is unnecessary, according to Krugman, and will basically
be ignored. Krugman's position has generated support in
the area of advertising effects (e.g., see Appel, 1971;
Bogart, Tolley and Orenstein, 1970).

Perhaps "three" is not a deciding number in how many
exposures are sufficient for positive affect and learning,
but habituation or satiation does appear to be an effect
of repeated exposure to stimuli. Repeated exposure to
extremely violent television stimuli has produced a
satiation effect as well (e.g., Berger, 1962; Bandura and
Menlove, 1966; Lazarus, 1966). This research concludes that
viewers of extremely violent stimuli become progressively
less emotionally responsive as frequency of exposure
increases (of. Lazarus, 1966). The stimuli used in these
studies were judged as extremely violent or gruesome (e.g.,
mutilation of the body).

Basically two relationships are found for repeated

exposure to stimuli. One relationship suggests that affect

36

and learning will increase with the repeated exposure of

high intensity stimuli (Harrison, 1968).

Frequency of High

. . . + Affect i; Learning i
Intens1ty St1mul1

A second relationship suggests that affect and learning
will increase and then decrease with repeated exposure of
low intensity stimuli or extremely high intensity stimuli

(Berlyne, 1970; Lazarus, 1966, respectively).

Frequency of Low ‘—‘ ‘_*

or Extremely High + Affect Tm» ; Learning (m1

Intensity Stimuli

While the research evidence suggesting these relation-

ships has been generated with the use of adult subjects,
similar findings should occur for children. An interpre-
tation of the intensity/frequency relationship for children
is provided below.

1.52 Interpretation of Intensity/Frequency Relation-

 

§hip. It has been suggested (Gibson, 1969) that children
learn to extract information from the environment as they
mature and as they have practice with the array of stimuli
provided by the environment. One way to get practice or
experience with stimuli is to be repeatedly exposed to
them. Not all stimuli, however, need practice in order

to be perceived and elicit responses. Stimuli that have

easily distinguishable features (i.e., non-complex) should

37

require less practice. Thus repeated exposure to these
stimuli should not be necessary for perception and learning.
Complex stimuli, on the other hand, are more difficult

to discriminate and contain more information to extract.
Practice, through repeated exposure, should be a necessary
condition for perception and response facilitation (c.f.
Stang, 1975).

What is happening to the child when he/she is fre-
quently exposed to a stimulus? As a stimulus pattern is
frequently viewed by a child, he/she becomes more familiar
with it. Through repeated exposure the child can explore
and attend to different aspects of the pattern, and with
each exposure the child can extract more information from
it. However, children prefer unfamiliar stimuli to familiar
stimuli (e.g., Cantor and Cantor, 1964; Cantor, 1968; Odom,
1963). Children have rated unfamiliar stimulus patterns
more positively than familiar ones (Cantor, 1968) and give
more attention to stimuli they have not seen before (Cantor
and Cantor, 1964). Berlyne (1970) suggests that novel
stimuli elicit arousal in individuals but through repeated
exposure, novelty decreases and hence arousal and attention
also decrease. Berlyne does suggest that the rate of
this decrease will be dependent upon the properties of
a stimulus. High complexity stimuli can endure more expo-

sure before a decline in effectiveness. He attributes this

38

decline in stimulus effectiveness on attention and
affect to a satiation effect. Exposure to a stimulus
will initially increase attention and affect and stimulate
or arouse the individual. Low complexity stimuli when
repeatedly exposed cannot maintain arousal in the indi-
vidual because he/she becomes familiar with this stimulus.
Thus, repeated exposure produces tedium or boredom. While
this process will occur for high complexity stimuli, it
should, according to Berlyne, occur at a slower rate because
it will take longer to become familiar with a high complex-
ity stimulus. While it is agreed that the repeated exposure
of low complexity stimuli, in Berlyne's terms, or low inten-
sity stimuli, as defined here, will decrease in effective-
ness with repeated exposure, a contrary explanation is
provided for high intensity stimuli.

A paradox with regard to repeated exposure appears
to exist. Repetition of a stimulus may be necessary for
perceiving and learning certain stimuli, but repeated
exposure to it may, in turn, reduce a child's attention.
Perhaps the situation is not as dismal as it appears.
Repeated exposure to a stimulus will not always diminish
a child's attention and response to the stimulus. It
is suggested here that, first, repeated exposure to
high intensity stimuli is necessary for discriminating

distinctive features and for social learning to occur.

39

It is also suggested that repeated exposure to high
intensity stimuli will not distract a child's attention
from the stimulus. The process suggested is as follows:
through repeated exposure the child becomes familiar with
high intensity stimuli. Familiarization is necessary if
discrimination, perception, and social learning are to
occur. Once familiarization has occurred and hence
learning, there must be something about the stimulus that
will maintain attention, arousal, positive affect, and
reinforce learning, or in other words, "compensate" for
this familiarization with the stimulus pattern; a high
intensity stimulus offers such compensation. It is recalled
that the intensity of a stimulus does not change; it is an
invariant property of the stimulus. Thus, even though a
child becomes familiar with the stimulus, the components
of a high intensity stimulus are still present and should
be effective in assuring attention, positive affect, and
arousal as well as reinforcing learning.

This will not be the case for low intensity stimuli.
Repeated exposure to this type of stimulus will produce
familiarization. Once the child is familiar with the
stimulus, the low intensity will not be sufficient to
maintain attention and learning. That is, it was the
novelty of the stimulus that originally attracted the

child's attention. Once the novelty wears off (this

40

occurs with repeated exposure) the low intensity stimulus
cannot compensate for familiarization. It is recalled

that a low intensity stimulus generally will not receive
much attention. Any attention given to this stimulus

will be due to its unfamiliarity, rather than any inherent
attention-getting properties. Thus, attention, positive
affect, arousal, and learning will decline with the repeated
exposure to low intensity stimuli. These relationships are

illustrated below.

LOW INTENSITY HIGH INTENSITY /
1’
I
z
I

(familiarization) (familiarization)

Learning
/

 

/
Attention, Positive
Affect, Arousal, and
Learning

 

Attention, Positive
Affect, Arousal, and

 

Frequency of Exposure Frequency of Exposure

The following is predicted:

H7-H10: Attention, arousal, positive affect,
and learning will be greater for
children exposed to high intensity,
high frequency television stimuli
than for children exposed to low
intensity, high frequency television
stimuli.

41

1.6 Summary and Perspective

 

This chapter has sought to identify and explain
stimulus variables that can provide a theoretical system
for the analysis of children's attention and learning
processes of television behaviors. In examining the
properties of a stimulus, theory suggests that certain
properties will direct exploratory behavior in children
and, in turn, influence selective attention. It is sug-
gested that children investigate and attend to complex,
moving, and changing stimuli. This type of stimulus has
been said to have the property labeled "high intensity."
Theory predicts that repeated exposure to high intensity
stimuli will enhance and maintain attention, arousal,
positive affect, and learning of such stimuli, whereas
repeated exposure to low intensity stimuli will produce
boredom and thus result in decline in attention, arousal,
positive affect, and learning. High intensity stimuli can
compensate for familiarization with the stimulus.

The goal of this chapter was to explicate the stimulus
property termed "intensity," examine its role in children's
attention and learning of television behaviors, and formu—
late the relationship between "intensity" and "frequency"

of stimulus exposure.

CHAPTER 2

METHOD

2.1 Overview of Design

 

An experiment was conducted to test the effects
of stimulus frequency and intensity of televised social
behaviors on children's perceptions, affect, and learning.
Stimulus frequency was manipulated at two levels, high
(12 exposures) and low (2 exposures). Intensity was
manipulated at two levels, high and low. Three separate
content areas were used to test the effects of frequency
and intensity. They were physical aggression, verbal
aggression, and altruism. In each of the four conditions
for each content area there were 20 subjects. The subjects
were fifth and sixth grade boys and girls from the Perry
Elementary and Middle Schools, Perry, Michigan. The
subjects were exposed to edited excerpts from commercial
television programming. A control group of 20 subjects
did not view any video tape. All subjects were asked to
make direct magnitude (ratio) judgments for 18 hypothetical
situations. Six of the hypothetical situation items per-
tained to acts of physical aggression, six items pertained

to acts of verbal aggression, and six dealt with acts of

42

43

altruism. For each content area, the same six hypothetical
situation items were repeated using an ordinal scale.
Control group subjects responded to the 18 hypothetical
situation items using the ratio-scaling technique. These
18 items were then repeated with an ordinal scale. The
control group answered to 36 situations in all. Subjects
in experimental conditions also were asked to make ratio
assessments of their responses to the video tape. The
items measured the subject's degree of arousal, positive
affect, and attention to the video tape. The data obtained
were analyzed with a univariate analysis of variance pro—
cedure. The design for each content area consists of two
independent variables, frequency and intensity, each with
two levels. Figure 1 illustrates the design for each

content area.

2.2 Experimental Design

 

2.21 Design Considerations. In choosing an appro—

 

priate design to test the relationships of the independent
and dependent variables, many issues needed consideration.
The first issue was the measurement of act intensity of
televised behaviors. The second issue was how to manip-
ulate stimulus intensity and stimulus frequency. When
deciding upon a manipulation, the questions were how to
determine the levels of the independent variables and how

televised social behaviors which vary in intensity and

44

 

 

Altruism Content Treatment

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Frequency
High Low
High N = 20 N = 20
Intensity
Low N==20 DJ=20
Physical Aggression Content Treatment
Frequency
High Low
High N = 20 N = 20
Intensity
Ipw N=20 N=20
Verbal Aggression Content Treatment
Frequency
High Low
High N = 20 N = 20
Intensity
Low N = 20 N = 20

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 1. Design for Each Content Area.

 

45

frequency can be presented (i.e., in what form) to groups

of children. A further issue that required attention was
the probability that an already high level of attention and
arousal would exist due to the nature of the situation, that
is, the experiment.

Other issues were concerned with the content of the
stimulus tapes and the presentation of the stimulus to the
subjects. These design considerations will be discussed
below.

2.22 Measurement Procedures for Act Intensity.

 

Both stimulus intensity and stimulus frequency were
independently manipulated at high and low levels. The
intensity was defined by ratio scores assigned by trained
coders to segments of commercial television which had been
content analyzed for acts of altruism, verbal aggression,
and physical aggression (see Appendix A for a discussion
of content analysis). Three codersl were trained to rate
the intensity level of the three social behaviors. The
coders were trained to quantify the extent to which the
behavior was expressed, that is, they assessed the amount
of stimulus complexity, stimulus movement, stimulus change,
and character involvement that was exhibited for a given
act, and then assigned an intensity level. To understand
how levels of intensity were assigned, it is necessary at

this point to briefly explain the measurement procedures.

46

The coders were trained to make ratio comparisons
between a standard example for each content behavior
defined as "average intensity" and the coded acts of
that content behavior. This average intensity example
(hereafter referred to as a yardstick) was developed for
each content behavior. Each yardstick was a televised
segment which portrayed the given behavior. The criteria
used for determining the yardstick were: (1) that the
yardstick should display all the components of the con-
ceptualization of the given behavior (see Greenberg, Atkin,
Edison, and Korzenny, 1976, and Appendix A for conceptuali-
zations of the behaviors); (2) that the yardstick displayed
some degree of all the components of the conceptualization
of intensity; and (3) that its intensity was such that there
could be segments compared to it that were less and more
intense.

To clarify this, let us examine the yardstick for
altruism. It depicted one man helping a crippled man pick
tobacco. It was an overt act of helping someone. There
was a moderate level of complexity: two characters and
a tobacco field. Movement or motion was displayed as the
characters picked tobacco in the field. A minimal amount
of change was present and is displayed as the characters
move from the field to a truck. Character involvement was

demonstrated through one character's expressed concern for

47

the crippled man and by the time and energy the helper
expended performing the act. The risk to the helper was
not too great. This scene was deemed the yardstick for
altruism. Thereafter, if one viewed another incident of
altruism, where these components were displayed to a greater
degree (e.g., where one was risking his/her life to help
someone and expending greater effort), this was judged more
intense. In selecting a segment that would be used as the
yardstick, it was considered how these behaviors were
typically portrayed on television, and then a segment that
appeared to be a normative portrayal of the behavior on
television was selected (see Appendix B for yardsticks
for physical aggression and verbal aggression).

A ratio scale was used for rating intensity, where
"0" represented non-existence of the given behavior, and
"100" was anchored as "average," for the yardstick. For
any behavior from the content analysis, the coder made a
ratio comparison between that act and the corresponding
yardstick. Thus, if an act of altruism was coded, the
intensity coders would compare it to the yardstick for
altruism and then assign it a score. If the behavior
was considered twice as intense as the yardstick, a score
of 200 would be given; if it was estimated as half as
intense as the yardstick, a score of 50 would be given.
The coders could assign any non-negative integer to each

act.

48

In practice, the first step in training was to
familiarize the coders with the yardstick for each of
the three content behaviors. The coders came to associate
the yardstick with the numerical value of 100. Extended
discussion prevailed as to why the yardstick segment was
deemed as average intensity, how this segment corresponded
to the conceptualization of intensity, and what more and
less intense examples of the behaviors might look like.
They were trained to use only the yardstick for comparison
and no other subjective criteria. After this discussion
of the yardstick took place, the coders practiced inde-
pendently on several television examples. Discussion
followed as to why the viewed examples received a score
of perhaps five times average (the yardstick), or one-third
average. The coders discussed each other's conception of
the quantitative scale, until they were able to agree upon
comparable meanings for the scale. This training process
extended over two weeks for approximately 50 hours.

When actual scoring began, two intensity coders
viewed the same show and then independently estimated the
intensity of each behavior. These intensity coders examined
acts already identified by another group of coders. Pearson
correlations were calculated for the two coders for four
shows. The act intensity correlations across all acts were

.98, .97, .94, and .81. Based on these reliabilities, the

49

intensity coders were then assigned to individual shows,
and paired coding ceased.

This analysis of act intensity provided a large
selection of television segments as candidates for
experimental stimuli.

2.23 Manipulations. The major consideration in

 

the manipulations of stimulus intensity and stimulus
frequency was how to determine what constituted their

high and low levels. An issue of concern was possible
differences between adults and children in their perception
of intensity. That is, it was conceivable due to different
cognitive processing abilities of children and adults, that
children would interpret intensity in a way other than as
it was coded. Children were used to validate the levels of
intensity already established by the adult coders. Groups
of children from the Dimondale Middle School, Dimondale,
Michigan, were shown several segments of altruism, verbal
aggression and physical aggression which varied in coder-
rated intensity. Through extended discussions the
researcher learned how school age children conceived

of and interpreted the intensity levels and what types

of acts they called high intensity and low intensity.

Their perceptions were very similar to those of the

adult judges.

50

Based on this exercise it was decided that television
segments of the given behaviors assigned scores of 100
units below the mean intensity of that behavior for all
commercial television would be used as low intensity stimuli.
Segments assigned scores of 100 units above the mean
intensity of that behavior for all commercial television
would be used as high intensity stimuli. Table 2.1 contains
the means for each experimental condition per content, and
the overall means for each content area. The intensity
coders confirmed that they conceived of high intensity for
each variable in the range of 250-300 and low intensity in
the range of 40-80. The interviews with the children also
suggested that low intensity and high intensity stimuli
were in these ranges.

The selection of the levels of frequency presented
fewer problems. There was considerable empirical and
theoretical information from which the levels of high
and low frequency could be established. Frequencies of
2 and 12 were used for the low and high frequency condi-
tions. The selection of high frequency was based on the
actual frequency of the behaviors for a given hour of
commercial television. High frequency corresponds
approximately to the average occurrence of each behavior
for any given hour of commercial television (Greenberg

et al., 1976). Low frequency is defined by two exposures

51

Table 2.1

Intensity Means for Altruism, Verbal Aggression, and
Physical Aggression by Experimental Condition

 

 

 

 

Content
Experimental Verbal Physical
Condition Altruism Aggression Aggression

Overall meana 160.6 146.6 184.3
HIgh IntenSIty 254.8 248.3 295.8
H1gh frequency

High IntenSItY 250.0 237.5 300.0
Low frequency

L?“ intenSIty 77.1 79.2 83.7
High frequency

Low intensity

Low frequency 75.0 82.5 80.0

 

aOverall mean represents the mean intensity of each behavior for all
commercial television, 1976 (see Greenberg et al., 1976).

52

of a given behavior because two exposures have typically
been used in "mere" exposure research (e.g., Zajonc, 1968;
Harrison, 1968) and in advertising research (e.g., Krugman,
1968) as low frequency exposure.

2.24 General Manipulation Considerations and Stimulus

 

Presentation. The manipulations in this study are intro-

 

duced in a tape of television segments of one of the three
social behaviors (i.e., altruism, verbal aggression, or
physical aggression). For each social behavior there were
four experimental stimulus tapes. Each tape presented
either 2 or 12 segments of low or high intensity scenes.
One issue considered in the introduction of the manipula-
tions was whether to present the segments one after another
or to embed them in additional television program content.
Here, the concern was whether relatively short presentations
(especially in low frequency conditions) would be substan-
tial enough to have an impact. Three minutes of neutral
television content were added to the beginning of each
stimulus tape. This increased the time of viewing for the
subjects and gave the researcher control over extraneous
variables such as new or additional social behaviors,
character recognition, and/or show recognition.

Another issue was the time lag between the presen-
tation of the stimulus and the actual completion of the

post-experimental questionnaire. Since subjects had to be

53

trained for approximately 15 minutes in the ratio scaling
techniques, it was feared that the training process would
interfere with the impact of the stimulus. To avoid this
problem, training occurred immediately prior to viewing
the experimental stimulus.

A final consideration in the introduction of the
experimental manipulations was whether or not to show some
kind of television content to the control group. If the
control group was to see some television content, the con-
tent would have to be void of any of the social behaviors.
Since it was virtually impossible to find video without
such content it was decided that they view no television.

2.25 Stimulus Tapes. Experimental stimulus tapes

 

were created for each of the four treatments in each con-
tent area. The content of the altruism tapes consists of
acts of helping, sharing, or cooperation. The verbal
aggression tapes contain acts of verbal insults, e.g.,
yelling. The physical aggression tapes present acts of
hitting, pushing, or shoving. All segments were taken from
a sample of television shows which had been content analyzed
for these social behaviors (see Appendix A for discussion of
content analysis).

The construction of the stimulus tapes posed many
problems which had to be resolved. One problem was how

to select segments which were similar in intensity ratings.

54

Other issues involved the selection of similar acts, the
varying lengths of the tapes, the use and selection of
filler content, and how and what variables to control
for in the tapes.

The task of selecting segments similar in intensity
ratings that had similar character and act portrayals was
a difficult one. Depending on the experimental condition,
each segment had to fall within the appropriate intensity
range, be of similar length, consist of the same type of
behavior, and have all the demographic controls. Four
content analysis coders2 viewed many hours of television
programs. From the viewing of these programs the selection
process began. First, they chose segments that had the
appropriate content behavior and intensity scores. They
then selected from these segments the ones that portrayed
human (non-animated) non-star characters. At this point,
the original intensity coders reviewed the selected seg-
ments to reinsure that the segments were being cut at the
appropriate intervals.

The coders were instructed that the variables to
control for were sex and race of character who was the
agent of the behavior, character portrayal (minor char-
acter), and length of scene. They were instructed that
controlling on these dimensions involved, for instance,

either using scenes with all male agents or with one-half

55

male and one-half female agents. Tables 2.2-2.7 contain

a description of each scene, its intensity score and length
for each experimental condition for the three contents. A11
agents of behavior were white males.

One problem in the development of the stimulus tapes
that could not be resolved easily was the varying lengths
of the completed tapes. However, after reviewing this
problem it became apparent that this could not be helped.
The reasons were, first, a behavior such as altruism,
typically requires more time to demonstrate than a behavior
such as verbal aggression. Second, the high frequency
conditions were going to be longer. Third, within content
areas, based on the conceptualization of intensity, high
intensity acts contain more information and thus have
greater length than low intensity acts. Hence, it appeared
that the variation in tape lengths was an inherent factor
in the experimental design and, therefore, could not and
should not be controlled. However, to both ensure a minimum
viewing time and to ease the subject into the tape a three
minute neutral cartoon filler ("The White Seal") was added
to all stimulus tapes.

2.26 Pilot Study. A pilot study of the complete

 

design was conducted in the first week of May, 1977, at
the Dimondale Middle School, Dimondale, Michigan. One

fifth grade and one sixth grade class (sixty subjects),

56

Table 2.2

Description, Intensity Score, and Length in Seconds of Each

Act of High Intensity, High Frequency Altruisma

 

 

 

Act Length
Number Description Intensity (Seconds)
1 Two men help a wounded man. 260 19

2 Two men give first aid to an unconsious
man. 265 27
3 A man offers to help a woman with
personal problems. 250 68
4 Two men help a sick man. 250 86
S A man tells a girl about a job in the
mines. 250 63
6 Two men give aid to an attempted
suicide victim. 250 56
7 A man helps with school bus explosion
casualties. 250 44
8 A man rescues a girl from a burning
building. 270 28
9 A man gives an important gift to another
man. 250 39
10 A man helps a girl locked in a store. 250 86
11 Two men help a man out of a fire. 250 53
12 A man helps an injured man in a truck. 260 30
599

 

aHigh intensity, low frequency altruism contains act numbers 9 and 11.

57

Table 2.3

Description, Intensity Score, and Length in Seconds of Each
Act of Low Intensity, High Frequency Altruisma

 

 

 

Act Length
Number Description Intensity (Seconds)
1 A man cleans a woman's shoes. 70 7

2 A man offers cold drink to a man and

woman. 70 11
3 A man offers to help deliver a gift. 60 15
4 A man brings another his mail. 70 14
5 A man offers to help a woman with

personal problem. 70 31
6 A man offers to buy another a cup of

coffee. 90 10
7 A man offers another man a cigarette. 80 13
8 A man offers to share a rare wine with

another man. 90 13
9 A man shares food with another man. 80 23
10 A man offers to help his brother. 75 25
11 A man helps a woman pick up her books. 80 33
12 A man gives a boy and girl a ride home. 90 14

224

 

aLow intensity, low frequency altruism contains act numbers 3 and 8.

58

Table 2.4

Description, Intensity Score, and Length in Seconds of Each Act
of High Intensity, High Frequency Verbal Aggressiona

 

 

 

Act Length
Number Description Intensity (Seconds)
1 A man yells at a woman. 250 25
2 Two men yell at each other in a car. 250 10
3 A man yells at a woman. 275 35
4 Two male pilots yell at each other. 240 8
5 A man yells at a woman. 240 5
6 A man yells at a woman. 250 35
7 A man yells at a woman. 250 9
8 A man yells at his wife and another man. 230 30
9 A man yells at another man. 250 11
10 A man yells at another man. 250 17
11 A man yells at a group of musicians. 270 35
12 A man in ditch yells to another man. 225 __§

228

A

aHigh intensity, low frequency verbal aggression contains act numbers 10
and 12.

59

Table 2.5

Description, Intensity Score, and Length in Seconds of Each Act
of Low Intensity, High Frequency Verbal Aggression

 

 

 

Act Length
Number Description Intensity (Seconds)
1 A man yells at a woman. 70 7
2 A male doctor yells at a female nurse. 90 22
3 A man yells at a man. 80 16

4 A male doctor yells at another male
doctor. 90 ll
5 A man yells at a group of men. 80 15
6 A man yells at a man. 65 7
7 A man yells at a man. 70 9
8 A male doctor yells at a female nurse. 90 18
9 A man yells at a man. 90 9
10 A man yells at a man. 65 13
11 A male pilot yells at a man. 80 15
12 A man yells at a man. 80 _15
157

 

aLow intensity, low frequency verbal aggression contains act numbers 2
and 10.

60

Table 2.6

Description, Intensity Score, and Length in Seconds of Bag?
Act of High Intensity, High Frequency Physical Aggression

 

 

 

Act Length
Number Description Intensity (Seconds)
1 A man slaps a woman. 300 35
2 A man slaps a man in a casino. 300 10
3 Two men fight in a restaurant. 300 10
4 Two men fight in a laboratory. 300 15
5 A man hits a man. 300 25
6 Two men jump another man. 350 6
7 Two men fight. 300 10
8 Two men fight. 300 15
9 A man knocks another down the stairs. 250 17
10 Four men fight on a patio 250 17
11 Two men punch each other. 250 10
12 Two men fight. 300 _39_

173

 

aHigh intensity, low frequency physical aggression contains act numbers
3 and 12.

61

Table 2.7

Description, Intensity Score, and Length in Seconds of Each Act
of Low Intensity, High Frequency Physical Aggression

 

 

 

Act Length
Number Description Intensity (Seconds)
1 A man hits a man. 80 12
2 A man pulls a man out of a car. 85 25
3 A man throws two men. 80 12
4 A man grabs a woman. 90 27
5 A man twists a man's arm. 90 5
6 A man pulls a man out of a plane. 75 8
7 A man grabs two men. 80 7
8 A man pulls a woman. 80 13
9 Four men fight. 9O 16
10 Three men fight. 80 10
11 A man pushes and grabs a man. 90 15
12 Two men fight on fire escape. 85 .19

160

 

aLow intensity, low frequency physical aggression contains act numbers
1 and 10.

62

participated. The purpose of the pilot study was: (1) to
determine how much time was needed to run the experiment,
(2) to talk about the manipulations, (3) to practice the
training procedures for the scaling techniques, and (4) to
verify the language of the questionnaire for clarity and
comprehension. From the pilot it was determined that:

(1) one hour was needed to complete the experiment, (2)
several items should be included in the questionnaire to
measure the effectiveness of the manipulations (see section
2.33), (3) scale training required approximately 15 minutes
and that the use of pictures helped the subjects understand
the scales, and (4) the children experienced no problems
with the language of the questionnaire. This information
was gathered through extensive discussion with subjects
during the experiment and in post-experimental interviews.
Suspicions, reactions to the stimulus and the questionnaire
were also determined in post-experimental interviews. Based
on these interviews, minor changes were made in the ques-
tionnaire training instructions and in the procedures of
administering the experiment.

2.27 Subjects. Subjects were from fifth and sixth
grade classes at the Perry Elementary and Middle School,
Perry, Michigan. Six fifth grade and seven sixth grade
classes participated in this field experiment. Classes

were randomly assigned to a content treatment: altruism,

63

verbal aggression, or physical aggression. Within a

content area, subjects were randomly assigned to the
experimental conditions and the control condition. For

each content treatment, a total of 80 subjects participated,
20 per experimental condition. Twenty subjects participated
in the control condition. The male/female distribution was
based on the actual proportion of males to females in the
sample pool. Each condition had 10 fifth grade subjects

and 10 sixth grade subjects.

2.3 Questionnaire Instruments

 

2.31 Instrument Considerations. The issues of concern

 

in constructing the experimental instrument were the type of
items to use to assess learning of social behaviors; how
these items should be generated; if these items should be
measured with both ordinal and ratio scales; how to ask
subjects to make direct numerical magnitude estimations

on the degree of arousal, positive affect, and attention
they experienced as a result of the manipulations; and

how to create items to check manipulations.

The foremost issue of concern was whether fifth and
sixth grade school children could reliably use a ratio-
scaling measurement technique. In considering the use of
ratio-scale measures, an issue that required attention was

how to design an instrument that would provide suitable

64

training examples. Discussion of these considerations
follows below.

2.32 DevelOpment of Dependent Variables. The

 

dependent variables were social learning, attention,
positive affect, and arousal. To assess the degree of
social learning, hypothetical situations were used to
measure future physical aggressive behavior, verbal aggres-
sion behavior, and altruistic behavior. The items needed
to be relevant to the subjects and to represent realistic
situations. We chose to generate the situations from same-
age subjects. The content validity can be ensured by the
plan and procedures of construction, since content validity
is mainly determined by rational thinking rather than
empirical testing (see Nunnally, 1967). Hence, a two-step
procedure was followed.

The first step involved interviewing fifth and sixth
grade children from the Grand Ledge School System with
regard to the definitions of the three social behaviors.
These children were asked to list all the times that they
might help another person, hit another person, and yell at
another person. These lists were gathered from two fifth
grade classes and two sixth grade classes (an N of approx-
imately 120 students). This information was then tallied
for frequency of response. Those situations (responses)

that occurred ten times or more generated the questions

65

to be used in a second interview with two different fifth
and sixth grade classes in Grand Ledge (N of approximately
120 students; see Appendix C for Instrument for Response
Categories). The purpose of this second interview was to
generate the responses to the most frequently mentioned
situations. For example, when students were asked to list
situations where they might hit someone (physical aggres-
sion), a frequently mentioned answer was "when a kid at
school threatens to beat me up." This statement then
formed the question, "What do you do when a kid at school
threatens to beat you up?" and was presented to the second
group of students. The most frequent response from the
second interviews was "fight with the kid," thus the item,
"A kid at school threatens to beat you up, so you fight
with this kid. How often do you do this?" was generated
(see page three, item number two of Post-Experimental
Questionnaire, Appendix D). The purpose of this second
interview, as mentioned, was to generate the responses to
the situations, and also, to validate the content area to
which the situation belonged (e.g., physical aggression).
If, for example, the subjects would have frequently
reSponded to an identified physical aggression item

with a verbal aggression type response, this item would
not be used as a physical aggression item. The reason

for this would have been that it was too ambiguous as to

66

which content area the item fit best. Through this process,

18 hypothetical situations (six for each content area) were

generated. These 18 items were constructed with the exact

language used by the children.

The six items for altruism were:

1.

A friend of yours is frightened by a thunderstorm,
so you comfort him/her by telling them why they
shouldn't be scared. (AL 1)

You are playing ball during recess and one of
your teammates is about to get hit with the
ball so you tell them to watch out. (AL 5)

You are swimming in a lake, and someone drops
their ring in the water, so you dive in and
try to get it. (AL 7)

One of your classmates is sad, so you try to
cheer them up. (AL 12)

A friend is feeling bad because they keep making
silly mistakes trying to play a new game, so you
teach them how to play the game right. (AL 14)

A classmate doesn't have a pencil and wants one
of yours, so you give him/her one. (AL 17)
six items of verbal aggression were:

Someone calls you a turkey, so you call him/her
a name back. (VA 3)

One of your classmates says you c0pied their
homework, but it isn't true, so you call the
kid a liar. (VA 6)

One of your classmates constantly talks during
class so you tell the person to shut up. (VA 9)

A kid teases you, so you tease the kid back.
(VA 10)

67

5. You are going to recess and someone runs into
you in the hall, so you yell that they better
watch it. (VA 15)

6. Suppose you are playing a ball game and a kid
throws the ball at your head while you aren't
looking and it hits you. You scream at the kid
not to do it again. (VA 18)

The six items for physical aggression were:

1. A kid at school threatens to beat you up, so you
fight with him/her. (PA 2)

2. A kid steals your marbles, so you beat the kid up.
(PA 4)

3. Someone hits your friend, so you hit them back.
(PA 8)

4. Someone won a boulder off you, but you know they
cheated, so you grab it away from them. (PA 11)

5. You work real hard to finish your homework. Some
kid takes your papers and rips them up, so you
hit the kid. (PA 13)

6. You are waiting in line at the water fountain at
school and someone cuts in front of your, so you
push him/her out. (PA 16)

The scale used for these 18 items was a ratio scale
where "0" equals "I would never do this," and "10" equals
"I would probably do this." Six of these 18 items were
repeated on the last page of the questionnaire labeled
either AL, VA, or PA. These items were measured with the
four-point scale of "almost always," ”usually," "sometimes,"

"almost never." Depending on which content area the chil-

dren were in, only the six items assessing that social

68

behavior (e.g., physical aggression) were repeated.
The purpose of repeating these items was to enable the
researcher to have a check on the consistency of the
subject's responses. The control group reSponded to all
18 items with the ratio scale and with the four-point scale.
Multiple items were used to measure the effects of the
experimental treatments on arousal, positive affect, and
attention. Arousal was measured with three items. These
items assessed how angry, how sad, and how scared the film
made the child feel. For instance, one item states, "Some-
times people feel angry." Imagine someone borrowing some—
thing of yours without asking. Call how angry you are 10.
Not being angry at all we'll call 0. Now think about the
film. "How angry did the film make you feel?" Positive
affect was measured with four items. These items assessed
how happy, pleased, and excited the child felt after viewing
the film, and how willing the child was to view it again
(exploratory behavior). Attention was measured by asking
the subject to assess how much he/she paid attention to the
film, and how interesting the subject thought the film was.

2.33 Manipulation Checks. Several items served as

 

manipulation checks. These items measure the subject's
understanding of the content and perception of intensity
and frequency. Four items served as content manipulation

checks. The first three items measure the subject's

69

perception on how much hitting, yelling, and helping was
portrayed in the film. For instance, to the item asking,
"How much hitting was there in the film?" it was expected
that subjects in the altruism and verbal aggression content
groups would respond zero, for "no hitting at all." The
fourth content manipulation check item asked the subjects
to circle the answer which best described the film they
saw. The three choices were: "PeOple Helping People,"
"People Hitting PeOple," and "People Yelling at PeOple."

Three items served as checks for the intensity
manipulation. These items asked the subjects to assess
"how hard" people in the film were yelling, "how strongly"
people were helping others in the film, and "how hard"
peOple were hitting others in the film. The frequency
manipulation check was determined by items which asked
the subject "how many times" did someone help another
person, hit another person, and yell at another person
in the film. The measures for all the manipulation checks
items used a direct magnitude estimation scale.

2.34 Consideration for Direct Magnitude-Estimation

Procedures. One issue that arises when direct-magnitude

 

estimation procedures are used for the measurement of
psychophysical stimuli is the ability of the subject to

make reliable judgments.

70

The scales found in the Post—Experimental Questionnaire
(see Appendix D) were constructed by the methods of mag-
nitude and ratio estimation. These methods were developed
by S. 8. Stevens (cf., 1956) over the past forty years.
Considerable work on these scales has been provided by
Ekman (1961) and Shinn (1969b, 1974) in their use in
sociology and political science; Sellin and Wolfgang (1964)
in research on juvenile delinquency; and by Hamlin (1971,
1974) in their application in sociology. The procedures
of direct magnitude estimation require subjects to give
direct estimates of the magnitudes of some stimuli on
some continuum (cf., Torgerson, 1958). These methods
yield scales constituting measurement at the ratio level.
Torgerson (1958, p. 96) defines a ratio judgment as
"a subjective estimate with (a) the origin anchored
at an absolute zero and (b) the value of one of the two
non-zero stimuli specified." The foremost advantage of
a ratio scale is that there are no numerical boundaries,
that is, it is infinite and can take on any numerical
value. The subject is not limited in his/her estimates.
In addition, because the model underlying a ratio scale
is that of the real number system, it is susceptible to
the fundamental operations of algebra: addition, sub-
traction, division, and multiplication, thus allowing

all the power of mathematics, including algebra, calculus,

71

analytic geometry, and all the powerful statistical methods
(see Nunnally, 1967). One goal of the research was to
study and assess the feasibility of using such techniques
with elementary school-age subjects. If it can be deter-
mined that children can use these scaling procedures, then
this research will have methodological importance. Many
studies (e.g., Shinn, 1969a, 1969b; Selling & Wolfgang,
1964) have reported the reliable use of such scaling
procedures; however, none to date have demonstrated its
reliability with children. With adult samples (college-
age subjects), success has been reported when there has
been no training of subjects (Shinn, 1969a, 1969b; Sellin
& Wolfgang, 1964), as well as when subjects have been
trained to make magnitude estimates (see Hamlin, 1974).
In these studies success was demonstrated with high
reliabilities between two samples responding to the
scales. Rainwater (1972) reports that his samples of
adults learned very quickly how to do magnitude estimation
and that his attitudinal experiments have turned out to
be replicable.

2.35 Development of Direct-Magnitude Estimation

Procedures. First, a method had to be devised which would

 

allow the researcher to acquire information on school-age
children's ability to make numerical estimations of stimuli.

Second, a training program which would provide examples for

72

practice and instructions needed to be develOped. No
studies to date had used such elaborate scaling methods
with elementary school-age subjects and there was little
information available as to how to proceed. The first

task was to evaluate how children (ages 11 to 13) use

the required number system. Direct-magnitude estimation
requires multiplication and division skills. A series of
interviews were arranged with fifth and sixth grade classes
in Grand Ledge and Dimondale, Michigan. A sample of 100
children was used. The purpose of these interviews was
threefold. First, it was necessary to establish how chil-
dren in this age group used the number system; second, it
had to be determined if such age groups could make ratio
comparisons to the stimulus anchor; and third, it had to

be decided how to fix (i.e., at what level) the non-zero
anchor point. These interviews were conducted in the first
two weeks of May, 1977. Appendix E is a sample of the
interview instrument used.

The interview instrument contained a set of questions
and instructions on how to use the ratio-scaling technique.
For instance, the first practice item states: "If I said
to you that eating a piece of cake is an amount of happi-
ness equal to 10, and no happiness at all equals 0, how
happy would eating an ice cream sundae make you?" The

scale was presented to look like the following:

73

O
I)

no happiness

-——-—- = happiness of eating
an ice cream sundae

10 happiness of eating

a piece of cake
The scale was followed by a set of instructions. The
instructions for the above example stated that "if eating
an ice cream sundae makes you happier than eating a piece
of cake you would answer with a number LARGER THAN 10; if
eating an ice cream sundae makes you less happy than eating
cake, you would answer with a number SMALLER THAN 10."
They were then given an example that stated, "If ice cream
sundaes make you two times as happy as a piece of cake, you
would answer 20. If they made you ten times as happy, you
would answer 100. What would you answer if they only made
you half as happy?" Subjects were then asked a series of
questions to assess their abilities in multiplication and
division. Here, they were asked, for example, what they
would respond if they were three and one-half times as
happy eating ice cream as compared to cake, or only one-
fourth as happy. They were also asked to explain their
answers verbally.

From these interviews several things became apparent.
First, from quizzing the sample of subjects on multipli-
cation and division operations, their consistently correct
answers made it evident that they were capable of making

ratio comparisons. Second, in discussions, the subjects

74

demonstrated that they were able to translate the numbers
into accurate verbal statements. For instance, when
questioned what a score of 20 meant, the subjects were
able to respond that it was two times as much as the
yardstick or that a score of 11 was "just a little bit
more" than the yardstick. Third, the subjects seemed
happy with and very responsive to the scaling process.
When they were asked if they found the scale difficult
to use, they generally replied that it was easy and fun.
Fourth, it appeared that an anchor of 10 was easy for the
subjects to use as a comparison.

This exercise also indicated that this age group
of children were capable of making finite discriminations
with the numbers. For example, in the above question,
some children responded using numbers such as 8, 9, 11,
13, and 14, with regard to how much happiness they derived
from eating an ice cream sundae. When asked why they chose
such numbers, typical responses were that they liked eating
ice cream sundaes either "a little less" or "a little more"
than eating cake. These types of responses suggested two
points. First,the children were not conceiving the scale
in multiples of five or ten, which was feared might be the
case. Second, that they were, in fact, using the stimulus

anchor as a comparison with which to derive their answer.

75

As a result of this exercise, it was decided that a
direct-magnitude estimation procedure was a viable scaling
method. The interviews provided evidence to support the
validity of the procedures. Reliability estimates, deter-
mined from actual testing, will be presented in the results
section of the dissertation. The information obtained from
the interviews also indicated that training subjects in the
use of the scale would require several examples and a
discussion of the number system. Discussion of the
training procedures follows.

2.36 Ratio-Scale Training Procedures. The post-

 

experimental questionnaire contained several ratio-scale
training items. The first set of training items provided
the scale to be used for the measurement of the 18 hypo-
thetical situations. Here, the yardstick instructed that
"0" represents total absence of a behavior and "10" rep-
resents the probable occurrence of a behavior. An example
item and the scale were presented and accompanied by verbal
and pictoral explanations, as illustrated below.

The verbal explanations of the scale were repeated
throughout the questionnaire to reinforce the scaling
techniques. The use of pictoral explanations for practice
items helped to highlight sample answers. They provided
an easy method to acquaint the subjects with comparable

meanings for the ratio judgments. Each practice item was

76

 

 

We would like to ask you some questions about things that might happen to your. The way we are
going to answer these questions is very easy. Let's do an example.
we
When someone cries you laugh at them. How often would you do this?
REMEMBER —-—> O - I would never do this

10 - I would probably do this

INSTRUCTIONS
If you would PROBABLY do this, WRITE 10.
The w}? 0311?” or the MORE LIELY you are to do this, VRITE' A man BIGGER THAN 10.
The LESS OFTEN or LESS LIIQ‘L! you are to do this, WRITE A WEI? W}? THAN 10.
If you NEVER do this, mm 0.

'YOU CAN WRITE ANY NUMBER YOU WISH.

For example :
_.81. 35 ‘ |

Mike would laugh VERY OFTEN at Linda would laugh OH'EN at
someone crying. someone crying.

J)” r '1’

Marcia would PROBABLY laugh at Charley is LESS LIKELY to laugh at
someone crying. saneone crying.

.1

Bob would NEVER laugh at
someone crying.

O

 

REMEMBER!) The BIGGER the number, the NOE OFTEN or MOE LIKELY you would do this.

The MR the number, the LESS OFTEN or the [.855 LIEL! you are to do this.

 

Figure 2. Ratio-Scale Training Form.

 

77

accompanied with a yardstick. The subjects were instructed
how to use the yardstick as a guide for each question. The
yardstick provided the anchors with which all ratio com-
parisons were made. The practice and discussion of ratio
judgments and the meanings of the numerical system gave the
subjects the opportunity to learn comparable meanings for
the ratio judgments. Discussion took place as to what it
meant to give a score of, e.g., twice or one-half the
yardstick. By continued discussion the subjects soon
appreciated how to use the quantitative scale. Practicing
on the training items also helped to get the subjects into
the habit of comparing each question to the yardstick for
that question and not to a previous question.

2.37 Description of Post-Experimental Questionnaire.

 

The instrument administered was titled School Survey (see
Appendix D). All questionnaires were identical for all
experimental treatments within each content area. The
questionnaires were color coded for content areas. Blue
covered questionnaires were administered to the groups in
the physical aggression treatments, pink to the groups in
altruism, yellow to the groups in verbal aggression, and
white to the control group. The cover of the questionnaire
supplied a bogus purpose of the research. It was simply
stated that several questions were going to be asked to

find out how people react to different events. The

78

instructions on the cover also informed the subjects that

only the researchers at Michigan State University would

be privy to their answers.

An outline description of the questionnaire content

follows.

Pages

1-2

8-10

'11-13

14-15

15-19

AL, VA,
or PA

21

2.38

Content
Ratio-scale practice
items
Hypothetical
situation items
Ratio-scale practice
items
Arousal items
Positive affect and
attention items
Content, intensity,
and frequency

manipulation checks

Repeated hypothetical
situation items

Demographic items

Schedule of Interviews.

 

PUIEOSE

To train on use of ratio
scale for hypothetical
behavior situations

To assess social behavior
learning

To train on use of ratio
scale items for stimulus
effect variables

To assess effects of
stimulus

To assess effects of
stimulus

To check manipulation
success
To check response

consistency

To obtain background
information

Several interviews

were conducted with different groups of children during the

development of the stimulus tapes and the post-experimental

questionnaire instrument.

An outline of the schedule, and

purpose of these interviews is presented below.

 

79

 

 

Purpose

To validate the levels
of intensity manipu-
lation; to determine
children's perceptions
of intensity levels.

To obtain lists of
situations in which
children help, yell,
and hit other people.

To generate responses
to the most frequently
mentioned situations
of altruism, verbal
aggression, and
physical aggression.

To develop training
procedures and to
determine children's
ability to use direct-
magnitude estimation
techniques.

A trial run of all
experimental
procedures.

The field experiment was conducted on June 6 and June 7,

Variable
Sample and/or
Date School Size Scale Studied
2/77 Dimondale 50 Intensity
Middle scores
School
3/77 Grand Ledge 120 Social
learning
items
(hypothetical
situations)
3/77 Grand Ledge 120 Social
learning
items
(hypothetical
situations)
4/77 Grand Ledge 100 Ratio scores
and
Dimondale
Middle
School
5/77 Dimondale 60 Pilot study
Middle
School
2.4 Experimental Procedures
1977. The study was carried out between 11:15 a.m. and
6:(H) p.nn

Ten persons assisted in the collection of data.

Four testers3 and their four assistants“ were randomly

assigned to an experimental condition.

There was a general

manager5 who was responsible for insuring that all scheduled

80.

subjects were accounted for and in the apprOpriate testing
room. The general organizer was also responsible for
assigning extra subjects to experimental conditions with
missing subjects. A technical assistant6 was in charge

of operating all video equipment. Prior to testing, the
testers, assistants, and general manager were given the
testing schedules, lists of names of the subjects per
condition, testing assignments, and maps of the facilities.
Also, an intensive training session was held. During this
training session the testers and assistants were familiar-
ized with the experimental procedures. They were instructed
on how to train the subjects in using the ratio scales on
the post-experimental questionnaires. A set of written
instructions was given to the testers and assistants (see
Appendix F). These instructions were carefully reviewed.
Pre-testing training required six hours.

Each content treatment had four experimental conditions
or cells. For each cell, randomly assigned subjects from
two fifth and two sixth grade classes were used. For a
given cell within a content treatment, ten fifth graders
were tested and then ten sixth graders were tested. Testing
for each group lasted one hour. At the beginning of a
testing period the tester and assistant each went to the
assigned classrooms and read the names of subjects needed

for the particular experimental condition. Each then

81

brought her set of subjects to an experimental (testing)
room. When the ten subjects were gathered and settled

in the testing room, the tester introduced herself and

her assistant. She told the subjects that they wanted

to ask them about "things that might happen to you and
what you think about things you see on television." The
experimental questionnaire was given to each subject. The
tester explained that first they were going to go over some
examples in the questionnaire, watch some clips from tele-
vision shows and then fill out the questionnaire. The
tester proceeded to teach the subjects how to use the ratio
scale in the instrument (see Appendix D, Post-Experimental
Questionnaire for practice items). Training took approx-
imately fifteen minutes. After the tester answered ques-
tions and believed all the subjects knew how to use the
scale, she told them they were going to watch some tele-
vision; first, there was a cartoon (neutral filler). The
lights were turned out and the cartoon shown. During the
fifteen-second break between the cartoon and TV clips, the
tester announced that the subjects would see some clips of
real television shows. When the tape was over the tester
announced that they were now going to fill out the question-
naire. The tester asked the subjects to turn to page one
of the questionnaire. She reviewed the examples and the

scale with the subjects and answered any questions. The

82

subjects were then instructed to turn to page three of the
questionnaire. The hypothetical items were read to the
subjects. When these items were completed, the subjects
were asked to turn to page eight. The subjects were told
that they were going to answer some questions about the
part of the film that followed the cartoon. Once again
the tester and subjects did an example together (see
Appendix D) Post-Experimental Questionnaire, pages 8-10).
After completing the examples, the subjects continued to
fill out the questionnaire. Each item was read to the
subjects, with the tester stressing what zero and ten
represented for the particular item. When these items
were completed the tester stated that they were almost
finished and that there were only a few more questions.
For the final part of the questionnaire which sought
personal information from the subjects, the tester assured
the subjects that only the researchers at Michigan State
University would be using this information. When all
subjects completed the questionnaire, if there were time
remaining, the subjects were given crayons to color the
front of the questionnaire. At the end of the testing
period, the tester asked the subjects not to discuss the
study with any other students because many students in the
school would be participating. The subjects were thanked

for their assistance and taken back to their classroom.

83

2.5 Facilities and Apparatus

 

The field experiments were conducted at the Perry
Elementary and Middle School, Perry, Michigan.7 Both
the elementary and middle schools had not previously
participated in any communication research studies.

This eliminated the potential problem of experiment-wise
subjects. The schools had a large class of fifth and
sixth grade students from which to select. The facil-
ities at the schools were naturalistic and comfortable.
The available facilities allowed for relatively easy
execution of the experimental procedures.

Several testing rooms were made available to the
research group. Each testing room was spacious and
comfortably accommodated a color video tape recorder
and monitor and ten tables and chairs for subjects.

All experimental stimulus tapes were played on a
19 inch color monitor. The monitor was placed in the
center of the testing room. All subjects had a good
view of the television monitor. A video tape technician
provided assistance with the technical aspects of data
gathering. Four graduate students and five undergraduate
students from the Department of Communication, Michigan

State University, assisted in the collection of data.

84

2.6 Ethical Considerations

 

In this research several ethical issues must be
addressed. The first involves the use of children as
experimental subjects. This issue has received consider-
able attention from the scientific community, government
agencies, and the public. Guidelines and recommendations
have been set forth by the United States Commission on the
Use of Human Subjects in Scientific Research (1977), with
regard to the apprOpriate procedures for the use of children
in scientific experiments. The Commission has requested
that the parents, as legal guardians of the child, determine
if the child is to participate in an experiment. Written
consent must be obtained in order to use the child as a
subject. In compliance with this guideline, written per-
mission for participation in this field experiment was
sought from the parents of all subjects prior to testing.
In a letter to parents (Appendix G) the nature of the
experiment was explained and the content of the stimulus
tapes described. Parents were requested to respond whether
they chose to have their child participate. Only those
children who had written consent participated in the
experiment. Written consent was obtained from 100% of
the available subjects.

Another concern in the use of children in experi-

ments deals with the question of possible physical or

85

psychological repercussions to the child as a result of
his/her participation in scientific research. Physical
risk was minimal or absent. They were not asked to demon-
strate any social behaviors and there was no physical con-
tact between subjects. The psychological effects appeared
to be positive as Opposed to negative. The subjects
expressed that they enjoyed watching the television seg-
ments and participating in the study. A further issue
related to possible harmful psychological effects on the
subjects deals with the ethics of exposing school children
to segments of televised physical and verbal aggression.
This issue is one which is considered by all social sci-
entists studying the effects of television on children.
For this particular research project, it is believed that
the segments of physical and verbal aggression that were
shown to the subjects are typical of their daily television
experiences (see Greenberg, 1980), and that the subjects
were not being exposed to any type of content which would
be unfamiliar or to which they have not been previously
exposed. In addition, the antisocial behaviors were limited
to hand-to-hand fighting and non-illicit verbal insults.
In the high intensity conditions, the physical and verbal
aggression acts were typical of television action (see

Greenberg, 1980, pp. 99—128).

86

To insure that the subjects understood the nature of
the research project, the author gave a guest lecture to
the participating classes on the nature of the study and
television and its effects. This lecture was delivered

the last week of June, 1977.

CHAPTER 2

FOOTNOTES

1The three intensity coders, Chip Steinfeld, Sue
Schimmel, and Ken Zgraggen, undergraduate students at
Michigan State University.

2Marcia Richards, Linda Hogan, Nancy Hale, and Jan
Crosby, undergraduate majors in communication, Michigan
State University were content analysis coders. They
reviewed and selected the segments for the experimental
stimulus tapes. The intensity coders verified the
intensity scores for each selected segment.

3The experimental testers, other than the author,
were Nancy Buerkel, Kathy Sherry, graduate students in
the Department of Communication, Michigan State University,
and Jayne Zenaty, graduate student in the Department of
Telecommunication, Michigan State University.

.'The four assistants in this study were Linda Hogan,
Sue Schimmel, Patricia McKay, and Kim Burek, undergraduate
students at Michigan State University.

5Janice Spodarek, an undergraduate student in the
Department of Communication, Michigan State University,
acted as general manager and organizer.

6Ken Zgraggen, the technical assistant, was respon-
sible for operating all video equipment.

7Thanks are extended to Duane Seastrom, Principal of
the Perry Middle School and Diana Stuart, Principal of the
Perry Elementary School, for providing the facilities and
subjects used in this study.

87

CHAPTER 3

RESULTS

In this chapter the results of the experiment will
be presented. This chapter will attempt to discuss the
procedures used for index construction, to evaluate the
validity on the manipulations, to present information on
reliability and analytical procedures, and finally to
discuss the effects of the independent variables. Each
issue will be discussed in a section of this chapter. A

brief summary will conclude the chapter.

3.1 Index Construction

 

3.11 Dependent Variables. Several methods were used

 

to determine the most apprOpriate technique for constructing
indices for the dependent variables. The first step
involved analyzing the intercorrelations of the dependent
variables. Tables 3.1-3.9 contain the correlations of the
items for each dependent variable. Tables 3.1-3.3 contain
the intercorrelations for the ratio-scaled social learning
items. Tables 3.4-3.6 contain the intercorrelations for the
Likert-scaled social learning items. Tables 3.7-3.9 contain

the intercorrelations of the items for the arousal, positive

88

89

Table 3.1

. a . . .
Intercorrelat1ons for Rat1o Scaled Phys1ca1 Aggre551on

Social Learning Items for Threelgontent
Treatment Groups (N==240)

 

 

 

Dependent ItemsC PA2 PA4 PA8 PAll PA13
PA4 .5594
PA8 .4069 .3821
PAll .4215 .4599 .2676
PA13 .5430 .5422 .4053 .4459
PA16 .3542 .4075 .2596 .4896 .5539

 

aAll correlations significant at pf<.001, one-tailed test.

Logarithmically transformed variables averaged over physical aggression,

verbal aggression, and altruism subjects.

cSee Chapter 2, Section 2.32 for description of items.

90

Table 3. 2

. a . .
Intercorrelat1ons for Rat1o-Scaled Verbal Aggress1on
Social Learning Items for Three Content
Treatment Groups (N==240)

 

 

 

Dependent ItemsC VA2 VA6 VA9 VAlO VAlS
VA6 .4586
VA9 .4091 .4332
vnlo .5970 .3961 .4674
VA15 .3778 .3476 .3902 .3839
VA18 .3610 .4251 .4231 .3532 .4857

 

aAll correlations significant at pf:.001, one-tailed test.

bLogarithmically transformed variables averaged over physical aggression,
verbal aggression, and altruism subjects.

CSee Chapter 2, Section 2.32 for description of items.

91

Table 3.3

Intercorrelationsa for Ratio-Scaled Altruism

Social Learning Items for Threekgontent
Treatment Groups (N==240)

 

 

 

Dependent ItemsC ALl AL5 AL? AL12 AL14
AL5 .3690
AL7 .2520 .4585
AL12 .4759 .4928 .4702
AL14 .4265 .3912 .4298 .6803
AL17 .2857 .4238 .4203 .4797 .5149

 

aAll correlations significant at pf1.001, one-tailed test.

bLogarithmically transformed variables averaged over physical aggression,
verbal aggression, and altruism subjects.

CSee Chapter 2, Section 2.32 for description of items.

92

Table 3. 4

. a . . .
Intercorrelations for Likert-Scaled Phy51cal Aggre551on
Social Learning Items for Physical Aggression
Treatment Group (N==80)

 

 

 

Dependent Itemsc PAZ PA4 PA8 PAll PA13
PA4 .5936
PA8 .4100 .4347
PAll .3588 .4237 .3814
PA13 .5214 .4792 .5019 .4847
PA16 .4236 .4700 .3666 .3809 .4039

 

aAll correlations significant at pr.OOl, one-tailed test.
bLogarithmically transformed variables.

CSee Chapter 2, Section 2.32 for description of items.

93

Table 3.5

Intercorrelations (and One-Tail Levels of Significance)
for Likert-Scaled Verbal Aggression Social Verbal
Aggression Treatment Groupa

 

 

 

Dependent Itemsb VA3 VA6 VA9 VAlO VA15
VA6 .5374
(.001)
VA9 .3033 .2522
(.003) (.012)
VAlO .5417 .3007 .2906
(.001) (.003) (.004)
VAlS .4867 .2332 .2585 .3324
(.001) (.019) (.010) (.001)
VA18 .4733 .2611 .1588 .2373 .4352
(.001) (.010) (.080) (.017) (.001)

 

aLogarithmically transformed variables.

bSee Chapter 2, Section 2.32 for description of items.

94

Table 3.6

Intercorrelations (and One-Tail Levels of Significance)
for Likert-Scaled Altruism Social Learning
for Altruism Treatment Group (N==80)a

 

 

 

Dependent Itemsb ALl ALS AL7 AL12 AL14
AL5 .2222
(.024)
AL7 .2723 .3152
(.007) (.002)
AL12 .5357 .3283 .1628
(.001) (.001) (.075)
AL14 .4328 .4569 .2674 .3673
(.001) (.001) (.008) (.001)
AL17 .1118 .3693 .1742 .2974 .2870
(.162) (.001) (.061) (.004) (.005)

 

aLogarithmically transformed variables.

bSee Chapter 2, Section 2.32 for description of items.

Table 3.7

. a
Intercorrelations for Arousal Items for Three
Content Treatment Groups (N==240)b

 

 

 

Dependent Itemsc Angry Sad
Sad .4498
Scared .3012 .4330

 

a . . . . .
All correlations Significant at pf1.001, one-tailed test.

b . . . . .
Logarithmically transformed variables averaged over phySical agreSSion,
verbal aggression, and altruism subjects.

CSee Chapter 2, Section 2.32 for description of items.

Table 3.8

Intercorrelationsa for Positive Affect Items for
Three Content Treatment Groups (N==240)b

 

 

 

Dependent ItemsC Happy Pleased Excited
Pleased .5504
Excited .4851 .5745
Do Again .4105 .4250 .4470

 

aAll correlations significant at pf<.001, one-tailed test.

bLogarithmically transformed variables averaged over physical aggression,
verbal aggression, and altruism subjects.

CSee Chapter 2, Section 2.32 for description of items.

96

Table 3.9

Intercorrelationsa for Attention Items for Three
Content Treatment Groups (N==240)b

 

 

Dependent ItemsC Interest

 

Pay attention .6530

 

aOne-tailed test, p<:.001.

bLogarithmically transformed variables averaged
over physical aggression, verbal aggression, and
altruism subjects.

cSee Chapter 2, Section 2.32 for description of
items.

97

affect and attention variables. The intercorrelations
demonstrate a strong relationship among the sets of items
for each dependent variable. Based on this analysis, the
next step involved performing a factor analysis on the
items. Table 3.10 contains the factor scores, the factor
score coefficients, means and standard deviations for all
dependent items. As seen in Table 3.10 the six ratio-scaled
items for physical aggression load on one factor with factor
scores ranging from .41 to .79. The six ratio-scaled items
for verbal aggression load on one factor with factor scores
ranging from .50 to .71. The six ratio-scaled items for
altruism also load on one factor with factor scores ranging
from .53 to .81. The items for arousal: angry, scared,
and sad, load on one factor with factor scores of .53,

.50, and .81,respectively. One factor also emerges for
positive affect with the four items: happy, pleased,
excited, and do again. Here the factor scores range

from .52 to .73. The items "how much attention did you

pay to the film" and "how interested were you in the film,"
load on one factor with factor scores of .62 and .72
respectively.

Table 3.11 presents the factor scores, coefficients,
means and standard deviations for the social learning items
measured with a Likert (four-point) scale. The same factor
structure emerges as found with the ratio-scaled items,

except two factors appear for altruism.

98

Table 3.10

Factor Score Coefficients, Means,and Standard Deviations for
All Dependent Items for Three Content Treatment Groupsa

 

 

 

b Factor Factor Score Standard
Dependent Items Score Coefficients Mean Deviation
PA2 (N==240) .69 .16380 .9131 .8474
PA4 (N==240) .64 .11578 .7993 .8832
PA8 (N==240) .41 .02886 .9880 .8227
PAll (N==240) .58 .11199 .9347 .8410
PA13 (N==240) .79 .23636 1.6278 1.1659
PA16 (N==240) .66 .10398 1.3943 .9510
VA3 (N==240) .71 .15580 1.5332 .8905
VA6 (N==240) .57 .10666 1.3684 .9799
VA9 (N= 240) .62 .09865 1.4666 .9181
VA10 (N==239) .65 .10927 1.3488 .8322
VA15 (N==240) .54 .09431 1.0403 .8575
VA18 (N==240) .50 .07458 1.4619 1.1247
ALl (N==240) .53 .09023 1.2476 .6708
ALS (N= 240) .64 .15949 1.7240 .8843
AL7 (N==240) .62 .15399 1.2931 .8695
AL12 (N==240) .81 .34910 1.5996 .9661
AL14 (N==239) .74 .24683 1.5917 .7774
AL17 (N==240) .63 .14115 1.5488 .8433
Angry (N==240) .53 .16593 .6413 .7791
Scared (N==239) .50 .12027 .3161 .5859
Sad (N==240) .81 .60456 .4379 .6479
Happy (N==240) .63 .25976 .8735 .7233
Pleased (N==238) .62 .23228 .8628 .7445
Excited (N==237) .73 .40856 .8645 .7153
Do again (N==235) .52 .16800 1.2132 .7204
Pay attn. (N==235) .62 .31841 1.2408 .8286
Interest (N==236) .72 .55580 .9256 .7165

 

aLogarithmically transformed variables averaged over physical aggression,

verbal aggression, and altruism subjects.

bSee Chapter 2, Section 2.32 for description of variables.

99

Table 3.ll

Factor Score Coefficients, Means,and Standard Deviations
of Likert-Scaled Social Learning Items for
Each Content Treatment Groupa

 

 

 

Factor Factor Score Standard
Dependent Items Score Coefficients Mean Deviation
PA2 (N==80) .71 .22280 2.1500 1.0446
PA4 (N==80) .74 .26728 2.0000 1.1024
PA8 (N==80) .62 .16424 2.1875 1.0565
PA11 (N==80) .60 .15148 2.1750 1.1112
PA13 (N==80) .73 .26416 2.7875 1.1980
PA16 (N==79) .61 .15874 2.5570 1.1065
VA3 (N==79) .90 .65572 2.6709 .9570
VA6 (N==78) .54 .07208 2.5385 1.0653
VA9 (N==79) .40 .09531 2.7215 1.0493
VA10 (N==79) .58 .10277 2.4557 1.0102
VA15 (N= 78) .58 .14648 2.0513 1.0051
VA18 (N==79) .53 .09637 2.5570 1.1739
ALI (N==71) .99 (Factor 1) 1.05852 3.0563 .9984
ALS (N==7l) .75 (Factor 2) .53081 3.3803 .8679
AL? (N==71) .34 (Factor 2) .11419 2.6901 1.0636
AL12 (N= 71) .48 (Factor 1) -.04912 3.0141 .9334
AL14 (N==71) .51 (Factor 2) .25311 3.0986 .9127
AL17 (N==71) .50 (Factor 2) .19332 3.3239 .8581

 

aLogarithmically transformed variables. PA items for physical aggression
treatment group, VA items for verbal aggression treatment group, and AL
items for altruism treatment group.

bSee Chapter 2, Section 2.32 for description of items.

100

Indices were constructed for physical aggression,
verbal aggression, altruism, arousal, positive affect,
and attention using the factor score coefficients as a
weighting device. Two indices were constructed for the
two factors of the Likert—scaled altruism variable. The
following formula was used to construct the indices:

Variable = Factor Score (Item-Mean)/Standard Deviation +

Factor Score (Item-Mean)/Standard Deviation +
... n Item

All subsequent analyses to be reported are performed

on the constructed indices.

3.12 Reliability of Indices. To test the reliability

 

of constructed indices, Cronbach's measure for reliability
was performed. Table 3.12 presents Cronbach's reliability
coefficients (g's) for each dependent variable. Cronbach's
g is equivalent to the correlation of the true (reliable)
score with the observed score from adding the items
(Nunnally, 1967). As seen in Table 3.12, the range for
g_is .6535 (arousal) to .8263 (physical aggression, Likert
scale). A11 coefficients are significant at p< .00001.
Cronbach's alpha is a precise estimate of reliability.

The indices are highly reliable for each of the dependent

variables.

101

Table 3.12

Reliability Estimatesa for Constructed Indices

 

 

Cronbach's Internal

Consistency Reliability

 

Constructed Coefficgent Standardized
Dependent Variable (0) Item Alpha N
Physical aggression .8206 .8210 240
(ratio scale)

Verbal aggression .8091 .8133 240
(ratio scale)

Altruism .8244 .8239 240
(ratio scale)

Arousal .6535 .6617 240

Positive affect .7886 .7883 240

. c

Attention ---- ---- ---

Physical aggression .8263 .8263 80
(Likert scale)

Verbal aggression .7500 .7557 80
(Likert scale)

Altruism, factor 1C ---- ---- --
(Likert scale)

Altruism, factor 2 .7221 .7263 80

(Likert scale)

 

aLogarithmically transformed variables.

bAll reliability coefficients significant at 231.00001.

cCronbach's alpha could not be computed for attention and factor 1
altruism since at least three items are needed.

102

3.2 Effectiveness of Manipulations

 

3.21 Content Manipulation. Four items on the

 

post-experimental questionnaire served as checks on the
manipulation of media content. Subjects were asked to
respond to the following questions:

How much hitting was there in the film?

How much yelling was there in the film?

How much helping was there in the film?

The scale used for these items was a ratio scale in which
0 = no such behavior occurred, and 10 = an average amount
of the behavior had occurred. Subjects made ratio esti-
mates, using any non-negative integer. A fourth item
asked the subjects to circle the answer which best
described the film they saw. The three choices were:
People Hitting People, People Yelling at People, and
People Helping People.

Eighty-one percent (65 out of 80) of the subjects
who saw the physical aggression content circled the
response People Hitting People. Seventy-eight percent
(62 out of 80) in the verbal aggression treatment circled
the response People Yelling at People. Eighty-nine percent
(71 out of 80) in the altruism treatment circled the

response People Helping People.

103

Table 3.13 presents the statistical results of t-tests
performed on the content manipulation check items for each
treatment group. All data have been logarithmically trans-
formed (see Section 3.3). Table 3.13 contains the results
for the physical aggression content check ("how much hitting
was there in the film?"). Here, the physical aggression
treatment group is compared to the verbal aggression plus
altruism group. It is clear that subjects in the physical
aggression are significantly different in reporting the
amount of hitting in the film from subjects in the two
other groups (E_= 15.033, 238 d;£,, pg<.001).1 The physical
aggression treatment subjects report significantly more
hitting.

For the verbal aggression content manipulation item
("how much yelling was there in the film?"), we find sig-
nificant differences between the verbal aggression groups
and the two other combined content groups (£==5.770,

238 g;§., E}:.001). The verbal aggression treatment
subjects report significant more yelling occurring in
the film than the other two groups.

Similar findings are also seen in Table 3.13 for the
altruism content manipulation item. Subjects in the
altruism treatment report significantly more helping than
the combined subjects in the physical and verbal aggression

treatments (t==7.l38, 238 d.f., pg<.001).

104

Table 3.13

a . . .
Results of EfTests (One-Tailed) for Content Manipulation
Item for Each Content Treatment Group by Two

Other Treatment Groups (N==240)

 

 

Content Two Other
Treatment Treatment

 

Group Groups
Dependent (N =_80) (N =_l60)
Variable X X t_ d.f. p_
How much hitting? 1.52 .28 15.033 238 .001
(physical aggression
treatment group)b
How much yelling? 1.20 .68 5.770 238 .001
(verbal aggression
treatment group)c
How much helping? 1.15 .51 7.138 238 .001
(altruiam treatment
group)

 

aLogarithmically transformed variables.

bCompared to combined verbal aggression and altruism treatment groups.

cCompared to combined physical aggression and altruism treatment groups.

dCompared to combined physical and verbal aggression treatment groups.

105

It appears that subjects clearly recognized and were
able to identify the type of content they viewed.

3.22 Frequency Manipulation. To determine if subjects

 

could differentiate between the high level of frequency
(twelve segments) and the low level of frequency (two seg-
ments), subjects within each content group were asked to
assess how often the content behavior had occurred. That
is, subjects in the physical aggression treatment group
were asked: "How many times did someone hit another person
in the film?" Subjects in the verbal aggression treatment
were asked, "How many times did someone yell at another
person in the film," and subjects in the altruism treatment
were asked, "How many times did someone help another person

in the film?" The scale used for these items was an Open-

ended type scale in which 0 no hitting at all in the film,
or no yelling at all in the film, or no helping at all in
the film, depending on content group. Subjects were asked
to write the number of times someone hit, yelled, or helped
in the film.

Table 3.14 contains the statistical results of t—tests
performed for each frequency manipulation item. The

analyses were performed on logarithmically transformed

data (see Section 3.3).

106

Table 3.14

a . . .
Results of EfTests (One-Tailed) for Frequency Manipulation

Item for Each Content Treatment Group

by Level of Frequency (N==80)

 

 

 

 

 

Frequency
High Low
Dependent (N =_40) (N =_40)
Variable X X E, d.f. B.
How many time was 1.61 1.34 1.721 78 .089
someone hit?
(physical aggression
treatment group)
How many times did 1.08 .84 1.557 78 .123
someone yell?
(verbal aggression
treatment group)
How many times did .95 .71 1.959 78 .052
someone help another?
(altruism treatment
group)
aLogarithmically transformed variables.

107

We do not find significant mean differences for the
frequency manipulation item in the physical treatment group
(3 = 1.721, 78 d;f., p<:.089) nor in the verbal aggression
treatment (3 = 1.557, 78 d;£., p<:.123).

We do see mean differences approaching significance
for the frequency manipulation item in the altruism group
(3 = 1.959, 78 d;f., 27"052)'

These results indicate that the frequency manipulation
was not successful, although the direction of all mean
differences was as desired.

3.23 Intensitnganipulation. To determine the success

 

of the manipulation of intensity, subjects were asked to
make ratio estimates as to "how hard" or "strongly" the
given content behavior occurred. The item used to assess
intensity in the physical aggression treatment was "How
hard were people hitting in the film?" The scale used
was a ratio scale in which 0 = no hitting at all in the
film and 10 = as hard as hitting someone in the face.
The item used in the verbal aggression treatment was
"How hard were people yelling in the film?" For this
item, 0 = no yelling at all, and 10 = as hard as someone
yelling, shut up. For the altruism treatment, the item
was "How strongly were people helping in the film? The
scale here was 0 = no helping at all in the film, and

10 = as strongly as helping a hurt friend.

108

Table 3.15 presents the results of fittests performed
on the intensity manipulation item for each content treat-
ment group. The analyses were performed on logarithmically
transformed data (see Section 3.3).

The mean differences for intensity in the physical
aggression treatment approach significance at pf<.065
(E==1.770, 78 QLE.). Intensity does not have a significant
effect in the verbal aggression treatment (t==955, 78 d;f.,
p<1.337) nor is it significant in the altruism treatment
(Efi=l.676, 78 QL£., pf<.094). Although not significant,
all mean differences are in the apprOpriate direction.

In summary, subjects were able to differentiate the
type of content they viewed. However, they did not dif-
ferentiate between the two levels of frequency or the two
levels of intensity. Discussion of this issue will be

presented in Chapter 4 of this dissertation.

3.3 Establishing a Metric

 

3.31 Problem of Heteroscadacity. One important

 

assumption of the analysis of variance is homogeneity of
the error variance. The F statistic is said to be robust
enough to withstand moderate deviations and such deviations
will not seriously affect the sampling distribution of the
resulting 3 statistic. However, when examining the effects
of the treatments upon the variance in the experimental

data set, we find that we do not have equal variances.

109

Table 3.15

Resultsa of EfTests (One—Tailed) for Intensity
Manipulation Item for Each Content Treatment
Group by Level of Intensity (N==80)

 

 

 

 

Intensity
High Low
Dependent (N =_40) (N =_40)
Variable X X E_ d.f. 2.
How hard was someone 1.50 1.23 1.770 78 .065
hitting another?
(physical aggression
treatment group)
How hard was someone 1.27 1.13 .995 78 .337
yelling?
(verbal aggression
treatment group)
How hard was someone 1.19 .94 1.676 78 .094

helping another?
(altruism treatment
group)

 

aLogarithmically transformed variables.

110

From an examination of cell variance for the
four experimental conditions, we see that the ratio
of treatment variances often differ dramatically
for the raw data. For example, examining the first
altruism social learning item (ALI) for the altruism
content group, we find in the high frequency, high
intensity condition (N==20) a mean of 534.4, standard
deviation of 928.4. In the high frequency, low intensity
condition, the mean is 29.0 and standard deviation is 2.2
(see Appendix H for a comparison of untransformed and
transformed means and standard deviations for all depen-
dent items and manipulation items). Such heteroscadacity
of variance may pose a problem for ANOVA, which assumes
homogeneity of variance.

3.32 Logarithmic Transformations. In the data
analysis, the data are transformed logarithmically, such
that if X is the original score and X' the transformed

score ,
U = + .
X loglo (X 1)

This transformation is relatively successful in eliminating
heteroscadacity in the sample data, and it corrects for
non-linearities expected in magnitude estimation data

(Hamblin, 1974).

lll

Logarithmic transformations are appropriate when
psychOphysical measurements are at the ratio level.
Stevens (1957, 1960) found that stimulus-response
relationships can be described by a power law: w==C¢n,
where w is the magnitude of the sensory response, 0 is
the magnitude of the related physical stimulus, and C
and n are empirical parameters. Using a logarithmic

transformation, the above equation becomes linear:
log w = log C + n log 0.

What is implied here is that the subjective response
(which is a direct ratio estimation of the physical
stimulus by the subject) will increase as a power function
of the magnitudes of the related physical stimuli (cf.
Stevens, 1960). Thus, by performing a logarithmic trans-
formation, a linear relationship is established, thus
allowing standard analyses utilizing the general linear
model to be performed.

In summary, there appear to be two very important
and valid reasons for performing logarithmic transformations
on ratio data: (1) because it stablizes unequal variances,
and (2) because the psychophysical law implies that psy-
chological responses of a related physical stimuli increase
as power functions of the magnitudes of that related

physical stimuli.

112

3.4 Treatment of Missing Data

 

For all items that were missing data, the logarithmic
mean for that item was used. For one subject, missing data
had to be estimated for the ratio-scaled verbal aggression
item (VAlO): "A kid teases you, so you tease him back."
For one subject, missing data had to be estimated for the
ratio-scaled altruism item (AL14): "A friend is feeling
bad because they keep making silly mistakes trying to play
a new game, so you teach them how to play the game right."
For one subject, missing data had to be estimated for the
item asking, "How scared did the film make you feel?" For
two subjects, missing data had to be estimated for the item
asking, "How pleased did the film make you feel?" Three
subjects were missing data for the item, "How excited did
the film make you feel?" Five subjects were missing data
for the item: "Would you want to see the film again."

Five subjects were also missing data for the item, "Did
you pay attention?“ For four subjects, the logarithmic
means were used for the item, "How interesting was the
film you watched?"

For the Likert-scaled social learning items, one
subject was missing data for physical aggression item PA16.
For verbal aggression, items VA3, VA9, VAlO, and VA18 were
each missing one subject response and items VA6 and VA15

were each missing two responses. Nine subjects were missing

113

data for each of the six altruism items. The logarithmic

means were used.

3.5 Analytical Procedures

 

An univariate analyses of variance was performed
for each dependent variable for each of the three content
treatment groups. This analysis examines the main effects
for intensity and frequency. A second analysis (t—test)
examines the mean differences for intensity under the high
frequency condition. Since some of the dependent variables
are correlated (see Table 3.16 for intercorrelations among
dependent variables), the analyses to be reported cannot be
said to have an experiment-wise error of .05. Experiment-
wise error rate is the probability that at least one com-
parison will be said to be significant when in actuality
the null hypothesis is supportable for all comparisons
(Hummel and Sligo, 1971). Another error that is involved
when dependent variables are correlated and univariate
analyses are performed is the error rate per comparison.
This error rate is the probability that any given comparison
will be said to be significant when in actuality the null
hypothesis is true for that comparison (Ryan, 1959).

The expected dependency among the variables can affect
the type I error rates. If the dependent variables are
correlated, then the comparisons based on these variables

will be dependent. The probability level for the error

114

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115

rates with uncorrelated variables is g; with 0 dependent
and uncorrelated variables, the probability level is

l - (l-g)p. It should be noted, though, when only
univariate analyses are performed and one is dealing
with multivariate data, the experiment-wise error rate
is affected and would rarely equal 1 - (l-g)p, and the
actual probability generally would not be known (Bock &
Haggard, 1968; Hummel & Sligo, 1971).

A multivariate technique, such as multivariate analysis
of variance (MANOVA) would correct this problem in the
abstract but would leave us with additional problems.

First, it would not be correct to assume a simple factor
structure for the dependent variables, since they are viewed
as causally related. Thus, with a multivariate analytical
procedure, the true interdependency of the dependent
variables would not be taken appropriately into account.
Second, MANOVA only allows for an overall test that "a
nonchance relationship exists between the independent and
response variables and that there exists at least one linear
combination of responses which significantly discriminates
among the K treatments" (Bockner & Fitzpatrick, 1980, 168).
A MANOVA test will not provide information about underlying
dimensions, the amount of variance accounted for by each
variable, or the most significant linear combinations of
dependent variables. Univariates F-test do provide the

information to examine these issues (Finn, 1974).

116

It has been suggested (e.g., Finn, 1974; Bockner &
Fithatrick, 1980) that univariate F-tests can be performed
on each dependent variable of a multivariate data set and
that these variables can be protected against inflated error
rates by setting the critical level of 5%/p for each F-test.
Thus, considering the structure of the data set and the
problems of a MANOVA test, univariate ANOVAs appear to be
the most informative technique for statistical analysis.

Discussion of the univariate ANOVAs and Estests

follows in the next section.

3.6 Effects of Independent Variables

3.61 Main Effect for Intensity. Hypotheses 1-4

 

predict a main effect for intensity on each of the dependent
variables. They read:

l-H4: Social learning, arousal, positive affect,
and attention will be greater for children
exposed to high intensity television stimuli
than children exposed to low intensity
stimuli.

H

Tables 3.17-3.23 contain the statistical results of an
analysis of variance for intensity on each dependent social
learning variable for each content treatment group. For
each social learning variable there are two ANOVA results.
The first is for the ratio-scaled variable, the second is
for the Likert-scaled variable.

Tables 3.17-3.18 present the cell means and results of

the analysis of variance for the physical aggression social

.117

Table 3.17

a . .

Results of AnalySis of Variance for PhySical Aggression
Social Learning Variableb for Physical Aggression
Treatment Group by Level of Frequency
and Level of Intensity (N= 80)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cell Means
Frequency
High Low
High -.09 .08 -.Ol
Intensity
Low .08 .07 .07
-001 .08
Sum of Mean Significance
Source of Variation Squares d.f. Square F_ of E_
Main effects .259 2 .129 .349 .706
Frequency .132 l .132 .357 .552
Intensity .127 1 .127 .342 .561
Interaction
Frequency x Intensity .182 l .182 .491 .485
Explained .441 3 .147 .397 .756
Residual 28.163 76 .371
Total 28.604 79 .362

 

aLogarithmically transformed variable.

bRatio-scaled dependent variable.

118

Table 3.18

Resultsa of Analysis of Variance for Physical Aggression
Social Learning Variableb for Physical Aggression
Treatment Group by Level of Frequency
and Level of Intensity (N==80)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cell Means
Frequency
High Low
High -.03 .10 .03
Intensity
Low -.09 .02 -.O3
-.06 .06
Sum of Mean Significance
Source of Variation Squares d.f. Square §_ 0f.§
Main effects .371 2 .185 .215 .807
Frequency .281 l .281 .326 .470
Intensity .090 l .090 .105 .747
Interaction
Frequency x Intensity .002 l .002 .002 .963
Explained .373 3 .124 .144 .933
Residual 65.430 76 .861
Total 65.802 79 .833

 

aLogarithmically transformed variable.

bLikert-scaled variable.

119

learning variable for the physical aggression treatment
group. First, there is no effect for intensity on the
ratio-scaled variable (F 1,79 = .342, p<:.56l), nor is
the cell mean for high intensity greater than the cell
mean for low intensity. Second, for the Likert-scaled
physical aggression variable (Table 3.18) there is no
main effect for intensity, although the mean differences
are in the desired direction.

Tables 3.19-3.20 contain the cell means and the ANOVA
results for the verbal aggression social learning variable
for the verbal aggression treatment group. No significant
main effect for intensity is found on either scale, nor are
the mean differences in the predicted direction for either
scale.

Tables 3.21-3.23 present the cell means and the
results of the analysis of variance for the altruism
social learning variable for the altruism group. First,
in Table 3.21, a significant main effect for intensity is
found (3 1,79 = 4.558, pf:.036). The mean differences are
in the expected direction. Second, in Table 3.22, a sig-
nificant main effect for intensity for factor 1 of the
Likert-scaled altruism variable is found (F 1,79 = 4.553,
p}<.018). Here too, altruism is greater in the high
intensity condition than in the low intensity condition.

Third, for factor 2 of the Likert-scaled altruism variable

120

Table 3.19

Resultsa of Analysis of Variance for Verbal Aggression
Social Learning Variableb for Verbal Aggression
Treatment Group by Level of Frequency
and Level of Intensity (N==80)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cell Means
Frequency
High Low
High -.04 -.15 -.09
Intensity
Low .16 -.24 -.04
.06 -.19
Sum of Mean Significance
Source of Variation Squares d.f. Square E_ of §_
Main effects 1.382 2 .691 4.234 .018
Frequency 1.316 1 1.316 8.066 .006
Intensity .066 l .066 .402 .528
Interaction
Frequency x Intensity .407 l .406 2.492 .119
Explained 1.788 3 .596 3.653 .016
Residual 12.400 76 .163
Total 14.189 79 .180

 

aLogarithmically transformed variable.

bRatio-scaled dependent variable.

121

Table 3.20

Resultsa of Analysis of Variance for Verbal Aggression
Social Learning Variableb for Verbal Aggression
Treatment Group by Level of Frequency
and Level of Intensity (N==80)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cell Means
Frequency
High Low
High .02 -.21 -.09
Intensity
Low .40 -.22 .09
.21 -.21
Sum of Mean Significance
Source of Variation Squares d.f. Square §_ of.§
Main Effects 4.239 2 2.119 2.600 .081
Frequency 3.563 1 3.573 4.382 .040
Intensity .666 l .666 .817 .369
Interaction
Frequency x Intensity .753 l .753 .924 .340
Explained 4.992 3 ' 1.664 2.041 .115
Residual 61.964 76 .815
Total 66.956 79 .848

 

aLogarithmically transformed variable.

bLikert-scaled dependent variable.

122

Table 3.21

Resultsa of Analysis of Variance for Altruism
Social Learning Variableb for Altruism
Treatment Group by Level of Frequency

and Level of Intensity (N==80)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cell Means
Frequency
High Low
High .44 .20 .32
Intensity
Low -.43 .29 -.07
.01 .24
Sum of Mean Significance
Source of Variation Squares d.f. Square F_ of E.
Main effects 4.234 2 2.117 3.109 .050
Frequency 1.130 1 1.130 1.660 .202
Intensity 3.104 1 3.104 4.558 .036
Interaction
Frequency x Intensity 4.554 1 4.554 6.688 .012
Explained 8.788 3 2.929 4.302 .007
Residual 51.751 76 .691
Total 60.539 79 .766

 

aLogarithmically transformed variable.

bRatio-scaled dependent variable.

123

Table 3.22

a . . .
Results of AnalySis of Variance for Altruism

Social Learning Variableb

for Altruism

Treatment Group by Level of Frequency
and Level of Intensity (N==80)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cell Means
Frequency
High Low
High .18 .25 .22
Intensity
Low -.67 .24 —.22
-.24 .24
Sum of Mean Significance
Source of Variation Squares d.f Square §_ of;§
Main effects 8.550 2 4.275 5.181 .008
Frequency 4.793 1 4.793 5.809 .018
Intensity 3.757 1 3.757 4.553 .036
Interaction
Frequency x Intensity 3.439 1 3.439 4.168 .045
Explained 11.989 3 .825 4.843 .004
Residual 62.710 76 .946
Total 74.699 79

 

aLogarithmically transformed variable.

b

Likert-scaled dependent variable, factor 1.

124

Table 3.23

Resultsa of Analysis of Variance for Altruism
Social Learning Variableb for Altruism
Treatment Group by Level of Frequency

and Level of Intensity (N==80)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cell Means
Frequency
High Low
High .08 .19 .14
Intensity
Low -.57 .30 -.14
‘025 .25
Sum of Mean Significance
Source of Variation Squares d.f. Square F_ of F_
Main effects 6.320 2 3.160 6.212 .003
Frequency 4.813 4.813 9.462 .003
Intensity 1.507 1 1.507 2.963 .089
Interaction
Frequency x Intensity 2.919 1 2.919 5.738 .019
Explained 9.239 3 3.080 6.054 .001
Residual 38.659 76 .509
Total 47.897 79 .609

 

aLogarithmically transformed variable.

b

Likert-scaled dependent variable, factor 2.

125

(Table 3.23), we find a main effect for intensity approaches
significance at 231.089 (F 1,79 = 2.963). Again, this is
in the desired direction.

Although an interaction effect between the independent
variables, intensity, and frequency, is not predicted, a
significant interaction is found for all three factors of
the altruism social learning variable for the altruism
group.2

In summary, high intensity results in greater altruism
than low intensity, but not in greater physical aggression
or verbal aggression.

Tables 3.24—3.26 contain the cell means and results
of the analysis of variance for arousal for the physical
aggression, verbal aggression, and altruism treatment
groups. We do not find a greater amount of arousal in
the high intensity conditions as compared to the low
condition for any of the treatment groups, nor is there
a main effect for intensity on arousal in any of the groups.

A significant interaction effect between intensity and
frequency on arousal in the physical aggression group is
found (3 1,78 = 4.018, p< .049).3

Tables 3.27-3.29 contain the cell means and ANOVA
results for positive affect for each of the three content
treatment groups. As with arousal, we do not find a greater

amount of positive affect in the high intensity condition

a . .
Results of AnalySis of Variance for Arousal

126

Table 3.24

for Physical Aggression Treatment Group

by Level of Frequency and Level

of Intensity (N==80)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cell Means
Frequency
High Low
High .21 -.14 .03
Intensity
Low .02 .39 .20
.11 .12
Sum of Mean Significance
Source of Variation Squares d.f. Square §_ of'F
Main effects .559 2 .279 .431 .651
Frequency .003 .003 .005 .946
Intensity .556 l .556 .858 .357
Interaction
Frequency x Intensity 2.605 1 2.605 4.018 .049
Explained 3.163 3 1.054 1.627 .190
Residual 49.270 76 .648
Total 52.433 79 .664

 

aLogarithmically transformed variable.

127

Table 3.25

Resultsa of Analysis of Variance for Arousal
for Verbal Aggression Treatment Group
by Level of Frequency and Level
of Intensity (N: 80)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cell Means
Frequency
High Low
High .04 -.19 -.08
Intensity
LOW 0 O4 -0 08 - o 02
0 O4 -0 13
Sum of Mean Significance
Source of Variation Squares d . f . Square F of E
Main effects .625 2 .313 .579 .563
Frequency .652 l .562 1.040 .311
Intensity .063 1 .063 .117 .733
Interaction
Frequency x Intensity .062 1 .062 .114 .736
Explained .687 3 .229 .424 .736
Residual 41.059 76 .540
Total 41.746 79 .528

 

aLogarithmically transformed variable.

128

Table 3.26

Resultsa of Analysis of Variance for Arousal
for Altruism Treatment Group by Level
of Frequency and Level of
Intensity (N = 80)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cell Means
Frequency
High Low
High I -.24 l —.06 -.15
Intensity
-003 -011
Sum of Mean Significance
Source of Variation Squares d.f. Square F_ of §_
Main effects .643 2 .321 .626 .537
Frequency .138 1 .138 .269 .606
Intensity .505 1 .505 .984 .324
Interaction
Frequency x Intensity 1.339 1 1.339 2.608 .110
Explained 1.982 3 .661 1.287 .285
Residual 39.010 76 .513
Total 40.992 79 .519

 

aLogarithmically transformed variable.

129

Table 3.27

Resultsa of Analysis of Variance for Positive
Affect for Physical Aggression Treatment
Group by Level of Frequency and
Level of Intensity (N==80)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cell Means
Frequency
High Low
High -.17 I —.14 -.15
Intensity
LOW .21 I -023 -001
.02 -.18
Sum of Mean Significance
Source of Variation Squares d.f. Square §_ of.§
Main effects 1.238 2 .619 1.059 .352
Frequency .830 1 .830 1.421 .237
Intensity .408 1 .408 .698 .406
Interactions
Frequency x Intensity 1.114 1 1.114 1.906 .171
Explained 2.352 3 .784 1.341 .267
Residual 44.420 76 .584
Total 46.771 79 .592

 

aLogarithmically transformed variable.

130

Table 3.28

Resultsa of Analysis of Variance for Positive Affect
for Verbal Aggression Treatment Group by
Level of Frequency and Level
of Intensity (N==80)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cell Means
Frequency
High Low
High -.19 -.38 -.29
Intensity
Low .30 -.51 -.10
.05 -.44
Sum of Mean Significance
Source of Variation Squares d.f. Square F_ of §_
Main effects 5.647 2 2.824 4.844 .010
Frequency 4.965 1 4.965 8.518 .005
Intensity .682 1 .682 1.170 .283
Interaction
Frequency x Intensity 1.973 1 1.973 3.386 .070
Explained 7.621 3 2.540 4.358 .007
Residual 44.299 76 .583
Total 51.920 79 .657

 

aLogarithmically transformed variable.

131

Table 3.29

Resultsa of Analysis of Variance for Positive Affect
for Altruism Treatment Group by Level
of Frequency and Level of
Intensity (N = 80)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cell Means
Frequency
High Low
High .23 .19 .21
Intensity
Low .56 .13 .34
.39 .16
Sum of Mean Significance
Source of Variation Squares d.f. Square F. ofig
Main effects 1.497 2 .748 .931 .398
Frequency 1.122 1 1.122 1.396 .241
Intensity .375 1 .375 .467 .497
Interaction
Frequency x Intensity .776 1 .776 .966 .329
Explained 2.273 3 .758 .943 .424
Residual 61.063 76 .803
Total 63.335 79 .802

 

aLogarithmically transformed variable.

132

as compared to the low intensity condition for the physical
aggression treatment (Table 3.27), the verbal aggression
treatment (Table 3.28), or the altruism treatment (Table
3.29). Nor do we find a main effect for intensity on
positive affect for any of the three treatment groups.

The cell means and results of the analysis of variance
for intensity on attention for physical aggression, verbal
aggression, and altruism treatment groups are found in
Tables 3.30-3.32, respectively.

Table 3.30 presents the ANOVA results for attention
for the physical aggression treatment group. Here, the
main effect for intensity approaches significance at
p.:.077 (F 1,79 = 3.210). The mean differences are
in the predicted direction.

Table 3.31 contains the statistical results for the
verbal aggression treatment group. There is no main effect
for intensity on attention, nor are the mean differences in
the desired direction.

In Table 3.32 we do not find a main effect for
intensity on attention for the altruism treatment group,
although high intensity does result in somewhat greater
attention than low intensity.

In summary, in general there is no consistent evidence
that high intensity of television stimuli will produce

greater social learning from physical and verbal aggression

133

Table 3.30

Resultsa of Analysis of Variance for Attention
for Physical Aggression Treatment Group by
Level of Frequency and Level of
Intensity (N = 80)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cell Means
Frequency
High Low
High ' .29 .04 .16
Intensity
Low [ -.21 -.15 -.18
.04 -.06
Sum of Mean Significance
Source of Variation Squares d.f. Square F of E
Main effects 2.512 2 1.256 1.733 .184
Frequency .186 l .186 .256 .614
Intensity 2.327 1 2.327 3.210 .077
Interaction
Frequency x Intensity .468 l .468 .645 .424
Explained 2.980 3 .993 1.370 .258
Residual 55.093 76 .725
Total 58.073 79 .735

 

aLogarithmically transformed variable.

134

Table 3.31

Resultsa of Analysis of Variance for Attention
for Verbal Aggression Treatment Group by
Level of Frequency and Level of
Intensity (N = 80)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cell Means
Frequency
High Low
High -.17 -.32 -.24
Intensity
Low .18 -.42 -.12
-001 -037
Sum of Mean Significance
Source of Variation Squares d.f. Square F_ of E:
Main effects 3.131 2 1.565 5.017 .009
Frequency 2.825 1 2.825 9.054 .004
Intensity .306 l .306 .981 .325
Interaction
Frequency x Intensity 1.010 1 1.010 3.236 .076
Explained 4.140 3 1.380 4.424 .006
Residual 23.711 76 .312
Total 27.852 79 .353

 

aLogarithmically transformed variable.

135

Table 3.32

Resultsa of Analysis of Variance for Attention
for Altruism Treatment Group by Level
of Frequency and Level of
Intensity (N = 80)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ce11_Means
Frequency
High Low
High .48 .20 .34
Intensity
Low .32 -.24 .04
.40 -.02
Sum of Mean Significance
Source of Variation Squares d.f. Square E of 13:
Main effects 5.244 2 2.622 3.732 .028
Frequency 3.427 1 3.427 4.877 .030
Intensity 1.817 1 1.817 2.586 .112
Interaction
Frequency x Intensity .393 l .393 .559 .457
Explained 5.637 3 1.879 2.674 .053
Residual 53.401 76 .703
Total 59.038 79 .747

 

aLogarithmically transformed variable.

136

stimuli, arousal, positive affect, or attention. However,
intensity does have a significant effect on the social
learning of altruism.

3.62 Main Effect for Frequency. Hypotheses 5-6

 

predict a main effect for frequency on positive affect
and social learning. They read:

H5-H6: Positive affect and social learning will

be greater for children exposed to high
frequency television stimuli than children
exposed to low frequency television stimuli.

Tables 3.17-3.23 contain the statistical results of
an analysis of variance for frequency on each dependent
social learning variable for each content treatment group.
For each social learning variable there are two ANOVA
results. The first is for the ratio-scaled variable,
the second is for the Likert-scaled variable.

Tables 3.17-3.18 present the cell means and results
of the analysis of variance for the physical aggression
variable for the physical aggression treatment group.
First, there is no main effect for frequency on the
ratio-scaled variable, nor are the mean differences in
the predicted direction. Second, in Table 3.18, we see
that there is no main effect for frequency on the Likert-
scaled physical aggression social learning variable and
that the mean differences are not in the desired direction.

Tables 3.19-3.20 present the cell means and ANOVA

results for the verbal aggression social learning variable

137

for the verbal aggression treatment group. In Table 3.19
we find a significant main effect for frequency on verbal
aggression (F 1,79 = 8.066, 23:.006). The mean differences
indicate greater verbal aggression occurs in the high fre-
quency condition as compared to the low frequency condition
as expected. In Table 3.20 a main effect for frequency on
verbal aggression is also found for the Likert-scaled vari-
able (F 1,79 = 4.382, p< .040). Again, mean differences
are in the predicted direction.

The results of the analysis of variance for the
altruism social learning variable are found in Tables 3.21-
3.23. For the ratio-scaled variable (Table 3.21), we do not
find a main effect for frequency (F 1,79 = 1.660, pf:.202),
nor are mean differences in the predicted direction. We
do find significant main effects for frequency on the two
factors of the Likert-scaled altruism variable (F 1,79 =
5.809, pf<.018, factor 1, Table 3.22: F 1,79 = 9.462,
p<1.002, factor 2, Table 3.23). However, they are not
in the predicted direction.

In summary, the evidence indicates high frequency
results in greater reported verbal aggression but not in
physical aggression or altruism. In fact, low frequency
resulted in higher levels of altruism on two of three

measures 0

138

The results of the analysis of variance for frequency
on positive affect for each content treatment group are
found in Tables 3.27-3.29.

There is no main effect for frequency on positive
affect for the physical aggression treatment, although
mean differences are in the desired direction (Table 3.27).

In Table 3.28 a main effect for frequency on positive
affect for the verbal aggression treatment is found
(F 1,79 = 8.518, pf<.005). Greater positive affect
occurs in the high frequency condition as compared to
the low frequency condition for this treatment group.

A significant main effect for frequency on positive
affect is not found for the altruism treatment group
(Table 3.29). Mean differences, however, are in the
desired direction.

In summary, frequency has a significant effect on
social learning and positive affect only for the verbal
aggression treatment group.

3.63 Combined Effects of Frequency and Intensity.
Hypotheses 7-10 predict a main effect for intensity under
the high frequency condition. They state:

Social learning, arousal, positive affect
and attention will be greater for children
exposed to high intensity, high frequency
television stimuli than for children exposed

to low intensity, high frequency television
stimuli.

H7-Hlo:

139

Table 3.33 presents the statistical results of t-tests
for the two cell comparison of intensity on each dependent
social learning variable for each content treatment group.
For each social learning variable there are two tetest
results. The first is for the ratio-scaled variable,
the second is for the Likert-scaled variable.

First, for the ratio-scaled physical aggression social
learning variable we do not find significant mean differ-
ences between the high intensity, high frequency cell and
the low intensity, high frequency cell (3 = .971, d;f.==38,
pf<.373), nor are mean differences in the predicted direc-
tion. Second, there are no significant mean differences for
the Likert-scaled physical aggression variable (£==.205,
QLE. = 38, 231.838), however, the mean differences are in
the desired direction.

The results for the verbal aggression social learning
variable are found in Table 3.33. There are no significant
differences for the two cells for either the ratio-scaled
variable or the Likert-scaled variable, nor are the mean
differences in the desired direction for either scale.

High intensity, high frequency, does not result in greater
verbal aggression as compared to low intensity, high
frequency.

Significant mean differences are found for the altruism

social learning variable for both the ratio and Likert

Resultsa of thests (One-Tailed) for Social Learning Variables
for Three Treatment Groups by High Frequency and
Level of Intensity (N==40)

140

Table 3.33

 

 

High Frequency by
Level of Intensity

 

 

High Low
(N =_20) (N =_20)
Dependent Variable X X _t_ d . f . p_
Physical aggressionb -.09 .08 .971 38 .373
(ratio scale)
Physical aggression -.03 -.09 .205 38 .838
(Likert scale)
Verbal aggressionc -.04 .16 1.371 38 .172
(ratio scale)
Verbal aggression .02 .40 1.245 38 .221
(Likert scale)
Altruismd .44 -.43 2.714 38 .008
(ratio scale)
Altruism, factor 1 .18 -.67 3.018 38 .005
(Likert scale)
Altruism, factor 2 .08 -.57 2.624 38 .012

(Likert scale)

 

aLogarithmically transformed variables for ratio scale.
bDependent variable for physical aggression treatment group.
cDependent variable for verbal aggression treatment group.

dDependent variable for altruism treatment group.

141

scales. First, for the ratio-scale, E = 2.714, d;f.==38,
p<1.008. The mean differences are in the predicted direc-
tion. Second, for the Likert-scale, factor 1, t = 3.018,
d_._f. =38, p< .005, and for factor 2, E = 2.624, E. =38,
p<1.012. The mean differences are in the desired direction
for both factors of the Likert-scaled altruism variable.

In summary, high intensity, high frequency results
in greater altruism than low intensity, high frequency as
expected, but not in greater physical aggression or verbal
aggression.'

Table 3.34 contains the cell means and results of
t—tests for arousal for the physical aggression, verbal
aggression, and altruism treatment groups.

We do not find significant mean differences for
arousal for the physical aggression treatment group
(t_= .784, g;f,==38, pf:.382); however, the differences
are in the expected direction.

In the verbal aggression treatment group there is
no difference between the high intensity, high frequency
condition and the low intensity, high frequency condition
(3 = .000, d_._f_.=38, p< .998).

We do not find an effect for intensity on arousal for
the altruism treatment group, although mean differences

are in the desired direction.

142

Table 3.34

Resultsa of thests (One-Tailed) for Arousal
for Three Treatment Groups by High
Frequency and Level of
Intensity (N==40)

 

 

High Frequency by
Level of Intensity

 

 

High Low
(N =_20) (N =_20)
Dependent Variable X X E_ d.f. p_
Arousal (physical .21 .02 .784 38 .382
aggression
treatment group)
Arousal (verbal .04 .04 .000 38 .998
aggression
treatment group)
Arousal (altrusim .18 -.24 1.556 38 .126

treatment group)

 

aLogarithmically transformed variables.

143

High intensity, high frequency does not result
in greater arousal as compared to low intensity, high
frequency for any of the treatment groups.

Table 3.35 contains the cell means and t-test results
for positive affect for each of the content treatment
groups. The cell means for arousal are not significantly
different for the physical aggression treatment, the verbal
aggression treatment, or the altruism treatment. The mean
differences for none of the three content treatment groups
are in the desired direction.

High intensity, high frequency does not result in
greater positive affect as compared to low intensity,
high frequency.

The cell means and results of the Estests for
attention for the physical aggression, verbal aggression,
and altruism treatment groups are found in Table 3.36.

First, for the physical aggression treatment group,
we find the mean differences between the two cells
approaching significance at p<:.060 (t==1.941, d;f.==38).
Mean differences suggest greater attention in the high
intensity, high frequency condition as compared to the
low intensity, high frequency condition.

Second, for the verbal aggression treatment group, we
find mean differences approaching significance at p<1.084
(E = 1.776, QLf.==38), however, they are not in expected

direction.

144

Table 3.35

Resultsa of thests (One-Tailed) for Positive Affect
for Three Treatment Groups by High Frequency
and Level of Intensity (N= 40)

 

 

High Frequency by
Level of Intensity

 

 

High Low
(N =_20) (N =_20)
Dependent Variable X X t. d.f. ‘2
Positive affect -.17 .21 1.454 38 .154
(physical
aggression
treatment group)
Positive affect -.19 .30 1.748 38 .088
(verbal
aggression
treatment group)
Positive affect .23 .56 .977 38 .325

(altruism
treatment group)

 

aLogarithmically transformed variables.

145

Table 3.36

Resultsa of EfTests (One-Tailed) for Attention
for Three Treatment Groups by High
Frequency and Level of
Intensity (N = 40)

 

 

High Frequency by
Level of Intensity

 

 

High Low
(N =_20) (N =_20)
Dependent Variable X X t d. f . 9.
Attention (physical .29 -.21 1.941 38 .060
aggression
treatment group)
Attention (verbal -.17 .18 1.776 38 .084
aggression
treatment group)
Attention (verbal .48 .32 .577 38 .615

aggression
treatment group)

 

aLogarithmically transformed variables.

146

Third, in the altruism treatment group, there are no
significant mean differences between the two conditions
(5 = .577, d;f.==38, p<:.615), however, high intensity,
high frequency does result in greater attention as compared
to low intensity, high frequency.

In summary, the evidence does not support the hypoth-
esis that high intensity, high frequency television stimuli
will produce greater social learning, arousal, positive
affect, and attention. However, high intensity, high
frequency stimuli do significantly result in greater
altruism.

3.64 Summary of the Effects of Independent Variables.
The following is a review of the findings for each hypoth-
esis. The first set of hypotheses predicts a main effect
for intensity on each dependent variable. Each hypothesis
and summary findings follow:

H1: Social learning will be greater for children
exposed to high intenSity teleViSion stimuli
than to low intensity television stimuli.

1. There is no main effect for intensity on the

physical aggression social learning variable, and only
for the Likert-scaled variable are mean differences in
the desired direction.

2. There is no main effect for intensity on the
verbal aggression social learning variable, nor are mean

differences in the desired direction.

147

3. There is a main effect for intensity on the
altruism social learning variables, and mean differences
are in the desired direction.

H2: Arousal will be greater for children exposed

to high intensity television stimuli than for
children exposed to low intensity television
stimuli.

1. There is no main effect for intensity on
arousal in the physical aggression treatment, nor are
mean differences in the desired direction.

2. There is no main effect for intensity on
arousal in the verbal aggression treatment, nor are
mean differences in the desired direction.

3. There is no main effect for intensity on arousal
in the altruism treatment, nor are mean differences in the
desired direction.

H3: Positive affect will be greater for children
exposed to high intensity television stimuli
than for children exposed to low intensity
television stimuli.

1. There is no main effect for intensity on positive
affect in the physical aggression treatment, nor are mean
differences in the desired direction.

2. There is no main effect for intensity on positive

affect in the verbal aggression treatment, nor are_mean

differences in the desired direction.

148

3. There is no main effect for intensity on positive
affect in the altruism treatment, nor are mean differences

in the desired direction.

Attention will be greater for children
exposed to high intensity television stimuli
than for children exposed to low intensity
television stimuli.

l. A main effect for intensity on attention approaches
significance in the physical aggression treatment. Mean
differences are in the desired direction.

2. There is no main effect for intensity on
attention in the verbal aggression treatment, nor are
mean differences in the desired direction.

3. There is no main effect for intensity on attention

in the altruism treatment, although mean differences are in

the desired direction.

The next set of hypotheses predicts a main effect for
frequency on the social learning variables and positive
affect. These hypotheses and summary findings follow:

H : Social learning will be greater for children
exposed to high frequency television stimuli
than for children exposed to low frequency
television stimuli.

1. There is no main effect for frequency on the

physical aggression social learning variable, nor are

mean differences in the desired direction.

149

2. There is a main effect for frequency on the verbal
aggression social learning variable for both scales, and
mean differences are in the desired direction.

3. There is no main effect for frequency on the
ratio-scaled altruism social learning variable, nor are the
mean differences in the desired direction. Main effects for
frequency on the altruism social learning variable are found
for the Likert-scaled variables, although mean differences
are not in the desired direction.

H : Positive affect will be greater for children
exposed to high frequency television stimuli
than for children exposed to low frequency
television stimuli.

1. There is no main effect for frequency on positive
affect in the physical aggression treatment, although mean
differences are in the desired direction.

2. There is a main effect for frequency on positive
affect in the verbal aggression treatment and mean
differences are in the desired direction.

3. There is no main effect for frequency in the

altruism treatment, although mean differences are in

the desired direction.

The third set of hypotheses predict a main effect
for intensity under the high frequency condition. Each

hypothesis and summary findings follow:

150

H : Social learning will be greater for children
exposed to high intensity, high frequency
television stimuli than for children exposed
to low intensity, high frequency television
stimuli.

1. Mean differences are not significant for the
physical aggression social learning variable, and only
for the Likert-scaled variable are they in the desired
direction.

2. Mean differences are not significant for the
verbal aggression social learning variable, nor are they
in the desired direction.

3. Mean differences are significantly different for
all factors of the altruism social learning variables, and
they are in the desired direction.

H8: Arousal will be greater for children exposed

to high intensity, high frequency television
stimuli than for children exposed to low
intensity, high frequency television stimuli.

1. Mean differences are not significant for arousal
in the physical aggression treatment, although they are
in the desired direction.

2. Mean differences are not significant for arousal
in the verbal aggression treatment, nor are they in the
desired direction.

3. Mean differences are not significant for arousal

in the altruism treatment, although they are in the

desired direction.

151

Positive effect will be greater for children
exposed to high intensity, high frequency
television stimuli than for children exposed
to low intensity, high frequency television
stimuli.

1. Mean differences are not significant for positive
affect in the physical aggression treatment, nor are they
in the desired direction.

2. Mean differences are not significant for positive
affect in the verbal aggression treatment, nor are they in
the desired direction.

3. Mean differences are not significant for positive
affect in the altruism treatment, nor are they in the
desired direction.

H10: Attention will be greater for children

exposed to high intensity, high frequency
television stimuli than for children exposed
to low intensity, high frequency television
stimuli.

1. Mean differences approach significance for
attention in the physical aggression treatment and are
in the desired direction.

2. Mean differences approach significance for
attention in the verbal aggression treatment, although
they are not in the desired direction.

3. Mean differences are not significant for attention

in the altruism treatment, although they are in the desired

direction.

152

3.7 Summary

The following is a brief summary of the significant
results of this chapter.

1. High intercorrelations and factor loadings suggest
that the items used are systematic and concise indicators
for the dependent variables.

2. The constructed indices are very reliable.

3. Questionnaire items serving as manipulation checks
for stimulus content reflect the success of the content
manipulation.

4. The frequency and intensity manipulations are
not perceived as expected.

5. The problem of heteroscadacity in the error
variance of the data has been corrected by logarithmic
transformation of the data. This transformation is
appropriate for psychophysical, ratio-scaled data.

6. Since there are some relationships among the
dependent variables, the analysis reported in this chapter
cannot be said to have an experiment-wise error of .05.
However, for the analyses reported here, the univariate
ANOVAs appear to be reasonable.

7. The level of intensity is found to have a
significant positive effect on the social learning variable
of altruism, and approaches significance for attention for

the physical aggression treatment group.

153

8. The level of frequency is found to have a
significant positive effect on the social learning
variable of verbal aggression and on positive affect
for the verbal aggression treatment group.

9. High intensity, high frequency stimuli signif-
icantly result in greater altruism as compared to low

intensity, high frequency stimuli.

CHAPTER 3

FOOTNOTES

1"Significantly" is used here in a statistical sense
at E< .05.

2By implication, the significant interaction suggests
that whatever differences are observed between high and
low levels of intensity under one level of frequency
(for example, low frequency) are not the same as found
under the other level of frequency (high). For all three
factors of the altruism variable, under high frequency,
altruism decreases as intensity decreases; under low
frequency altruism decreases as intensity increases.

3For arousal in the physical aggression group the
significant interaction effect suggests that under high
frequency arousal increases as intensity increases and
under low frequency arousal decreases as intensity
increases.

154

CHAPTER 4

CONCLUSION

The discussion here will be in four sections. The
first section will attempt to evaluate the internal validity
of the study where we will look at the methods of testing
the theoretical perspective presented and the evidence
supporting it. The second section will address the issue
of external validity. The concern here will focus on the
generalizability of the results. The third section will
examine the theoretical validity of the study. This will
entail the examination of the meaningfulness of studying
media effects and social learning in the theoretical
framework proposed in Chapter 1. The fourth section

will explore possible areas of future research.

4.1 Internal Validity

 

In this section the methodological and analytical
procedures used in this study will be examined in retrospect
as to their logical and empirical appropriateness. We will
first reconsider the design of the study.

4.11 The Design. When reviewing the design of this

 

study or any study, one should attempt to address the issue

of whether or not the design logically tests the theory,

155

156

regardless of the results. After examining the results
of this study, questions can be raised as to both the
appropriateness and success of the design. Nevertheless,
when one is concerned with the logic of the design, one
seeks to examine the functional relationship between the
theory and the actual design used in the study.

To investigate the hypotheses proposed in Chapter 1,
the design needed to meet restrictive assumptions. The
manipulations required showing television content in which
at least two levels1 of frequency and intensity are pre-
sented so that it could be seen if a subject would report
greater social learning, arousal, positive affect, and
attention when he/she views high frequency and high
intensity content, and if there is a causal relationship
between frequency and intensity and the dependent variables.

The evidence reported in Chapter 3 suggests that the
manipulations of frequency and intensity were not success-
ful. Several possible reasons may account for the failure
of the manipulations. One explanation may be that the
stimulus tapes were not long enough in time to properly
introduce the manipulations. This might be particularly
evident in the low conditions, where the stimulus content
lasted only several seconds. It is also possible that the
subjects did not differentiate among the segments and saw
the stimulus content as one continuous action rather than

several independent scenes. However, the manipulations

157

may prove to be more successful if the same stimulus object
is repeated. In the traditional repetition studies (cf.
Berlyne, 1950, 1951; Zajonc, 1968) one stimulus is shown
repeatedly, giving the observer the opportunity to become
familiar with it. This study deviates from that procedure,
and although one behavior is repeated a number of times,
the behavior is exhibited in different settings. This
introduces new detail and variation among segments. It
is also possible that showing television segments out of
context brought confusion or did not allow for the content
information to be properly processed by the children.
Another possible consideration for the failure of the
manipulations of the independent variables might suggest
that the actual items used to measure the manipulations
were inadequate; that is, that there was not a functional
relationships between the Operationalization and conceptual-
ization of the variables. The item used as the manipulation
check for intensity asked "how hard or how strongly were
people in the film hitting, yelling, or helping another
person?" It is possible that the terms "how hard" and
"how strongly" did not assess the components of intensity
and were not understood by the subjects. The item used as
the manipulation check for frequency ("how many times was
someone hitting, yelling, or helping another person. . . ?")

was designed to assess how many separate instances of each

158

behavior were perceived by the subjects. If the subjects
saw the content of the stimulus tape as one continuous
action rather than several scenes this item might have
been misinterpreted.

The failure of the intensity manipulation might
also suggest that an adult's perception of intensity
differs from a child's. Here, it might be considered
that an adult's experiences and knowledge of motives and
consequences of behavior interact with his/her perception
of the intensity of an act. One technique which might
solve this problem is to present experimental stimuli
which have been judged for intensity by school-age
children.

One issue that also needs consideration is the role
of the specific content of each stimulus tape. Although
the proposed theory is said to be a general one, that is,
not content-bound, it is possible that some unique qual-
ities of the specific content interfered with or distracted
the subject's attention. This issue will be further
elaborated on in section 4.2 of this chapter.

Another important possibility for the failure of
the manipulations might be the context or setting of the
experiment. That is, viewing television in a school set-
ting, arranging special testing rooms, having videotape

equipment and experimenters present, might have disturbed

159

or distracted the subjects. Even though great effort
was taken by the researcher to find and create a physical
environment that least resembled a laboratory setting,
the above-mentioned conditions could not be avoided.

The manipulations, as tested in a laboratory con-
trolled setting, were not as successful as they might
have been if tested under normal viewing conditions.
Normal television viewing has a cumulative impact. We
can imagine that intensity levels could be more critical
in a home setting. The measurement of a cumulative
impact of television viewing might necessitate an
over time study. It is conceivable that in order for
behavioral effects to occur, an 8-20 minute tape is not
sufficient, but rather that repeated exposures is necessary
to demonstrate effects. Therefore, testing this theory
under normal viewing conditions might substantiate the
theoretical premises.

Another consideration of the validity of the design
relates to the use of school-age children to generate the
social learning items. Since hypothetical situations were
to be used to measure future physical aggressive behavior,
verbal aggressive behavior, and altruistic behavior, it
was crucial that these items be relevant to the subjects

and represent realistic situations. It was evident that

160

it would be inapprOpriate for the researcher to generate
these items. The plan and procedures used to construct
these items insured their content validity and proved to
be a very successful method in obtaining reliable measures
of the dependent variable (see Table 3.12).

We will now move from the issue of the validity of
the design to a discussion of the validity of analysis.

4.12 Validity of Analysis. Several analytical and

 

statistical issues of importance to this study have been
discussed in previous chapters of this dissertation. How-
ever, two issues still in need of further elaboration are
the use of magnitude measurement and the procedures for
index construction.

In the use of magnitude measurement, research has
shown that there is greater statistical power and precision
when a ratio scaling technique is used (Torgerson, 1956).
The standard objection raised against the use of magnitude
measurement is in terms of reliability. Creating reliable
scales in this study was difficult, and thus necessitated
the considerable time allocated to designing training exam-
ples (see Figure 2, Chapter 2) and the actual training of
subjects. The use of a second scale (four point, Likert-
type scale for social learning items) was incorporated
to determine if the subjects were consistent in their
responses. Consistency would be demonstrated if, for

example, items that were assigned high numerical scores

161

were also assigned the "almost always" category on the
four point scale. When the intercorrelations for the two
scales of the social learning items and indexed variables
(see Appendix I) are reviewed, it is apparent that signif-
icantly high correlations were achieved. The statistical
results from the E tests and analyses of variance also
indicate similar patterns of outcomes for each pair of
scales. The scales were comparably used and demonstrate
that there was internal consistency in subject responses.
The measure of internal consistency is a good indication
that subjects were able to make ratio judgments, and that
ratio-scaling techniques are as appropriate with school-age
subjects as Likert-type ones. However, this is only the
first phase of testing the reliability of ratio scales.
Future studies will have to be designed so that reliability
estimates can be provided. One method that would accomplish
this would be the use of repeated items, where the same item
is asked more than once with the same scale. Future testing
will use this method. If reliability is demonstrated, ratio
scaling should be the preferred scaling method since it is
susceptible to the fundamental operations of algebra and
powerful mathematical calculations.

Moving from magnitude measurement, we find another
issue pertinent to the discussion of the validity of analy-

sis. This issue pertains to the construction of indices.

162

The methods used to construct the indices followed standard
procedures. In reviewing the reliabilities of the indices

reported, sufficiently high reliability was achieved.

4.2 External Validity

 

External validity refers to the generalizability of
one's theory and empirical results. It was expected that
the theoretical premises and the results would be general-
izable to a wide range of media content. If we can assume
that there are properties of a stimulus that will attract
a child's attention, contribute to exploration and enhance
learning, then a parsimonious model incorporating this
information should be applicable to all media stimuli.

The set of variables proposed in the study are general
variables which can indicate the effects of media across
content areas.

The basis of the theory assumes that stimulus
properties are universal and ubiquitous within media
content, and hence, it is hypothesized that invariant
laws of media stimuli exist, and that they consist of
relations between and among stimulus pr0perties. Therefore,
we could imagine any media message, regardless of its
content, operating with these invariant laws of media
stimuli. The results of the study presented provide

little empirical evidence to support these contentions.

163

While the theory discussed here may be said to have
universality, the question remains as to the generaliz-
ability of the actual results. It would be unfair to
dismiss the validity of the theoretical framework at this
stage of investigation since many of the empirical findings
may have been affected by inadequate manipulation of the
independent variables. However, the lack of similarity
in trends across the three content areas cannot be ignored.
Further investigation must seek to determine if and why
the specific message content interacts with the stimulus
properties. It is possible that there is a set or sets of
variables which intervene with the proposed model. It can
be imagined that there are different developmental stages
of learning associated with the social behaviors. Hence,
this might necessitate examining the proposed theory in
conjunction with more traditional social learning variables,
such as sex and age of subjects and reward and punishment
contingencies.

This type of examination coupled with the development
of methods that would allow us to compare intensity levels
of one content area to intensity levels of another is
needed to determine if the postulated invariant laws of
media stimuli can withstand empirical scrutiny. This
will be discussed in greater detail in the following

section.

164

4.3 Theoretical Validity

 

In this section, a selective examination of the
theoretical assumptions of the study will be made for the
purpose of evaluating the theoretical approach presented
here. The results of the study do not provide strong
empirical evidence to substantiate the theoretical frame-
work proposed in Chapter 1. However, even though it is
evident that some methodological issues can account for
the inability to confirm the hypotheses, a critical review
of the theoretical assumptions might provide additional
insight.

The perspective presented directs its attention to
the qualities of a stimulus that have the potential to
attract a child's attention. This approach appears to be
very useful to the examination of television stimuli, if
we assume that social behaviors or actions, as portrayed
on television, are sources of stimulation for a child.

The conceptualization of the role of stimulus properties
in attention and learning processes suggested here rests
on the centrality of three ideas. First, that stimuli can
embody physical characteristics which are so visually dis-
tinct that attention and learning will be assured, thus
eliminating the need to examine background factors of
subjects. Second, that there is a fundamental relation
between the stimulus properties and attention and learning,

thus precluding the need to examine the specific nature of

165

content. Finally, that the impact of a stimulus varies
with repeated exposure, thus dictating the examination of
intensity in relation to frequency of exposure.

The test of these premises did not provide sufficient
supporting evidence to validate the theoretical perspective
as presented, hence requiring a re-examination of each
assumption. Examining the first assumption, we may need
to reevaluate the role of subject background factors.

It may be considered that individual or group differences
such as age, sex, and developmental factors interact or
intervene with the attention to and learning of a behavior.
These types of variables may need to be included into the
theoretical system so that they can be measured and/or
controlled.

The possible impact of these background factors may
also account for the lack of empirical support for the
second assumption, which implies that a fundamental
relationship exists between the stimulus properties and
the dependent variables, and will function similarly for
any and all content. However, if these background factors
do in fact interact with the proposed system, it can be
imagined that different types of content can be associated
with different stages of development or with the demographic
characteristics of the viewers. This issue might account
for the lack of trends found across the three content areas.

If background factors do have a central role in a theory of

166

stimulus effects, the sc0pe of the theory will be reduced,
since predictions will not be able to be made across areas.
Thus, the development of more specific assumptions will be
required.

Examining the third assumption, which posits a rela-
tionship between intensity and frequency, there is some
empirical evidence to indicate that frequency of exposure
has an effect on the dependent variables. However, the
evidence on how the effects of intensity vary with fre-
quency of exposure is still unclear. There has been
substantial previous research which suggests that the
effects of low intensity stimuli will diminish more
rapidly with repeated or continued exposure as compared
to high intensity stimuli. This was not found. Several
factors may account for this. First, the inadequacies
of the manipulations, specifically, the possible lack of
variability in the two levels of intensity, may be con-
founding the results. Second, it is possible that twelve
exposures are insufficient for determining satiation to a
stimulus, or that exposure to twelve different episodes
cannot have a cumulative impact. This would then suggest
the need to measure the effects of intensity at different
levels of exposure, e.g., three, eight, twelve, and twenty
exposures of the same stimulus. However,the determination

of exposure levels will have to be made from future

167

pretest findings. Nonetheless, the empirical evidence
indicates that the role of stimulus properties should
continue to be studied in relation to frequency of

exposure, although adjustments in design may be necessary.

4.4 Future Research

 

In this section specific reference will be made to
both future theoretical, methodological, and statistical
work which can be extended from the study presented.

4.41 Theoretical Application. It appears that

 

many areas of investigation need to be further pursued

to validate the theoretical framework proposed in this
dissertation. Examination of the theoretical explanations
suggested in the previous section will be the first task
for future work. Here, emphasis will be placed on examining
subject background factors. A design will be used which
allows for the comparison and analysis of sex, age, and
socioeconomic differences, for example. Incorporating such
variables into the design should provide information as to
when as well as why and how a child becomes more capable

of differentiating and extracting information from the
environment. The examination of background variables will
also provide the necessary information to determine the
relationship between these variables and the social

behaviors.

168

The next task will direct its focus to studying the
dependent variables at more than two levels of intensity
and over several levels of frequency of exposure.

Analyzing the effects of intensity at several levels

of frequency should provide insight as to the pattern

of their relationship. It will also help us to determine
the Optimal number of exposures for attention and learning
to occur and the level at which satiation occurs, if it
does.

Upon completing these studies, validation of the
altered model will be sought by testing it across several
types of media content. This will be done to determine
the sc0pe and generalizability of the theory. Relevant
questions to be addressed are: Do intensity and frequency
now affect the dependent variables similarly across content
areas (prosocial and antisocial content)? Do intensity and
frequency have consistent effects on the dependent variables
within content areas? That is, are there similar trends for
each prosocial behavior (e.g., altruism and delay of grati-
fication) and antisocial behavior (e.g., physical aggression
and theft)? Do intensity and frequency have similar effects
on the dependent variables across program types such as
comedies, cartoons, and action dramas? Studies designed
to address these questions should provide relevant findings
on the role of stimulus properties in attention and learning

and determine if the theory is generalizable across content.

169

4.42 Future Methodological and Statistical Research.

 

Given the results of the study and the apparent inadequacies
in the manipulations, several methodological adjustments
need to be incorporated in future research. The primary
task will be redeveloping the manipulations of the inde-
pendent variables. Changes in the methods of creating,
presenting, and testing the manipulations should insure
greater impact.

First, included in these changes, would be the use
of school-age children to evaluate the levels of intensity
for each social behavior. Here, the procedures used in
training the adult intensity coders could be modified to
adapt to the language and mathematical skills of the school-
age coders. For instance, the yardstick example could be
set at ten instead of one hundred, since it has been deter-
mined in this study that it is easier for the child to make
ratio comparisons using this integer. In addition, more
visual examples can be used to exemplify the components of
intensity. Different television segments can be selected
which would illustrate risk and suddenness of movement, for
example. Using school-age children to create the stimulus
tapes should assist in obtaining more precise, valid, and
reliable measures of the dependent variables.

Second, school-age subjects would be tested individ-
ually as opposed to the small group testing procedure used

in this study. Since statistical analyses are performed

170

on the individual case, group testing may introduce
variables that cannot be statistically controlled. Thus
individual testing should render more reliable results.

A third change in the manipulation procedures would
occur if it is determined that the segments on the stimulus
tapes are not perceived as separate instances of the social
behavior. This change would require mechanically separating
the segments by either audio or visual devices. In addi-
tion, careful effort would be made to have each segment
represent a different television program.

Fourth, new or additional items will be generated
to check the effectiveness of the manipulations. For the
check on the manipulation of intensity, a new set of items
will be asked. Each item will tap a separate component
of the intensity variable. There will be items to assess
stimulus complexity, stimulus movement, stimulus change,
and character involvement. These items will then be indexed
to obtain a measure of the impact of the manipulation.
Multiple items will be used and then indexed for the
frequency manipulation check. These procedures will
provide more reliable checks on the manipulations.

In addition to the development of new methods for
manipulating the independent variable, future research
will focus its attention on testing the reliability of

ratio-scaling techniques. New questionnaire instruments

171

will contain multiples of items using the same ratio
scale. Reliability estimates will then be generated.
Future research might also direct itself to the
development of the methodological techniques which would
allow for the comparison of intensity levels from one
content area to another. This would have the advantage
of permitting us to parse out and measure the effects of
content. To compare intensity levels across content areas
would require creating a "yardstick" example of intensity
which would represent some level or the average level of
intensity of an act on television. It would not be content
bound, thus allowing it to be used as the standard for all
comparisons. It has not been determined at this time what
content this type of yardstick would contain. A similar
technique has been used reliably with adult samples in
multidimensional scaling research (see Woelfel and Fink,
1980). In this research a yardstick unrelated to the
content under investigation has been used to make paired
comparisons. For instance, subjects have been told that
the distance between red and blue is ten, and then asked
to use this to judge the distance between political con-
cepts. Adult samples have been capable of using this
type of example for comparisons; however, this method
has not been tested with school-age subjects. Considerable

research and testing will have to be pursued before it can

172

be determined if a non-content bound yardstick for intensity
can be created, and if school-age children have the cogni-
tive abilities to use it as a standard to judge an array of
televised social behaviors.

Future research will also subject data sets to a pooled
cross-sectional time-series analysis. In performing this
type of analysis, the examination of the dynamic structure
of the data will be possible. That is, the analysis would
provide information about the predictive power of variables
at previous frequency levels on the levels of those vari-
ables at subsequent frequency levels. This is accomplished
by including a lagged endogenous variable in the time series
equation. Thus, a truly dynamic model would be tested (see
Hibbs, 1974, for explanation of statistical procedures).
This is a crucial analysis to perform if we wish to
understand and explain the pattern of the relationship

between stimulus pr0perties and repeated exposure.

CHAPTER 4

FOOTNOTE

1Two levels of frequency and intensity were used in
this study because the number of subjects would not have
been sufficient for more than two levels of the variables
and the addition of more subjects would have furthered the
complexity of data gathering and analysis.

173

APPENDIX A

DISCUSSION OF CONTENT ANALYSIS

APPENDIX A

DISCUSSION OF CONTENT ANALYSIS

Content analyses of one episode of all prime-time
and Saturday morning fictional television series were
conducted for the 1975-1976 and the 1976-1977 television
seasons. The purpose of these analyses was to determine
what and how antisocial and prosocial behaviors were

portrayed on television.

Content Variables: Antisocial Acts

 

Antisocial behavior is defined as behavior which is
physically or psychologically injurious to another person,
often intended to be so, but sometimes not so intended,
often but not necessarily succeeding. A subset of behav-
iors, both physical and verbal, were chosen because those
behaviors are generally viewed as negative or undesirable
interpersonal acts within a particular social system by
members of that society.

Four specific categories of acts were operationally
defined within this rubric. They were acts of: (l) phy-
sical aggression, (2) verbal aggression, (3) deceit, and
(4) theft. Since only acts of physical aggression and
verbal aggression were used in the reported experiments

only these shall be defined now.

174

175

Physical aggression refers to any overt behavior
intended to frighten, injure, or damage oneself, another
individual, an animal, or prOperty. The subcategories
of physical aggression included, abridgement of privacy,
bombing, burning, defacing of property, hitting empty-
handed, hitting with an object, physically threatening
someone, shooting, stabbing, constraint of others, and
extended fighting. Only acts of hitting empty-handed
and extended fighting were used for the stimulus.

Hitting empty-handed is an act of physical aggression
by an agent who attacks a human or nonhuman target, with
any body part, but without weapons or any other objects.
Included are biting, kicking, shoving, pushing, grabbing,
jerking, hitting, pinching, strangling, scratching, etc.

Extended fighting consists of inseparable or indis-
tinguishable acts of assault with or without an object or
firearm. It is a long series of such acts in which the
agent becomes the target and vice versa in rapid movement.

Verbal aggression involves sending noxious symbolic
messages. The messages may take the form of rejection
when it contains criticism, insults, cursing, or a negative
affection reaction, e.g., negative evaluations of a person
or objects the person relates to, such as, "Your work is
terrible." Verbal threats are warnings of intentions to

cause noxious, undesirable outcomes for a person, e.g.,

176

"If you don't give me your money, I'll kill you." Hostile
acts are all nonthreatening or nonrejecting acts of verbal
aggression conveyed by yelling, screaming, or shouting,
e.g., a wife shouting angrily to her husband, "Wash the

dishes now!"

Content Variables: Prosocial Acts

 

Prosocial behavior are those behaviors deemed
appropriate, redeeming, and legal by society. Essentially,
they are affiliative interpersonal acts. The eight types
of prosocial behaviors analyzed were: (1) altruism,

(2) showing affection, (3) explaining feelings of self,

(4) explaining feelings of others, (5) reparation for bad
behavior, (6) delaying gratification/task persistence,

(7) controlling others' antisocial behaviors, and (8)
self-control. Altruism was chosen as the prosocial behavior
for the experiments reported in this dissertation.

Altruism consists of sharing, helping, and cooperating
among humans or animals when engaged in nonillicit acts.
Sharing is the spontaneous gift or loan of one's own
possession or anything one has to legitimately offer
to another person. For example, a child shares half
her lunch with a friend who lost his. Helping is giving
aid to another so that the other can move toward his/her
goal. It includes physical assistance, instructions,

helping with a task, giving advice, requesting physical

177

assistance, giving requested or needed information. For
example, two peOple are sailing and one falls overboard;
the other person rescues him from the water. Cooperating
is the working together by two or more individuals to
achieve interdependent goals. For example, two peOple
putting up a camp tent.

Only altruistic behaviors aimed toward prosocial goals
were coded as altruism. Thus, if someone aided or helped

in an illegal act it was not coded as altruism.

Coder Training for Categorizing Behaviors

 

From five to eight undergraduates at Michigan State
University were used as coders of the pro/antisocial con-
tent behaviors. All coders had to understand and agree
upon the conceptualizations of the behaviors. They also
had to use the same criteria for determining the presence
of the behaviors and they had to differentiate clearly one
behavior from another. The process that took place was
one of negotiation of meaning and consensual establishment
of a coding symbol system. The coders had to be able to
conceive of the behaviors in the abstract and yet recognize
them in concrete examples. To facilitate these goals, an
intensive training program was developed and carried out.

The training program involved working with the nine

coders for about 50 hours. One week prior to the beginning

 

178

of training, all coders were given training manuals. The
coders were asked to study and familiarize themselves with
the variables and the special and conditional definitions
for the behaviors. Training manuals are available from
the project directors.

The first step in actual training was to introduce
each behavior, e.g., altruism, to the group of coders.

The group and the researchers discussed the conceptual-
ization of the variable. Discussion continued until it
was clear to the researchers that all coders understood
and agreed upon the Operational meanings of the variables.
At times, modifications in the conceptualizations were
made during the discussions.

Next, discussion on the Special conditions for each
variable took place. The coders had to understand the
different circumstances in which the variable might be
present. For example, discussion took place as to why
helping a friend rob a bank would not be coded as altruism.
It was explained that since this behavior was an illicit
act, it would not be in accord with the conceptualization.
This process of discussion and negotiation of the concep-
tualizations and conditions of the behavior took several
hours for each category of behavior coded. Practice coding
then began with tapes of shows. Each time the behavior
under discussion was thought to be elicited, the coders

independently coded it. Discussion then took place to

179

determine if there were any discrepancies among the coders.
When all coders understood and agreed on the meaning and
the criteria of the behavior, within acceptable reliability
standards, a new variable was introduced and the same
process was repeated.

Once all the pro/antisocial content behaviors were
studied and discussed, there was practice coding for the
full set of acts. The coders independently coded the first
ten minutes of a show and then compared their observations.
Problems or disagreements identified now were dealt with by
discussion until there was consensual agreement. Three days
were devoted to practice coding of TV show segments. A
training tape, illustrating each of the coded behaviors

was produced and used in subsequent training sessions.

Reliability

 

When actual coding of the shows began, all coders were
as similar to each other as possible. Ten shows were pair
coded. Reliabilities were obtained several times during
coding. Reliabilities were estimated for what a given act
was, i.e., does an observed act fit into any of the pro-
or antisocial content categories, and which one does it
fit? When reliabilities reached an acceptable level
(.7-.8), individual coding of shows began (see Greenberg,
Edison, Korzenny, Collado, Atkin, in Greenberg, 1980:

99-128, for results of content analyses).

APPENDIX B

YARDSTICKS FOR PHYSICAL AND VERBAL AGGRESSION

APPENDIX B

YARDSTICKS FOR PHYSICAL AND
VERBAL AGGRESSION

Yardstick for Physical Aggression

 

The yardstick for physical aggression showed a fight
scene in a bar. Two men are having a brief fist fight.
This segment was typical of televised physical aggression

and served as the average level intensity.

Yardstick for Verbal Aggression

 

The yardstick for verbal aggression depicted a male
character verbally harrassing his wife for calling their
physician. He yells at his wife, "What the hell are you
doing?" This segment served as the average level of

intensity.

180

APPENDIX C

INSTRUMENT FOR RESPONSE CATEGORIES

APPENDIX C

INSTRUMENT FOR RESPONSE CATEGORIES

SCHOOL SURVEY

TODAY WE WOULD LIKE TO ASK YOU SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT THINGS
THAT MIGHT HAPPEN TO YOU.

THIS IS NOT A TEST, SO THERE ARE NO RIGHT OR WRONG ANSWERS.
YOUR ANSWERS WILL NOT BE SHOWN TO YOUR TEACHER OR YOUR
PARENTS--ONLY THE RESEARCHERS WILL SEE THE SURVEYS. PLEASE
BE HONEST WHEN YOU ANSWER THE QUESTIONS, SINCE WE WANT TO
KNOW WHAT YOU REALLY THINK.

PLEASE WORK QUICKLY, BUT BE SURE TO ANSWER ALL THE
QUESTIONS. THANK YOU FOR HELPING US. WE APPRECIATE
IT VERY MUCH.

 

182

Here are some things that might happen to you sometime.
Tell us what you would do if these things happened:

What would you do if someone took something of yours?

What would you do if a kid at school threatens to
beat you up?

What would you do if someone called you a turkey?

You are playing ball during recess and one of your
teammates is about to get hit with the ball, what
would you do?

If you were swimming in a lake, and someone dropped
their ring in it, what would you do?

A brother/sister or friend is frightened by a
thunderstorm, what would you do?

One of your classmates says you copied his homework,
but this isn't true, what would you do?

One of your classmates constantly talks during class,
what would you do?

183

You're going to recess and someone runs into you in

the hall, what would you do?

If someone got hurt during recess, what would you do?

A kid takes your marbles without asking you, what
would you do?

A kid in your class is not good at spelling, what
would you do?

One of your schoolmates is sad, what would you do?

If someone hit your sister/brother/or friend, what
would you do?

Your classmate has no marbles, but you do, what
would you do?

A kid in your class didn't bring lunch money to
school, what would you do?

What would you do if a kid teased you?

184

Someone calls you names, what would you do?

Someone copies your homework, what would you do?

Someone won a boulder off you but you know they
cheated, what would you do?

During recess you are playing ball and a kid keeps
missing the ball, what would you do?

What if a friend is feeling bad because they keep
making stupid mistakes trying to play a new game,
what would you do?

Suppose you accidentally step on a little kid's toy
and break it, but the kid doesn't know who did it,
what would you do?

You work really hard to finish your homework for
school. Some kid takes your papers and rips them
up, what would you do?

Your friends are going to the movies but your mother
orders you to stay home and clean your room, what
would you do?

185

A classmate doesn't have a pencil and wants one of
yours, what would you do?

A friend got a new toy and doesn't know how to put
it together, what would you do?

A classmate is playing a game with you in gymnastics
and gets hurt, what would you do?

You have marbles, but a kid in your class doesn't have
any and wants to use some of yours, what would you do?

A friend broke your toy, what would you do?

What if someone cuts in front of you while you are
waiting in line at the water fountain at school,
what would you do?

Suppose you are playing a ball game and one kid throws
the ball at your head while you aren't looking, and it
hits you, what would you do?

 

What grade are you in? 4th 5th
Are you a boy or girl? boy girl

Do you have any brothers or sisters? yes no

APPENDIX D

POST-EXPERIMENTAL QUESTIONNAIRE

"SCHOOL SURVEY"

APPENDIX D

POST-EXPERIMENTAL QUESTIONNAIRE
"SCHOOL SURVEY"

TODAY WE WOULD LIKE TO ASK YOU SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT THINGS THAT MIGHT
HAPPEN TO YOU AND HOW OTHER THINGS'MAKE YOU FEEL.

THIS IS NOT A TEST, SO THERE ARE NO RIGHT OR WRONG ANSWERS. YOUR
ANSWERS WILL NOT BE SHOWN TO YOUR TEACHER OR YOUR PARENTS -- ONLY THE
RESEARCHERS AT THE UNIVERSITY WILL SEE THE SURVEYS. PLEASE BE HONEST
WHEN YOU ANSWER THE QEESTIONS, SINCE WE WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOU REALLY
THINK.

PLEASE WORK QUICKLY, BUT BE SURE TO ANSWER ALL THE QUESTIONS. THANK
YOU FOR HELPING US. WE APPRECIATE IT VERY MUCH.

 

186

 

187

We would like to ask you some questions_§b9ut_thing§*that might
_happenmto you. The way we are going to answer these questions is very
easy. Let's do an example.

EXAMPLE
When someone cries you laugh at them. How often would you

do this?

REMEMBER ‘“——‘*7} C' I would never do this

...:
0
II

I would probably do this

 

 

YOUR ANSWER ; g g

 

INSTRUCTIONS

 

If you would PROBABLY do this, WRITE 10.

The MORE OFTEN or the MORE LIKELY you are to do this, WRITE A
NUMBER BIGGER THAN 10.

 

 

 

The LESS OFTEN or LESS LIKELY you are to do this, WRITE A NUMBER
SMALLER THAN 10. If,

 

 

 

 

If you NEVER do this, WRITE 0.

*YOU CAN WRITE ANY NUMBER YOU WISH.

  
 

."\ H

   

For example:
”uh . m3)

 

. A
(5 [HM /
80
. , k
Mike would laugh VERY OFTEN Linda would laugh OFTEN at

 

at someone crying. someone crying.

188

   

Marcia would PROBABLY laugh Charley is LESS LIKELY to

 

at someone crying. laugh at someone crying.
"R.

 

 

Bob would NEVER_1augh at
someone crying.

 

 

REMEMBERE! The BIGGER the number, the MORE OFTEN or MORE LIKELY
————-——— you would do this.

The SMALLER the number, the LESS OFTEN or the LESS LIKELY
you are to do this.

 

189

Okay, now please answer the following questions just like we
answered the examples.

1. A friend of yours is frightened by a thunderstorm so you tgy to

comfort the friend by telling them why they shouldn't be scared.

 

How often would you do this?

REMEMBER m-—————§ 0 I would never do this

10

I would probably do this

YOUR ANSWER ......) I

 

 

2. A kid at school threatens to beat you up, so you fight with the kid.

How often would you do this?

REMEMBER --——-—) 0 I would never do this

5.;
C
II

I would probably do this

 

n.‘ 3
YOUR ANSWER ———) I! l

 

 

REMEMBERE! The MORE OFTEN or the MORE LIKELY you are to do this,
-—-———-—— WRITE A NUMBER BIGGER THAN 10.

 

The LESS OFTEN or LESS LIKELY you are to do this, WRITE
A NUMBER SMALLER THAN 10.

 

 

 

If you would PROBABLY do this, WRITE 10.
If you would NEVER do this, WRITE 0.
*YOU CAN WRITE ANY NUMBER YOU WISH.

REMEMBER 11-47 The BIGGER the number the MORE OFTEN you do this.

 

The SMALLER the number the LESS OFTEN you do this.

 

190

3. Someone calls you a turkey, so you call the kid a name back. How

 

often would you do this?

 

 

 

REMEMBER ~ ..>~ 0 = I would never do this
10 = I would probably do this
* 3

YOUR ANSWER 9 L ‘

 

u. A kid steals your marbles, so you beat the kid up. How often would

you do this?

 

REMEMBER «mm; 0 = I would never do this
13 = I would probably do this
I I

YOUR ANSWER ; , I

 

 

5. You are playing ball during recess and one of your teammates is

about to get hit with the ball so you tell them to watch out. How

 

often would you do this?

REMEMBER -—-———) 0

10

I would never do this

I would probably do this

 

\

 

 

L...

YOUR ANSWER

 

6. One of your classmates says you copied their homework, but it isn't

true, so you call the kid a liar. How often would you do this?

 

REMEMBER “-—-"€§ O

I would never-do this

10 I would probably do this

 

3
YOUR ANSWER -——-) I

 

191

7. You are swimming in a lake, and soneone drOps their ring in the

water, so you dive in and try to get_it.

 

this?
REJEMBER '""‘“—’3 O

10

How often would you do

I would never do this

I would probably do this

 

 

YOUR ANSWER ...-...}

I

How often would

 

I would probably do this

 

 

8. Someone hits your friend, so you hit the kid back.
you do this?
REMEMBER -————6—~9 0 = I would never do this
10 =
l I
YOUR ANSWER ..-..g é i
9. One of your classmates constantly

the person to shut up. How often
REMEMBER -————-—) 0

10

talks during class so you tell

would you do this?

I would never do this

I would probably do this

 

r‘
YOUR ANSWER - ----- «—-> L

The BIGGER the number,

REMEMBER23
-————————- you are to do this.

The SMALLER the number,

you are to do this.

10. A kid teases you so you tease the
do this?

REMEMBER ---—-—--;= c:

i
s
g

the MORE OFTEN or MORE LIKELY

 

 

the LESS OFTEN or LESS LIKELY

 

 

kid back. How often would you

I would never do this

I would probably do this

 

YOUR ANSWER

I

4‘

192

11. Someone won a boulder off you, but you know they cheated, so you

grab it away from them. How often would you do this?

 

I would never do this

REMEMBER mes-:5; 0

...:
0
II

I would probably do this

 

 

YOUR ANSWER “"7 I I

 

12. One of your classmates is sad, so you try to cheer them up. How

 

often would you do this?

REMEMBER ——————§ 0

10

I would never do this

I would probably do this

 

YOUR ANSWER *9 I 3

 

13. You work real hard to finish your homework. Some kid takes your
papers and rips them up, so you hit the kid. How often would you

do this?

REMEMBER ‘“*"*j:\ 0 I would never do this

10

I would probably do this

 

YOUR ANSWER --—) I

¥¥

14. A friend is feeling bad because they keep making stupid mistakes
trying to play a new game, so you teach them how to play the game
r'ght. How often would you do this?

REMEMBER -———-=9. 0

10

I would never do this

I would probably do this

 

4
YOUR ANSWER ------5 I .

 

 

 

193
15. You are going to recess and someone runs into you in the hall, so you

yell that they better watch it. How often would you do this?

REMEMBER --——--——-} o

I would never do this

10 I would probably do this

 

! I
YOUR ANSWER -=-5r 3 f

 

16. You are waiting in line at the water fountain at school and someone
cuts in front of you, so you push the kid out. How often would you
do this?

REMEMBER --—-——) O

10

I would never do this

I would probably do this

_._‘

'4 c.
l
YOUR ANSWER ----> é ‘,

 

17. A classmate doesn't have a pencil and wants one of yours, so you give

the kid one. How often would you do this?

REMEMBER «~——~3> O

10

I would never do this

I would probably do this

 

(._.

4
YOUR ANSWER --------3 x3

 

18. Suppose you are playing a ball game and a kid throws the ball at your
head while you aren't looking and it hits you. You scream at the kid

not to do it again. How often would you do this?

REMEMBER ~~—*-? 0 I would never do this

10 I would probably do this

 

YOUR ANSWER ----- it {

 

194

We would like to ask you some questions about the part of the film
you watched that came after the cartoon. We want you to tell us how you
felt while watching that part of the film. You are going to answer with
NUMBERS. Let's do some examples first.

Let's call how happy you are eating a piece of cake 10. Not
happy at all we'll call 0. Now how happy are you eating an
ice cream sundae?

 

 

HOW TO ANSW_E_._R_

 

If eating an ice cream sundae makes you MORE HAPPY THAN
eating a piece of cake, write a number BIGGER THAN 10.

 

 

If eating an ice cream sundae makes you LESS HAPPY THAN
eating a piece of cake write a number SMALLER THAN 10.

 

 

If eating an ice cream sundae makes you AS HAPPY AS
eating a piece of cake WRITE 10.

 

If eating an ice cream sundae DOES NOT MAKE YOU HAPPY AT
ALL WRITE lO.

 

 

*YOU CAN WRITE ANY NUMBER YOU WISH.

For example:

   

 

 

 

 

      

 

‘ k
\\)
- \) .---
z’xwl.‘
} ‘1::S/7
200 f 75
if ‘ 1
Steven loves sundaes and they Sue likes sundaes and they
make him MUCH MORE HAPPY THAN make her MORE HAPPY THAN
CAKE. CAKE.
5 .- . .. ‘ ))
g 3 £1.1ij
\ ' \3‘”‘./
I ‘ . j '0 s
T 'é' A i)
Sundaes make Ken AS HAPPY AS Nancy doeanot like sundaes
CAKE. that much. They make her

 

LESS HAPPY THAN CAKE.

 

 

 

195

T (“V”K"

':'-~‘-’-' ./ I

 

O

 

Charlie does not like ice cream
sundaes AT ALL. They don't make
him happy.

NOW GIVE US YOUR ANSWER

 

How happy are you eating an ice cream sundae?

 

 

 

 

REMEMBER ‘\ O = not happy at all
10 = as happy as eating a
piece of cake
1 i
NOW ANSWER “‘~¢) . ’ = how happy you are
eating an ice cream
sundae

Does eating ice cream sundaes make you MORE HAPPY THAN CAKE, LESS
HAPPY THAN CAKE, AS HAPPY AS CAKE, or NOT HAPPY AT ALL? What does
your answer say?

Okay, let's do another example:

 

How happy does eatipg spinach make_y9u?

 

REMEMBER ~~Jr-wjf 0 not happy at all

10

as happy as eating cake

 

NOW ANSWER.a--f; { i = how happy eating
spinach makes you

 

A number BIGGER THAN 10 means spinach makes you MORE HAPPY THAN
CAKE.

 

 

A number SMALLER THAN 10 means spinach makes you LESS HAPPY THAN
CAKE.

 

 

 

TEN(lO) means that Spinach makes you AS HAPPY AS CAKE.

 

ZERO (0) means that spinach DOES NOT MAKE YOU HAPPY AT ALL.

 

196

Let's do one more:

Let's call how happy you are riding a bigycle 10. Not happy
at all we'll call 0. Now how happy would you be if you could
go to Eisngyworld?

 

 

 

 

REMEMBER --——-—-.} O = not happy at all

10 = as happy as riding a
bicycle

 

1 4
NOW ANSWER .——-—-) ‘ , = how happy you would be
going to Disneyworld

 

 

197

Now we would like to know what ypu thought about the part of the
film that followed the cartoon. Please answer the following questions
just like you answered the examples we did.

 

 

1. Sometimes people feel angry. Imagine someone borrowing something of

yours without asking. Call how angry you are 10. Not being angry

 

at all we'll call 0. Now think about the film. How angry did the

 

 

film make you feel?

 

 

REMEMBER.«—. } O = not angry at all

10 = as angry as when someone borrows
something of yours without asking

 

,. I
NOW ANSWER -——$ 1 ; = how angry the film made
you feel

 

2. Sometimes people feel sad. Imagine reading a book that almost makes

you cry. Call how sad you are 10. Not sad at all we'll call 0. Now

 

 

think about the film. How sad did the film make you feel?

 

REMEMBER -—-—-——i 0 = not sad at all

10 = as sad as reading a book that
almost makes you cry

 

g -E m“ l
NOW ANSWER-—J-—fi> j i = how sad the film made
you feel

 

0‘
.‘

REMEMBER

If the film made you feel LESS SAD THAN you do reading a
book that almost makes you cry, write a number SMALLER
THAN 10.

 

If the film made you feel MORE SAD THAN you do reading a
book that almost makes you cry, write a number BIGGER
THAN 10.

 

If the film made you feel AS SAD AS reading a book that
almost makes you cry, WRITE 0.

If the film DIDN'T MAKE YOU FEEL SAD AT ALL WRITE O.

 

*YOU CAN WRITE ANY NUMBER YOU WISH.

3.

198

Sometimes people feel happy. Imagine riding a bicycle. This probably

makes you happy. .Call how happy ypu are 10. Net happy at all we'll

call 0. Now think about the film. How happy did the film make you

 

 

feel?
REMEMBER .w—a 0 = not happy at all
10 = as happy as riding a bicycle
NOW ANSWER ---j} i 8 how happy the film

 

 

made you feel

Sometimes people feel scared. Imagine being in a house during a
thunder and lightening storm. This probably makes you scared. Call

how scared you are 10. Not scared at all we'll call 0. Now think

 

about the film. New scared did the film make you feel?
REMEMBER a—--€p O a not scared at all
10 = as scared as being in a house

during a thunder and lightening
storm

 

 

NOW ANSWER ---§> c how scared the film
made you feel

 

Sometimes people feel pleased. Imagine going to a nice restaurant
for dinner. This probably pleases you. Call how pleased ygu are 10.
Not pleased at all we'll call 0. Now think about the film. Egg.
pleased did the film makepypu feel?

REMEMBER .-——-—9. o = not pleased at all

10 = as pleased as going to a nice
restaurant for dinner

 

NOW ANSWER ""'-) | I how pleased the film
' made you feel

199

Sometimes peOple feel excited. Imagine going swimming. This

probably makes you excited. Call how excited you are 10. Not

 

excited at all we'll call 0. Now think about the film. How

 

excited did the film make you feel?

 

not excited at all

REMEMBER --v---‘y C

as excited as going swimming

FJ
O
H

 

NOW ANSWER ~"‘*") ! - = how excited the film
made you feel

 

200

We also want to know how much you liked watching the film. Please
answer the next questions on how you felt about that part of the film
that came after the cartoon.

1. Some things are interesting. Other things are not so interesting.
Imagine watching a film about building a doghouse. This probably
interests you. Call how interestingthis is 10. Net interesting_

at all we'll call 0. Now think about the film. How interesting is

the film you watched?

REMEMBER ~-—-~—) 0 not interesting at all

 

10 = as interesting as a film about
building a doghouse
NOW ANSWER -u-~§ l j 2 how interesting the

 

film you watched is

2. Some things people pay attention to. Other things we don't pay so
much attention to. Again, imagine watching a film about building a
doghouse. You would probably pay attention to it. Call how much
payipgyattention you would do 10. Net paying attention at all, we'll
22ll_2: Now think about the film. How much payipg attention did

ypu do to the film you watched?

 

 

 

REMEMBER 7} 0 = not paying attention at all
10 = as much paying attention as to a
film about building a doghouse
NOW ANSWER ---:> = how much you paid attention

 

 

 

to the film you watched

I.
w“ If you PAID NO ATTENTION AT ALL To THE 1*le WRITE o.

If you PAID AS MUCH ATTENTION TO THE FILM AS you would
to a film about building a doghouse, WRITE lO.

 

201

(con't.) If you PAlD MORE ATTENTION to the film than you would to

 

a film SE55? building a doghouse, yRTTE A NUMBER_B£§GER_
THAN 10.

 

If you PAID LESS ATTENTION to th: film than you would to
a film about building a doghouse, WRITE A NUMBER SMALLER
THAN 10.

 

*YOU CAN WRITE ANY NUMBER YCU WISH.

Some things people ar: willing tc dc again. Other things people are
not so willing to do again. Imagine being MilliJg to fiu; u bicycle
again. Call how willing you are CO do this again JO. Nit Willing at

all we'll call 0. Now think db)Ut the film. How willing are you to

 

watch this film or one just like it again?

REMEMBER

 

{9 0 = not willing at all to watch again

10 as willing as riding a bicycle

again

 

i
I
!. ...
I 2 now willing you are to

'i
NOW ANSWER.-m-——j% i_ -
watch this film again

Now we would like to know about what you saw in the part of the film

that came after the cartoon.

1.

Let's call how much hitting there is in one fight 10. No hitting at

all we'll call 0. Now how much hitting was there in the film you

 

watched? (Hitting means pushing, shoving,.fighting, slapping,

grabbing, etc.)

 

REMEMBER -—-} C = no hitting at all in the film
10 = as much hitting in the film as
in one fight
. 7"""T
NOW ANSWER «—-—~€) l I = how much hitting there

 

was in the film

202

Let's call how muchyellingtwo angry people might do 10. No yelling_

at all we'll call 0. Now how much yellingwas there in the filmAyou

watched? (Yelling means screaming, name calling, shouting.)

no yelling at all in the film

REMEMBER ———————€> O

.-’J

as much yelling in the film as
two angry people might do

 

NOW ANSWER —————9 i I] = how much yelling there
was in the film

 

REMEMBER!! If there was MORE YELLING IN THE FILM THAN two angry ‘

3.

people might do, write a number BIGGER THAN 10. ‘

If there was LESS YELLING IN THE FILM THAN two angry
people might do, Write a number SMALLER THAN 10.

If there was NO YELLING IN THE FILM, WRITE 0.

If there was AS MESH YELLING IN THE FILM AS two angry
people might do, WRITE 10.

*YOU CAN WRITE ANY NUMBER YOU WISH.

Let's call how much someone helps a friend with homework 10. N3
helping at all we'll call 0. Now how much helping people was there
in the film ypu watched? (Helping means sharing, giving, saving or

helping someone.)

REMEMBER -‘——--——9 o

10

no helping at all in the film

as much helping in the film as
someone helping a friend with
homework

 

 

NOW ANSWER u—-——) _—i = how much helping there
was in the film

 

203

Now we would like to know how hard or how strongly people did things
in the_part of the film that came after the cartoon.

 

 

1. Let's call how hard someone yells shut up 10. No yelling at all we'll

 

 

 

call 0. Now how hard were people yelling in the film you watched?

REMEMBER ~----) 0 no yelling at all in the film

10 as hard as someone yelling

shut up

 

I
v
i

 

NOW ANSWER = how hard peeple wer

yelling in the film

 

2. Let's call how strongly someone helps a hurt friend 10 and no helping

 

 

at all we'll call 0. Now how strongly were people helping in the

 

 

 

film you watched?

 

 

 

 

 

REMEMBER «- 3% 0 = no helping at all in the film
10 = as strongly as helping a hurt
friend
NOW ANSWER -—7) ' ; = how strongly people were
helping in the film
REMEMBERll If in the film people were HELPING MORE STRONGLY THAN

helping a hurt friend,write a number BIGGER THAN 10.

 

If in the film people were HELPING AS STRONGLY AS helping
a hurt friend, WRITE lO.

 

If in the film people were HELPING LESS STRONGLY THAN
helping a hurt friend, write a number SMALLER THAN 10.

 

 

If in the film people WERE NOT HELPING AT ALL, WRITE 10.

 

*YOU CAN WRITE ANY NUMBER YOU WISH.

204

3. Let's call how hard someone hits a person in the face 10 and no hitting

at all we'll call 0. Now how hard were people hitting in the film?

 

 

REMEMBER -——-I¢::::‘:: 0 = no hitting at all in the film
10 = as hard as hitting someone in

the face
NOW ANSWER ---? I i = how hard were people

 

hitting in the film

New think back to the part of the film that came after the cartoon.
How often did you see the fbllowing?

1. How many times did someone help (save, give, share) another person?

REMEMBER ‘~—————) 0 = no helping at all in the film

 

v‘

'
i
I

 

NOW ANSWER .seee; §= the number of times someone
helped someone in the film

 

(If there was N9 helping at all in the film WRITE 0. If there was
helping in the film, WRITE THE NUMBER OF TIMES.)
2. How many times did someone hit (punch, shove, fight, slap, grab, etc.)

another person?

REMEMBER w.) 0 = no hitting at all in the film

 

 

 

 

NOW ANSWER ...—....) 1 = the number of times
someone hit someone in
the film

3. How many times did someone yell (scream, call names, shout) at some-

one in the film?

REMEMBER .———=a-1? o = no yelling at all in the film

 

fie‘

 

NOW ANSWER

 

If
T i_ = the number of times some-
one yells in the film

 

205

u. Which best describes the film you saw. Circle the best answer.

People Helping People
People Hitting People

People Yelling at People

206

How often would you do the following. Circle your answer.

1.

A kid at school threatens to beat you up, so you fight with him/her.

ALMOST ALWAYS USUALLY SOMETIMES ALMOST NEVER

A kid steals your marbles, so you beat the kid up.

ALMOST ALWAYS USUALLY SOMETIMES ALMOST NEVER

Someone hits your friend, so you hit them back.

ALMOST ALWAYS USUALLY SOMETIMES ALMOST NEVER
Someone won a boulder off you, but you know they cheated, so you
grab it away from them.

ALMOST ALWAYS USUALLY SOMETIMES ALMOST NEVER

You work real hard to finish your homework. Some kid takes your
papers and rips them up, so you hit the kid.

ALMOST ALWAYS USUALLY SOMETIMES ALMOST NEVER

You are waiting in line at the water feuntain at school and someone
cuts in front of you, so you push him/her out.

ALMOST ALWAYS USUALLY SOMETIMES ALMOST NEVER

*DO NOT WRITE BELOW THIS LINE

 

 

 

 

 

.r-.~_-

 

 

207

How often would you do the following. Circle your answer.

Someone calls you a turkey, so you call him/her a name back.
ALMOST ALWAYS USUALLY SOMETIMES ALMOST NEVER

One of your classmates says you copied their homework, but it
isn't true, so you call the kid a liar.

ALMOST ALWAYS USUALLY SOMETIMES ALMOST NEVER

One of your classmates constantly talks during class so you tell
the person to shut up.

ALMOST ALWAYS USUALLY SOMETIMES ALMOST NEVER

A kid teases you, so you tease the kid back.

ALMOST ALWAYS USUALLY SOMETIMES ALMOST NEVER
You are going to recess and someone runs into you in the hall,
so you yell that they better watch it.

ALMOST ALWAYS USUALLY SOMETIMES ALMOST NEVER

Suppose you are playing a ball game and a kid throws the ball at
your head while you aren't looking and it hits you. You scream
at the kid not to do it again.

ALMOST ALWAYS USUALLY SOMETIMES ALMOST NEVER

 

DO NOT WRITE BELOW THIS LINE

 

 

b‘fi" - “v...

208

How often would you do the following. Circle your answer.

A friend of yours is frightened by a thunderstorm, so you comfort

 

 

 

l.
him/her by telling them why they shouldn't be scared.
ALMOST ALWAYS USUALLY SOMETIMES ALMOST NEVER

2. You are playing ball during recess and one of your teammates is
about to get hit with the ball so you tell them to watch out.
ALMOST ALWAYS USUALLY SOMETIMES ALMOST NEVER

3. You are swimming in a lake, and someone drops their ring in the
water, so you dive in and try to get it.
ALMOST ALWAYS USUALLY SOMETIMES ALMOST NEVER

n. One of your classmates is sad, so you try to cheer them up.
ALMOST ALWAYS USUALLY SOMETIMES ALMOST NEVER

S. A friend is feeling bad because they keep making silly mistakes
trying to play a new game, so you teach them how to play the game
right
ALMOST ALWAYS USUALLY SOMETIMES ALMOST NEVER

6. A classmate doesn't have a pencil and wants one of yours, so
you give him/her one.
ALMOST ALWAYS USUALLY SOMETIMES ALMOST NEVER

DO NOT WRITE BELOW THIS LINE
N

‘-
—-.~.~¢a~..

 

Doc-I.—
-..-
r .9...-
-‘ ‘
h

209

Now tell us a little about yourself.

What is your name?

 

What grade are you in? 5th 6th
Are you a boy or girl? Boy Girl
How old are you? years old

 

How many brothers or sisters do you have?

Brothers

 

Sisters

 

None

 

Teacher's Name

 

DO NOT WRITE BELOW THIS LINEA

 

 

 

 

 

 

"F

 

 

 

 

 

APPENDIX E

SAMPLE OF INTERVIEW INSTRUMENT

APPENDIX E

SAMPLE OF INTERVIEW INSTRUMENT

Introduction

We are going to ask you some questions about the film
you just saw. we want you to tell us how you felt while
watching it. You are going to answer with numbers. Let's
go over the example to see how it's done.

If I said to you that eating a piece of cake is an

amount of happiness equal to 10 and no happiness at all
equals zero, how happy would an ice cream sundae make you?

Now

0 no happiness

10 = happiness of eating a piece of cake

happiness of eating an ice cream sundae

If eating an ice cream sundae makes you happier than eating
a piece of cake, you would ANSWER WITH a number LARGER THAN
10.

If eating an ice cream sundae makes you less happy than
eating a piece of cake, you would ANSWER WITH a number
SMALLER THAN 10.

You can write any number you want.

For example: If ice cream sundaes make you two times as
happy as a piece of cake, you would answer 20. If they made
you ten times as happy, you would answer 100, or any number
you want.

If you don't like ice cream sundaes as much as cake and they
make you only half as happy as cake and cake = 10, what would
on say ?

Okay, let's do another example.

210

 

211

0
II

no happiness

10 = happiness of eating a piece of cake

happiness of eating spinach

Now, what does your answer mean? A number higher than
10 means spinach makes you happier than cake. Ten means
spinach makes you as happy as cake. A number less than
10 means spinach does not make you as happy as cake.

Let's think of the situation we want to know how happy
something makes you.

Suppose riding a bicycle gives you an amount of
happiness equal to 10, while going to lose your allowance
gives you an amount of happiness of zero, or in other words,
no happiness at all. Now if someone asked how happy would
you feel if you were going to Disney World, thinking that
riding a bicycle is happiness equal to 10, going to Disney
World is happiness equal to .

 

APPENDIX F

TESTER TRAINING INSTRUCTIONS

APPENDIX F

TESTER TRAINING INSTRUCTIONS

INSTRUCTIONS

General

1.

Consistency is the key word in conducting this
experiment. Do the same things, say the same things,
use the same order for each cell you work with.

Speak loudly, clearly, and slowly enough for the
students to understand. Be friendly.

Try to avoid any unnecessary movement or distractions
in the room when the tester is speaking:

a. Have the videotape ready to go before beginning
the session.

b. When the tape is over, put VTR on stOp, turn off
monitor, and leave the equipment alone. Rewind
the tape after the questionnaires are completed.

Write down anything unusual that might have happened
during the test session. For example:

a. You forgot to turn off the lights before showing
tape .

b. The machine broke.

c. The class was disrupted for some reason.

Keep the students in the testing room for the entire
hour. When the questionnaire is completed, have
them color the Snoopy: when they finish that, carry
on a conversation about what they will do during the
summer, etc. Avoid talking about aspects of the
experiment.

When dealing with students, don't use negative words.

212

 

II.

213

Testing

GETTING THE SUBJECTS:

1.

Each cell has been assigned a tester and a helper.
At the beginning of the testing period, all testers
will go to the tOp classroom on their list of
subjects; the helpers will go to the second room.

Once in the classroom, each person in turn will
read off the names of the children she needs for
her particular cell:

 

Example:

My name is . I'd like the
following students to bfing their crayons and a
pencil and come with me to the (room) .

 

When I call your name, bring your things and come
to the front of the room. READ NAMES.

Keep track of whether or not all students on your
list are in the classroom. If you have everyone
you are supposed to have, take the children to
the testing room you have been assigned to.

CELL #4 PERSON (OR PERSON DESIGNATED): You will be
the last person to call your students' names. Keep
track of where all extras are going on your extra
list. (Example, if Cell #1 needs Suzy Jones, write
"Cell #1" after Suzy's name on the extra list).
Eventually, you will give this list to JAN in

the hallway outside the classroom.

If you don't have all the children you are supposed
to have: Check the extra list for that classroom
and attempt to replace the missing student with
another student of the same sex. Add the name

to your list when you get to your testing room.

If you can't replace an absent student from the
extra list: Take your students to the testing room.
JAN will be in the hallway outside the classrooms.
Tell her what student you are missing (boy/girl).
She will attempt to get an extra from the other
classroom and send him/her to your testing room.

The Cell #4 person should give the updated extra
list to Jan so that she can do all this.

214

BE SURE TO PUT THE NAME OF EXTRA REPLACEMENT
STUDENTS ON YOUR LIST. If you don't get any extras,
run the experiment with the number of students you
have. Relay this information to your "partner" who
will be administering the same cell for the 6th
grade. If this happens during the 6th grade
experiments, relay the information to Nadyne,

so she will know how many students she has in

a cell.

WHEN TAPE IS OVER, TURN OFF VTR, TURN OFF MONITOR, TURN
ON LIGHTS.

Now it's time to fill out our questionnaires. Turn
to page 1 again and we'll go over the directions
once more.

(READ COPY FROM TOP OF PAGE DOWN TO, BUT NOT
INCLUDING FACES.)

Now we're ready to begin. Turn to page 3. Follow
along with me as I read each question and put your
answer for each question in the box.

(READ THROUGH PAGES 3-7. REMEMBER TO READ LOUDLY,
CLEARLY, AND SLOWLY. CHECK TO SEE THAT STUDENTS
HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO WRITE THEIR ANSWERS FOR EACH
QUESTION.)

GO ON TO READ DIRECTIONS ON PAGE 8. AGAIN, READ
ONLY TO THE FACES. THEN SAY:

Now let's turn to page 11 and continue the
questionnaire.

GO THROUGH PAGES 11-19.

(BEFORE READING PAGE 20) We're almost finished now.
we need to answer just a few more questions.

(READ PAGE 20.)
(BEFORE READING PAGE 21):

Please tell us a bit about yourself. Remember we
need this information only for the researchers at
Michigan State University. No one else will see
this questionnaire. Please fill in the information
on the last page.

(ALLOW TIME FOR STUDENTS TO FILL IN PAGE.)

215

WHEN STUDENTS ARE FINISHED:

We still have some time before you return to your
classrooms. If you'd like, you may use your crayons
to color-in SnOOpy on the front of your questionnaire.

AFTER THE STUDENTS FINISH QUESTIONNAIRE:

1. Have the helper collect the questionnaires when
the students are finished coloring.

2. Carry on some kind of conversation with the kids,
about what they will do during the summer.

3. At the end of the period, ask the students to
bring their crayons and pencils and follow you
back to their classrooms.

BRING YOUR COMPLETED MATERIALS TO THE CENTRAL MEETING
PLACE: REWIND TAPES AND SET UP THE TESTING ROOM FOR
THE NEXT EXPERIMENT.

APPENDIX G

CONSENT LETTER TO PARENTS

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY

 

COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION ARTS EAST LANSING ' MICHIGAN ' 4882-1
DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION

May 1, 1977

Dear Parent:

we are social science researchers in the Department of Communication,
Michigan State University. We are conducting a study on the effects of
television content on school-age children's learning and attention, and
would greatly appreciate your child's participation.

The study will take approximately 30 minutes. Your child will be
shown a video-tape of segments of prime-time television programs. These
segments will be scenes of either characters helping each other, yelling
at each other, or hitting each other. These scenes are typically pre-
sented on television. After viewing the tape, your child will be asked
to fill out a questionnaire which asks about your child's impressions
of the tape. For instance, one question asks, "How interesting was the
film?" The information gathered will be used only by the researchers.

We believe it is very important to understand how television
affects the lives of our children and what role it plays in learning.
Your child's participation in this study will help us have a better
understanding of television effects.

Please fill out the enclosed form which asks you to check either
the box giving permission for your child to participate or the box
declining permission.

We would like to thank you for your cooperation. Any questions
you have should be referred to:

Ms. Nadyne G. Edison Dr. Bradley S. Greenberg
Department of Communication Department of Communication
532 South Kedzie Hall 517 South Kedzie Hall
Michigan State University Michigan State University
East Lansing, Michigan 48824 East Lansing, Michigan 48824

Sincerely,

 

 

Nadyne G. Edison Bradley S. Greenberg

216

APPENDIX H

UNTRANSFORMED AND TRANSFORMED MEANS AND STANDARD

DEVIATIONS FOR ALL DEPENDENT ITEMS

AND MANIPULATION ITEMS

Table H.1

Untransformed and Transformed Means and Standard Deviations

for All Dependent Items for Three
Content Treatment Groupsa

 

 

J

 

 

 

Untransformed Transformed
b Standard Standard
Dependent Items Mean Deviation Mean Deviation
PA2 (N==240) 251.088 1406.307 .9131 .8474
PA4 (N==240) 218.458 1271.897 .7993 .8832
PA8 (N==240) 194.012 1131.935 .9880 .8227
PA11 (N==240) 271.242 1150.033 .9347 .8410
PA13 (N==240) 1195.465 3014.503 1.6278 1.1659
PA16 (N==240) 544.154 2028.916 1.3943 .9510
VA3 (N==240) 621.388 2207.032 1.5332 .8905
VA6 (N==240) 586.873 2173.208 1.3684 .9799
VA9 (N==240) 488.385 1852.431 1.4666 .9181
VAlO (N==239) 374.309 1645.505 1.3488 .8322
VA15 (N==240) 258.588 1394.355 1.0403 .8575
VA18 (N==240) 1001.969 2840.953 1.4619 1.1247
ALI (N==240) 156.708 1067.460 1.2476 .6708
ALS (N==240) 669.334 2217.368 1.7240 .8843
AL? (N==240) 345.231 1625.061 1.2931 .8695
AL12 (N==240) 681.877 2267.651 1.5996 .9661
AL14 (N==239) 435.533 1808.683 1.5917 .7774
AL17 (N==240) 507.135 1903.551 1.5488 .8433
Angry (N==240) 143.179 1077.275 .6413 .7791
Scared (N==239) 88.008 910.574 .3161 .5859
Sad (N==240) 130.067 1110.424 .4379 .6479
Happy (N==240) 157.271 1115.285 .8735 .7233
Pleased (N==238) 230.836 1433.968 .8628 .7445
Excited (N= 237) 83.186 664.515 .8645 .7153
Do again (N==235) 257.477 1442.625 1.2132 .7204
Pay attn. (N= 235) 477.098 1938.217 1.2408 .8286
Interest (N==236) 157.000 1122.746 .9256 .7165

 

aUntransformed and transformed items averaged over physical aggression,

verbal aggression, and altruism subjects.

bSee Chapter 2, Section 2.32 for description of items.

217

_ I'

218

Table H.2

Untransformed and Transformed Means and Standard Deviations

for All Manipulation Items for Three
Content Treatment Groupsa

 

 

 

 

 

Untransformed Transformed

Standard Standard
Manipulation Items Mean Deviation Mean Deviation
Howhit (N==233) 212.373 1323.000 .6956 .8529
Hithard (N==233) 67.970 662.010 .5918 .7507
Timehit (N==232) 64.052 322.635 .6593 .8184
Howyell (N==234) 114.295 923.824 .8556 .7275
Yelhard (N==233) 78.026 665.061 .9167 .6743
Timeyell (N==233) 109.073 927.053 .7455 .6902
Howhelp (N==235) 108.340 921.721 .7259 .7297
Helphard (N==233) 111.288 927.997 .7173 .6924
Timehelp (N= 232) 95.470 924.238 .5639 .6295

 

aUntransformed and transformed items averaged over physical aggression,
verbal aggression, and altruism subjects.

bSee Chapter 2, Section 2.33 for description of items.

 

APPENDIX I

INTERCORRELATIONS AMONG DEPENDENT ITEMS

AND INDEPENDENT ITEMS

APPENDIX I

INTERCORRELATIONS AMONG DEPENDENT ITEMS
AND INDEPENDENT ITEMS

Table I.1

Intercorrelations (and One-Tail Levels of Significance) for
Ratio and Likert Scale Physical Aggression Social
Learning Items for Physical Aggression
Treatment Group (N==80)a

 

 

 

Dependent PA2 PA4 PA8 PA11 PA13 PA16
Itemsb (Likert) (Likert) (Likert) (Likert) (Likert) (Likert)
PA2 (Ratio) .6677 .5132 .4902 .2382 .4627 .2322
(.001) (.001) (.001) (.017) (.001) (.019)
PA4 (Ratio) .5950 .6266 .4196 .2430 .4092 .2509
(.001) (.001) (.001) (.015) (.001) (.012)
PA8 (Ratio) .5573 .4531 .5942 .2474 .4481 .2763
(.001) (.001) (.001) (.013) (.001) (.007)
PA11 (Ratio) .2200 .3753 .2966 .3785 .4105 .2373
(.025) (.001) (.004) (.001) (.001) (.017)
PA13 (Ratio) .6508 .4554 .5322 .3408 .6135 .3084
(.001) (.001) (.001) (.001) (.001) (.003)
PA16 (Ratio) .4377 .5498 .3459 .3735 .4028 .5678
(.001) (.001) (.001) (.001) (.001) (.001)

 

aLogarithmically transformed variables.

bSee Chapter 2, Section 2.32 for description of items.

219

220

Table 1.2

Intercorrelations (and One-Tail Levels of Significance) for Ratio
and Likert Scaled verbal Aggression Social Learning Items
for Verbal Aggression Treatment Group (N==80)a

 

 

 

DependeBt VA3 VA6 VA9 VA10 VA15 VA18
Items (Likert) (Likert) (Likert) (Likert) (Likert) (Likert)
VA3 (Ratio) .5200 .4127 .1132 .3458 .1907 .2422
(.001) (.001) (.159) (.001) (.045) (.015)

VA6 (Ratio) .2874 .4593 .1524 .0589 .2241 .1655
(.005) (.001) (.089) (.302) (.023) (.071)
VA9 (Ratio) .3473 .3535 .3626 .0797 .2869 .2857
(.001) (.001) (.001) (.241) (.005) (.005)
VA10 (Ratio) .4851 .4173 .1583 .4395 .3345 .1959
(.001) (.001) (.080) (.001) (.001) (.041)
VA15 (Ratio) .3987 .3014 .3754 .2389 .5843 .3642
(.001) (.003) (.001) (.016) (.001) (.001)
VA18 (Ratio) .4418 .3151 .2639 .2004 .4666 .4675
(.001) (.002) (.009) (.037) (.001) (.001)

 

aLogarithmically transformed variables.

bSee Chapter 2, Section 2.32 for description of items

 

221

Table 1.3

Intercorrelations (and One-Tail Levels of Significance) for Ratio
and Likert Scaled Altruism Social Learning Items for
Altruism Treatment Group (N==80)a

 

 

 

Dependent ALl AL5 AL7 AL12 AL14 AL17
Items (Likert) (Likert) (Likert) (Likert) (Likert) (Likert)
ALl (Ratio) .4763 .3031 .2391 .4761 .3583 -.0470
(.001) (.003) (.016) (.001) (.001) (.339)
AL5 (Ratio) .2231 .4057 .2641 .2052 .1838 .0855
(.023) (.001) (.009) (.034) (.051) (.225)
AL7 (Ratio) .0113 .3515 .4700 .1373 .0475 .2412
(.460) (.001) (.001) (.112) (.338) (.016)
AL12 (Ratio) .2442 .2959 .2086 .4144 .1245 .2323
(.015) (.004) (.032) (.001) (.136) (.019)
AL14 (Ratio) .2278 .3425 .1888 .3221 .2807 .3093
(.021) (.001) (.047) (.002) (.006) (.003)
AL17 (Ratio) -.0162 .3086 .2139 .1242 .1767 .5574
(.442) (.003) (.028) (.136) (.058) (.001)

 

aLogarithmically transformed variables.

bSee Chapter 2, Section 2.32 for description of items.

222

Table 1.4

Intercorrelations (and One-Tail Levels of Significance) for Ratio
Scaled and Likert Scaled Social Learning Dependent Variables
for Each Content Treatment Group (N==80)a

 

 

 

 

 

Likert
Dependent Variables
Physical Verbal Altruism Altruism
Ratio Aggression Aggression (Factor 1) (Factor 2)
Physical aggression .7771
(.001)
Verbal aggression .6444
(.001)
Altruism .2434
(.015)
Altruism .4696

(.001)

 

aLogarithmically transformed variables averaged over subjects within
experimental treatment group.

REFERENCES

 

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