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ABSTRACT
LIFE STYLES AND ETHICAL VALUES

OF MEN AND WOMEN ON TELEVISION, 1960-1974

Criticism of the values associated with pOpular
culture has frequently assumed that: l) the mass society
is "lowbrow" and demands media products of low value,

2) highly commercialized or "formula" literature and
media are inherently bad, or 3) the values contained
within the content of popular culture are of a low orden,
a tragedy considering its popularity and assumed influ-
ence. Other critics, however, have studied the values
contained in popular media in order to understand
better individual works, popular art forms and the
cultures which produced these popular works and art
forms. The present study has as its goal to determine
the values contained in television in order to better
understand how TV functions as an art form and what TV
is indicating about the values of our culture.
Specifically, the purpose of the dissertation is to
determine, using Lawrence Kohlberg's scale of values
develOpment, the values portrayed by television charac-
ters in dramatic style prime time programs.

Prior to Lawrence Kohlberg, philOSOphers
attempting to define "value" have claimed 1) that value is

located in the environment, merely awaiting discovery by

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the human mind; or 2) that values are the internal and
subjective creation of the individual valuer. These
approaches are mutually exclusive, and philosophers in
both camps have failed to produce pratical tools for
values analysis. Modern behavioral scientists, however,
claim they can predict and even direct value changes.
Since the assumption of many mass media critics that
the media transmits and influences values is essentially
behaviorist in nature, behaviorist theory seems a
logical place to begin an analysis of values associated
with television.

In the early 1970's, a large-scale behavioristic
study of the relationship between televised violence
and aggressive behavior in children and adolescents was
conducted under the auspices of the United States Surgeon
General's office. Though critics have succeeded in
minimizing the study's public impact, findings of the
study indicated that violence viewing and aggressive
behavior are significantly correlated. This finding
lends considerable support to the proposition that mass
media both reflects and can influence human values and
behavior. Since behavioristic studies can only account
for a portion of the relationship between media and
certain values associated with specific behavioral traits,
however,4a more comprehensive means of analyzing the

values ppojected by television is needed.

 

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Based on longitudinal, culturally unbiased
studies, Lawrence Kohlberg has postulated the existence
of a universal, hierarchical scale of values develop-
ment. Kohlberg's scale of six stages was derived in
part from Jean Piaget's earlier theory of the structural-
developmental nature of human intelligence, which holds
that both the human organism and the environment are
mutually essential to the valuing process. Since each
of Kohlberg's six stages is characterized by certain
views of life, he has found it possible to interrogate
subjects regarding their reasoning process and their
approach to life and determine the stage of values
development which a given subject has reached.

The dramatic nature of television programs has
the effect of placing characters in situations which
reveal their ability to assume various approaches to
life (or sets of values). Since Kohlberg's model
allows us to identify the stage of values development
of a subject by observing his or her reaction to a
hypothetical social dilemma, it is also deemed possible
to similarly analyze a given character on some TV show
by tabulating the stage levels of the character's
responses to social situations he or she faces. Specific
programs and.characters to be studied are identified by
selecting characters on the most popular prime time

programs. Although the main focus is on the 1974

 

 

 

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television season, scripts and reruns of popular pro-
grams between the years 1960 and 1973 are also analyzed
to give historical perspective to the analysis.
Characters from the three leading programs in
each prime time program category are analyzed in detail
to illustrate the technique. In comedy leader All in

the Family, Archie Bunker represents the continuation of

 

a long trend of popular Stage 2 (preconventional)

comic characterizations. Kohlberg's "conventional"
morality (or Stages 3 and 4 on his values development
scale), portrayed on All in the Family by Edith, Gloria,
and Mike, provides the challenge to Archie's world view
that produces comedy on the program. Family drama such

as The Waltons, on the other hand, depends on an under-

 

lying Stage 3 conventional morality which is shared by
all the principal characters. Drama/adventure programs
feature a superhero (and rarely a superheroine) who

embodies, inflexibly, the Stage 4 norms of our society.
Steve McGarrett of the leading drama/adventure program

Hawaii Five-O is analyzed as typical of this group of

 

characters.

As detailed in Chapters 6 and 7, the overall
findings of this study indicate that TV portrays pri-
marily conventional morality (Stage 3 and Stage 4 on
the Kohlberg'scale) which Kohlberg believes is the norm
for our society. Frequency studies show that typically

these conventional values are portrayed on drama and

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drama/adventure programs by single, professional males
in their prime-of-life age range, though women in
comedy programs tend to portray conventional values as
well.

Since by combining Marshall McLuhan's analysis
of print versus electric values with Kohlberg's value
scale it appears that the values conveyed by the TV
medium itself are also conventional, television is
considered to be a strong force for conventional morality
in our society. In addition, since conventional values
are modal for TV, America's most popular art form,
Kohlberg's hypothesis that conventional morality is
modal for the U.S. population gains support from the
present study. Finally, the present study indicates
that analyzing the values of characters, using the
Kohlberg scale,can yield a rewarding new understanding

of dramatic art forms.

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LIFE STYLES AND ETHICAL VALUES

OF MEN AND WOMEN ON TELEVISION, 1960-1974

by

u\&
Kathryn P? Weibel

A DISSERTATION
Submitted to
Michigan State University

in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Department of English (American Studies)

1975

This dissertation is dedicated to

Steven Merle Freeman

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Several people encouraged me to undertake this
dissertation project despite the fact that it sought to
combine a rather new and difficult body of theory to
a new and yet controversial medium. These included,
first and foremost, my advisor, Professor Russel B.
Nye. As a pioneering scholar in three new academic
disciplines over the past forty years, Dr. Nye has
learned to welcome risk, diversity and interdisciplinary
perspective as the seeds of creative learning. His
encouragement and incisive criticism were invaluable
to the present project. Much more than this, however,
his example as an ethical professional and human being
will be a standard for me in the years to come.

Special thanks also go to my mate, Steven M.
Freeman, for his continued faith and encouragement and
for assisting with the collation of the statistical
data. My good friend Marion Welsh Van Winkle introduced
me to Lawrence Kohlberg and spent many hours in conver-
sation with me discussing nuances of the theory and
hashing over ideas for this project.

Professor Victor Howard, Director of the
American Studies Program, gave me my first opportunity

to develop a women's studies course. This course was

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a turning point in my graduate career. Professor
Howard's help and encouragement have been invaluable.
Thanks are also due to Professor Barbara Steidle
(Department of History) and Professors George Hough, III
and the late W. Cameron Meyers (both Department of
Journalism) for supervising my work in the cognate
areas of my American Studies program. Professors Howard,
Steidle and Hough all made thoughtful critiques of
the dissertation which will be useful in expanding
the project.

The dissertation was expertly typed by The
Secretariat (Jean and Walt Whipple) of Ann Arbor,

Michigan.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
LIST OF APPENDICES . . . . . . . . . . . .
CHAPTER

1. VALUES AND THE MASS MEDIA:
SOME PAST CRITICAL ASSUMPTIONS . .

2. WHAT ARE VALUES? SOME
PHILOSOPHICAL DEFINITIONS OF VALUE

3. BEHAVIORISM AND MEDIA ANALYSIS:
THE SURGEON GENERAL'S REPORT ON
TELEVISION AS A CASE STUDY OF THE
BEHAVIORISTIC APPROACH . . . . . .

4. LAWRENCE KOHLBERG'S THEORY OF
VALUES DEVELOPMENT 0 C O O C O O O

5. METHODOLOGY FOR APPLYING KOHLBERG'S
THEORY TO AN ANALYSIS OF
TELEVISION CHARACTERS . . . . . . .

6. A STRUCTURAL VALUES ANALYSIS
OF PRIME TIME TELEVISION SERIES:
FOCUS ON ALL IN THE FAMILY,
THE WALTONS, AND HAWAII FIVE-O . .

 

 

 

7 THE KOHLBERG VALUES AND FREQUENCY
OF APPEARANCES OF PRIME TIME
TELEVISION CHARACTERS, BY SEX,
MARITAL STATUS, OCCUPATION, AGE,
AND PROGRAM CATEGORY, 1960-1974 . .

8. SUMMARY, SPECULATIONS, CONCLUSIONS,
AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

APPENDICES O O O O O O O C O O O 0 O O 0 .

REFERENCES 0 O O O O O O C O O O O O O 0 0

vi

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29

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80

115

155

191

230
253

273

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LIST OF TABLES

From L. Kohlberg's Theory of Moral
Judgment: Classification of Moral
Judgment into Levels and Stages

of Development . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Piaget Stages of Cognitive Development .

Major Concerns and Characteristics of
Kohlberg's Stages of Values Development .

1974-75 Season Programs Selected for
Analysis, by Nielsen Rank and
Nielsen Rating . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Programs in the Fall 1974 Television
Season by Rating and Program Category . .

Top Nielsen-Rated Programs for 1960-1973,
by Program Category . . . . . . . . . . .

Composit Listing of Top Nielsen—Rated
Programs, 1960-1973, by Program Type, and
Availability of Reruns or Scripts . . . .

Average Kohlberg Values of TV Characters
and Average Frequency of Appearance of
the Characters by Sex, by Marital Status
and by Occupation for the 1974 Television
Season . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Average Kohlberg Values of TV Characters
for Comedy by Sex and Marital Status for
the Years 1962 Through 1974 . . . . . . .

Average Kohlberg Values of TV Characters
for Drama by Sex and by Marital Status
for the Years 1962 Through 1974 . . . . .

Average Kohlberg Values of TV Characters
for Drama/Adventure by Sex and Marital

Status for the Years 1962 Through 1974 .

All Characters in 1974 Sample by Age,
Kohlberg Value, and Marital Status . . .

vi

82

93

98

120

121

124

128

194

196

197

198

205

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12.

13.

14A.

14B.

15.

16.

A Comparison Between Kohlberg Values of
TV Characters and the Viewing Population
by Sex and by Program Category: 1974 .

Distribution of the U.S. Population by
Sex, by Marital Status and by Occupation
for Census Year 1970 . . . . . . . . . .
Distribution of TV Characters by Sex

and Marital Status and Program Category
for the Years 1962 - 1974 . . . . . . .

TV Population: 1974, by Age, Sex and
Marital Status . . . . . . . . . . . . .

U.S. Population: 1974, by Age, Sex
and Marital Status . . . . . . . . . . .

Data for 1974 Season Analysis . . . . .

Data for Historical Analysis . . . . . .

Vii

207

217

220

224

225

254

257

LIST OF APPENDICES

A. PRIMARY DATA TABLES . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

B. THE PROCEDURE USED TO AGGREGATE
DATA BY VARIABLE OF INTEREST . . . . . . . 262

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CHAPTER 1

VALUES AND THE MASS MEDIA:
SOME PAST CRITICAL ASSUMPTIONS

As a recent surveyor of American media habits put
it, "Television is still the number one 'Spectator sport'
of the American public." The average television consumer
spends 1200 hours per year in front of his set, as com-
;pared to less than 400 hours per year spent reading all
;printed media combined. There are one hundred million
'television sets in the United States, with 95 percent
<3f all homes having at least one.1 Unquestionably, tele-
‘Vision is the number one mass medium of our mass society,
and.the facts of television consumption alone lead to the
inescapable conclusion that television must be saying
something about our society, and about artistic expression
in general.

In particular, since television is the medium
that is closest to the public, it seems logical to assume
that the human values portrayed by television bear a
Significant relationship to the values of the viewing
Public. ‘With the goal in mind of discovering this rela-
tionship, it will be the purpose of this study to analyze

and measure the values contained in television content
as they are revealed in the actions and attitudes of
prime time TV characters. These values will then be com—

pared to those of the viewing public, or "mass society."

 

 

 

 

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A serious study of the most popular art form
seems appropriate at the present time. In his recent

book, Popular Culture and High Culture, Herbert Gans

 

explains that, particularly in times of low prestige for
intellectuals, negative criticism of popular art forms
has flourished. The focus of the criticism has varied,
says Gans, but it is always leveled at the most popular
new art form of any given period. In the 1950's and 1960s,
criticism of this type was primarily directed against
television, though in the late sixties, mass media
critics turned away from the media per se to concentrate
their attacks on the morals of the growing youth culture.
With the prestige of the intelligentsia again waning in
the wake of the Nixon administration, however, Gans
predicts a revival of the mass society criticism for the
later 1970's.2 Since television continues to be the
newest and most popular mass medium, it seems certain
that, if Gans' predictions are correct, TV will come in
for the brunt of the attack. The critique itself, how-
ever, as this chapter will show, is as old as the history
of popular culture.

A number of critics of literary forms of mass
media, including Ian Watt, Leo Lowenthal, Raymond and
Alice Bauer, Marshall McLuhan, Russel Nye and others,
have emphasized the importance of the discovery of
printing as a primary historical factor in creating both

mass media and the mass society. As the Bauers note,

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ever after this discovery, the economics of mass communi-
cation demanded that such media reach a successively
broader audience.3 The attempt to reach a larger
audience, however, has always been subject to criticism
from the established artistic intelligentsia. This
criticism has taken place on essentially three fronts:
l) criticism of the mass society and the media products
it prefers, 2) criticism of the technological form of
mass media products, and 3) criticism of the values con-
tained in the content of various mass media products.
Although this last area of criticism is the primary
concern of this dissertation, the first two are closely
related to it, and a review of the issues involved in
the critique is important to an understanding of my
rationale in choosing to emphasize the values contained
in media content.

In the 1950's, David Bell surveyed twentieth
century criticism of the mass society to determine its
common perspective.4 He identified several well known
critics of mass society, including Ortega y Gasset, Karl
Mannheim, Karl Jaspers, Paul Tillich, Gabriel Marcel
and Emil Lederer. Bell noted that all these individuals
brought an aristocratic, Catholic or existentialist
perspective to their criticism. In more general terms,
these critics of mass society operated out of a tradi-

tional, authoritarian perspective. They were concerned

 

 

 

 

 

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with the mechanization of society, which they thought
brought a kind of equality that leveled individuals to a
lowest common denominator. According to Bell, these
critics were concerned that not even a few persons (a
cultural elite) would be able to achieve a sense of
individual self in a mechanized age.

Central to this fear regarding loss of individual-
ism was a belief that a general breakdown in cultural,
moral and aesthetic values was in process.7 Bell sum-
marized the critics' view of the causes and present
status of the "mass society" and the nature of its

vulnerability in this manner:

The revolutions in transportation and commun-
nications have brought men into closer contact
with each other and bound them in new ways:

the division of labor has made them more
interdependent; tremors in one part of society
affect all others. Despite this greater
interdependence, however, individuals have
grown more estranged from one another. The
old primary group ties of family and local
community have been shattered; ancient
parochial faiths are questioned; few unifying
values have taken their place. Most important,
the critical standards of an educated elite

no longer shape opinion or taste. As a

result, mores and morals are in constant flux,
relations between individuals are tangential
or compartmentalized rather than organic.

At the same time greater mobility, spatial

and social, intensifies concern over status.
Instead of a fixed or known status symbolized
by dress or title, each person assumes a
multiplicity of roles and constantly has to
prove himself in a succession of new situations.
Because of all this, the individual loses a
coherent sense of self. His anxieties increase.
There ensues a search for new faiths. The

 

 

 

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stage is thus set for the charismatic leader,

the secular messiah, who, by bestowing upon

each person the semblance of necessary grace,

and of fullness of personality, supplies a

substitute for the older unifying belief

that the society has destroyed. 5

As Bell went on to point out, the criticism of
mass society consisted of two broad parts. First, there
was the judgment regarding the anxieties common in modern
living, which Bell considered fairly accurate. Second,
there was what he calls a "presumed scientific statement"
about the causes of the mass society, which involved
industrialization and the demand of the masses for
equality. Though industrialization and the demand for
equality by the masses are facts which cannot be denied,
Bell rejects the notion that they are responsible for
the particular quality of modern life that the critics
find so frightening. In particular, he warns that "when
one seeks to apply the theory of mass society analytically
it becomes very slippery." That being the case, Bell
turns to an alternative explanation of the mass society
theories, finding that they derive directly from the
prejudices inherent within the critics themselves.

Bell notes the influence of the "dominant con-

servative tradition of Western political thought" upon

the critics. Beginning with Aristotle's Politics,

 

democracy has been equated with the rule of the mob,

which, it is assumed, is easily swayed by demagogues and

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must fall ultimately into the hands of tyranny. Thus,
the French Revolution "transplanted" the image of the
mindless masses into modern consciousness. Since then,
cries for social and political equality have created in
the minds of conservative (especially Catholic) observers
of society an almost paranoic fear that in an "equal"
society all established political, social and religious
dogma (what Bell calls "traditional values") must neces-.
sarily be destroyed. Expanding the base of democracy
means for these critics increased public emotionalism,
which will surely unleash irrational, possibly revolu—
tionary forces. In other words, critics of the mass
society fear for the continuance of the established

order as they know it, no doubt from a simple concern

for self-survival.

As Leo Lowenthal convincingly argues in his case
study of the birth of the popular novel in eighteenth
century England, the first concern of the established
intelligentsia (including both authors and critics) was

6 The concern was that the

their own self-preservation.
newly literate masses, incapable of distinguishing between
good and bad art, would purchase only bad art, thereby
forcing the elite practitioner out of business. This

fear proved insubstantial, of course. As Ian Watt

points out, the capitalistic, open market in printing

and book selling supported far more artists of all levels

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of capabilities than patronage had ever been capable of.7

Although technology's capacity for mass production of

materials, with its correspondingly increased level of

influence upon readers, made the content of mass media

an issue of concern at a later stage in the debate over

mass media, the primary criticism was first leveled at

the society itself--the masses of society had no "taste."8
Though criticism of the mass society never

really lessened, an influential critical blow was struck

in the early thirties by Q.D. Leavis's Fiction and the

 

Reading Public. Ms. Leavis criticized the mass society,

 

the quality of the mass media and the level of morality
she felt it contained. Her primary concern, however, was
always clear. As a result of a long progressive process,
beginning with the invention of printing, Leavis argued
that "the general public--Dr. Johnson's common reader--
has now not even a glimpse of the living interests of
modern literature, is ignorant of its grOwth and so
prevented from developing with it, and the critical
minority to whose sole charge modern literature has now
fallen is isolated, disowned by the general public and
threatened with extinction."9 In other words, the
general public is so ignorant in matters of taste that
it is about to commit the ultimate atrocity--to turn a
deaf ear to the critics.

In addition to her distrust of the general reading

public, Leavis also blamed technology and commercialism

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for creating an artistically inferior type of literature.
Cheap novels, she believed (the paperback was just coming
into prominence in England in the 1930's) provided the
temptation for novelists to "specialize" that earlier
novelists were never subjected to. As commercializa—
tion increased, Leavis believed that novelists aimed
directly to saturate the book market with rote, formula
fiction aimed at the lower classes. By contrast, "it
could never occur to an 18th century novelist to write to

10 In the 1920's and

any but his peers," she claims.
1930's, this phenomenon, according to Leavis, turned the
term "best seller" into "an almost entirely derogatory
epithet among the cultivated."11
Recall that it was Leavis who coined the terms
"highbrow, middlebrow and lowbrow" as suitable for use
in describing the fiction of her period. The terms
referred to the quality of the reader, the artistic com—
petency of the writer and the level of morality embodied
in the novels. About the latter, Ms. Leavis is empha-
tically critical. She criticized lowbrow fiction for
provoking "warm, vague, emotional feelings" which she says
are associated with religion and religion substitutes.
Key words in the lowbrow emotional vocabulary include
life, death, love, good, evil, sin, home, mother, noble,

gallant, purity, honor and so forth. As far as Leavis

is concerned, these are "stock emotional responses"

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which "every self-aware person finds that he has to

train himself ... in withstanding."12
Writing forty years later, Edward Shils followed

Leavis in attempting to divide artistic products into

wide, value-laden categories. Shils writes, "For

present purposes, we shall employ a very rough distinction

among three levels of culture, which are levels of qual-

ity measured by aesthetic, intellectual, and moral

standards. These are 'superior' or 'refined' culture,

'mediocre' culture, and 'brutal' culture."13 In an

attempt to avoid condemnation of the mass society

itself, however, he stresses that the levels refer only

to the works and not to the consumers or authors of

those works. Like Leavis, he describes "superior"

culture in terms of established literary analysis: it

“is distinguished by the seriousness of its subject

matter, that is, the centrality of the problems with

which it deals, the acute penetration and coherence of its

perceptions and the subtlety and wealth of its expressed

feeling." "Mediocre” culture is that body of works which,

"whatever the aspiration of their creators, do not

measure up to the standards employed in judging works

of superior culture." Brutal culture is characterized,

according to Shils, by the absence of symbolic content,

depth of penetration, subtlety, and by the presence of

. . . . . 4
'a general grossness of sens1t1v1ty and perception."1

 

——_’

 

lO

Oddly enough, Shils fancies himself a defender
of the legitimacy of mediocre and brutal culture. In
championing his defense, however, Shils must resort to a
discussion of the creators of and the audience of mediocre
and brutal culture, which he precisely set out to avoid.
In Shils' opinion, the redeeming virtue of "mediocre"
culture is that "it is often earnestly, even if simply,
moral." Shils goes on to say that works of mediocre
culture "express something essential in human life, and
expunging them would expunge the accumulated wisdom of
ordinary men and women, their painfully developed art of
coping with the miseries of existence, their routine

15 In other words,

pieties and their decent pleasures."
mediocre culture can be tolerated because it provides an
outlet for the expression of the moral feelings of its
authors and consumers. Though Shils does not identify
the moral values that works of mediocre culture contain,
it is plain that he considers them "good" values--
perhaps those that contribute to the maintenance of the
status quo. It is also clear that he considers overt
morality in literature "simple," however, and incompatible
with aesthetic excellence.

Shils is harder pressed to defend brutal culture,
stating that it would be "frivolous to deny the aesthetic,

moral and intellectual unsatisfactoriness of much of

popular culture or to claim that it shows the human race

 

 

 

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11

in its best light.“ Nonetheless, he finds a saving

grace; popular culture used to be much more brutal even

than it is today:

The culture of these strata [the brutal
culture], which were dulled by labor, illness
and fear, and which comprised a far larger
proportion of the population than they do
in advanced societies in the twentieth cen-
tury, was a culture of bear-baiting, cock—
fighting, drunkenness, tales of witches,
gossip about the sexual malpractices of
priests, monks, and nuns, stories of murders
and mutilations.l

In other words, the good news is that the brutal masses

are diminishing in numbers and progressing, though Shils

doesn't indicate where the progression is leading.

A recent article by Raymond Williams, "On High

and Popular Culture," furnishes some perspective on the

concept of mass society and its cultural products.

Williams argues that high culture represents the best

art, practices, and products from every culture in every

age.

He warns, however, that this high culture is

dominated and controlled--in effect identified--in any

given period by the dominant culture and by the particular

institutions of that culture that are charged with

preserving the high culture. He writes:

Thus high culture, the work of more than
one's own class, society, period or even
epoch, is commonly incorporated into a
particular contemporary social structure--
a social class or such institutions as
universities or churches--that owes its

12

real contemporary existence to factors other
than high culture, and that indeed often
confuses its temporary, local or self-
interested features with the received and
selected high culture that it offers to
justify or to ratify them. 17
Williams argues that such a restrictive view of what
constitutes "high culture" inevitably leads to the
masking of the real meanings and values contained within
the art forms. "Abstract and pseudo-universal definitions
of high culture and popular culture," he warns, "lead
us to evade true cultural values and contemporary

reality."18

In stating the need to recognize many
centers of meaning and value, Williams is arguing not
only for the legitimacy of serious popular culture
study, but is also urging that critics of both high and
popular culture attempt to minimize their cultural biases.
It becomes apparent, then, that the criticism of
the mass society contains both an implicit criticism of
the values of the non-elite classes as well as a criticism
of the mass media products they prefer. Bell notes that
a central tenet of the mass society criticism is fear of
a "general breakdown of values," and Leavis and Shils
illustrate this fear by their discussions of the "lowbrow"
or "brutal" culture. In addition, however, the critics
of mass society view mass media products not only as

morally dangerous but as artistically inferior, just as

the technology that made mass printing possible was

 

 

 

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13

deplored by eighteenth century elite critics. Leavis
eschews formula fiction; film is only recently being
incorporated into academic curricula; broadcasting is
still rigorously excluded in all but "popular culture"
and "audio-visual aids" departments. In Shils'
definition of superior and mediocre culture, no broad-
casting media are included, though mediocre culture can
include "relatively novel genres not yet fully incor-
porated into superior culture," such as the musical

comedy, Shils says.19

The modern-day prophet of the mass media,
Marshall McLuhan, is concerned to locate the values that
are transmitted by the technological form of a given

20 He argues that the most influential

medium itself.
transmission of values takes place, not through content
at all, but through the very form of the media. That is,
"The medium is the message," as his famous phrase goes.
According to McLuhan, there is a very different
set of values associated with print and electric tech-
nology, each of which is related to the forms of the media
themselves. Furthermore, McLuhan believes that the values
associated with technological form cannot be understood
through content analysis. "The effects of technology
do not occur at the level of opinions or concepts," he
writes, "but alter sense ratios or patterns of perception

21

steadily and without any resistance." McLuhan argues

that although the values associated with print technology

 

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14

are taken for granted in the United States, that an
outsider (he notes that he is Canadian) can understand
these values and see how they work in the culture.
Accordingly, McLuhan thinks Alexis de Tocqueville‘s
perceptive comments about American life in the nineteenth
century grew out of his ability to detach himself from
the predominant American media form. McLuhan writes,
"De Tocqueville was a highly literate aristocrat who
was quite able to be detached from the values and
assumptions of typography. And it is only on those terms,
standing aside from any structure or medium, that its
principles and lines of force can be discerned."22
As an example of McLuhan's position, he argues
that the phonetic alphabet, alone, was responsible for
the creation of civilization as we know it. "Separateness
of the individual, continuity of space and of time, and
uniformity of codes are the prime marks of literate and

O I O O I 0 2
ClVlllzed soc1eties," he writes. 3

Simply because of

its straight line formation on the page, print accustomed

individuals to thinking in terms of a linear perspective

and allowed us to develop the concept of point of view,

claims McLuhan.24
Literacy, which has prompted uniformity as a value,

has, in turn, per McLuhan, been responsible for the

development of the producer-consumer system in the United

States. It is a characteristic of both goods and consumers

 

 

 

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in this country that they are standardized in appearance
and quality (or beliefs).25 From the first, McLuhan
argues, America incorporated print technology into its
educational, industrial and political life and the formula
proved very rewarding financially because uniform, stan-
dardized work performance is highly efficient and highly
productive, hence highly profitable.26 Thus, uniformity
and standardization are two values which McLuhan associ—
ates with the visual print culture.27

Tolerance is another value which McLuhan traces

to the linear perspective of the eye:

The ear is hyperesthetic compared to the
neutral eye. The ear is intolerant, closed,
and exclusive, whereas the eye is open,
neutral, and associative. Ideas of tolerance
came to the West only after two or three

centuries of literacy and visual Gutenberg
culture. No such saturation with visual

values had occurred in Germany by 1930.

Russia is still far from any such involvement

with visual order and values.2

Likewise, McLuhan asserts that respectability,
defined as "the ability to sustain visual inspection of
one's life," did not become dominant until after printing,
and that it still remains unimportant in non-visually
oriented Europe.29 The analogy he uses to illustrate
his point is the difference in general appearance between

American women and European women. He claims that

American women have never been equaled in any culture

 

 

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for "visual turnout," (by which I presume he means
visual attractiveness), but that to Europeans, women
of our culture look like "abstract, mechanical dolls."
The appearance of EurOpeans and of the EurOpean coun-
tryside, by contrast, "has always been shoddy in
American eyes," says McLuhan. In related fashion,
asexuality during an enforced and prolonged adolescence
has been a visual value of Americans. This is a result
of the printed media stress (which is compatible with
middle class emphasis on education, training, and
accumulation of wealth) on taking the long, straight
look toward the future and sacrificing immediate
pleasure for long term goals. McLuhan says that in
Europe there is the direct passage from childhood to
adulthood, and that since television, American adoles-
cence has similarly disappeared.30
Although McLuhan is aware that the visual
values of print technology are still important in
American culture, he argues that they can not be pro-
longed indefinitely. He claims that this is not a
"question of values," or a matter which can be dealt
with by rational consideration and reasoned preference:
If we understood our older media, such as roads

and the written word, and if we valued their
human effects sufficiently, we could reduce
or even eliminate the electronic factor

from our lives. Is there an instance of

any culture that understood the technology
that sustained its structure and was prepared

 

 

 

 

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to keep it that way? If so, that would be
an instance of values or reasoned preference.

The values or preferences that arise from the
mere automatic operation of this or that
technology in our social lives are not
capable of being perpetuated.31
In other words, since we don't understand (or even
understand the importance of understanding) the
technology of our media forms, we cannot act in such
a way as to preserve the values they embody.
What then are the values that McLuhan asso-
ciates with the new electronic media? Here McLuhan
is less certain, except insofar as he can tell us what
they are not. McLuhan considers that television is
the electronic medium which has been responsible for
a progressive disappearance of all "lineality in
living." Gone, he says, are the staff and line struc-
tures in management, the stag line, the party line,
the receiving line and "the pencil line from the backs

32

of nylons." Electricity, argues McLuhan, is "instant

information,“ and the electric medium of television

demands the involvement of all the senses, as opposed

to the visually-oriented print media. Thus, a decline
in all of the values associated with the neutral

eye can be expected.33

McLuhan sees evidence of this
in the move away from standardization in consumer

goods and the movement toward non-conformity in

 

 

 

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18

clothing, hair styles, transportation, living styles,
eating habits and so forth.

Since electricity is instant information,
which can be transmitted virtually as fast as it is
created, electricity gives primacy to "process," says
McLuhan.34 By process, McLuhan means to include both
the process of creating media content and the process
of experiencing it. But, in addition, he implies that
attention to process is in itself an electric value.
In fact, the term "mass media" takes on new meaning
when one considers the effects of the electronic media,
argues McLuhan. "In entertainment media," he says,
"we speak of this fact as 'mass media' because the
source of the program and the process of experiencing
it are independent in space, yet simultaneous in time."
Thus the term “mass media" comes to indicate not mass
production, which is a characteristic of the print
technology, but "instant simultaneous experience,"
since everybody becomes involved in it at the same
time.35

Though he grants television much dignity in
his analysis, and considers it in no way second class,
McLuhan is obviously concerned about the effect that
electronic values will have on our culture. Since
television requires the intense participation of all

our senses, he calls it a "tactile" medium, the sense

 

 

 

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19

of touch being most closely correlated with the coor-
dination of overall sensory activity. He goes on,
however, to pose a frightening analogy between elec-
tronic technology and the human central nervous system.
Via this analogy, McLuhan tries to show the meaning—
lessness of content analysis of electric media. He

states:

Electric technology is directly related to
our central nervous systems, so it is ridic-
ulous to talk of 'what the public wants'
played over its own nerves. Once we have
surrendered our senses and nervous systems
to the private manipulation of those who
would try to benefit from taking a lease
on our eyes and ears and nerves, we don't
really have any rights left. Leasing our
eyes and ears and nerves to commercial
interests is like handing over the common
speech to a private corporation, or like
giving the earth's atmosphere to a company
as a monopoly.

McLuhan believes that electronic media forms,
especially television, because of the total and inclu-
sive involvement that they demand, are creating the
need for intensive social involvement, external con-
sensus (or personal concordance) and a docile and
meditative approach to life among the viewing public.37
In other words, McLuhan thinks that the print culture
emphasis on long-term goals is no longer considered
important by children of the electronic age, and that

a countervailing emphasis on getting along in the

present and on understanding one's own feelings and

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20

those of others has arisen. This, claims McLuhan,
is a result solely of the media form, and would be

the same no matter what the content consisted of.38

The previous discussion has shown three major
ways in which critics have linked the transmission of
values to the mass media: the first assumes that the
inferior taste and morality of the mass citizenry
demands media products of corresponding inferiority;
the second directly attacks mass media products (such
as formula fiction, movies and broadcasting) as being
"specialized" and "commercial" rather than artistic.
Finally, McLuhan's attempt to find cultural values in
the technological forms of the media represents a
significant modification and elaboration of other broad
generic criticism of mass media products. In pointing
out the importance of media form, McLuhan raises a
challenge to subsequent media analysis. Any attempt to
consider values in media content must also attempt to
deal with the relationship between media content and

the values transmitted by the media form.

So we come to the central question of this
chapter--what about analysis of values in media con-
tent? Is such analysis legitimate and possible?
Critics in general would probably argue "yes," though

it is clear that such an analysis must take into

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21

account the media form, and that one must avoid being
blinded by one's own cultural mores. Leo Lowenthal,
an early critic of p0pular culture, writes, "By
studying the organization, content and linguistic
symbols of the mass media, we learn about the typical
forms of behavior, attitudes, commonly held beliefs,
prejudices, and aspirations of large numbers of
people."39 Russel Nye, author of the most compre—
hensive text on the popular arts in America, affirms
that values are transmitted by both pOpular and elite

culture, though he claims they are different in kind:

Popular art confirms the experience of the
majority, in contrast to elite art, which tends
to explore the new ... The popular artist
corroborates (occasionally with great skill

and intensity) values and attitudes already
familiar to his audience; his aim is less to
provide a 28w experience than to validate an
older one.

Richard Hoggart, fellow of the Center for
Contemporary Cultural Studies at London's University
of Birmingham, thinks that "works of literature at
all levels are shot through with--irradiated with--
values, with values ordered and values acted out."41
He further believes that it is legitimate to suspend
judgment about the aesthetic quality of the work and

concentrate on values internal to the work.

 

 

 

3;: (I)

f!

 

 

22

So, one isn't at this point specifically
asking questions about the value of the work,
but is trying to understand better what Weber
called 'the relationship of the object to
values.‘ One is trying to find, from as inter-
nal a reading as possible, what this kind of
work tells you about its society, about what
that figciety believes, about its self-iden-
tity.

 

Hoqgart believes that "by creating orders within itself,
art helps to reveal the orders of values present within
a culture, either by mirroring or by resisting them
and preposing new orders."43
For example, Ian Watt was able to discover, in
his study of the birth of the English novel, that
the social transition from a patriarchal to an indi-
vidualist social and economic order was accompanied by
a crisis in marriage which bore particularly hard on
females. The fiction of the period reflected the
increased value placed on marriage and reflected its
increasing difficulty for females to obtain.44 Within
a single novel such as Clarissa, more isolated values
might emerge, values that only make sense when viewed
in connection with other values in the novel and in
other novels of the period. Clarissa valued her
virginity and the approval of her parents; she also
valued her freedom of choice and independence of action.

Watt's analysis of changing marriage customs helps

explain Clarissa's seemingly contradictory values, and

 

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23

the choices she made based on her ordering of those
values.

Richard Hoggart says that the aim of literary
students who have a special interest in understanding
their culture "is to find eventually what field of
values is embodied, reflected or resisted, within the

work.”45

I interpret Hoggart to mean that the various
values portrayed by a work must be analyzed in terms

of the preferences that characters place on them. In
other words, given a choice between two attitudes or
courses of action, which does a given character choose?
How does the sum of these choices stack up into a
system of preferences? In essence, this is the method
of values analysis employed by Lawrence Kohlberg, whose
theory of values deve10pment has been chosen for use

in the present study.

In conclusion, then, this chapter has attempted
to show that the relationship between human values and
mass media products has been an important critical
issue since the invention of printing and the subse-
quent birth of the pOpular novel. It has further
intended to demonstrate that the most fruitful approach
to identifying this relationship lies in a culturally
unbiased analysis of values in mass media content;
and which also attempts to deal with the values con-

veyed by the media form. Although the relationship

    

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24

between media values and those of the viewing public

is important to establish, criticism of the values of
mass society is bound to degenerate into elitist
generalities unless conducted by those trained in the
analytical tools of social research. As Richard Hoggart
points out, sweeping generic studies of pOpular culture
arrive too quickly and insubstantially at bold
generalizations. "Bad literature or mass literature or
process literature may be as corrupting as we often say.
But we have not made the claim convincing even to

SYmpathetic outsiders ..."46

As will become more apparent as this study
proceeds, the theory of values development developed by
Lawrence Kohlberg offers the benefits of a philOSOphi-
cally sound, practical, and culturally unbiased
approach to the analysis of human values. Since
Kohlberg's approach is structural as Opposed to strict-
ly content-oriented, it offers the possibility of
apprehending at greater depth the meaning which lies
beneath judgments and actions of media characters.

In addition, the structural aspect of the theory
provides suggestions for analysis of values inherent
in the media form, which, of course, contributes to
the overall transmission of the value message. Before

proceeding to an explanation of the Kohlberg theory and

25

a discussion of its precise application to the present
research, it is apprOpriate to delve more deeply into
the question of what constitutes a "value." Also, from
a philOSOphical and historical perspective, major
competing approaches to the analysis of values need

to be explored in greater detail. This will be the

subject of Chapter 2.

 

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Notes to Chapter 1

1Figures quoted in English Journal (December
1972), 1248.

2Herbert J. Gans, POpular Culture and High
Culture; An Analysis and Evaluation of Taste (New York,
1974), 4-7.

3Raymond Bauer and Alice Bauer, "America: Mass
Society and Mass Media," Journal of Social Issues,
Vol. 16 (1960), 4-5.

 

 

4David Bell, “The Theory of Mass Society,"
Commentary, XXII (1956), 75-83.

5

 

Bell, 75.

6Leo Lowenthal, P0pular Culture and Society
(Englewood Cliffs, N. J., 1961), 74.

7Ian Watt, The Rise of the Novel: Studies in
Defoe, Richardson and Fielding (Berkeley, 1957), 54.

8Lowenthal, 52-108. Lowenthal describes the
process through which criticism of the popular novel
came to center first on the taste of the readers,
then on the lowbrow authors and most lately on the
content of the novels and its potential effect on
readers, particularly young girls.

90. D. Leavis, Fiction and the Reading Public
(London, 1932), 35.

10

 

 

Ibid., 163.

llIbid., 34.

lzIbid., 64-75.

13Edward Shils, The Intellectuals and the
Powers and Other Essays (Chicago, 1972), 232.

l4Ibid., 232-233.

151bid., 234.

161bid., 261.

17RaYmond Williams, "On High and Popular Cul-

ture.“ New Republic (November 23, 1974), 14.

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20

27

16.
232.

McLuhan's analysis of the meaning and impact

of print versus electric technology is contained in

Marshall McLuhan,
of Man (New York,

21

221bid.,

23Ibid.,

24Ibid.,

251bid.,

261bid.

271bid.,

281bid.,

29Ibid.,

3OIbidl,

311bid.,

321bid.,

331bid.,

34Ibid.,

351bid.,

361bid.,

37Ibid.,

381bid.,

39

Understanding Media: The Extensions

 

McLuhan,

1964).

33.

30.

86-87.

141-142.

33; 85-86;

281.

197.
264.
283.
282.
93-94.
280.
108.
301.
301, 303.
73.
64-65.

225.

Lowenthal, xii.

40

Russel Nye, The Unembarrassed Muse:

The

Egpplar Arts in America (New York, 1970), 4.

 

 

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28

41Richard Hoggart, Contemporary Cultural
Studies: An Approach to the Study of Literature and
Society (Center for Contemporary Cultural Studies,
Birmingham University, March 1969), 19.

42

 

Ibid., 10.

43Ibid., 11.

44Watt, 148.

45Hoggart, 9.

461bid., 7.

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CHAPTER 2
WHAT ARE VALUES?
SOME PHILOSOPHICAL DEFINITIONS OF VALUE

The previous chapter has shown that critics
of elite and popular culture have been concerned about
the relationship between values and the mass media. It
goes without saying, however, that the concept of "value"
is complex, and one which critics seldom attempt to
define concisely. Since I chose a particular definition
of values--Lawrence Kohlberg's--for use in this study,
it seems apprOpriate to review briefly how values have
been defined historically before discussing what I
believe to be the superiority of Kohlberg's approach.
Therefore, the purpose of this chapter will be to
review the historical development of value theory.

Before Kohlberg, attempts to define value took

either a nomothetic or idiographic approach.1 In terms

 

of value theory, the nomothetic approach is based on the
belief that the locus of values is in the external

world, and that values are transmitted to the human
organism as always normative, obligatory, and legitimate.
The nomothetic approach may be either absolutist (all
values are the same for everyone, or at least everyone

in a given culture) or relativist (values depend on
unique experiences that happen to individuals), but in

Either case, values are believed to come to the person

29

 

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30

from society and culture. The idiographic approach,
on the other hand, takes the Opposite view and postu-
lates that values are a creation of the person's own
mind. According to this approach, values are relative
to the experience of each individual; therefore, it is
not fair to judge them by any external or “objective"
standard.

In the past, these two approaches to values
have tended to be mutually exclusive, and theorists in
both camps have failed to arrive at practical means for
analysis of either individual or cultural values. To
better understand the mutually exclusive and limited
nature of the idiographic and nomothetic approaches,
this chapter will briefly discuss the theories gener-
ated by major philosoPhers in each camp. The philosoph-
ical overviews will be followed by a look at the most
modern practitioners of each approach. Since the
idiographic philosophers' claims regarding the prac-
tical application of their theories for values analysis
are modest in comparison to those of nomothetic theo-

rists, the discussion will begin with them.

Early prominent idiographic philosophers were
concerned with personal values as they affected social
justice. Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) led a group of
political humanitarians in England called the Philosoph-

ical Radicals (James Mill, father of Stuart Mill: was

 

 

 

 

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31

among the members), whose focus was the encouragement

of legislation favorable to poor peOple. In particular,
however, Bentham's great influence on nineteenth century
men and women of letters grew out of his doctrine of
utilitarianism. In terms of value theory, Bentham's
principle of the greatest good for the greatest number
is called "universal teleology." Teleologists, as a

subgroup of axiologists, or value theorists, are con-

 

cerned with the comparative amount of good that any
act will cause. In his belief that pleasure or satis-
faction is the source and measure of the good, Bentham
was in agreement with previous idiographic philosophers,
including the sephists, hedonists and epicureans, all
of whom advocated pleasure as the greatest good.
Bentham, however, denied that personal good always
equals universal good, believing instead that it is
necessary for individuals and society as a system to
act in such a way as to maximize the pleasure of the
many.

The great pOpularizer of value theory in
nineteenth century EurOpe was Friedrich Nietzsche
(1844-1900). His primary tenet was that values are
man-made and only temporarily stable and useful.
Accordingly, Nietzsche interpreted history as the
continuous creation and annihilation of values.

Christianity, to him, represented an outdated set of

32

values, and he proposed that a new human culture
based on more realistic contemporary values should
replace it. His analysis of the values of the edu-
cated middle class as antiquated led many peOple to
consciously seek more realistic ideals. Since Nietzsche
was primarily concerned with evolving a philosophy
of life, however, his theory was more concerned with
prescribing values that seemed to work in contemporary
society rather than analyzing a range of values or
attempting to identify the most worthwhile values. As
such, he advocated a self-centered, strong-willed
approach to life which would be able to withstand the
forces of political and economic competition that were
in control of nineteenth century social structures.3
Though economic theories of value have been
primarily nomothetic, some early twentieth century
economists were consciously idiographic or subjective
in orientation. Franz Brentano (1837-1917), Alexius
Meinong (1853-1921) and Frieherr von Ehrenfels
(1859-1932) found the locus of value in the motives
(or intentions), pleasure and appetites, respectively,
of the valuer. Along somewhat similar lines, the
.American axiologist Ralph E. Perry (1876-1957) believed
that value came about as a result of the interest
taken in any given object by the valuer. Perry's

theory was in part nomothetic, since he thought that

 

 

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33

value realistically resided in objects in the environ-
ment. He qualified this, however, with his theory that
value only comes into existence at the moment when
interest is taken in such objects. For example,

"the silence of the desert lacks value until the moment

when the wandering traveler finds it desolate and
terrifying; this is also true in the case of the

waterfall until human sensitivity finds it sublime,"

writes Perry.4

Of course, the idiographic approach to values

largely avoids the necessity of ranking values and

making judgements as to the correctness of a given
individual's preferences. If value is not intrinsic,
it cannot be experienced the same by everyone, so it
is unfair to judge the motives, appetites or interests
of another, since each person's experiences, and thus
values, will be legitimately different. This, in
effect, was the position taken by British philosopher/
scientist Bertrand Russell.

In his treatise on Religion and Science (1935),

 

Russell stated that "the chief ground for adopting this
view [subjectivist] is the complete impossibility

of finding any arguments to prove that this or that
has intrinsic value." Russell, however, was not
content to leave the issue without further discussion.

He acknowledged what he perceived as a “desire to be

 

 

 

 

 

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34

'good'" on the part of most people. This desire to

be good, however, according to Russell, "generally
resolves itself into a desire to be approved, or
alternately, to act so as to bring about certain general
consequences which we desire." Regardless, Russell
accused some peOple of having "imprOper" or "petty"

5 As one critic of Russell's theories has

desires.
noted, if he truly believed there were no such thing
as intrinsic value, he could not have made this accu-
sation, since he could not be completely confident that
his tastes or values were more prOper or less petty.
Russell was plainly convinced of "the existence of
justice, decency and dignity. . ." though he refused
to admit it since he could not make a scientific case
for it.6

More recently, some social scientists have

attempted to measure the existence of subjective values.

Rollo Handy, in his survey The Measurement of Values:

 

Behavioral Science and Philosophical Approaches, presents

 

L. L. Thurstone as typical of this group.7 Thurstone
has conducted a number of studies of preferences dis-
played by certain subjects for particular nationalities,
moral values, consumer goods, menu items, handwriting
styles and so on. Thurstone's primary measurement
technique has been self-reporting, usually via survey-

questionnaire. He does not measure behavior since he

 

 

 

 

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35

believes that values may not be reflected by behavior.
He says:
A man may be entirely consistent in

what he says and in what he does about a

controversial issue, and yet both of these

indices may be dead wrong in reflecting his
attitude . . . His personal attitudes may

or may not agree with what he says and what

he does. Here again, attitudes are essen—

tially subjective experiences whicg may or

may not conform with overt action.
Although Thurstone argues that understanding and
predictability Of certain values can be gained by
his method, the problem Of how one ought to value,
given conflicting social or moral claims, remains
untouched by his approach.

The unwillingness to attempt a ranking of
values, or to acknowledge the superiority of some
values over others is, in my Opinion, the major
failing of other modern idiographic philoSOphers.
These groups of philOSOphers, who usually speak of
themselves as "relativists," can be divided into two
broad groups. One group maintains that values are
culturally relative, but that the values of (in par-
ticular, this) culture are Obligatory on all who wish
to remain a part of the society. Choosing one's culture
(which, of course, almost nobody really does) becomes

the means by which the free will selects a set of values.

The other branch Of relativism, which has several

 

 

 

 

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36

self-conscious subgroups--including existentialists,
humanists, and values-clarificationists--believe that
all values are relative. Every individual is judged
responsible for the formation of his or her own values,
and it is considered unfair for another individual,
who has not had the same set Of experiences and cannot
be in possession Of the same knowledge and perspective,
to pass judgment on those values.9

The most clearly defined relativistic values
movement in the United States today is the values
clarification movement. Louis E. Raths, its founder,
and his principal disciple, Sidney Simon, now considered
the movement‘s leader, are humanists with a concern
for what they perceive as the lack Of values among
school children. In their classic textbook on values-

clarification, Values and Teaching: Working with Values

 

in the Classroom, Raths, Simon and co—author Merrill
Harmin, say that “too many children in the schools
today . . . do not seem to learn as well as they might
Ibecause they simply are not clear about what their lives

are for, what is worth working for."10

Implicit in
the procedure of the clarificationists is the idea that
22x_purpose is better than no purpose at all, certainly

in terms of motivating students to learn in the class-

room .

 

 

 

 

 

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37

In their attempt to focus on the process of

valuing and to provide practical guidance for the

teacher, Raths, Simon and Harmin focus on seven selec-
tion criteria which they posit as necessary for some-
thing to be considered a value. These are: choosing
l) freely, 2) from alternatives, 3) after thoughtful
consideration of the consequences of each alternative;
and 4) cherishing, being happy with the choice;;

5) being willing to affirm the choice publicly;

6) action, or doing something with the choice; and

7) making the choice a part of some pattern of life.

The authors also identify eight indicators of values,

 

xflhich they say are like values in many respects, but
‘Mhich do not possess all of the above seven criteria.
'rhese are: goals or purposes; aspirations; attitudes;
.interests; feelings; beliefs and convictions; activities;
iind worries, problems, or obstacles.11
The problem with the values-clarification

approach, however, is revealed in the following inter—
cflnange between a teacher and her students, used as an
«example of the technique in Raths, Simon and Harmin.

The teacher has asked the class for possible alternative

WaYS to view honesty.

Teacher: . . . Well, then, let's list the
four possibilities that we have on the board
and I'm going to ask that each of you do two
things for yourself: (1) see if you can
identify any other choices in this issue of

544‘

 

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38

honesty and dishonesty, and (2) consider

the consequences of each alternative and

see which ones you prefer. Later, we will
have buzz groups in which you can discuss
this and see if you are able to make a choice
and if you want to make your choice part of
your actual behavior. This is something you
must do for yourself.

Ginger: Does this mean that we can decide
for ourselves whether we should be honest on
tests here?

Teacher: No, that means that you can decide
on the value. I personally value honesty;
and although you may choose to be dishonest,
I shall insist that we be honest on our tests
here. In other areas Of your life, you may
have more freedom to be dishonest, but one
can't do anything any time, and in this class
I shall expect honesty on tests.

Ginger: But then how can we decide for
ourselves? Aren't you telling us what to
value?

Sam: Sure, you're telling us what we should
do and believe in.

Teacher: Not exactly. I don't mean to tell
you what you should value. That's up to you.
But I do mean that in this class, not else-
where necessarily, you have to be honest on
tests or suffer certain consequences. I
merely mean that I cannot give tests without
the rule of honesty. All Of you who choose
dishonesty as a value may not practice it here,
that's all I'm saying. Further questions
anyone?12

It is obvious here that the teacher is talking
out; of both sides of her mouth. She has set up a
sitluation whereby students "choosing" dishonesty
freely, from alternatives, after thoughtful consideration

<3
f"the consequences of each alternative, and happily,

1e
child not then go on to affirm the choice publicly, act

39

it out or incorporate it into a life pattern ("you can
cheat elsewhere, but not here"). Had the students
really been alert, a logical outgrowth Of such an inter-
change might have been to question the value of

testing, or any other means of examination that would
require the "rule" of honesty. In other words, it is
clear that the teacher values both testing and honesty
and that she considers not valuing them, invalid.

Under the Kohlberg method of teaching values development,
it would be the teacher's role to discover the stage
level of those students valuing dishonesty, and by
answering their arguments with logical consistency at
the next higher stage, impress them with the superior
logic and morality of honesty. Surely this is a more
"honest" approach for the teacher who values honesty

to take.

In marked contrast to idiographic theorists,
nOmothetic philosophy has been full of prescriptive
judgments regarding how people gught to value and which
values are higher than others. Recall that the nomo-
thetic view contends that values are contained a priori
in"the environment, merely waiting to be apprehended.
AS Such, philosophers and social scientists of this
per:Suasion have believed it is possible to identify
ax“3 occasionally rank values by deductive reasoning

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40

methods, however, have been tenuous and subject to
criticisms of various sorts, and their results have

been very limited in scope.

The first discipline to deal overtly with
theories of value was economics. Early economists
were nomothetic, defining value as that which is
contained within goods which renders them valuable.
During the ancient and medieval periods, goods were
exchanged directly for other goods and for services,
with little use being made of money as a symbolic
carrier Of value. Later, in the mercantilist period
(fifteenth and sixteenth centuries), money was consid-
ered valuable in its own right. Growing out of the
belief Of the time that one nation's gain, in terms
of wealth, was of necessity another's loss, economists
believed it was crucial to sell more goods and services
than were bought, in order to stockpile bullion.
Bullion, in turn, was used to enrich the personal
Coffers of the sovereign and to purchase military forces
arki supplies to protect and enlarge the sovereign's
territory. Such economic value theories were said to
sQQk a "favorable balance of trade."13

John Locke (1632-1704), David Hume (1711-1776),
David Ricardo (1772-1823), and Karl Marx (1818-1883) were

all“Ong the best known economists to talk in terms Of

 

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41

labor, as opposed to goods, as the primary source
of value. These men varied greatly, however,
regarding what claims they believed the laborer had

to the fruits of his labor.14

Beginning with Adam Smith (1723-1790), human
nature itself began to be viewed as a source of economic
value. Living through the first decades of England's
Industrial Revolution, an era which witnessed a major
leveling of class status and income, and the birth of
wide scale consumerism, Smith observed that people
seemed to possess an innate desire to better themselves
(Smith meant financially) which in turn was a driving
force in the economy. Individual competition, according
to Smith, automatically bettered the society as a whole,
even if it led to a change in the form of government.15
Of course, modern interpretations of Smith's doctrine
of laissez faire capitalism continue to influence policy
Inakers in Europe and the United States today. In more
Inodern times, however, economists have talked increas-
lingly in terms of supply and demand, price systems,
lltility, marginal productivity, business cycles and
<Dther analytical concepts such as 'function," "marginal
IPIOpensity," and "multipliers." "Value" as an empirical

(Zoncept, because of its theoretical generality, is not

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42

Individual philosophers have argued for the
existence of intrinsic value at least since the begin-
ning of the recorded history of Western thought. Plato
assumed that a priori forms of existence, called
"essences," imposed order and values on life. Immanuel
Kant (1724-1804), usually spoken of as the father of
the discipline of axiology itself, also reasoned
the existence of a priori forms such as space, time
and causality, the facts regarding which cannot be
derived from our experience, and which are independent
of our perception of them. Kant's Critigues estab-
lished the relationship between knowledge and moral,
aesthetic and religious values that has remained the
focal point of modern value theory. In his Critigue

of Practical Reason (1788), Kant elaborated upon

 

his "categorical imperative." According to Kant,
duty is an a priori form that dictates the single law
that free beings are bound to follow. This self-
.imposed rational law, which follows from the freedom
Eind dignity of the human will is "act only on that
nnaxim through which you can at the same time will that
lit become a universal law."16
Partly in reaction against Kant, European
Eixiologists of the nineteenth century were largely

idiographic in orientation. In England and the United

States, however, where value theory was just coming

 

 

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43

into its own, the principal theorists were nomothetic.
In England the neo-realist movement was begun by G. E.
Moore (1873-1958), whose basic belief was that things
quite simply possess the properties that they are

17 In the United States,

normally experienced to have.
objectivism was called pragmatism, and its leading
exponent in the area of moral values was William James
(1842-1910). "The pragmatic method," according to
James, "tries to interpret each notion by tracing its
respective practical consequences . . . If no practical
difference whatever can be traced," between alternatives,
they "mean practically the same thing, and all dispute
is idle." Unlike other pragmatists, James was interested
primarily in moral phi1050phy. For James, if morality
and religion work, they are sufficiently true to be
believed in. On pragmatic principles, he argued in
the Lowell Lectures, "if the hypothesis of God works
satisfactorily in the widest sense of the word, it is
true.“ Though James' ideas have had great impact on
American thinking, the course of value theory itself
diverged from his neo-realism shortly after the turn of
the century, at the same time that the modern school of
behavioral science was working its way into prominence
in this country.18
Meanwhile, nomothetic value theories were

returning to prominence in Europe. In particular,

 

 

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44

some comments on the theory of Max Scheler (1874—1928)
are rewarding. Scheler attempted to synthesize pre-
vious value theories, and he derived philosophically
a theory which bears many similarities to Kohlberg's
theory, which is derived from cross-cultural research
in values development. Scheler acknowledged a consid-
erable debt to Kant. It will be remembered that Kant
believed that duty cannot be derived from experience,
so that duty, or awareness of ethical law, precedes
value. Scheler turned this formula around, coming to
the conclusion that since essences or values cannot
be deduced from reality, value itself must precede
duty and serve as a basis for moral law.19
Scheler's primary concern was the establishment
of a hierarchy of values and the establishment of
criteria for distinguishing between high and low values.
Although Scheler postulated that values themselves

are independent and immutable, he recognized that the

knowledge of values is relative. Values, however, are

 

not end-states of existence for Scheler; they are rather
embedded in the "objectives of the tendency" towards
certain ends. On the relationship between ends and
objectives, Scheler had the following to say:
Nothing can ever become an end without
first having been an objective. The end

is based on the objective. Objectives can
be given without ends, but ends can never

45

be stated without objectives which antecede
them. We cannot create an end out of noth-

ingness, nor can we 'propose' one without

itzggndency toward something' which precedes

Scheler believed that values are revealed to us
in the course of sentimental perception, which he
conceived of as a third domain of understanding, distinct
from both the affective and logical domains. He pro-
claimed the existence of a hierarchical order of values
in which superior values become apparent to the individ-
ual valuer only in the process of valuing itself. The
superiority of one value over another, according to
Scheler, is apprehended by means of "preference,“ which
is a special act of cognition separate from judgment--
the judgment, or innate positioning of the value on
the hierarchical scale, is a priori to the act of
preference. Though Scheler maintained that this
hierarchical arrangement of values cannot be deduced
logically, but only through the intuitive act of
preference, he devised five criteria to be used in
determining the position of certain types of values on
the hierarchy. He called the following five criteria
"characteristics of laws" of preferring. In order,
they are:

l) Duration--Lasting goods are preferred.

2) Divisibility--"The height which values
achieve is in inverse ratio to their

46

divisibility, that is, the greater their
height, the less they have to be divided,
on account of the participation by the
many therein." For example, food has to
be divided many ways, so it is less
valuable than the beauty of nature, which
can be enjoyed equally by the many without
its division. Likewise, Scheler stated
that spiritual values are high values since
they can be had by all equally without
division.

3) Foundation--If one value is the foundation
of another, it is higher than the other
value.

4) Depth of Satisfaction.

5) Relativity--Scheler postulated that rela-
tivity of value is immediately apparent,
and independent of judgment and reflection.
The less relative a value, the higher it
is. The highest values are absolute.

Scheler's "characteristics" led him to arrange
his value hierarchy into three groups of values:

Lowest--va1ues corresponding to affective
states of pleasure and sensible pain.

Second place-—"vital values;" that is, values
which cannot be reduced to pleasure and
pain, such as values of well-being,
including values relating to health,
exhaustion, sickness, old age and death.

Third group--The highest value category--of
"spiritual values." He further breaks
this category down into three groups,
arranged in hierarchical order from
lowest to highest. At the low end, he
places values of the beautiful and ugly
and other purely aesthetic values. Next
come values of the just and unjust, which
he claims are independent of the idea of
right and wrong as posited by any State or
any positive legislation. The highest
values are those of "pure knowledge of
the truth," which philOSOphy attempts to
realize. He carefully notes that these

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47

values do not include values of positive
science which aspires to knowledge for
the purpose of controlling events. The
very highest of these values, according
to Scheler, correspond to religion and
consist of ecstasy and desperation, which
measure the proximity to or distance

from that which is holy.

Scheler's hierarchy, like Kohlberg's, places
moral versions of justice above laws of the state;
values moral justice over hedonistic pleasure; and
stresses cognitive understanding, in Scheler's case,
by placing “pure knowledge of the truth" among the
highest values. Scheler's positioning of religious
values at the top of his hierarchy corresponds well
with Kohlberg's description of his highest stage
(Stage 6) of values develOpment and with his use
of Jesus and certain religious leaders as examples of

individuals who reached that stage. That superior

values are acknowledged only in the process of preferring

 

them also anticipates the develOpmental component of
Kohlberg's theory.21
Some recent social scientists and philOSOphers
have talked in terms of needs, as opposed to preferences,
as intrinsic to human values. Perhaps the best known
philosopher of this school of thought is Abraham Maslow.22

Maslow's theory of motivation says that there are at
least five basic needs, including physiological,
safety, love-belonging, self-esteem and self-actualiz—

ation needs, which are largely responsible for

 

 

 

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48

motivating human behavior. The needs are hierarchical
(as listed above, the most basic or "prepotent" needs
appear first), according to the theory, and the lower
needs must be significantly satisfied before the indi-
vidual will be motivated by a desire to meet the higher
needs. Effectively, a higher need only comes into being
when the next highest need is well on the way to satis-
faction, since gratified needs are not active moti—
vators in Maslow's View. Maslow emphasizes, however,
that various intellectual disadvantages and negative
environmental conditions, particularly as experienced
by a young child, can make it unlikely that an indivi-
dual will ever fggl that his lower needs are satisfied.
As a result, he will continue to be motivated by
meeting the lower needs and will never seek out ful-
fillment of higher needs. Though "needs" tend to
equal “values" in Maslow's theory, he does claim that
some people possess "ideals, high social standards,
high values and the like" and that these people ”become
martyrs,“ giving up everything, even the satisfaction
of basic physiological needs, for the sake of their
values.

Though Maslow acknowledges that his theory
deals with the individual, as opposed to group or
society needs, he does imply that there are implications

in his theory for the "good" society. Such a society

 

 

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would be defined as "one that permitted man's highest

purposes to emerge by satisfying all his prepotent

23 In addition, Maslow believes his

basic needs.”
theory has important practical relevance for child
development, psychology, sociology, cultural history
and numerous specific clinical and academic research
problems.

Though Maslow's theory does not assign a
lower moral level to his lower needs and a higher
morality to his higher needs, it is interesting that
Maslow's need hierarchy and Kohlberg's stages of
values development contain some parallels from stage
to stage. Without advancing at this time to a full-scale
treatment of Kohlberg, it is possible to say that both
men rate hedonistic and less-reciprocal needs or values
lower than those which involve social interaction with
and approval by another person or group of persons.
Also for both men, approval by the society or larger
system, called "self—esteem" in Maslow's case, is ranked
higher than approval by the family or in-group (called
"love-belonging“ in the Maslow scheme). Finally, both
men see the highest values as very complex, involving

a deep self-knowing on the part of the individual.
Comments on Scheler and Maslow have been

presented at some length since these philosophers

developed hierarchical theories in some respects like

 

 

 

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Kohlberg's. Since both Scheler and Maslow maintained
that some values are higher than others, each implicitly
suggested how one ought_to value. Maslow, however, -
thought that environmental constraints beyond the I
individual's control could get in the way of higher need
satisfaction. In fact, in his various references to
environmental determinants, Maslow revealed himself not
too far distant from the most influential group of

value theorists in the United States at the present
time-~the behavioral scientists.

For over fifty years, "behaviorism," as it is
called, has had the type of multi-discipline influence
in this country that existentialism enjoyed in most
of Europe.24 In some respects, behaviorism is a
uniquely narcissistic philosophy, which no doubt owes
much of its success to the climate of Optimism and
prosperity which has long been the trademark of American
living. Nomothetic in the extreme, behaviorism relies
on the idea that human develOpment in general is a
function primarily of the environment. The fundamental
principle of behaviorism is that the human mind is a
reflection of the external world.

Although behavioral scientists do not view
themselves as cultural relativists, the fact that
behaviorism has "taken off" in this country to an

extent not matched in any other (with the exception,

 

 

 

 

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interestingly enough, of the U.S.S.R.) suggests that
behaviorism is, in fact, socially normative, and that
it is the goal of behaviorists, whether acknowledged
or not, to transpose the forms of the environment onto,
the individual. It is significant, I believe, that the
prime targets for behavioristic studies are children,
deviant adolescents, the mentally retarded, those with
learning disabilities, the incarcerated, and other
groups of individuals considered potentially patho-
logical by the society. (Recently, this includes
college students.) For the prime directive of behavior-
ism is to change people.

The branches of behaviorism in this country
are myriad, but all of them have as their goal to
change individual values and behavior, or to better
understand hgw_human values and behavior are changed.
The fact that the general educated public is not
threatened by this is due, I believe, to the culturally
normative aspect of behaviorism mentioned above. Most
behaviorists are system-oriented, interested in pushing
people toward the norms of our society, not away from

them.25

Behaviorists in psychology, for example,
largely have as their goal the "adjustment" of indi-
viduals to the society's view of right and prOper. A

particularly fruitful branch of the movement, called

the social learning theory branch, is a merger of

 

 

 

 

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52

psychoanalysis and behaviorism which relies on guilt
(including remorse, pain and anxiety) to motivate "moral"
behavior. Likewise in education, behaviorists are
primarily interested in procedures that will motivate
children to respond better to the behavior patterns
expected by the school, especially the discipline con-
sidered necessary for an atmosphere in which the teacher
can best function.

An impressively large body of literature by
behaviorists has been concerned with understanding
"attitudes" and attitude change. Although recently there
has been some concern to distinguish between "attitudes"
and "values," for my purposes, the "attitude" literature
can be considered to be about values as well. The
literature reveals the difficulty behaviorists have in
measuring the existence of certain attitudes, and their
even greater difficulty in proving that subjects under-
went meaningful attitude change as a result of some
experience generated by researchers. The "self report"
method, which utilizes a written or oral examination,
is commonly used but it is considered unreliable by many
social scientists. In addition, studies using this
measure are often open to the charge of triviality,
especially when subjects are required to choose between
or rank fairly distinct and unrelated items, without any
opportunity to explain their reasoning process. The

only indication of attitude change which is given high

 

 

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53

credence by many behaviorists is prolonged change in the
subject's behavior.

The difficulty in proving attitude change apart
from behavior has led "radical behaviorists" of the
B.F. Skinner persuasion to assume that neither values nor

26 According to Skinner, behavior is

attitudes exist.
completely determined by environment and there is nothing
that the individual can do about it, since the forces
that will direct his life have been set in motion before
he was ever born. Values, for Skinner, have no reality
apart from behavior; they are merely a form of rational-
ization we have developed to help us feel that we under-
stand the environmental forces that direct our lives.

Few behaviorists are as extreme as Skinner in their view
of values, but most behaviorists believe that one of the
best ways to change beliefs is to first force a change

in behavior.

To summarize briefly, previous theories have
taken either a nomothetic or idiographic approach toward
values, maintaining in mutually exclusive terms that
value is an aspect of the environment, or a creation of
the mind of the valuer, respectively. Some idiographic
theories have claimed that although value does exist in
the environment, it only comes into being when it is
invested with interest/appetite/desire, etc., on the part

of the valuer. By denying the existence of intrinsic

54

value, idiographic theories, however, have in general
failed to suggest how one ought to value, or which
values are in any sense better than others. As a result,
meaningful analysis of values based on their theories is
impossible. Nomothetic theorists such as Max Scheler
and Abraham Maslow, who have attempted to set up hier—
archies of personal values, have provoked much discussion
and some additional research. Since their theories were
not empirically derived in the first place, however, it
is difficult to validate them without being subject to
the charge of loading the dice. Therefore, values
analysis based on such allegedly absolute scales is
highly questionable.

Finally, the claim has been made that values
analysis conducted by behavioral scientists has been
limited, of questionable validity and that it has been
more concerned with behavior, and specifically behavior
change, than with values for their own sakes. Since
the assumption of many critics that the mass media
reflect and influence values is essentially behavior-
istic in nature, however, a review of behaviorist
research on the impact of TV viewing seems a logical
starting point for an analysis of values associated with
television. A case study of the behavioristic method,
as it has been applied to television, is therefore the

subject of Chapter 3.

 

 

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55

Notes to Chapter 2

1See John S. Stewart, Toward a Theory for Values

Development Education, Ph.D. dissertation (Michigan State
University, 1974), 25-26. The terms "nomothetic" and
"idiographic" are used by Stewart in his descriptions

of the modern-day values philosophies which the Kohlberg
theory synthesizes and partially incorporates. The
present analysis extends these definitional terms to
apply to value theories of the past. The Stewart terms
were used primarily to avoid wordy repetitions of the
concepts they are defined to represent.

 

 

2See Jeremy Bentham, The Principles of Morals
and Legislation, ed. Laurence Lafleur (New York, 1948).
A good biography of Bentham is Mary Peter Mack, Jeremy
Bentham: An Odyssey of Ideas (New York, 1963).

 

 

 

3Nietzche's critique of Christianity and his
proposed alternative in self—conscious strength of will
are outlined most comprehensively in Friedrich W.
Nietzsche, The Will to Power, translated and edited by
Walter Kaufmann and R.J. Hollingdale (New York, 1968).
The Will to Power was first published in 1901.

 

4A good critique of Brentano, Meinong, von
Ehrenfels and Perry in terms of their contributions
to value theory is found in R. Frondizi, What Is Value?
An Introduction to Axiology, 2nd ed. (La Salle, Ill.,
1971), 33-47.

 

5Bertrand Russell, Religion and Science (New
York, 1935), 137-143.

 

6Frondizi, What Is Value?, 111.

 

7Rollo Handy, The Measurement of Values:

fighavioral Science and Philosophical Approaches (St.
Louis, 1970). Handy also recognizes the mutually
exclusive characteristic of "subjective" versus
"objective" approaches to values analysis; he recommends
a "transactional" approach.

 

81bid., 52.

 

 

 

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56

9Cultural relativism is not too different from
nomothetic philosophy, since cultural values are
obligatory for the members of a society. Underlying
the beliefs of many cultural relativists in this country
one suspects, is the conviction that American society
represents a peak in cultural evolution, so that
violation of U.S. norms is absolutely "wrong." The
native in Africa, however, can be forgiven if he or she
chooses to convert to Western standards.

10Louis E. Raths, Sidney B. Simon, and Merril
Harmin, Values and Teaching: Working with Values in
the Classroom (Columbus, Ohio, 1966), 10.

 

 

llIbid., 28-30.

12Ibid., 114—115.

13A good discussion of mercantilism is found in
Robert Lekachman, A History of Economic Ideas.

 

14Ibid. Other good sources of general informae
tion on economic theories of value include Joseph
Dorfman, The Economic Mind in American Civilization,
Vol. I-III (New York, 1946-1949) and Robert Heilbroner,
The Worldly Philosophers (New York, 1953).

 

 

15Ibid. Smith's The Theory of Moral Sentiments
(London, 1911), which was first published in 1759, is
also interesting in the present context. A rewarding
comparison could perhaps be made between Smith's theory
of morality and Lawrence Kohlberg's theory of values
development since Smith specifically dwells on appre-
hensions regarding "approbation" and "duty" as central
to moral perceptions. Such terms are very suggestive of
the language Kohlberg uses in describing the character-
istics of his Stages 3 and 4 of values development.

 

16The reasoning involved in Kant's categorical
imperative is discussed in Lewis White Beck, A Commen-
tary on Kant's Critique of Practical Reason (Chicago,
1960). Further formulations of the imperative,
including the familiar maxim to "treat humanity in
every case as an end, never as a means only," are dis-
cussed in Harry Burrows Acton, Kant's Moral PhilOSOphy
(London, 1970).

 

 

 

 

 

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57

17George E. Moore, Principia Ethica (Cambridge,
1956), especially 131 ff. and 197 ff.

 

18Quotes are from William James, "What Prag-
matism Means" in John K. Roth, ed., The Moral Philosophy
gf William James (New York, 1969), 276; and James,
"Pragmatism and Religion," ibid., 339. These essays
were originally given as lectures at the Lowell Insti-
tute in Boston in 1906. Classifying James as a "nomo-
thetic" philosopher will perhaps meet with some objection
since many scholars have previously labeled him a
"relativist," considering pragmatism and radical
empiricism to be relativistic doctrines. It is true that
James' theories, like John Dewey's, are on the border-
line between nomothetic and idiographic philosophy,
as herein defined. In fact, James' ideas bear many
similarities to structuralist-developmentalist thought.
It seems to me, however, that James is primarily con-
cerned to transpose the locus of value away from
intangible absolutes (like Plato's "essences" and
Kant s "categorical imperative") to concrete absolutes,
which he calls "pure experience" in the world. In the
essay which kicked off the pragmatism movement in
America, "Does Consciousness exist?" (reprinted in
Essays in Radical Empiricism, ed. R.B. Perry, New York,
1922), James explains his theory that consciousness
and objective reality are not two substances with
qualitative differences but rather that they form two
parts of a whole, best understood in terms of their
relationships with each other. The permutations of the
argument lead frankly to;the conclusion, however, that
the whole of which consciousness and objective reality
are parts is really just objective reality, in James'
opinion. James is concerned with the practical conse-
quences of actions precisely because he is most certain
of external reality. He is less sure about how or if
individual minds vary (restructure) this reality.

 

 

 

 

19Scheler violently rejected both Kantian
formalism and the various forms of relativism which were
popular in the late nineteenth and early twentieth
century. His doctrine of the hierarchy of moral values
appears in Max Scheler, The Nature of Sympathy, trans.
Peter Heath (London, 1954). In a companion book,
Scheler accuses all those who hold subjective theories
of value of being motivated by what he calls "ressenti-
ment." See Scheler, Ressentiment, trans. William W.
Holdheim (New York, 1961). Both books were originally
written as essays in the 1910's.

 

 

58

20From The Nature of Sympathy, quoted in
Frondizi, 81.

 

21The information on Scheler's hierarchy is
summarized from Frondizi, 81-101.

22See especially Abraham H. Maslow, "A Theory
of Human Motivation," Psychological Review, Vol. 50,
370-396 for a basic discussion of Maslow's need hier—
archy.

 

23Ibid., 393.

24In the introduction to the revised edition of
his book Behaviorism (New York, 1930), John B. Watson,
the movement's founder, summarized some of the history of
behaviorism in America. At first, the movement was
very unpopular with the established elite in psychology
and with moralists and religious idealists in general.
Watson tries to explain why "behaviorism has had to
weather such a continuous storm." He writes: "Behavior-
ism, as I tried to develop it in my lectures at Columbia
in 1912 and in my earliest writings, was an attempt
to do one thing--to apply to the experimental study of
man the same kind of procedure and the same language of
description that many research men had found useful for
so many years in the study of animals lower than man.

We believed then, as we do now, that man is an animal
different from other animals only in the types of
behavior he displays.... I think the forcing of this
conviction caused most of the storm."(ix)

Watson goes on to brag, however, that "without
being overtly accepted," behaviorism's influence had
nonetheless become profound during the first 18 years
of its existence: "To be convinced of this, one needs
only to compare the contents of our journals title by
title for 15 years before the advent of behaviorism
and during the past 15 to 18 years. One needs only to
compare the books written before and after. Not only
have the subjects studied become behavioristic but
the words of the presentations have become behavioristic.
Today no uniVersity can escape the teaching of behavior-
isnn In some its methods and hypotheses are accepted,
in others it is taught ostensibly for the purpose of
criticism. The truth is that the younger generation of
students demands at least some orientation in behavior-
ismm"(xi)

 

'O r;. -

 

 

 

 

59

25The following statements from the opening
chapter of best seller Beyond Freedom and Dignity
(New York, 1971), by leading behaviorist B.F. Skinner,
illustrates the normative aspect of the discipline.

"In trying to solve the terrifying problems
that face us in the world today, we naturally turn to
the things we do best. We play from strength, and our
strength is science and technology. To contain a
population explosion we look for better methods of
birth control. Threatened by a nuclear holocaust, we
build bigger deterrent forces and anti-ballistic-
missile systems. We try to stave off world famine
with new foods and better ways of growing them.
Improved sanitation and medicine will, we hope, control
disease.... But things grow steadily worse and it is
disheartening to find that technology itself is in-
creasingly at fault.

"What we need is a technology of behavior. We
could solve our problems quickly enough if we could
adjust the growth of the world's population as pre-
cisely as we adjust the course of a spaceship.... "
(1-3)

26Ibid., especially 98-99.

 

 

 

 

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CHAPTER 3
BEHAVIORISM AND MEDIA ANALYSIS:

THE SURGEON GENERAL'S REPORT ON TELEVISION
AS A CASE STUDY OF THE BEHAVIORISTIC APPROACH

As stated at the end of Chapter 2, the claim
that the mass media can affect the values of its
audience is essentially behavioristic in origin. To
date, research into the effects of television viewing
has been limited to behavioristic studies, the great
majority of which have been concerned with the impact
of TV violence viewing on children and adolescents.
This concern with media violence could have been antici-
pated. Beyond its impact on the individual, violence
is seen as ultimately harmful for the life of the
society as a whole. As is amply demonstrated on
"crime drama“ programs on television, violence is
associated with theft, larceny, fraud, embezzlement,
blackmail and a host of other crimes that are dangerous
to the functioning of a capitalistic society.

Since behaviorists claim they can change
values and behavior, which they believe are regulated
entirely by the environment, it seems logical to assume
that considering the advisability of media regulation
is one goal underlying such studies of TV violence.

Furthermore, it is no doubt fear of media regulation

which has been responsible for the cool and qualified

60

 

 

 

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reception that even the strongest behaviorist studies
have received from personnel representing both broad-
casting and nonbroadcasting media. The present chapter
will review the claims of the most recent and most
exhaustive such behaviorist study, completed in early
1972 by the United States Surgeon General's Scientific
Advisory Committee on Television and Social Behavior.1
The Surgeon General's study represents the
culmination of a slowly growing concern over the impact
of television violence, which began in the early years
of the medium's popularity. Some of the earliest
studies of television were content analyses which
attempted to document the extent of violence on TV. An
early study conducted in New York City in 1952 discovered
that 3,000 acts of violence had been portrayed in a single
week.2 In 1956, a subcommittee of Senator Kefauver's
Crime Investigation Committee reported, amidst general
committee findings of rising urban crime, that juvenile
deliquency might well be related to viewing of violent
programs on television. Although TV violence continued
to increase during the late fifties and early sixties,
national concern over the relationship between violence
viewing and aggression remained essentially dormant
until the youth riots of the middle and late sixties.3
Desperately searching for causes of widespread teenage

violence, President Johnson's National Commission on

62

the Causes and Prevention of Violence concluded in
1969 that television was in part responsible, especially
in precipitating violence by children from poor and
broken homes.4

Finally, President Nixon, elected on a "law
and order" ticket, accepted the suggestion of Senator
Pastore that a full scale investigation be conducted
by the Surgeon General's office to determine exactly
what, if any, harmful effects TV has on children and
adolescents. After a careful screening procedure, in
which the TV networks themselves participated (this was
greatly resented by the Committee members when it came
to their attention) a group of well-known behavioral
scientists, together with a sprinkling of media rep-
resentatives, was appointed by the Surgeon General.5
In an attempt to move as quickly and efficiently as
possible, the Committee subcontracted its studies to a
number of researchers across the country, many of whom
had projects in progress at the time the Committee was
formed. In early 1972, the Committee was ready with
its results--contained in a summary document written
by Committee members and five lengthy supporting volumes
0f papers, recording the findings of each individual

PrOject conducted.

The Committee's first problem, it revealed,

was in coming to a consensus as to what constitutes

 

 

63

"violence“ and what a "violent act." Even regarding
certain specific acts, they felt that circumstances and
the age, sex and social role of participants made a
difference. Nonetheless, they used the following as a
working definition: "the overt expression of physical
force against others or self, or the compelling of
action against one's will on pain of being hurt or
killed."6
This definition of violence is in complete
accord with the primary characteristic, namely orienta—
tion to punishment, of Kohlberg's lowest stage (Stage 1)
of values development. The Committee recognized, how-
ever, the ease with which personalized violence against
a particular victim can be confused with violence
justified in order to maintain society as a system:

Almost every society, including primitive
societies, legitimizes for the sake of its
own maintenance some aggression and violence
against internal and external threats. Every
society has inconsistent norms and mores.
Every society talks a better, purer, more
noble game than it plays. Aggression and
violence are always the legitimized privi-
leges of authority, whether it be within the

setting of the family, within a tribe, or
within a nation.

The possibility of screening violent acts and programs
based on the motives of particular characters was
apparently considered by the committee, but was evi-

dently dismissed as not worth the effort. One study

64

conducted under the auspices of the Committee, more-
over, showed that only older adolescents had a high
capacity for understanding the motives behind various
violent acts. Young children displayed little or no
ability to distinguish motives.8

The actual research contracted by the Committee
can be divided into two broad groups: studies of chil-
dren and studies of adolescents. Since the techniques
and measures used for these age groupings differ
somewhat, it is best to discuss them separately, begin—
ning with the research on children. Many studies have
shown that children are capable of imitating any act
viewed on the screen, so the Committee did not contract
for any additional imitation studies. As the Committee
put it, "The fact that children can mimic film-mediated
aggressive behavior is perhaps the best-documented
finding in the research literature on the effects of the

pictorial media."9

The group selected instead projects
which had as their goal to investigate "media instig-
ation of aggressive behavior." When the research was
completed, the Committee reported the general finding
that “The majority of studies, covering various age
levels, share the conclusion that viewing violence
increases the likelihood that some viewers will behave

aggressively immediately or shortly thereafter."10 Two

 

 

6“"

 

65

specific studies will be briefly described below to
illustrate the techniques that were used.

One study monitored the nursery school behavior
of a group of 3-1/2 to 5—1/2-year-old boys and girls.
Some of the children were shown aggressive programs,
some neutral programs, and some pro-social programs.

The study found that the greatest change in behavior

was toward pro-social behavior in children from low
socio—economic backgrounds who had viewed the pro-social
material. In another study, aggressive and neutral
programs, respectively, were shown to two groups of
young children. In a laboratory experiment that fol-
lowed, the children who had viewed the aggressive epi-
sode were more prone to "hurt" rather than "help" an
alleged child victim. In these and other studies of
young children, direct observation of behavior in either
a laboratory or nursery school setting was the most com-
mon technique used to monitor change. Although this
technique can be criticized as posing an artificial
situation for children, behaviorists using this method
claim that the children are given time to acclimate to
the environment before testing. As a result, they say,
the laboratory conditions are very close to school and

other social environments that children normally

experience.ll

66

For adolescents, the technique of self-reporting
was used to draw correlations between violence viewing
and aggression. Sometimes, evaluations made by a sub-
ject's family and peers were used instead of the self-
reports. The various measures that were used included
1) total time spent viewing television, 2) preference
for violent programs, and 3) amount of time spent viewing
violent programs. Although little correlation was ob-
served between the measure of total time spent viewing
and aggressive behavior, almost all the correlations
between violence viewing and aggressive behavior were
positive, most of them ranging from nil to .21.

Significantly, the highest correlation coeffi-
cients, both at about .30, involved studies in which
earlier viewing was correlated with later aggressive
ratings. In one study, mothers were asked to report on
the viewing habits of their third grade sons. Then, ten
years later, peer ratings of aggression were taken on
these same boys. A .31 correlation was found between
earlier exposure to TV violence and the peer ratings of
aggression at age 18. Another study asked high school
Students "how frequently they had watched each of
thirteen shows that were on television three or four
Years ago." This measure was then correlated with

Current aggression, also measured by self-report. The

67

measure of past violence viewing correlated to aggression
at .33, slightly above the correlation between the
measure of current violence viewing and the measure of
aggression (.30).12
Some interpreters of the Surgeon General's
study, especially those connected with the media, have
been quick to point out that the correlation factor
in all the studies was at about .30, in the .20's or
below. This, they claim, is not very convincing evidence
that violence on televison is a significant factor in
causing violent behavior. Other interpreters of the
study, including some of those whose reports compose the
technical sections of the document, argue that the
recurrent appearance of positive correlations is sig-

nificant and should not be overlooked.13

In evaluating
the findings, the Committee itself is cautious and
circular, presenting the case for both interpretations.
It does concede, however, that "These data are suppor;

tive of the interpretation that viewing leads to aggres-

sion, within the parameters of a relationship at the

.30 level."14

What ig the significance of a correlation at
the .30 level? As the Committee points out, correlation
is not the same as causation, nor does correlation
necessarily imply that a causal sequence exists. Accor-

ding to the Committee, causal inference requires:

68

1. Association--the variables must be shown
to covary;

2. Time order--change in the specified cause
must occur prior to change in the specified
effect; and

3. Reasonable explanation or functional rela:.
tionship in a non-mathematical sense.

The Committee explains that correlation coefficients
satisfy the first requirement and that those that link
changes from earlier to later measurements also meet

the second. But the third requirement, that of
“reasonable explanation or relationship" can never be
definitive, they say.15

Because of their association and time order,

however, certain assumptions regarding the causal rela-
tionship of two measures are standardly made by scien-
tists. These assumptions are not discussed by the
Committee. Specifically, taking the two variables,
violence viewing and aggressive behavior, it can logi-
cally be assumed, based on the tests administered by the
subcontractees to the Surgeon General's Committee, that
thirty per cent of the phenomenon "aggressive behavior"
can be attributed to the factor "violence viewing." In
addition, of course, about seventy per cent of the
phenomenon aggressive behavior must be explained by
other factors. Also, it is no doubt possible that the

factors are related in complex, yet undiscovered, ways.

 

by

In

69

If it were the goal of the Committee to con-
struct a model that would explain gll_the causes of
aggressive behavior in children and adolescents,
violence viewing, in itself, would obviously be insuf-
ficient. However, considered as only one factor, it
must be considered a very significant one. It is a
naive view of cause and effect to consider that a single
cause must account for all or even a major portion of
the effect described in order to be significant.16 It

was clearly the Committee's assigned task to describe

television's contribution toward aggressive behavior,

 

not to supply a check-list of all the causes and rank
them according to their impact. In such a study,
television might be comparatively less important. In
the present study, however, it is television that has
been indicted, and the indictment is strong whether or
not media officials and the general public wish to admit
it.

In an attempt to qualify the results of the
studies, the Committee explored at some length the
possibility that a "common origin.variable" might be
responsible for both violence viewing and aggressive
behavior. Three potential candidates for such a vari—
able emerged, in the Committee's Opinion. One was
”restrictive" (as opposed to physical or verbal) paren-

tal punishment. In one study restrictive punishment

70

correlated to aggressive behavior at the .41 level,
whereas violence viewing correlated with aggressive
behavior at only the .17 level.17
According to the COmmittee, parental emphasis
on nonaggression emerged as an even stronger candidate
for a third variable, since children whose parents
were definitely anti-violence were rated significantly
lower in both biolence viewing and aggression. In a
relation study, the failure of families to demonstrate
disapproval was found to be more strongly related to
aggressive attitudes than was exposure to television

violence.18

The third candidate for a common origin
variable discussed by the Committee was "family communi-
cation patterns," but much additional research is needed
in this area, according to the Committee.19
One of the questions which apparently plagued

the Committee had to do with the mechanism whereby vio-

 

lence viewing allegedly leads to aggression. This
question was investigated by one of the research teams.
It found correlations at about the .30 level between
both violence viewing and aggression and three factors:
1) Identification with violent characters, 2) learning
about aggression, and 3) linkage of television to real
life. The second factor, however, "learning of aggres-

sion" was further broken down into three categories:

71

1. Acquisition of knowledge about techniques,
e.g., how to hit someone.

2. Acquisition of knowledge of pertinent facts
of life, such as that hitting someone is in
fact one way of gaining ends.

3. Acquisition of values, e.g., that hitting
someone is a preferred way of gaining ends.

 

The assumption was made by the researchers that aggres-
sive behavior could not be stimulated by violence view-
ing unless values favorable to violence were either
learned in the process or had already been acquired.
The correlations linking "approval of aggression" to
violence viewing and to aggressive behavior, however,
were the weakest found in the study. What this lower
correlation (at about the .21 level) means is unclear,
and the Committee suggests that further research into
questions of value is called for.20
The Surgeon General's Committee took it for
granted, however, that the mass media is one of many
institutions that transmits values:
We have noted and deplored the paucity of
research about the manner in which values
with respect to many areas of behavior,
including violence, are transmitted, and
about the role played by television and21
other mass media in this communication.

The Committee also declared that "it is taken for

granted that television programming is on the whole

consonant with modal interests and values." This

72

assumption was made because television is a successful
medium dependent upon a voluntary audience, but also
because studies undertaken for the Committee clearly
indicated that network personnel, including producers
and writers of TV programs, consciously attempt to give
the people what they want.22
This is the case because of the networks'

desire to make money and to do it with as little risk as
possible. Paul Monash, interviewed as part of a sympos-
ium of TV writers, stated that almost all TV shows are
derivative of others. Even coming up with a suggestion
for a different program scheme doesn't guarantee that

the network will buy it, according to Monash. Networks

23 In the

prefer to remain with the tried and true.
specific context of violence on television, one finding
of the Surgeon General's staff was that there is a .49
correlation between the average Nielsen rating of
programs classified as violent in any given year and
the number of such programs broadcast in the following
year. Another study found a .53 correlation between
percent of programs classified as violent in any given
season (prior to 1972) and the mean Nielsen ratings for

24 In other words,

all evening programs in that season.
the public tends to reward violent programming by
increased viewing--a difficult incentive for a profit-

oriented industry to resist.

 

73

The Committee leveled a more direct indictment
at the broadcasting industry itself, however. It noted
that given the voluminous amount of potential material,
decisions must be continually made about what will be
presented and:

The values reflected in these decisions are
no less relevant because they are generally

unarticulated. The decisions made take on
importance because all these varieties of
television fare can structure the audience
member's relationship to reality. To varying

extents and in various ways, they can engage

conscience, modify or mobilizgsopinion, and

challenge or confirm beliefs.
The Committee here very clearly holds out television's
potential for encouraging values deve10pment. That TV
does not do this is largely a matter of inertia and the
profit motive, the Committee believes, but they isolate
other factors as well. "In general, the powerful,
influential, and elite have opportunity to initiate and
control the content and uses of television in ways that
the powerless, the poor, and the non-elite do not," they
state.26 Recognizing that television has grave potential
for perpetuating stereotypes about groups such as
females, blacks, the poor, the elderly and so on, one
of the goals of the present study is to determine what
differences in values are attributed to men and women
and to various age groups according to their represen-

tation by television characters.

 

 

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74

In summary, the Surgeon General's report is
provocative and deserving of much greater public expo-
sure than it has received. With regard to the limited
task assigned the Committee, the findings are quite
specific. To repeat, "These data are supportive of the
interpretation that viewing leads to aggression, within
the parameters of a relationship at the .30 level."
Clearly, a .30 correlation should not be dismissed
lightly, and in my opinion, the reason that it has been
is largely due to fear of media regulation on the part
of media officials and others.27

In terms of a more general analysis of values
portrayed by televison, however, the type of procedure
employed by the Surgeon General's Committee and its
staff clearly has its limitations. To begin with, the
amount of money, research and writing time that went
into the analysis of a single aspect of television con-
tent, namely televised violence, is overwhelming. Con-
sider magnifying such a study by the number of poten—
tially isolable values and behavioral traits that tele-
vision could portray, assuming the level of thoroughness
employed by the Surgeon General's Committee. The result-
ing project would take a team Of researchers the size of
the Committee's staff decades to complete. Perhaps such

ongoing analysis of our most popular medium would be

 

75

beneficial, but to suggest it at the present time is
clearly not feasible.

In addition, the technique of self-report
measures used by the Surgeon General's staff in the
studies of adolescents has been seriously questioned by
critics.28' This is so despite the fact that the staff
was measuring such relatively concrete behavior as
"violence viewing" and "aggression." The difficulties
of constructing a credible self-report measure would
increase dramatically if abstract values such as
instrumental reward, peer approval, loyalty to the
society, etc., or their associated behaviors, were to
be considered.

In terms of the present study, though, there
are more profound, if more obvious, limitations to the
behavioristic approach. Specifically, the method empha-
sizes behavior, rather than underlying values, and
socially malignant behavior at that. That is, behavior-
istic measures are designed to pick up behavior that
stands out as different, somehow deviant from the group
or norm. Normative behavior and normative values are
not questioned by behaviorists. As such, the whole
issue of growth or personal development beyond the norm
is not considered.

Lawrence Kohlberg's studies indicate that input

from the environment, which includes the mass media, can

76

(not mggt) influence behavior and personal growth,
especially when it provides opportunities for role-
taking, or taking on the perspectives of other people.
Television, of course, provides constant opportunities
for role taking on the part of viewers. Thus, in
addition to its potential for negative influence, tele-
vision has the capability to portray strong positive
value models. Although the Surgeon General's Committee
recognized television's potential for encouraging values
development, it thought the profit motive prevented
conscious utilization of this potential. I therefore
consider it important to determine, according to
Kohlberg's scale, the actual level of values development
portrayed by the most popular television characters of
recent years and to see how these levels compared with
Kohlberg's estimates for the viewing population. An
explication of Kohlberg's theory will be the subject of
Chapter 4.

77

Notes to Chapter 3

1The findings of the study are summarized and
critiqued in: The Surgeon General's Scientific Advisory
Committee on Television and Social Behavior, Television
and Growinngp: The Impact of Televised Violence
(Washington, D.C., 1972). Five volumes of technICal
documents were reviewed by the Committee in preparing
the summary document. The five volumes are published
separately as: U.S. Department of Health, Education and
Welfare,Te1evision and Social Behavior: A Technical
Repgrt to the Surgeon General's Scientific Advisory
Cdmmittegon Television and Social Behavior (Washington,
D.E., 1972). It should be emphasized that the Surgeon
General's study represents the most comprehenSiwestudy
of televised violence using behavioral science methods.
There are numerous books, pamphlets and dissertations on
the subject as well. In part, the findings of a majority
of these earlier studies that television violence can
affect behavior prompted the massive government project
coordinated by the U.S. Surgeon General.

 

 

 

 

2Dallas W. Smyth, New York Television: January
4-10, 1952 (New York TV Monitoring Study No. 4, Urbana,
Illinois: N.A.E.B., 1952).

 

 

3The Kefauver findings are referenced and the
increase in televised violence during the late 1950's
and early 1960's is documented in U.S. Senate Committee
on the Judiciary, Hearings Before the Subcommittee to
Investigate Juvenile Delinquency (Washington, D.C.; 1962,
1964), Parts 10 and 16.

 

4David M. Rein, "The Impact of Television
Violence," Journal of Popular Culture, 7 Part 4 (Spring
1974), 934.

 

5The Surgeon General's Scientific Advisory
Committee, Television and Growing Up, 21-24.

 

61bid., 5.

71bid., so, 190.

81bid., 96, 114-116.

78

9Ibid., 103.

101bid., 106.

11See Aletha H. Stein and Lynette K. Friedrich
with Fred Vondracek, "Television Content and Young
Children's Behavior," U.S. Dept. of NEW, Television
and Social Behavior, Vol. II, 202-317; and Robert M.
fiebert and Robert A. Baron, "Short-term Effects of
Televised Aggression on Children's Aggressive Behavior,"
Ibid., 181-201. A laboratory playroom is described in
Television and Growing Up, n. 63.

 

12See Monroe M. Lefkowitz, Leonard D. Eron,

LeOpold 0. Walter and L. Rowell Huesmann, "Television
Violence and Child Aggression: A Followup Study,"
Television and Social Behavior, Vol. III, 35-135; and
Jac, M. McLeod, Charles K. Atkin and Steven H. Chaffee,
"Adolescents, Parents, and Television Use: Self-Report
and Other-Report Measures from the Wisconsin Sample,"
Ibid., 257, 299.

13Rein, 943.

14Television and Growing Up, 161.

15Ibid., 143-144.

16Often the mere absence of negative correla-

tion as was the case with all the reported studies, is

considered "significant" relationship between two
variables.

17Television and Growing Up, 169-170. The study
referencedgis Jack M. McLeod et a1., cited above.

18Ibid., 170-171. Four studies cited include
two by McLeod et al.; Steven H. Chaffee and Jack M.
McLeod, “Adolescent Television Use in the Family
Context"; and Joseph R. Dominick and Bradley S. Green-
berg, "Attitudes Toward Violence: The Interaction of
Television Exposure, Family Attitudes, and Social
Class," all in Television and Social Behavior, Volume III.

79

19Television and Growing Up, 171-172.

2°Ibid., 159.

21Ibid., 189.

22The studies referenced include George Gerbner,
"Violence in Television Drama: Trends and Symbolic
Functions"; Muriel G. Cantor, "The Role of the Producer
in Choosing Children's Television Content?; and
Thomas F. Baldwin and Colby Lewis, "Violence in Tele-
vision: The Industry Looks at Itself," all in Television
and Social Behavior, Volume. I.

 

 

23A. William Bluem and Roger Manvell, eds.,
Television: The Creative Experience; A Surygy of
Anglo-American Progress (New York, 1967), 67.

 

24See David G. Clark and William B. Blankenburg,
"Trends in Violent Content in Selected Mass Media,"
Television and Social Behavior, Vol. 1, 188-243.

25Television and Growinggp, 42—43.

26Ibid., 44-45. See also p. 79. The Committee
writes, "Although many among network personnel express
interest in reducing violence in thier programs, they
feel constrained by the economic realities of broadcasting."

27It is possible, in addition, that "violent"
characters on television, particularly the law enforcers,
exhibit the values of network executives in another
form. Network officials may privately laud such
aggressiveness, when associated with professional
expertise, tenacity in problem solving, "getting the
jump" on the other guy and so forth. As will be explained
in Chapter 7, the most violent regular characters on
television are also the most "professional“ and the most
conventionally moral, using the Kohlberg scale.

CHAPTER 4

LAWRENCE KOHLBERG'S THEORY OF VALUES DEVELOPMENT

Throughout each of the preceding chapters, I have
stressed the need for a philosophically sound but scien-
tifically derived theory of value which can be prac-
tically applied to the study of television characters.
Chapter 2 discussed a number of philosophers who attempted
to define and analyze values based on theories conceived
apart from scientific investigation into the nature of
human preferences and needs. I decided, however, that
such hypothetical structures are shaky tools for analysis
of the values of real individuals or for those of people
as they are portrayed by the media. Since the claim
that the mass media can reflect and influence values is
behavioristic in origin, Chapter 3 then examined the
behaviorist approach to values measurement as it has
been applied to the study of television. The United
States Surgeon General's analysis of the relationship
between violence viewing and aggressive behavior was
used as a case study of this approach. Although the
Surgeon General's report contained provocative findings,
I concluded that only the effect of media-reflected
values associated with concretely observable behavior,
such as aggression, can be efficiently measured by the

.behaviorist method. This is so because of the behaviorist

80

 

 

 

81

need to prove that actual changes in behavior have
occurred in subjects as a result of some previous atti-
tude or value change.

Having eliminated other theories of value and
approaches to values analysis as impractical and inade-
quate for the present study, I now wish to turn to an
explication of Lawrence Kohlberg's Theory of Values
Development. The present chapter will explain the
Kohlberg theory in detail, thus providing both the
rationale for its selection and the background informa-
tion prerequisite to an understanding of its application
to the analysis of the values of television characters.

The Theory of Moral Judgment (Values Development)
advanced by Lawrence Kohlberg is the only current theory
of values development that is based on longitudinal,
cross-cultural studies of nondeviant adolescents and
adults. Kohlberg theorizes that there are certain
principles (different from rules or laws) that are cental
to "right” human values and behavior. His studies showed
that subjects in different societies move sequentially
through each of three levels, including six hierarchical
stages of moral deve10pment. The levels and stages of
values development according to Kohlberg's theory are
summarized in Table 1.1

Kohlberg's research indicates that individuals
pass through stages sequentially, without the possibility

of skipping any stage except "Stage" 4%. In addition,

TABLE 1

From L. Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Judgment:
Classification of Moral Judgment into Levels
and Stages of Development

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Levels Basis of Moral Stages of Development
Judgment
I Goodness and Stage 1. The_punishment and
badness are obedience orientatiOn. The
seen in terms physical consequences of
of their action determine its goodness
physical con- or badness. Avoidance of
sequences as punishment and unquestioning
determined by deference to power are values
those concrete in their own right, not in
persons who terms of respect for an
enunciate the underlying moral order E22-
rules and ported by punishment and
labels of authority (the latter is
good and bad Stage 4).
Stage 2. The instrumental
relagivist orientation or
the "business ethic." Right
action consists of that
behavior which satisfies
one's own needs and ocassion-
ally the needs of others.
Fairness, reciprocity, and
equal sharing are valued by
the Stage 2 individual, but
they are always interpreted
in a physical, pragmatic way.
Reciprocity is a matter of
"you scratch my back and I'll
scratch yours," not loyalty,
gratitude or justice.
II Maintaining Stage 3. The interpersonal

the expecta-
tions, rules
and standards
of the family
group or nation
are seen as
valuable in
their own

 

concordance, or “good girl7good
bgy" orientation. Good
behavior is what pleases or
helps others and is therefore
approved by them. There is
much conformity to stereo-
typical images of what is
majority or "natural" behavior.

 

Table 1 (continued)

Levels Basis of Moral
Judgment

83

Stages of Development

 

II cont. right. There
is a concern
not only with
conforming to
the individual
social order
but also in
maintaining,
justifying and
supporting
this order.

Imitation and identification
are common. Society as a
whole is viewed somewhat
vaguely, and the perspective
is dyadic, oriented toward
the small group or toward a
small community of peers.

Stage 4. The "law and order"
orientation. The individual
is oriented toward authority,
fixed rules, and the mainten-
ance of the social order.
Right behavior consists of
doing one's duty, showing
respect for authority, and
maintaining a stable social
system and one's own character.
The individual at Stage 4 sees
things from the perspective

of the public or the gener-
alized member of society who
belongs to several groups or
mutual dyads, and who has
developed a perspective toward
that which is common to all
groups, i.e., to society as a
system.

 

 

Stage 4}. The stage of cynical
ethical relativism. This is
not a true stage, since not
everybody goes through it on
the way to principled thinking.
At Stage 4%, the person has
developed the Stage 4 capacity
to take society's point of
view, understands the nature

of society, but now rejects

the claim of Stage 4 to prior-
ity and validity. Seeing
society's point of view as not
necessarily valid, the Stage 4%
individual goes on to question
the validitv of all moral

views and concludes that
everything is relative.

Table 1 (continued)

84

 

 

Levels Basis of Moral Stages of Development
Judgment
III Major thrust Stage 5. The social contract
is toward orientation. Laws that are

autonomous moral
principles that
have validity
apart from the
authority of

the group or
concrete
individuals.

The principled
thinker is able
to evaluate the
moral validity
of concrete
social rules

and norms,
through tests of
more general
justice
principles.

 

not constitutional, that vio-
late human rights or that are
not in the general interest
are judged to be invalid.
Since there are two distinct
substages of Stage 5, their
descriptions follow.

Stage 5-A. Thegprocess

 

orientation. This stage corre-
sponds closely to Bentham's
notion of the "greatest good
for the greatest number."

There is a clear awareness

that personal values and
opinions are relative and a
corresponding emphasis upon
procedural rules for reaching
consensus.

 

Stage 5-B. Human liberty
orientation. Self-development
and perfection of individuals
as human beings are the
highest priorities. The
rights of individuals take
precedence over the societal
perspective.

 

Stage 6. The universal ethical
principle orientation. Orien-
tation is towards ethical
principles appealing to

logical consistency, compre-
hensiveness and universality.
The principles are abstract,
and at Stage 6, the individual
evaluates, in terms of ideal
reciprocity, the rights,
welfare and dignity of all
individuals. That course of
action which benefits the least
advantaged person(s) is seen

as most just

 

85

his data shows that subjects tend to act out the highest
stage of moral development they can understand, although
they have the capacity to be taught the principles of
the next highest stage. Since there are relatively few
models of principled thinking in the United States or
in any other culture (Kohlberg believes that less than
fifteen percent of the population of the United States
reaches Stage 5, with perhaps only five percent reaching
Stage 6), Kohlberg thinks it likely that most individuals
reach Stage 6 only through the intense stimulation
provided by personal crisis and sustained responsibility
for the welfare of other people.2

Kohlberg's theory explicitly rejects as incom-
plete and partially incorrect both the nomothetic and
idiographic approaches discussed in Chapter 2. It will
be recalled that the nomothetic approach conjectures that
values are located in the external world. On the other
hand, the idiographic approach claims that values are
the internal and subjective creation of the individual
valuer. In preference to the mutually exclusive .
nomothetic and idiographic theories of value, Kohlberg,
his mentor Jean Piaget and other members of their
school, have adopted a philosophy and methodology which
they describe as structural-developmental. The struc-
tural-developmental approach to values involves views of

the human organism which stand in contrast to both

86

behaviorism and relativism, modern-day nomothetic and
idiographic disciplines, respectively, while at the
same time mediating between them.3
As a result of cross-cultural research, the
structural-developmentalists have discovered that there
is an underlying universality to the way humans organize
thought, use logic, define situations and take social
perspectives. They recognize that the superficial
aspects of human behavior are relativistic, being to a
great extent culturally and situationally determined.
The great discovery is that underneath overt behavior
there is an underlying structure which is responsible

for the fact that individuals in all cultures think,

act out and evaluate given situations using the same type

 

of reasoning_process when they are at corresponding stages

 

of mental and moral development.

Of prime importance to the structural-develop-
mental approach is the view of humanity as "organismic."4
The organismic view supposes that one of the basic axioms
of existence is that motivation is intrinsic to living
organisms. In other words, the organism is not a
machine, which requires some external force to set it
in motion; the source of and force motivating its activity

is internal to it. Some further characteristics of

the organismic approach include:

87

- the study of man as a functional whole

- the study of man in the healthy state rather
than basing views on pathological states
(a propensity of behaviorism)

- a stress on man as intrinsically active and
motivated, which includes the premise that
man transforms any external reality in
the process of perceiving and assimilating
it. 5

On its surface, of course, this view stands in
sharp contrast to behaviorism. As John Stewart, a

leading interpreter of Kohlberg puts it:

It is the view than an organism plus life is
the foundation for understanding human
behavior that leads to the incomplete,
inadequate, and partially erroneous con—
ceptualization of man, motivation, and social-
ization in behaviorism. It is, for example,
from this idea that the notion of external
motivation and the need for the transmission
of the structure of the external world

to the child originates. The holistic
(organismic) view leads to the idea that

the organism participates in the growing

and learning process. It is the difference
between values acggisition versus values
development. 6

 

 

In other words the organism both acts upon Egg is acted
upon by its environment. This proposition provides the
sought-for linkage and amalgamation of the two seemingly
mutually exclusive idiographic and nomothetic theories of
value.

As a foundation for his research into values

development, Kohlberg began with the theory of human

88

intelligence first enunciated by the famous Swiss
psychologist and structuralist, Jean Piaget.7 Piaget
theorizes that human intelligence consists of three
prts: function, structure and content. Each of these
aspects of intelligence interrelates with each other

and with the environment. Function is the biologically
invariant, genetically-determined part of intelli-
gence; content is the most external and observable
aspect of intelligence (including thought, language and
behavior); and structure lies between. Although it is
the structural aspect of human intelligence which most
directly concerns Kohlberg, further explanation of func-
tion and content is a necessary prerequisite in order to
fully illuminate the notion of structure.

According to Piaget, there are two broad functions
which are genetically-determined parts of intelligence--
organization and adaptation. As the word would imply,
organization is the underlying systematic pattern of
relationships that makes it possible for the mind to inter-
pret and process the information it receives. Adaptation
is subdivided into two parts--assimilation and accommo-
dation. Since "adaptation," "assimilation," and "accomo-
dation" are common words in the English vocabulary,
often used synonymously, it is necessary to pay careful
attention to Piaget's technical definitions of these

terms. By assimilation,Piaget means the process whereby

 

89

the mind receives data from the world in terms of already
existing knowledge and familiar patterns. It is the

aspect of adgptation by which the world is transformed to

 

fit the organism. Broadly speaking, it involves regis-
tering of new data into previously existing categories of

the mind which make sense of the new data. Accomodation,

 

on the other hand, is the process responsible for creating
new cognitive categories into which raw data can be
assimilated. In other words, it is the process by which
the environment operates on the organism and forces the
mind to change in order to accommodate to the world. The
process whereby the mind keeps input balanced between
assimilation and accommodation is called equilibrium.

The example commonly used to illustrate the dif-
ference between assimilation and accommodation has to do
with the manner in which children learn to name and
classify animals. After a child has learned the word
"dog," she will try it out on all the house and lawn
pets she sees and, by gaining the adult nod of approval,
will learn to identify several types of animals as
"dogs." In performing this task, she is using the
process of assimilation, since she is learning a variety
of types of the same class of animals, all of which fit
into a previously learned category. The first time the
child sees a cat, however, she will call i; a "dog" as

well. When her parent corrects her, however, she will

90

create an entirely new category of animals--those called
"cat."

As opposed to the genetically-determined func-
tions, organization and adaptation, content is the super-
ficial manifestation of structure in the world. Content
consists of thought, language and behavior, all of which
are environmentally determined in the sense of being
limited by the options provided by any given culture.

The difference between content and its underlying struc-
Eggg can best be illustrated through an example. Con-
sider stealing. Now,even though stealing is thought to be
wrong in almost every culture,nonetheless,some people
continue to steal. They do sq,howeven.for a variety of
reasons. By referring to Kohlbergs six stages of moral
development,outlined in Table 1, it is possible to see
how the logic,or structure,of any of the six stages could
be employed in considering stealing the "right" thing to
do.

The individual who steals because he is fearful
of being punished if he does not is operating at Stage 1,
the lowest stage of moral development. The individual
who steals because he "needs" a given item or in order to
"even the score," as when employees leaving a company
take extra office supplies to make up for "long hours of
overwork," is operating at Stage 2. The individual who
steals because it is helpful to and reinforced by his

peer group is operating at Stage 3. It is unlikely that

91

a Stage 4 individual would steal since it is against the
law, but if he did, it would be because some official of
the society ordered him to do so in the best interests of
the society. (This was the alleged orientation of most
of the defendants in the Watergate political scandal of
1973-74.) A Stage 5 or 6 individual would steal in
order to preserve or gain constitutional or human rights
of individuals or in order to fulfill a human responsi-
bility for an individual not able to act on his own
behalf. For example, a Stage 5 individual might steal a
high-priced drug from an uncompromising pharmacist in
order to save the life of an impoverished loved one--or
of a stranger for that matter. Thus it can be seen that
whereas the content of each of these acts, namely
stealing, was the same, the structure, or rational
thought process behind the action varied.

In their emphasis on structure or the underlying

 

lggig_behind language and behavior, structural-develop-
mentalists are again distinguished from behaviorists,
who focus only on the content, or most superficial if
most easily measured aspects of human action and intel-
ligence.

This leads directly to a discussion of structure.
Piaget's general theories of structure grew out of his
work with the structure of human intelligence. He

startled the scientific world in the 1930's with his

92

discovery that children are not mini-grownups, slowly
learning all the adult wisdom of the world, but that
rather they are structural organisms in the process of
transformation, who think qualitatively differently from
adults.8 After extensive research with infants, children
and adolescents, Piaget set forth his discovery of
"stage development," the process whereby the structure
of the human mind undergoes transformation so as to
attain successively higher (more complex) levels of
intellectual capability. A summary of Piaget's stages
of cognitive development together with a summary of the
characteristics of each stage appears in Table 2.9
It is a significant property of human intel-
ligence that, as the individual passes through the life
span, the functions, organization and adaptation.remain
the same but the structures change. The functions, in
constant interaction with the environment, gather and
process the data which makes intellectual/moral develop-
ment a possibility. When development occurs, it does
so according to the genetically-determined transformation
laws of invariance, sequence and hierarchy. In them-‘
selves, the laws are not responsible for the timing of
structural change (development), though they determine
the order of the change. The structures, on the other
hand, are the logical reasoning processes contained

within (and defining) each stage of intellectual or moral

Piaget Stages

93

TABLE 2

of Cognitive Development

 

 

Stage Name

General Definition of Stage

 

I.

II.

III.

Sensorimotor

Preoperational

Concrete
Operations

Lasts from birth to approximately

18 months to 2-1/2 years. The
child is born with reflexes which
he coordinates into motor habits
and perceptions. He then learns to
repeat and vary acts. He discovers
new means of behavior through
experimentation. At the end of
this stage, symbolic representation,
or language, begins.

Lasts from 2 or 3 years of age to 7
or 8 years. .The child's reasoning
is transductive, that is, he reasons
from particular to particular, not
from general to particular (deduc-
tion), or particular to general
(induction). The child's thinking
is also syncratic in that the
sequence of events is interpreted

as having causal significance. If

A happened just before B, then A
caused B. The child's thinking is
further characterized by realism,

or the belief that his point of
view is also everyone else's

point of view; artificialism, or the
belief that all things and events
are caused by people; and animism,
or the belief that inanimate objects

 

 

'are‘alive.

Lasts from 7 or 8 years of age to
11 or 12 years. Child can perform
concrete operations, involving
logical reasoning. These include
classification, seriation, number-
ing, combining, separating,
repeating, dividing and substitut-
ing--but these can be applied only
to objects considered real, not to
hypothetical objects. The child is
no longer dominated by egocentrism

 

94

Table 2 (continued)

 

Stage Name General Definition of Stage
III. Concrete and can take the View of others.
Operations The child becomes truly social and
(continued) can cooperate in a truly reciprocal

 

33y. A development of primary
importance during this period is
conservation, or the ability to
hold constant certain features,
dimensions, qualities and charac-
teristics of an object or situation
when another aspect changes.

 

IV. Formal Generally begins about 11 or 12
Operations years of age and may be well

developed by 15 or 16, though some
people never reach the formal
operational stage at all. The
person can perform operations upon
operations, considering the form

' of an argument rather than only
its content (the abstract rather
than the concrete). Hypothetico-
deductive reasoning, or reasoning
about possibilities with conclusions
drawn about the probable outcome,
is possible. The person under-
stands causation and can deal with
PrOportion, analogy and inference.
This period of development takes
place relatively slowly and
probably passes through at least
three substages.

 

 

 

 

‘-

.0

‘I

.1

UI

III

95

development. An individual is "in" only one stage at a
given time, however, though all the capabilities of the
previous stages are retained. Thus, structure changes
throughout life, although the functions (organization
and adaptation) and the laws (invariance, sequence,
hierarchy) which generate structure remain unchanged.

Kohlberg can truly consider his moral development
stages as separate structures, not only as a result of
his deliberate coordination with the Piaget stages, but
also because, as Stewart puts it, "they define and
represent deep, underlying structures of thought pat-
terns, logic, and perspective that are used by people in
the resolution of moral conflicts and dilemmas ... they
are not content, they are not attitudinal, they are not
choices. They reflect and manifest the core of one's
moral nature."10

Kohlberg's laboratory method for determining the
moral development level of subjects involves the posing
of certain dilemmas, designed to arrive at their under-
lying reasoning for considering a certain course of
action as "right" or "better" than another. Subjects
are questioned extensively to prove their rationale.
The following is one of the dilemmas used by the Kohlberg
staff.

Joe is a 14-year-old boy who wanted to go

to camp very much. His father promised him
he could go if he saved up the money for it

96

himself. So Joe worked hard at his paper
route and saved up the $40 it cost to go to
camp and a little more besides. But just
before camp was going to start, his father
changed his mind. Some of his friends decided
to go on a special fishing trip, and Joe's
father was short of the money it would cost.
So he told Joe to give him the money he had
saved from the paper route. Joe didn't

want to give up going to camp, so he thought
of refusing to give his father the money.1l

After being told the basic dliemma, each subject
is asked a series of questions designed to test his
level of values development with regard to certain
issues. In the case of the above dilemma, the issues
tested for include a) the basis of the father—son
relationship and b) the basis for contract formation or

"promising." The questions asked include the following:12

1. Should Joe refuse to give his father
the money? Why?

2. Is there any way in which the father has
a right to tell the son to give him the
money? Why?

3. What is the most important thing a good
father should recognize in his relation
to his son? Why that?

4. What is the most important thing a good
son should recognize in his relation to
his father? Why that?

5. Why should a promise be kept?

6. What makes a person feel bad if a promise
is broken?

7. Why is it important to keep a promise to
someone you don't know well or are not
close to?

97

In evaluating the answers of the subject, the

following activity is looked for:

- Demonstration of the making of a moral choice
by employing a particular kind of structural
logic genuinely representative of the charac-
teristics of a particular stage.

- Demonstration of the rejection of the logic
of the earlier stages.

- Focus on salient concerns for a particular
stage.

- Understanding and implementation of the
justice concepts consistent with a particular
stage. 13
Major concerns and characteristics associated with each
stage of values development together with the specific
structural logic associated with 1) justice, 2) concept

of rights and 3) value of life appear in Table 3. Also

included are the general age ranges associated with

each stage.14

Although Kohlberg stresses that only one accurate

 

observation is necessary to place a subject at a par-
ticular stage, several are usually made to account for
the fallibility of the examiner. In scoring, a subject
is considered to be at the highest stage of development
that he is capable of understanding and.1discussing. In
practice, each person is more likely to have a modal
stage, that is, one at which at least 50 percent of

15

judgments are being made. The remaining judgments

98

TABLE 3

Major Concerns and Characteristics
of Kohlberg's Stages of Values Development

 

 

Stage 1 -- The Punishment and Obedience Orientation

 

Concern:
Characteristics:

View of Justice:

Concepts of
Rights:

Value of Life:

General Age
Distribution:

Consequences of actions.
Avoids bad acts to avoid punishment.

"An eye for an eye." Retaliation
automatic, regardless of other's
intentions or motives.

"Being right" same as "having a
right." (Because authority figure
says so.)

Moral value of life is the same as
physical or social status value.

No earlier than 5 or 6. Prominent
throughout the grade school years;
dominant in grades one through three.

Stage 2 -- The Instrumental Relativist Orientation

Concerns:

Characteristics:

View of Justice:

Concept of
Rights:

The person's own needs and desires.
Property rights of the individual.
Self—centered need satisfaction.

Naive (as opposed to philosophical)
pleasure seeking.

May sacrifice own ego needs for use
and control of others.

"Coming out even." There is some
concern for the other, but mostly

of the sort "You scratch my back and
I'll scratch yours."

Person can do what he wants to with
himself and his property, even if
this conflicts with the rights of
others.

99

Table 3 (continued)

Stage 2 -- The Instrumental Realtivist Orientation (cont.)

 

Value of Life: Value of life is equal to its
worth to its possessor.

General Age 7 or 8 earliest; 9 or 10 likelier.
Distribution: Dominant in later grade school years,
and many people become fixated
instrumental egoists, remaining
at this stage all their lives.

Stage 3 -- The Interpersonal Concordance Orientation

 

Concerns: Harmonious in-group relationships.
Approval by family or in-group.

Characteristics: Person is "nice" to gain approval
from in-group.

The intentions of self and others
are considered very important; they
are overworked.

 

Person is "good" to maintain mutual
expectations.

Uses adult moral cliches and
stereotypes.

Imitates and identifies with others.

Person is "nice" to get along with
others and to maintain the status
quo of the small group.

View of Justice: Fairness means making everyone
directly involved happy.

There is an attempt to "balance things
out" in terms of love, affection,
gratitude and immediate social

relationships.
Concept of Person can do what he wants, but he
Rights: has no right to do "evil" as defined

by the group.

.
n‘.‘

\..

 

(I.

l

100

Table 3 (continued)

 

Stage 3 -- The Interpersonal Concordance Orientation
(cont.)
Value of Life: Value of life equals the value of

empathy or affection given to it by
family members and others.

General Age 10-11 earliest; 11-12 likelier.

Distribution: Becomes predominant about 12 or 13
and is very important throughout
junior high and high school years.
No upper limit.

Stage 3-A Prime -- The Authoritarian Orientation

 

Concerns and Same as Stage 3 except that there is

Characteristics: great concern about following the
letter of the law to maintain order
and respect for legitimate authority.
Stage 3-A Prime differs from Stage 4
in that there is no clear concept of
society as a system at 3-A Prime.
Chains of command are viewed somewhat
as small groups, and the feeling is
that if any link fails or if any law
is broken, all law and order may break
down. The person is more concerned
with chaos than with the disintegration
of the system, per se.

Stage 4 -- The Law and Order (or Conscientious) Orientation

Concerns: A smoothly running society.

Doing one's duty (and whether or not
the other guy does his duty).

Characteristics: Seeks to maintain social order for its
own sake.

Does his "duty," defined in terms of
responsibilities doled out by the
social order.

Expects respect and other rewards of
the society in return for doing duty.

Opposes giving society's rewards to
those who don't do their duty to the
system.

101

Table 3 (continued)

Stage 4 -- The Law and Order (or Conscientious)
Orientation (cont.)

 

Believes it necessary to "follow the
rules" (norms of the society) in
interpersonal relationships to maintain
firmly established mutual expectations.

View of Justice: In resolving competing claims, believes
should do what's best for the society.

Retributive justice is applied to
"balance the scales."

Equality equals uniform and regular
administration of the laws.

Any offender must pay his "debt to
society."

The individual's situation should be
considered in the context of the larger
system ("What if everyone...?").

Concept of Rights equal legitimate claims earned
Rights: by contribution to the society.
Value of Life: Believes "Thou shalt not kill" but

this is a negative rule, since the
positive value of life is not recognized.

Human life is considered more important
than property, but the life of the
society comes before the life of the
person.

The value of life is somewhat dependent
on the value of that life's service
to the group.

Human life is categorically higher and
better than animal life.

General Age 12-14 earliest; 14-16 likelier. Very
Distribution: important in high school and the modal
stage for the U.S. population.

102

Table 3 (continued)

Stage 4% -- The Stage of Cynical Ethical Relativism

Concerns and
Characteristics:

Same as Stage 2 except that under-
standing and rejection of Stages 3 and
4 is displayed. Also, since the
validity of the moral View is being
questioned at this stage, the person
may consciously argue for the rela-
tivity of all values, claiming that
terms such as "good," "bad," "right,"
and "wrong" should not be used at all.

Stage 5 -- The Social Contract Legalistic Orientation

 

Concerns:

Characteristics:

View of Justice:

Safeguarding the rights of all people
regardless of their socio-moral
affiliation.

Generating systems (both personal and
in society) based on equality and
formal liberty of human beings.

Believes that society is designed to
protect the rights of individuals.

Seeks the greatest good for the
greatest number.

Consciously examines society's claims,
but to be valid, they must reconcile
with a View which everyone should take.

Believes that a freely chosen "social
contract" should be the basis of
relationships, though once contract
has been agreed to, its terms take
precedence over the liberty of the
contractees.

Beyond the social contract, duty is
considered to be a matter of personal
moral choice in terms of self-chosen
values.

Believes that the only purposes of

punishment are to:

a) rehabilitate the offender, or

b) maintain law and order to maintain
society.

1-.

( I
1

3n

 

AL;

 

103

Table 3 (continued)

Stage 5 -- The Social Contract Legalistic Orientation

 

(cont.)

Concept of
Rights:

Value of Life:

General Age
Distribution:

Rejects expiation and retribution,
and believes that punishment is not
punitive.

In determining what is fair, balances:

a) what is right for the individual with

b) the greatest good for the greatest
number.

Person recognizes both:

a) rights associated with status and
role, and

b) unearned, universal rights.

Believes in a universal human right
to life, regardless of the person's
socio-moral affiliation.

Life is also valued in terms of its
contribution to community welfare.

Early 20's; mid-late 20's likelier.
Kohlberg believes only 15% of the U.S.
population ever reaches this stage.

Stage 6 -- The Universal Ethical Principle Orientation

 

Concern:

Characteristics:

Equality, freedom, dignity for all
persons.

Sees worth of all individuals as
intrinsic and universal.

Sees self as part of all humanity and
of history (consequences of personal
actions are seen in historical per-
spective).

Thinks that trust is important for
itself, for its role in maintaining
principled relationships.

104

Table 3 (continued)

Stage 6 -- The Universal Ethical Principle Orientation
' (cont.)

 

View of Justice: Considers all claims; action to benefit
the least advantaged person(s) is
considered most just.

Concept of Every right implies a duty.
Rights:
Value of Life: Life is a universal human right and

a duty to save it.

General Age Late 20's, early 30's if at all.

Distribution: Kohlberg thinks less than 5 percent
of the U.S. population reaches this
stage.

 

 

 

 

 

105

will likely be made at various times according to the
logic of each of the lower stages, though as the modal
stage increases, there is a tendency for fewer and fewer
judgments to be made at the lowest stages. During
periods of transition between stages of values develop-
ment, however, the highest stage and the modal stage
will be different.

In addition to structure and stage, Kohlberg
postulates that five additional factors are directly
involved in values development. These are:

l. Egocentrism-Perspectivism, as a dimension

of self and other understanding

2. Genetic emergence, organismic growth,
organic maturation

3. Equilibration process and cybernetic
factors

4. Experience

5. Social transmission, socialization,
education. 16

Of these factors, egocentrism-perspectivism is a process

linked directly to structure and stage, whereas the
other four are associated with development. Experience
and social transmission are factors derived from the
environment; genetic emergence and equilibration are
functional factors. All of these factors require some
further explanation.

Perspectivism, the opposite of egocentrism,

 

refers to an increasing state of personal awareness

106

which enables the individual at each successive stage
of cognitive and moral development to take the point of
View of ever larger numbers of people. The newborn
infant is totally egocentric, without being aware that
he is. Even in the first few months of his life,
however, the process that Piaget calls "de-centering"
begins. Piaget writes:
... on the plane of knowledge (as, perhaps,
on that of moral and aesthetic values) the
subject's activity calls for a continual
"de-centering" without which he cannot become
free from his spontaneous intellectual ego-
centricity. This "de-centering" makes the
subject enter upon, not so much an already
available and therefore external universality,
as an uninterrupted process of coordinating
and setting in reciprocal relations. 17
Piaget goes on in this passage to say that "it is the
latter process, the process of reciprocal relations,
which is the true 'generator' of structures as constantly
under construction and reconstruction." In other words,
expanding perspectivism is directly correlated to the
passage from one stage to another.
Kohlberg has translated Piaget's statements on
egocentrism/perspectivism into a more directly quanti-
fiable and progressive developmental pattern for use with

18

his moral development stages. At Stage 1, the indi-

vidual's personal point of view is the only one under-
stood and the only one valued. At Stage 2, the individual

is able to take the perspective of the other person and

107

to view himself as others View him. The Stage 3 indi-
vidual steps outside the two-person situation and
achieves a third-person perspective on dyadic relation-
ships. He realizes that both he and the other individual
can consider each other's point of view simultaneously
and mutually. The individual at Stage 4 sees things
from the perspective of the public or the generalized
member of society who belongs to several groups and who
has developed a perspective toward that which is common
to all groups; i.e., to society as a system. At
Stages 5 and 6, the individual's perspective is essen-
tially analytical. Aware of the relativity of individual
and social group perspectives, the principled thinker
(Stages 5 and 6) weighs and orders certain social data
(that which is available to him) to predict his own
behavior and that of others in complex social situations.
Of the functional factors responsible for develop-

ment, the set of factors including genetic maturation

 

and organic growth is most closely tied to the physio-

 

logical development of the individual's central nervous
system. Genetic maturation is necessary but not suffi-
cient for cognitive development, which is a necessary
prerequisite to perspectivism, which in turn permits
employment of the moral judgment structures at any given

stage. As Piaget puts it:

108

... this does not mean we can assume there
exists a hereditary program underlying the
development of human intelligence: there
are no "innate ideas".... Thus the effects
of maturation consist essentially of opening
new possibilities for development, that is,
giving access to structures which could not
be evolved before these possibilities were
offered. But between possibility and actual-
ization, there must intervene a set of other
factors such as exercise, experience, and
social interaction. 19

Equilibration is closely linked to the process

 

of equilibrium, whereby the functions of assimilation

and accommodation are maintained in balance in the human
intelligence, but it transcends this process as well.
According to Piaget and Kohlberg, equilibration is almost
synonymous with self-regulation. By a series of steps
which Piaget outlines, the individual senses conflict

at not understanding a particular concept or task.

One dimension or approach to solution is then considered
and tried, followed by others until a type of resolution
occurs.20 Inherent within the concept of equilibration
is the notion that at each successive stage of intellectual/

values developmenththe individual can more totally under-

stand concepts andgproblems of all types. Thus resolu-

 

tions are more "equilibrated," or satisfying to the
individual. Since equilibration is related in large part
to the individual's internal capacity to deal with con-
flict, and since conflict seems to be a necessary pre-

requisite to discovering the superiority of the logic of

109

successive stages, it is key to values development.21

The environmental factor of experience refers

 

both to direct contact with objects and actions in the
material world and to logico-mathematical experience, or

22 Kohlberg believes

exposure to analytical thinking.
that a cognitively and physically enriched environment,
including a high level of formal education and exposure
to a variety of direct physical experiences with objects
in the real world, supplies the type of experience that
allows for development. A less rich environment provides
less opportunity for development.23

Social transmission, also a factor of the environ-
ment, refers to the opportunities provided by the insti-
tutions of the society for role-taking or assuming the
perspectives of other pe0ple. There must be examples
in the culture of individuals at higher levels of moral
development so that individuals can role-play their
experiences and judgments and come to understand the
logic of the higher stages.24 Kohlberg's research has
indicated that although the complete range of stages is
to be found in the United States, most U.S. adults fixate

25

at either Stage 3 or Stage 4. Although Kohlberg states

that Stage 4 is the most frequently observed or modal of

26 he thinks that

our society (at least theoretically),
socialization practices for women have, until very

recently, been oriented toward Stage 3 of values

110

development,27 whereas men more uniformly exemplify the
mode. Some cultures contain no Stage 5 or 6 individuals,
or Stage 3 or 4 individuals, either, for that matter.28
Within the range of environmental factors that
contribute to creating the possibility for values develop-
ment, it is obvious that the mass media, and particularly
television, is one institution that provides ample
opportunity for role-taking. As noted above, it is role-
taking that is so crucial to the development of a per-
spectivist dimension of self which in turn allows moral
development to proceed from stage to stage. In order
for role-taking to be an effective force in values
deve10pment, however, the individual must have available
to him models of the higher stages. What remains uncer-
tain is the level of values deve10pment portrayed by
television, or any mass medium for that matter. With
regard to the stages of values development portrayed by
television characters, this dissertation aims to in
part answer that question. Chapter 5 will describe in
greater detail how the Kohlberg theory will be applied

to an analysis of the values of TV characters.

111

Notes to Chapter 4

1Accounts of Kohlberg's work have thus far been
limited to his dissertation (The Development of Modes of
Moral Thinking and Choice in the Years Ten to Sixteen,
University of Chicago, 1958) and to numerous articles on
moral judgment in academic journals, some of which have
been collected to form Laurence Kohlberg's Collected
Papers (Laboratory for Human Development, Cambridge, 1973).
Though the most detailed information on the stages is
found in Kohlberg's dissertation, that information has
undergone considerable reevaluation and change as a
result of Kohlberg's continuing interviews of his
longitudinal subjects and of his ongoing research
with greater numbers of subjects. Since Kohlberg's
writing fails to keep up with his research, the most
up-to-date clarifications of the characteristics of the
stages are currently found in the writing of his inter-
preters. The information contained in the table is
extracted from John S. Stewart, Values Development
Education (E. Lansing, 1973), 83-103. The paragraphs
under the heading "Basis of Moral Judgment" are from
Kohlberg and Peter Sharf, "Bureaucratic Violence and
Conventional Moral Thinking," first published in
American Journal of Orthopsychiatry (April 6, 1972).

 

 

 

 

2Kohlberg, "A Cognitive-Developmental Approach
to Moral Education," in The Humanist (November/December
1972). See also Stewart, Values Development Education,
100. Stewart summarizes Kohlberg's view that the Stage
6 individual must have faced "sustained responsibility
for the welfare of others; irreversible moral decisions
in actual life situations; and high level cognitive
stimulation, conflict, and reflection."

 

 

3Stewart, Toward a Theory for Values Development
Education, Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, Michigan
State University, 1974, p. 173.

 

4In addition to Piaget, Kohlberg and Stewart,
other prOponents of the "organismic" view and their
pertinent works include:

a. John Dewey, "The Unity of the Human Being,"
(a 1937 speech to the College of Physicians) in J.
Ratner, Intelligence in the Modern World: John Deweyig
Philosophy, New York, 1939.

John Dewey, Theory of the Moral Life, New York,
1960 (originally published as Ethics in 1932, with
co-author J.H. Tufts).

 

 

112

b. Jan Christian Smutz, Holism and Evaluation,
New York, 1926.

c. H. Werner, "The Concept of Development from
a Comparative and Organismic Point of View," in D.
Harris, Ed., The Concept of Development, Minneapolis,
1957.

 

 

H. Werner and B. Kaplan, Symbol Formation: An
Organismic-Developmental Approach to Language and the
Expression of Thought, New York, 1963.

d. K. Goldstein, The Organism, New York, 1939.

e. Abraham Maslow, Toward a Psychology of Being,
New York, 1968.

 

 

5Stewart outlines these three features of the
organismic view in Values Development Education, 17-19.

 

6Steward, Toward a Theory for Values Development
Education, 185.

 

7Piaget's theory has been widely published and
is a primary theme reappearing throughout his many
works on psychology, epistemology, education and child
development. The bases of the theory are conveniently
available in Jean Piaget, "Piaget's Theory," P. Mussen,
ed., Carmichael's Manual of Child Psychology, 3rd. ed.
(New York, 1970), 703-732.

8Piaget's seminal works include:

a. The Language and Thought of the Child (New
York, 1926).

b. Judgment and Reasoning in the Child (New
York, 1928).

c. The Child's Conception of the World (New
York, 1929).

d. The Origins of Intelligence in Children
(New York, 1952).

9Table 2 is a condensation of John Stewart's
Tables 4.1A through 4.1D in Toward a Theory of Values
Development Education, 282-330.

 

loSteward, Values Development Education, 65.

11L. Kohlberg and staff, Standard Scoring Manual,

Form A-l (Laboratory for Human Development, Harvard
University, Cambridge, 1974), 4.

 

113

lzIbid., 4-5.

l3Stewart, Values Development Education, 65.

l4Condensed from Stewart, Toward a Theory,
326-372. Kohlberg acknowledges that Stewart's dis-
sertation (1974) makes him one of Kohlberg's most up-to-
date interpreters. The Values Development Education
Program at Michigan State University is one of two
centers (in addition to the Laboratory for Human
Deve10pment at Harvard, where Kohlberg is Director)
which is actively working toward practical applications
of the Kohlberg theory. As such, one of Stewart's
concerns as co-director of the Program, has been to
compile, classify and simplify Kohlberg's various
pronouncements on stage characteristics. For this
reason, his work is especially helpful when compiling
concise summaries is called for. Such summaries,
however, are no substitute for readings directly from
Kohlberg (the collected papers are especially helpful)
and for first-hand practice with the scoring manual,
and they are not presented as such here.

15Stewart, Values Development Education, 78.

16Stewart, Toward a Theory, 299.

17Jean Piaget, Structuralism, New York, 1970,

 

139.

18See Stewart, Values Development Education,
37-42; also 83-103. Also see Robert Seeman,"The Relation
of Role-Taking to the Development of Moral Judgment in
Children," in Child Development, 42 (1971), 79-92.
(Selman is an associate of Kohlberg's at Harvard.)
Kohlberg's piece, "Moral Development," written for the
International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences
(New York, 1968), 489-494, and reprinted in Kohlberg's
Collected ngers, is also helpful.

 

 

19Piaget, "Piaget's Theory," 719-720.

2°Ibid., 725.

21See Stewart, Toward a Theory, 308-312.

22"Piaget's Theory," 721.

15.

114

23Stewart, Toward a Theory, 302-306.

 

24Ibid., 306-308.

25Kohlberg, "A Cognitive-Developmental Approach,"

26Stewart, Values Development Education, 91.
27Ibid., 89.
28

Ibid., 68-69. See also Kohlberg, "Stage and

Sequence" in D. Goslin, Ed., Handbook of Socialization:
Theory and Research (New York, 1969).

 

CHAPTER 5
METHODOLOGY FOR APPLYING KOHLBERG'S THEORY
TO AN ANALYSIS OF TELEVISION CHARACTERS
The previous chapter has explained Lawrence

Kohlberg's Theory of Values Development in some detail,
but it remains to be shown how the concepts generated
by the theory were applied to an analysis of the values
of television characters. Section I of the present
chapter will therefore describe the procedure by which
particular programs and characters were selected for
analysis. Section II will then describe the technique
of analysis used. This description will consist of:
l) a demonstration based on the scoring technique used
by Kohlberg to determine the values of actual subjects,
and 2) an explanation of how this process was applied
to television characters, including an example of a

TV character at each stage of values development.

Section I: Selection of Programs and Characters
Characters were chosen for study on the basis of

the popularity of the programs in which they appeared.

Primarily, the measure used to assess pOpularity was

the size of the viewing audience in any given season,

based on Nielsen ratings. The primary interest of this

study is to make a comparison, over a specific period of

time, of the values of television characters, based on

115

 

 

 

116

sex, age, occupation and on the type of program in which
the character appeared. I used the most pOpular pro-
grams since:

a) they reach the greatest number of people,

and a subsidiary goal of this research is
to compare the values of televison charac-
ters to those of the viewing public, accor-
ding to Kohlberg's prognosis, and

b) they tend to portray characters with values

most representative of those portrayed on

television dramatic-type programs as a

whole.
It is possible to assume that characters on popular
programs are representative of TV characters in general
because of the desire for a secure profit on the part of
network officials, discussed in Chapter 3. The fact is
that popular television programs tend to be continued
for a number of seasons, and they are widely imitated.l
Some of the imitations are in turn popular, and some
only ride the bandwagon, so to speak, since they never
achieve better than mediocre ratings and are discon-
tinued after a season or two. In combination, however,
even these mediocre imitators represent a substantial
part of the TV program diet at any given time.

Ratings published by the A. C. Nielsen tele-
vision rating service were used to measure popularity of
programs. Technically, the Nielsen reports are confi-
dential, released only to those who subscribe to the

service, although summary ratings are regularly released

to trade publications by network officials and others.

117

Legitimate subscribers include large commercial busi-
nesses, advertising agencies and occasionally indepen-
dent purchasers, as well as the networks themselves.2
Summary Nielsen's, as they appear in trade
publications, typically give both a "rating" and a
"share“ for each program. The "rating" represents, in
millions, the total number of households which, on an
average basis, viewed the program during a given report

period. As an example, top-rated All in the Family

 

received an average rating of 29.4 for the period
September 9 through October 20, 1974. This means that,
on an average weekly basis, 29.4 million families
watched the program. The "share“ equals the percent

of the total tuned-in viewing audience that the program

captured. In All in the Family's case, the share for

 

the first half of the 1974-75 season was 51, or 51% of
the total audience watching television between 8:00 and
8:30 on Saturday nights.

Nielsen ratings for this study were taken from
Variety, a weekly trade magazine of the entertainment
industries. Although there was no particular schedule
on which Nielsen ratings appeared in Variety, a "tOp-ZO"
or "top-30" listing generally appeared at least once a
month during the main viewing season, beginning with
October and ending with May. Articles analyzing or

further summarizing the ratings as well as special

118

ratings for particular cities or for rerun editions of
programs also appeared on an unsystematic but fairly
regular basis. Since it was necessary to page through
individual issues of the magazine in order to locate
ratings, I focused on the months of October and Novem-
ber both for the sake of convenience and to gain some
consistency over the years covered. These particular
months seemed desirable choices because the excitement
generated by the new season and the resulting interest in
the new ratings led to the publication of a larger
number of lists and articles than appeared in other
months. After locating a summary Nielsen, however, I
checked at least one subsequent list to make sure that
special programming had not pre-empted or down-rated
normally pOpular programs. I considered this to be a
particularly likely occurrence in national election
years, but it turned out to be of fairly minimal impor-
tance. In general, as Table 6 below indicates, the most
popular programs not only tended to be ranked consis-
tently high during the season, but they also tended to

thrive for several seasons.

Selecting Current Season Programs
The prime focus of the present study is the fall,
1974 viewing season. Accordingly, the seven most pOpu-

lar programs in each category were selected for analysis,

119

with the exception that there are only five programs in
the drama category for this season, and all of them were
included. This seemed a reasonable number of programs

to cover in the time period employed. Titles chosen

for the 1974 season analysis, together with their Nielsen
ranks and ratings, appear in Table 4. It should be

noted that with the exception of the two lower—ranked
drama programs (including previously tOp-ranked

Marcus Welby, M.D.) all of these programs received

 

Nielsen ratings of 20.0 or above. Television critics
consider this a safe range of popularity, guaranteeing
network interest in continuing the program. The ranks
and ratings for all prime-time programs aired during the
fall, 1974 season are presented in Table 5 for purposes

of comparison.

SelectingPast Programs

 

In addition to the 1974 season analysis, I wanted
to examine past programs beginning with the year 1960
to determine what, if any, changes in characters'
values have occurred during the past fifteen years. It
is well known that during this period of American his-
tory dramatic social changes took place, including the
beginnings of a new era of American feminism which
resulted in renewed evaluations of male and female roles
in this country. Accordingly, I was especially interes-

ted to discover what, if any, changes have taken place

120

TABLE 4

1974-75 Season Programs Selected for Analysis,
by Nielsen Rank and Nielson Rating

 

 

Program Rank Rating
Category PrOgram Title (Nielsen)* (Nielsen)*

 

Situation All in the Family 1 29.4
Comedy Sanford and Son 2 28.7
Chico and the Man 3 28.4
Rhoda 4 26.6
M*A*S*H* 6 25.2
Maude 7 24.8
Mary Tyler Moore Show 8(tie) 23.6
Drama The Waltons 5 25.6
Little House on
the Prairie 8(tie) 23.6
Medical Center 17(tie) 21.7
Lucas Tanner 39 18.1
Marcus Welby, M.D. 44 17.5
Drama- Hawaii Five-O 13(tie) 22.4
Adventure Streets of
San Francisco 15 22.0
Rockford Files 17(tie) 21.7
Kojak 19 21.6
Rookies 20 21.0
Gunsmoke 21 20.9
Police Woman 25 20.2

 

*From Variet , 30 October 74, p. 57. Ratings are for
the period September 9 through October 20, 1974.

121

TABLE 5

Programs in the Fall 1974 Television Season*
by Rating and Program Category

 

 

Proqram

 

Rank Program Title Category** Rating
1 All in the Family SC 29.4
2 Sanford and Son SC 28.7
3 Chico and the Man SC 28.4
4 Rhoda SC 26.6
5 The Waltons D 25.6
6 M*A#S*H* SC 25.2
7 Maude SC 24.8
8 Little House on the Prairie D 23.6

Mary Tyler Moore Show SC 23.6
10 Good Times SC 23.4
11 Disney V 23.2
12 Movie*** - 22.9
13 Bob Newhart Show SC 22.4

Hawaii Five-O DA 22.4
15 Streets of San Francisco DA 22.0
16 Friends and Lovers SC 21.8
17 Medical Center D 21.7

Rockford Files DA 21.7
19 Kojak DA 21.6
20 Rookies DA 21.0
21 Gunsmoke DA 20.9
22 Movie 20.7
23 Movie 20.7
24 Movie 20.4
25 Police Woman DA 20.2
26 NFL Football 19.9

The Manhunter DA 19.9
28 Emergency DA 19.8

That's My Mama SC 19.8

Movie 19.8
31 Police Story DA 19.7

Movie 19.7
33 Carol Burnett Show V 19.4

Mannix DA 19.4
35 Movie 19.2
36 Cannon DA 19.1
37 Movie 18.9
38 Movie 18.2
39 Lucas Tanner D 18.1
40 Happy Days SC 17.9
41 Apple's Way D 17.9

122

Table 5 (continued)

 

Program

Rank Program Title Category** Rating
42 Barnaby Jones DA 17.6
Born Free 17.6
44 Marcus Welby, M.D. D 17.5
45 Harry O DA 17.2
Movin On 17.2
47 Get Christie Love DA 16.8
48 Adam-12 DA 16.2
49 Planet of the Apes DA 16.1
Petrocelli DA 16.1
51 Sons and Daughters SC 15.6
52 Paper Moon SC 15.1
53 Sierra 15.0
54 Ironside DA 14.4
Sonny Comedy Revue V 14.4
56 Odd Couple SC 14.2
57 Nakia DA 12.7
58 Six Million Dollar Man DA 12.1
59 Night Stalker DA 12.0
60 Kung Fu DA 11.9
61 Texas Wheelers 11.0
62 Kodiak 9.9
63 The New Land 7.9

 

*Ratings are for the period September 9 through October 20,
1974. From Variety, 30 October 74, p. 57.

**SC = Situation Comedy; D = Drama; DA = Drama/Adventure;
V = Variety.

***Movies had specific titles (such as NBC Friday Night
Movies) but these were omitted since they are irrelevant
to the present study.

123

in recent years regarding the values of male and female
television characters.

Like 1974 season programs, past programs were
also selected primarily on the basis of popularity. For
each year between 1960 and 1973, the tOp five to seven
shown in each program category (sitcom, drama, drama/
adventure) were selected from Nielsen's list of "top
twenty." The selected programs were then charted
(Table 6) and a composite list for each category was
drawn up (Table 7). Finally, the availability of the
programs, either in rerun or in the Michigan State
University script collection, was ascertained. As
Table 4 shows, this yielded: ten Situation comedies,
spanning the years 1960-1974; ten drama-adventure
programs, also spanning the years 1960-1974, and one
drama program.

The selection of past programs presented several
logistical problems not associated with the selection
of 1974 season programs. First, both reruns and scripts
are in limited distribution at the present time. For-
tunately, many of the most popular past programs, mea-
sured both by Nielsen ratings and length of original

run, are currently available in rerun or script editions.

Number of Programs Viewed
A minimum of ten per cent of the episodes (or

appearances per principle character, whichever was

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TABLE 7

Composite Listing of Top Nielsen-Rated
Programs, 1960-1973, by Program Type,
and Availability of Reruns or Scripts

 

 

 

Program Program Title Availability of
Category Reruns or Scripts
Situation Danny Thomas
Comedy Dennis the Menace
My Three Sons
Hazel
Andy Griffith In rerun
Beverly Hillbillies In rerun
Lucy Show In rerun
Dick Van Dyke Show In rerun
Gomer Pyle In rerun
Get Smart
Petticoat Junction In rerun
Hogan's Heroes In rerun

Green Acres
Here's Lucy

Bewitched In rerun
Family Affair In rerun
Mayberry R.F.D. '
Julia

Doris Day Show

Eddie's Father
Partirdge Family In rerun
All in the Family
Funny Face

New Dick Van Dyke Show
Odd Couple

Sanford and Son

Maude

Bridget Loves Bernie
Mary Tyler Moore Show
M*A*S*H*

Bob Newhart Show

Drama Father Knows Best

Real McCoys
Perry Mason

Ben Casey

Dr. Kildare
Lassie

Gentle Ben

Peyton Place

129

Table 7 (continued)

Program
Category

Program Title

Availability of
Reruns or Scripts

 

Drama

Drama/
Adventure

Marcus Welby, M.D.
Room 222

Medical Center
The Waltons
Apple's Way

Gunsmoke

Wagon Train
Have Gun, Will Travel
Bonanza

Car 54
Defenders
Virginian

Man from UNCLE
Daniel Boone
Daktari

Rat Patrol

I SPY

Drganet
Ironsides
Mission Impossible
F.B.I.

Mod Squad
Adam-12

Hawaii Five-O
Mannix

Cade's County
Longstreet
Owen Marshall
Cannon

Tookies

Kojak

Barnaby Jones

In rerun

Script-l

Scripts-3

Scripts-2

In rerun

Scripts-6
Scripts-2
In rerun

Scripts-2
Scripts-2
Script-l

 

130

greater) were viewed for the 1974 season analysis.

The limited number of scripts both at the
Michigan State University Library's Special Collections
Department and in distribution in general, necessitated
using a fewer number of examples per program than was
desired. In some cases, only one script per program
was available, though more frequently, there were at
least two. To maintain a level of generality consistent
with the availability of scripts, a maximum of three
programs (or appearances per principal character) were
read or viewed for the historical review section.

Although a more thorough analysis of past season
programs would be desirable as more data become avail-
able, I considered the present historical analysis
sufficient for the present study since: 1) the focus
for this study is on the 1974 season, 2) the programs
available for the historical review cover the selected
time period, 1960-1974, in the two major categories of
programming-—situation comedy and drama-adventure, and
3) time constraints based on the appropriate completion
period for a dissertation study would have severely
limited the amount of additional analysis that the pres-
ent study could have incorporated, even if additional

data had been available.

4.

 

131

Section II: Technique of Analysis

As each episode was viewed (or read), a one- or
two-page analysis was drawn up which contained 1) a
statement of plot, and 2) a listing of the major charac-
ters, both regular and non-regular, together with any
dialogue which revealed their rationales for taking/not
taking or approving/not approving viewpoints or courses
of action posed as possibilities by the plot. At the
conclusion of each episode, a stage or stages of values
deve10pment was assigned to each character. Then, after
the pre-determined number of viewings-per-principal-
character were completed, the stages gleaned from the
separate viewings were compared and the highest stage
portrayed at least twice was selected as a given charac-
ter's most commonly portrayed stage of values deve10p-
ment.

It should be emphasized that the most important
"technique" involved in conducting the present analysis
was a thorough and ready understanding of the Kohlberg
stages, especially including the ability to differen-
tiate between "content" and "structure" as these con-
cepts are defined in the previous chapter. It is my
belief that this ability comes only as a result of
extensive reading in the theoretical literature on
Kohlberg's stages. In addition, however, practice in

applying the stage concept is also necessary, and the

132

Kohlberg staff has published the Standard Scoring

Manual to help meet this need.3 The Scoring Manual

 

 

contains six dilemmas of the type quoted in Chapter 4,
together with the responses of a large number of
actual subjects to questions posed about these dilemmas.
The subjects' responses are categorized according to
stage of values development, and a brief eXplanatory
sentence or two is provided to further help the amateur
scorer understand why the logic of a subject's answers
fits a particular stage.

In an attempt to explain more fully the process
used to determine the values of television characters,
I will first demonstrate how a standard Kohlberg
“dilemma" would be scored, using examples taken from the
manual. In doing this, I will show how content is

differentiated from structure at each stage. Following

 

this explanation based on the Kohlberg scoring procedure,
I will show more specifically how the process was
applied to television characters by giving an example

of a character at each stage of values deve10pment and

showing how that character's stage level was determined.

Recall from Chapter 4 the example of the dilemma
involving Joe and his father.
Joe is a 14-year-old boy who wanted to go to

camp very much. His father promised him he
could go if he saved up the money for it himself.

133

So Joe worked hard at his paper route and

saved up the $40 it cost to go to camp and a
little more besides. But just before camp was
going to start, his father changed his mind.

Some of his friends decided to go on a special
fishing trip, and Joe's father was short of the
money it would cost. So he told Joe to give

him the money he had saved from the paper route.
Joe didn't want to give up going to camp, so he
thought of refusing to give his father the money.

Now, also recall that one of the two issues that this
dilemma is designed to test is the subject's view of
the basis of the father-son relationship.* In brief,

for each stage, the viewpoints are:4

Stage l--Authority of the father. Obedience of
the son.

Stage 2--Reciprocity, exchange and instrumental
need.

Stage 3--Mutua1 trust, understanding, concern,
respect and affection.

 

*In "Moral Development and Moral Education," in
Kohlberg's Collected Papers on Moral Develo ment and
Moral Education, Kohlberg and associate EIIiot Turiel
set forth eleven "Issues, Institutions, or Norms," which
are basic to moral judgment and from.which the issues
chosen for various dilemmas seem to be derived. These
include:

1. Social rules
2. The self, the ideal self, and conscience
3. Helping roles, involving c00peration, help-
fulness, and affection (special obliga-
tions to role-partners)
4. Authority issues and roles, governmental
roles
5. Civil liberties
6. Contract, promise, and reciprocity
7. Punitive justice
8. Life as a value and a right
9. Property
10. Truth
11. Self and sexual love

 

134

Stage 4--Defined responsibilities of a father

and a son.

Stage 5--Recognition of each as free and equal

individuals whose rights are deserving
of equal respect.

Stage 6--Not scored for, since so few individ-

uals ever reach this stage.

The following are examples of responses to one

of the questions designed to elicit the subject's view

of the father-son relationship. Though the scoring

manual contains several sample responses for each stage

of development, only one or two per stage are presented

here.

QUESTION:

Stage 1

Answer:

Stage 2

Subject 1

Subject 2

SHOULD JOE REFUSE TO GIVE HIS FATHER
THE MONEY? WHY?

No, because that's his son and if he
doesn't give it to him, he would get
punished. And he is the head person

in the house and tells his children
what to do. He has to do what his

father sgys or he will get a
lickin'.

No, because his father has paid
plenty for Joe. His father pays for
the food he eats and the room he
sleeps in. And even if Joe did earn

the money gimself, he should give
it to him.

Yes, because it's his money, some- .

thing he saved for. He had to save
for his own trip. His father should

save up for his.

Stage 3
Subject 1:

Subject 2:

135

No, if Joe loved his father he would
realize how much his father has done
for him, and that he could give his
father the $40. He could always go
to camp, but maybe8this was a spe-
cial fishing trip.

Yes, because it wasn't something
really necessary that his father did
it for, it was just some selfish
desire of his father's. And since
his father had said he could go
before, he should stick to big word
to keep the trust of the son.

Stage 3-A Prime

 

Answer:

Stage 4
Subject 1:

Subject 2:

No, because parents' word is law
and we are supposed to obey and as
far as we arelable, we should avoid
disobedience.

No, I think a child has a primary
responsibility of obedience to a
parent. From this point of view,

I don't think there is any question
that Joe should if what his father
tells him to do.

Yes, because Joe saved up the money,
right?... I don't think a son has
the responsibility to take care of
his father in that sort of situation.
Just because he's the guy's son
doesn't mean the father can take ad-
vantage of him by trying to get his
money for what he wants. If it were
a situation like, where somebody's
life were at stake, or health, I
think he would have the responsibili
ity, but not for a pleasure thing.

136

Stage 4 1/2*

 

Subject 1: Not if he wants to be practical
about it. I mean, it's his decision
and nobody can say what he should or
shouldn't do, but life won't be a
bed of roses for a l4-year-old kid
who defies his father.

Subject 2: Yes, if he feels like it. After
all, the kid's got his rights too.
He worked for the money, so what he
does with it is up to him.

Stage 5

Subject 1: (No.) The situation is so unfair,
that Joe would not have an obliga-
tion. I think the situation is
unfair and I think the rules are not
established, and you therefore would
not have an obligation for any reason
except the maturity of the father.

I think, though, the answer is to
give it to him, but not because of
any obligation. The answer is in
terms of long-term bestness.

Today I will be unhappy, but later
we will come back and maybe there
will be some balance.1

Subject 2: (Yes.) Children do not owe parents
absolute obedience, either in posi-
tive or restrictive duties. A
parent who acts unfairly toward a

child has lost ground for commanding
respect.14

The examples above were chosen with the specific

goal in mind of illustrating the difference between

content and structure in reasoning about values. Note

 

*These are my hypothetical examples since the
manual does not score specifically for Stage 4 1/2.

137

that for each stage with the exceptions of Stage 1 and
Stage 3-A Prime, the sample responses are opposed in
content. That is, one subject thinks Joe should

give his father the money and the other subject, also
at that particular stage of values development, thinks

Joe should not give his father the money. But both

 

examples of each stage reflect the structure of rea—
soning of that stage as it applies to the issue of the
basis of the father-son relationship.

In the case of Stage 1, there is only one
possible content of the response to the question since
the Stage 1 individual, concerned about the consequences
of disobeying an authority figure, can think of no
reasons for refusing to give the father the money. In
other words, the structure of reasoning dictates only
one possible content: give the father the money.

In the case of Stage 2, the reasoning structure
is oriented to reciprocity, exchange of favors and
instrumental need. This can lead the Stage 2 indi-
vidual to think of the father and son as the principals
involved in this exchange and reciprocity, but it can
just as easily lead to a view of pgpp father and son
as pe0ple with the right to meet their instrumental
needs. (“Needs" here translates to mean "desires.")
Subject one takes the former position, deciding that

Joe should give (not refuse) his father the money in

138

exchange for the room and board the father has provided
him in the past--and no doubt will provide for him in
the future. Subject two, on the other hand, focuses

on work as a type of exchange in which one performs
certain duties and then has a right to complete hedon-
istic control of the money gained by doing this work.
Since Joe is the one who worked for the money, subject
two reasons that it is his to spend; the father should
work for his own money.

Stage 3 inidividuals see the basis of the father-
son relationship as consisting primarily of trust, under-
standing, concern, affection and so forth. These traits
of relationships, however, are not visible in the same
manner as instrumental rewards, and their legitimacy
depends in large part on the inner motives or "inten-
tions" of the individuals involved. Accordingly, the
Stage 3 subjects place a lot of emphasis on the inten-
tions involved when considering the situation between
Joe and his dad. Subject one assumes that Joe's father
is benevolent and has good intentions (it is common for
Stage 3 peOple to assume that authority figures are
benevolent). On this basis, he feels that Joe should
give his father the money, since the presumption is
that love is a two-way street between parent and child
and that Joe's father would not ask for the money if

this truly weren't a special fishing trip. Subject two,

139

however, views the motives Of Joe's father as "selfish
desire," and on this basis thinks Joe is justified in
refusing to give him the money. Even more than this,
though, subject two brings up the issue of "trust,"
recognizing that Joe's father is violating his close
personal relationship with his son by demanding the
money for spurious reasons.

The response which I have classified as 3-A
Prime (it appears just as 3A in the manual) shows a
concern for maintaining the arbitrary roles of father
and son: "parents' word is law and we are supposed to
Obey." As Opposed to Stage 1, however, fear of auto-
matic punishment is not the reason for obedience.
Neither is hOpe of instrumental reward, or exchange Of
favors, as was the case with the Stage 2 subjects.
Maintenance of the parent-child relationship for its own
sake is clearly the issue here, but the bonds of mutual
love and support are blurred by a concern for maintain-
ing rank, so to speak. This concern with rank, or with
following the orders of a designated superior, are Stage
3-A Prime concerns (see also Table 3, Chapter 4). The
qualities Of "respect" for the earned position of the
authority figure and Of "duty" to the system that both
individuals are part Of (in this case, the family) are

absent, however.

140

At Stage 4, the structure of reasoning switches
to the duties or responsibilities which define relation-
ships Of all sorts and which provide the basis for
close affectional ties. Subject one thinks Joe should
not refuse to give his father the money since he believes

that "a child has a primary responsibility Of obedience

 

to a parent." This is very different from saying, as
the Stage 3-A Prime subject does, that "parents' word

is law and we are supposed to obey." Kohlberg has

 

learned that especially in the upper stages, the sub-
ject's use of certain terms is a crucial indicator Of
stage deve10pment. In the case of Stage 4, “responsi-
bility" and "duty" are two such terms. Subject two
also thinks in terms Of responsibilities between parent
and child, but his interpretation Of this particular
situation leads him to feel that Joe should refuse his
father the money. “If it were a situation like, where
somebody's life were at stake, or health," subject two

reasons, "I think he would have the responsibility, but

 

not for a pleasure thing."

As described in the previous chapter, Stage
4 1/2 is not a true stage, since not everyone passes
through it on the way to principled thinking (Stages 5
and 6). Kohlberg now believes, however, that Stage
4 1/2 does represent a structural advance over Stage 4,

since subjects at this latter stage understand and

141

equate "morality" with Stage 4 thinking.15 They go on
to question the validity of duty-oriented or conscien-
tious morality, however, and for some period of time,
adopt a mode of reasoning very close in content to
Stage 2 thinking. That is, Stage 4 1/2 individuals
consciously adopt a situational, relativistic ethic,
but this is very different from Stage 2 thinkers, who
cannot conceive Of society's point of view, or Of any
claims, for that matter, beyond the immediate situation.

Again, Kohlberg has found that a subject's use
of certain words provides the key to distinguishing

Stage 4 1/2 philOSOphical egoism from Stage 2 naive

 

egoism. He has learned that Stage 4 1/2 subjects res-
pond at higher levels of abstraction, discourse and
reflectivity.l6 In the hypothetical examples given
above, the content Of the Stage 4 1/2 responses is very
close to the content of the Stage 2 responses Of actual
subjects. Subject one in both cases thinks that Joe
should give his father the money since Joe is dependent
on his father for support, but the Stage 4 1/2 subject
sees this as a matter Of practicality or expediency in
the given situation, whereas the Stage 2 subject thinks
in terms Of a genuine exchange Of favors. Also, the
hypothetical Stage 4 1/2 subject is quoted as saying

that "nobody can say what he should or shouldn't do," a

142

comment which clues the scorer to the conscious rela-
tivism Of the Stage 4 1/2 subject.

Likewise, subject two in both cases thinks that
Joe should keep the money since he worked for it and
therefore it is his to spend as he wishes. As Opposed
to the naive and absolute instrumentalism of the Stage 2
subject, however, the Stage 4 1/2 subject recognizes
that there are conflicting claims. He says that Joe
should give his father the money "if he feels like it,"
noting that Joe has "clearly got his rights too" (in
addition to those Of his father). Again, the use of the
term "rights" in this context, like subject one's use of
the word "practical," provides an additional clue to the
scorer that the level Of thought is more SOphisticated
than Stage 2 thinking. TO confirm this, Of course, the
person giving the interview would ask additional ques-
tions to confirm that the Stage 4 1/2 subjects do indeed
understand Stage 4 reasoning, although they reject it.

At Stage 5, the individual has also rejected
conventional or Stage 3 and 4 morality, but he has main-
tained a view that relationships of all sorts should be
governed by a set of principles (different from rules,
laws, or norms) that take into account such things as
equality and the rights, freedom and dignity of all
peOple (not just those in this society, by the way). As

such, the Stage 5 or principled thinker views the basis

143

of the father-son relationship as mutual recognition
that both are individuals whose rights are deserving of
equal respect. Even so, Stage 5 thinkers can disagree
on the content Of any decision, though the principles
they use in making the decision are the same. Subject
one above recognizes that Joe's father has been "so
unfair" that the normal obligations of a son have lost”
their validity in this situation. He nonetheless thinks
that "the answer is to give it (the money) to him, but
not because of any Obligation." According to subject
one, "the answer is in terms of long-term bestness" for
both parties. Subject two thinks that Joe's father has
forfeited his legitimate grounds for the respect Of

his son by acting unfairly and that Joe is now under no
Obligation to Obey his father. Clearly both Stage 5
thinkers have moved beyond restrictive role stereotyping
Of fathers and sons and see Joe and his father as fully
equal, each with rights deserving of respect by the
other.

Since in practice Kohlberg recognizes that
subjects think according to the logic Of more than one
stage of values-deve10pment at a given time, his scoring
procedure is designed to note when different stages con-
verge and to indicate which stage seems to be dominant
in the subject's thinking. In the case Of the dilemma

involving Joe and his father, related above, there are a

144

number of different questions designed to arrive at the
subject's values. Theoretically, it would be possible
for a subject to answer all questions in terms of a
specific stage, such as Stage 3. In practice, however,
suchaisubject would more likely answer a majority (but
not all) of the questions in Stage 3 terms, answering
the remaining questions in terms Of one or both of the
adjacent stages, in this case, Stages 2 and 4. When
the latter type of mixed reSponse occurs, Kohlberg and
his staff record the dominant stage first, followed by
the secondary stages, which are placed in parentheses,
as for instance, Stage 3(2). If a subject responds
with an equal number of answers at each of two different
stages, his values are recorded by writing the two

stages, highest first, with a dash between, as 3-2.

Having described in greater detail how Kohlberg
distinguishes between content and structure, using the
structure Of a subject's reasoning in order to deter-
mine his level Of values deve10pment, it is now possible
to explain how the values of televison characters were
determined, again using their structure Of reasoning
as the measure of their stage level. To do this, an
example of a 1974-75 season character will be presented

for each stage of values deve10pment, together with an

explanation Of that character's structure of reasoning.

 

(.9‘“ '

 

145

Perhaps fortunately, no adult character in the
1974 season, prime-time programming reasons primarily
at Stage 1 of values development.* Examples of this
stage Of development do exist, however, in some of the
jdugments made by Jim Bob Walton, youngest son on drama

leader The Waltons. In one episode, Jim Bob and a

 

friend get caught playing sleight Of hand tricks with
the merchandise in Ike Godsey's general store. Ike
interprets their activities as stealing and tells

Jim Bob to go home and tell his father about the inci-
dent. Even before entering the store, Jim Bob had been
afraid of potential consequences, but he tells his dad
that it was only a game and all would have been well "if
I just hadn't got caught." In another episode, Jim Bob
takes a chicken leg from a batch that has been prepared
for a wedding dinner to be held at the Walton home. He
climbs up into the tree house to eat in secret, but
Older brothers Jason and Ben are already there. They
convince him to return and get pieces for them as well,
but Jim Bob warns them that if he gets caught, he'll say
they put him up to it. Here again, Jim Bob is thinking
about the consequences Of his actions and revealing a
naive view Of responsibility as well, since he belives

*This has not always been the case; see Chapter 7.

146

he can pass the consequences on to the authorizing
party, thereby exonerating his own involvement.

Unlike Stage 1, Stage 2 is a commonly found
level of values development among television characters,
particularly on situation comedy programs. The most
popular example Of a Stage 2 characterization is

All in the Family's Archie Bunker, who will be discussed

 

at length in the following chapter. For purpose of a
brief illustration, however, Fred Sanford Of number two
rated sitcom Sanford and Son, serves just as well.
Sanford is a junk dealer supported financially by his
grown son Lamont, who lives with his father. Not only
is Lamont the breadwinner; he also does all the cooking,
household chores and what cleaning he can manage before
Sanford clutters up the premises again. In addition,
Sanford is constantly spending Lamont's meager savings
on bogus get-rich-quick schemes. In other words, though
good natured and charmingly eccentric, Sanford is a
leech upon his son.

In line after comic line, Sanford reveals that
he views the father-son relationship in terms of exchange
Of favors, but that he thinks that his part of the bar-
gain was paid up long ago. In one episode, Sanford
"buys" a prize fighter with Lamont's savings and then
expects Lamont to be his sparring partner to impress a

potential manager. In another, Lamont goes to a

147

psychiatrist for a cure for a headache he's had for
weeks. When Sanford discovers that the psychiatrist
told Lamont that his problem is that he hates his
father, Sanford goes into a comic fit of depression.
"After all I done for that boy,“ he says. "Why, when
he's just a little baby and he'd cry out at night 'cause
he needed somethin', I'd wake up his mother and say,
Lizabeth, get up and go tend to that child, and . . ."
on it goes.

On situation comedy programs with a Stage 2
comic character, the straight man is typically at Stage

3, and this is the case with Sanford and Son. Lamont,

 

who is Fred Sanford's foil, acts as the peacemaker of
the family, preserving family ties and attributing good
intentions to Fred's most selfish acts. In the case of
the first episode related above, Lamont decides to spar
with the prizefighter after Grady (a neighbor) lies and
tells him that Sanford took the money hOping to buy
Lamont a new truck with the fighter's winnings. In the
other episode, Lamont tries to prevent his father from
finding out about the psychiatrist's verdict, but when
he finds out anyway, he reassures Fred that he loves
him--that it's just some Of the things he does that he
doesn't like.

A variation Of Stage 3 is Stage 3-A Prime, or

the "authoritarian orientation. At this stage, the

148

primary orientation is still toward loyalty and getting
along in the in-group, but there is an added vague

conception Of society as a system which is tenuously

bound together and which is always susceptible to
collapse in the pattern suggested by the "domino
theory" of political take-over. That is, there is a

belief that individuals and actions are links in great

chains and that weakness in any link threatens the whole

chain. The Stage 3-A Prime person, therefore, tends

to view himself as an individual within a rigid chain
of command, expecting automatic Obedience from those
below and automatically obeying the orders of superiors.
In addition, people at this stage tend to believe that
breaking one law leads to the breaking of other laws,
and, if unchecked, that this will lead to the breakdown
of all order, resulting in chaos.

In the current television season, the most

consistent characterization Of the 3-A Prime orientation
is Lieutenant Theo Kojak, Chief of New York City Detec-
tives on the series nggk, On each episode Kojak makes
some reference to the police department as in-group.

He frequently tells the men that their primary obli-
gation is to the department and to the men with whom

they serve. In addition, he does not hesitate to

publicly insult individual Officers for incompetent

work performance, reminding them that the good name Of

149

the department is at stake. Kojak also bangs out orders
without a backward glance, expecting automatic and
unquestioning compliance. The men who work under him,
however, apparently share his orientation to the sanctity
of chain of command, because they accept orders and
insults alike with barely a flinch.

Kojak's view of law and order in the society
is also consistent with Stage 3—A Prime reasoning.
The good of society as such is never mentioned by
Kojak, but he does make occasional reference to the
spiraling nature of crime. On one episode, the crime
at issue is syndicate protection Of bars. Trying to
get a bar owner to reveal the name of the big protector,
Kojak tells the man that, sure, it's only a payoff now,
but before long he'll have a syndicate bartender, then
a syndicate maid, then the syndicate will move in on
his bookkeeping and before he knows what's happened, all
he'll have left will be the certificate Of ownership.
This may, in fact, be the mode of syndicate Operations,
but it also represents Kojak's overall philOSOphy of
crime and chaos.

The Stage 4A, "law and order" orientation is
portrayed by most of the other principal characters

on drama adventure programs. Since the leader in this

category, Hawaii Five-O, will be discussed in some

 

detail in the next chapter, it will suffice to say

 

ha? amp-j

150

here that such characters as Steve McGarrett (Hawaii
Five-O), the police staff on the Rockies, Mike Stone

Of Streets of San Francisco and Pepper Anderson Of

 

Police Woman, display in addition to Kojak's orientation

 

toward maintenance of law and order, an orientation

to duty and personal responsibility that goes beyond
Kojak's barrage of orders to underlings, who then take
all the risks. Even in terms of police work as a job,
these men and women portray a competency and dedication
which leads to their being branded in the ads as
"super-cops," a title implying that duty-orientation

of this extreme is unrealistic in real-world terms.

Although no current season prime time character
clearly portrays Kohlberg's Stage 4 1/2 Of values deve1-
0pment, the reasoning associated with this stage under-
lies much of the comedy on M*A*S*H. This series features
the activities at a medical outpost during the Korean

War. As is perhaps actually the case during wartime,

traditional moral ethics are suspended by most Of the
program's principal characters, although the Stage 4

or "duty" and "law and order" standard remains in the
background as an ideal. In particular, the sexual
ethics associated with conventional morality, or Stages
3 and 4 of values development, are put aside as situa-

tionally undesirable within the wartime army. For

151

example, one Of the surgeons is married and fully
conscious Of his duty to his family. This prevents
him from volunteering for risky assignments but it
doesn't prevent him from having a long-term affair
with a sexy nurse called "Hot Lips." Seemingly, this
is a no—strings relationship and no one will get hurt.
Homosexuality also flourishes Openly in the camp. NO
one takes any Offense at this, but when the tOp brass
comes for a visit, the queen, who won't remove his
dress and earrings, is shuffled out of sight. Clearly
the role expectations associated with conventional
morality remain an acknowledged standard by the
characters on M*A*S*H, although the validity of those
views is implicitly questioned by the good will which
thrives in the camp, in the absence Of a rigid sexual
code.

Examples of Stage 5 or principled thinking
have been portrayed by Doctor Joe Gannon of Medical
Center. In one episode, for instance, a man convicted
of child molesting had been imprisoned for a number of
years while undergoing psychiatric therapy. As the
episode began, the man had just been labeled as "cured"
and recommended for parole by his therapist. Prison
officials were reluctant to release him, however,
without some "guarantee" that the crime would never be

repeated. TO provide this guarantee, the prison

152

psychiatrist recommended that the molester take a
libido-inhibiting drug as a condition Of parole.

Before making a recommendation to the parole
board regarding the use of the drug, Gannon considered
all the c1aims--including those of the child molester,
his wife, the raped girl (and other potential victims)
and the girl's family. Despite compelling empathy
(Stage 3) with the raped girl's family (her brother
has become autistic as a result of his failure to aid
his sister), and great personal distaste for the rapist,
Gannon formulated his recommendation on the basis Of
universal principles. He decided that no one should
be forced by the state to take a drug as a condition Of
parole. In making this recommendation, Gannon considered
the effect a decision to require the drug would have
as a precedent for future cases. He emphasized that
the parole board must avoid setting a precedent that
could easily be administered by others in the future in
such a way as to deny persons their constitutional
rights.

Section II of the present chapter has attempted
to explain the difference between content and structure
as these terms are used in connection with the Kohlberg
theory by l) presenting examples of actual subject
reasoning at each of the Kohlberg stages, and 2) by

presenting an example Of a television character at each

153

stage of values development and showing how the struc-
tural level portrayed by that character was determined.

Chapter 6 will carry this explanation of technique one

step further by providing a detailed anaylsis of the
values of the principal characters on the most popular

program in each of the three prime time categories

studied--situation comedy, drama/adventure and drama.

 

. ...

 

154

Notes to Chapter 5

1See "Writers' Symposium" in A. William Bluem and
Roger Manwell, eds., Television: The Creative Experience;
A Survey of Anglo-American Programs (New York, 1967).
This fact is common knowledge to TV watchers.

2Richard A. Blake, "TV's Tyranny of the Twelve
Hundred," America, 23 December 1972, 551. The summary
ratings, however, represent only the top Of the metaphor-
ical iceberg. The Nielsen sample Of 1,200 American fami+
lies, one third of which are changed each year, is com-
piled On the basis of U.S. Census Bureau data, and is
considered to be 98% representative of the demographic
characteristics Of the viewing public as a whole. Busi-
nesses and ad agencies can gain detailed computer read-
outs on the age, sex, occupation, income and predictable
buying patterns of any segment Of the viewing population.
This information is then used by subscribers to make
decisions regarding which programs individual sponsors
should support.

3Standard Scoring Manual (Cambridge, Laboratory
for Human Development, 1973).

 

4Ibid, Story I, 2. 51bid., 6.
6Ibid., 7 7Ibid., 13.
8Ibid., 20 91bid., 23.
10Ibid., 21. 11Ibid., 36.
12Ibid., 39. 13Ibid., 42.
14Ibid., 43.

15

Kohlberg and Elliot Turiel, "Continuities in
Childhood and Adult Moral Development Revisited," in
Kohlberg, Collected Papers on Moral Development and Moral
Education (Cambridge, Laboratory for Human Development,
1973), 22-31.

16

 

 

Ibid., 24.

CHAPTER 6

A STRUCTURAL VALUES ANALYSIS OF PRIME TIME
TELEVISION SERIES: FOCUS ON ALL IN THE FAMILY,
THE WALTONS, AND HAWAII FIVE-O

 

 

 

The previous chapter gave some examples Of how
Kohlberg determines the values Of subjects in laboratory
situations and then demonstrated how this process was
used to determine the values Of some specific television
characters. But, as the present chapter will show,
dramatic forms themselves, as they appear on television
and elsewhere, can be defined in terms of structural

values conflict.

From the earliest times, critics have attempted
to define dramatic forms in terms Of the morality por-
trayed by the characters. In the Poetics, Aristotle
defined the types of drama in terms of the types Of
moral character Of the characters represented. According
to Aristotle, the difference between Tragedy and Comedy
is “that the one makes its personage worse, and the
other better than the men of present day." (Poetics 1448)
Elder Olson, whose views represent those of several
contemporary critics, extends Aristotle's Observations
about characterization to encompass the dramatic form

itself. He writes:

Every emotional experience must either
confirm or alter in some way our system of
values; and in altering it, make it better or

155

156

worse whenever it effects a moral value. This
must hold true, also, Of drama and the other
arts, so that the effect of drama is its
effect upon moral values . . . .

One kind of drama assumes the system of
values of the person of ordinary morality.

It proposes simply the arousing Of emotions
to the ultimate effect of giving pleasure; its
aim is entertainment . . .

The second kind Of drama goes beyond enter-
tainment, and permits us perceptions which we
should not otherwise have had; it goes beyond
ordinary morality, and Offers us other and
better systems of values; it, in some degree,
alters us as human beings.1

Kohlberg explains that, as Opposed to Freudian
critics, who see characters in drama as representing
warring forces in the personality--the id, superego
and ego, structural developmentalists believe that
characters represent stages Of values or moral devel-
opment.2 Kohlberg stresses that using the latter method
Of analysis, characters represent complete personalities,
not fragments of wholes, as in the Freudian view.
Conflict occurs within the structural-developmentalist
schema because characters representing different stages
Of deve10pment have strongly Opposing perspectives on
specific situations. Resolution comes either through
insight (such as the "insight" that love is more impor-

tant than justice) or further deve10pment.3

Kohlberg claims that the ability Of individuals
to understand all levels of morality at or below their
own provides a key to the appreciation of comedy and

most forms of drama. To him, the structures Of

157

reasoning portrayed by characters are "filters deter-

mining the writer's and the audience's perception of
the characters and action of a drama." To illustrate,

he writes:

A low comedy in which the 'hero' amorally
outwits his enemies depends upon the survival
of a Stage 2 instrumental egoistic system

of morality in each of us, a soap Opera depends
upon the survival in us Of a Stage 3 'be nice,‘
'be loving' moral system in which 'goodness
leads to happiness.‘

He cautions, however, that "more complex literature
embodies these types of moral thought in characters

but lets no type Of moral thought triumph in a simple
way."4
The present chapter will illustrate how the
Kohlberg system can be used to structurally analyze
dramatic forms on television, focusing for purposes
of illustration on the tOp-rated program in each of
the categories studied--situation comedy; drama; and
drama/adventure. In line with Aristotle's age-Old
maxim, characters in situation comedy tend to portray
a mix Of conventional and preconventional behavior.
Since Kohlberg's studies indicate that most Americans

reach conventional morality (Stages 3 and 4 on his

values development scale), the large number of comic

characters who occur at Stage 2 are below the moral
level Of most of the viewing public. Principal

characters on programs in the drama and drama/adventure

158

categories, on the other hand, portray primarily con-
ventional or Stage 3 and 4 values. These values,
according to Kohlberg, represent ordinary morality, or
the norm for our society.

Among dramatic prime time programs, situation
comedy is by far the most popular. Significantly, many
Of the most popular comedies have featured a principal
character whose values are Stage 2, or preconventional
(that is, an individual preoccupied with his own instru-
mental needs and desires). Among the tOp-rated instru-
mental eogists of the past have been "Lucy" in her roles
within three popular comedies of the past twenty years;

Jethro Of the immensely popular Beverly Hillbillies;

 

Sergeant Carter of Gomer Pyle; Uncle Joe Of Petticoat

 

 

Junction;.Corporal Klink and Sergeant Schultz of

Hogan's Heroes; and Endora of Bewitched. In recent

 

 

years, Ted Baxter of the Mary Tyler Moore Show; Fred

 

Sanford of Sanford and Son; Walter Finley of Maude;

 

and Archie Bunker of All in the Family have topped the

 

list Of popular Stage 2 heroes. In addition, much
comedy has been created by the portrayal Of precon-
ventional behavior by such children as Dennis of

‘Dennis the Meance, Opey Of The Andy Griffith Show,

 

and Tabatha of Bewitched. The following description

 

of the manner in which Archie Bunker's Stage 2 orien-

tation fits into the structure of All in the Family

159

as a whole could therefore be applied with appropriate
variations to a host of other comic characters and
programs.

Archie Bunker has had neither the education
nor the variety of experiences sufficient to facilitate
his deve10pment beyond preconventional morality. A
low paid factory worker with the memory Of a depression
childhood, Archie's main orientation is toward the value
of a dollar. He has no understanding Of groups or
of affectional ties within gorups as valuable in their
own right,so he distrusts everyone whose nationality,
race, religion, political affiliation, age, education,
employment or length-Of-hair is different from his own.
This leaves him with his wife and a few drinking bud-
dies--although one of these is disqualified when Archie
discovers he may be homosexual. Since Archie does
not understand that other peOple's needs and viewpoints

may be valid based on their own experiences, he sees

 

his own needs, desires and viewpoints as always right,
and he is only provoked to a temporary change Of mind
or behavior in order to gain an immediate reward or
to avoid undesirable consequences to himself. In his
personal relationships, he is oriented toward direct
reciprocity and exchange of favors.

Archie's "best deal" is the relationship he

has with his wife Edith. He pays the bills and makes

160

all the decisions and she provides him with cheerful,
non-stop domestic service. An authoritarian head Of
the household, Archie orders Edith around, calls her
stupid and "dingbat," criticizes her cooking, her
singing and her friends. But Edith remains smiling
and only mildly hypertensive through all the insults,
never retaliating, quick to conciliate disagreements
at the first Opportunity.

Archie also expects "respect" in the form of
agreement and Obedience from daughter Gloria and son-
in-law Mike Stivic, who are living with Archie and
Edith while Mike finishes graduate school. Archie's
Stage 2 values, moreover, tell him that Mike is a
leech upon the household, since he receives his room
and board free. NO sense Of affectional ties or pater-
nal responsibility (Stages 3 and 4 respectively) cloud
this vision Of his son-in-law. In one interchange
which begins with Archie accusing Mike Of having no
no “respect," Mike retorts with, "Archie, respect
has to be earned." “So does a livin'," Archie shoots
back, "but that don't mean nothin' to you."

Likewise, Archie considers his work as a simple
exchange of hours for paycheck; job satisfaction and

commitment never appear as issues. He is careful,

however, to avoid trouble that might endanger his

job security. In one episode, Archie is told he has

161

to fire one of his three supervisees. These include
a black man, a white man and the only Puerto Rican
in the plant. TO avoid trouble with the other black
and white employees, Archie fires the Puerto Rican,
even though he does the best work. In another episode,
Archie takes a drill and some nails home from work.
NO amount of criticism from Mike and Gloria can con-
vince him that the act is stealing, since the supplies
came from work (about the nails, he says, "That's why
the company leaves so many small things around--it
prevents stealing"). But when co-worker Irene dis-
covers the theft, Archie asks her to promise not to
tell, saying he wouldn't tell on her if the situation
were reversed. Irene leaves, disgusted, without making
a commitment not to tell, however, so Archie puts the
drill in his lunchbox and tells the family that he'll
be going to work early the next morning to return it.
The impact of Archie's bigotry on the viewing
audience has been a source Of some considerable criti-
cal debate ever since the series' debut in 1970. The
series' creator, Norman Lear, and a substantial number
Of critics, argue that Archie's impact is positive,
since his comments provoke Open discussion of racist
attitudes and display the bigot personality for what
it really is--frightened, compulsive, going-nowhere.

Others, in particular black critics, have argued that

162

Archie the lovable bigot is dangerous in that he is
resurrecting racist epithets and attitudes that were
at long last almost buried and teaching them to a new
generation Of children.6 Still another group, which
purports to take a compromise position, prOposes that
Archie's bigotry wouldn't be so bad if he weren't
consistently closed—minded and complacent about it--
if he owned up to his bigotry every now and again.7
But what this latter group of critics fail to understand
is that closed-minded complacency as a form of moral
ignorance is what creates bigotry, and it is insep-
arable from it. Archie has trouble understanding the
perspectives of others within his intimate circle of
family and friends, so naturally he views the feelings
and goals of outsiders as totally alien and potentially
dangerous. Furthermore, his union, his neighborhood,
even his own family, have been invaded by peOple his
blue-collar, WASP upbringing taught him not to trust.
All he can do is rail at the enemy.

Typically, situation comedies which feature
a preconventional principal character pit that charac-
ter against a conventional moral thinker--generally
at Stage 3 but sometimes at Stage 4--for purposes of

comedy on the program. In the case of All in the

 

Family, Archie's primary sparring partner is his son-

in-law. As critics have noted, however, Mike's liber-

163

alism might well be considered conservative if it
weren't constantly juxtaposed against Archie's amora-
lity. In fact, according to the Kohlberg scale, Mike
displays a highly conventional, or Stage 4, form Of
morality. He seems to understand that the United
States is comprised of a lot of different groups Of
people, all with legitimate rights to reap the bene-
fits Of American living. He also rejects Archie's
prejudicial labeling of others, though his attempts
to change Archie's outlook meet with nothing but auto-
matic and sarcastic rebuttal. This is in part due

tO the fact that Archie never reached the Stage 3

or "be nice" stage of morality and Mike has largely
passed beyond it. As a result, neither Of them
places high value on "getting along" with each other.
Mike appears to value family rapport more than Archie,
however. He never indulges in the type of below-the-
belt insults that Archie uses against Mike and the
rest of the family. A heated "it's impossible to have
an intelligent discussion with you" is about as far

as Mike descends.

In the physical sense, Mike is no more appeal-
ing than Archie, Of course. He is unkempt, lethargic,
overweight and constantly pictured snacking between
meals. And, too, Mike ig dependent on the Bunkers

for room and board while attending graduate school.

164

In Archie's view, and that Of several critics, this
stacks the cards heavily against Mike's Opinions.
As far as Mike is concerned, however, Archie owes
him and Gloria the extra start in life, a view shared
by many real-life American families with college-age
children living at home.

Edith Bunker, a Stage 3 characterization,
mediates between Archie's Stage 2 instrumentalism
and Mike's determined Stage 4 outlook. As one critic
writes, "Edith is the balance wheel on his (Archie's)
erratic behavior, and the only one in the family with
an Open mind. It's not much Of a mind, but it's open
and kind."8 Jean Stapleton, who plays Edith, says,
"I love Edith's role in the structure of this show.
She's the one who states the truth. I love to be the
guileless protagonist of honesty."9

Although I would agree that Edith is guile-
less, her honesty ends where any type Of conflict or
hurt feelings might potentially begin. Edith's entire
personality, in fact, is developed around her role,
not as the "protagonist of honesty," but as the family
peacemaker. As Edith explains it to Gloria in one
episode, in her Opinion a happy family life is every
woman's goal in life. With hands folded and eyes

uplifted, she goes on to describe tranquil family

gatherings at Thanksgiving and Christmas, until Mike

165

interrupts and accuses her of forming her Opinions

from watching The Waltons. "No real family is like

 

that," he says. Later in the same episode, Edith
tells Gloria that having babies is "the one thing
that women was meant to do" ("If God didn't mean for
women to have babies, why, we'd all be men ...").
She says that having Gloria made her "feel useful,"
and that she's been looking forward to another twenty
years with her grandchildren.

Edith's devotion to family life is the key
to an understanding of her Stage 3 moral outlook on
life. Her daily living is oriented toward maintaining
close personal ties and toward keeping relationships
among family members and friends running smoothly
and peacefully. This is especially true in the case
of her relationship with Archie. In one episode,
Edith discovers that a friend is contemplating divorce
because her husband is tired of her and has begun
having affairs. The friend tells Edith that she and
Archie are practically the only peOple she knows who
are happily married. "What's your secret?" she asks.
"Oh, I ain't got no secret," Edith replies with a
slightly embarrassed smile. "Archie and me still
has fights, but we don't let 'em go on too long.
Somebody always says 'I'm sorry,‘ and Archie always

says, 'That's OK, Edith.'"

166

Edith is only moved to strong words when family
harmony or the loyalty Of a friend seems to be at stake.
In one episode, Gloria and Mike have been fighting all
day, and finally Gloria decides to sleep on the couch.
Edith assembles the family in the living room and tells
the story of the time her parents began an argument
over a triviality. The argument went on for such a
long time that deep resentments develOped, and "Things
was never the same after that," Edith says. In another
episode, Archie behaves so rudely to neighbor Irene
that Irene leaves before eating a dinner especially
prepared for her by Edith. Nonplused, Archie stomps
over to the table and orders Edith to bring on the
food. At first Edith refuses--asking Archie how he
could be so mean to "such a good friend." She soon
gives in, however, to save any further buildup Of
ill feelings.

Like her mother, Gloria is oriented primarily
toward keeping peace in the family. Her character,
however, has slowly changed and developed over the
four-plus years that the series has been on the air.

At the beginning, she was repeatedly portrayed in a
turmoil over Archie and Mike's bickering. But more
recently, she displays an independence and sense Of
personal responsibility that refuses to be intimidated

by either father or husband. In a recent episode,

167

Mike suddenly announces that he has no intention of
having children--he'll adOpt, he says, because that
would be caring for a child that is already here, but

he won't be responsible for bringing another infant

into the present world. Gloria is furious, not only
because of Mike's decision, but primarily because he
made it without consulting her. "A marriage is supposed

to be a partnership, she says. Later, after ignoring
Archie's tirades against Mike's virility and listening
patiently to her mother's arguments on behalf of
maternity, Gloria decides she wants to consider the
matter further by herself. "I believe a woman should

be a person first, and then maybe a mother, she says.
In terms of Kohlberg's values scale, then,

All in the Family's basic structure is developed

 

around the battle between preconventional and conven-
tional morality, with Archie and Mike as spokesmen
for the two orientations. Edith and Gloria, struc-
turally and dramatically, act primarily as mediators
and conciliators. Clearly, Edith is the most sym-
pathetic character in terms of morality, moreover,
which suggests that creator Lear expects the majority
Of the viewing audience to understand and agree with
her "be nice, get along" morality (Stage 3).

Another values structure commonly used in

situation comedy involves characterizations that are

168

primarily conventional. In these comedies, conflict
usually develops around misinterpreted intentions.
Especially at Stage 3, intentions are viewed as very
important, often more important than actual behavior.
As a result, characters portraying Stage 3 behavior

can become involved in an infinite number Of situations
in which they either 1) misinterpret one another's
behavior--a wife sees her husband accidentally shoved
up against an attractive woman in a crowd and assumes
that he is having an affair with her, or 2) attempt to
avoid giving each other the wrong impression--a wife
who has just taken a job doesn't want her husband to
feel neglected so she begins doing all the baking,
ironing and cleaning at home, although she had pre-
viously had these services hired out. Though the
examples cited above are about domestic misinter-
pretations, mix-ups between work associates and friends
work just as well. Past comedies of this ilk have

included such hits as The Danny Thomas Show and The

 

Dick Van Dyke Show (the original series); a modern

 

example is the popular 1974-75 season comedy 32293:
To summarize at this point: Preconventional,
and primarily Stage 2 morality, is very important in
situation comedy. Archie Bunker, as such, represents
the continuation of a long trend Of popular Stage 2

comic characterizations. Archie's instrumentalism

169

is at once more racy and more realistic than that which
television has previously portrayed, but his hedonistic
self-centeredness is a stock and trade of comedy.

Also typically, conventional morality--portrayed on All

in the Family by Edith, Gloria and Mike--provides the

 

necessary challenge to Archie's world View that pro-
duces comedy. Although conventional, Stage 3 morality
is sometimes the focus Of situation comedy, in which
case misinterpreted motives become the primary stimu-
lus for plots, conventional morality is most commonly
portrayed in repartee with preconventional morality.
In this repartee, the audience recognizes the inferi-
ority of preconventional thinking so plainly that the
Stage 2 character--who is serious about his beliefs--
appears funny, even ridiculous.

In the case of drama programs on television,
conventional morality is the form most commonly por-
trayed. The top drama program of the 1974-75 television

season is The Waltons, about a Blue Ridge Mountain

 

family, living out the Depression years on love and

the father's backyard sawmill. Although each Of the
adult Waltons has some orientation to Stage 4 principles
Of responsibility and community welfare, the primary
orientation is toward the family-as-in—group and
"getting along lovingly" in the Stage 3 sense. Conven-

tional morality seems relatively stagnated at Stage 3

170

for the Waltons, moreover, since the seclusion of the
rural community and the emphasis on family loyalty
effectively inhibits meaningful contact with the world
outside Walton's Mountain.

As early reviews of The Waltons observed,

 

the moral tone Of family life is set by the parents,

John and Olivia Walton. Typically, John and Olivia's

Stage 3 orientation works in favor of family harmony

in an idyllic, if somewhat unrealistic fashion.

Their mutual love and approval is the basis on which

the entire family gains its cohesion. The parents

continually emphasize kindness, caring, helpfulness

and honesty as the apprOpriate means of dealing with

each other and with the problems that come the family's

way. Love, in the Stage 3 meaning of mutual approval

and getting along with others is also the cure most

Often prescribed for the troubled outsiders who, for

purposes of plot, wander into the Waltons' lives.
According to the message provided by the pro-

gram, however, this Stage 3 love comes only within

the family as in-group. Life within a happy family

is the highest type of fulfillment possible according

to the program. No career, no dream is worth the effort

if family life must be jeOpardized in the process.

As such, John and Olivia and the other Waltons portray

a very limited understanding of, and a distinctly

171

negative bias against, a broad range Of lifestyles.

For example, so far on the program, the professions

Of acting, singing, flying, teaching and writing
(except if one writes about one's family, as John-Boy
Walton does) have been stereotyped as incompatible
with family life and as otherwise partially unrewarding
and unfulfilling.

In two 1974-75 season episodes which roughly
parallel each other, John and Olivia's Stage 3 morali-
ties are portrayed in a manner which suggests one of
the more important conflicts for the individual at
this stage of values deve10pment--insecurity generated
by the need for continued approval and reassurance
from others. One episode is concerned with Olivia's
fortieth birthday, a time Of great depression for her.
She feels that she is growing Old and losing her former
attractiveness and usefulness. Although a 1972-73
season episode revealed that Olivia gave up a poten-
tial career as a singer to be a housewife and mother,
that issue is not specifically raised here. Olivia's
feelings are portrayed as somewhat vague and unfocused:
one thing is clear, however, and that is that she needs
reassurance from outside herself. Significantly,
this comes from two younger men and in both cases takes
on a romantic, schoolgirl aura. First, John-Boy reads

her a romantic poem for her birthday. She doesn't

172

understand the poem, but is comforted by it anyway.
Later, an airmail pilot, who has told her that he finds
her attractive, takes her for a plane ride.

The greatest compliment Of all, however, comes
to Olivia when the airmail pilot decides as a result
Of meeting her and seeing John's devotion to her and
to his family, to give his own marriage another try.

At the end Of this episode, life is going on as usual
for Olivia Walton, now that she has been reassured that
others (significantly, younger men) approve of her.

Her feelings of discontent are never critically examined,
however, and she never really considers taking on a

new direction. Unlike many real-life women of forty who,
finding that their school age children make fewer
demands on them, decide to complete their educations,
find a job, or otherwise pursue interests outside the
home, this is no option for Olivia. It would be a
ripple in the smoothly running stream of family life,

and when John does make such a decision in a later
episode, it almost tears the family apart.

John, too, as portrayed in the parallel epi-
sode, needs reassurance about his attractiveness and
virility. John's problem begins when two attractive
girls ignore him in town one day. That night, John

tells Olivia that he has decided to take a job which

will only allow him to be home on week-ends, a decision

173

that he says has "something to do with my manhood."
Even before John is out the door, however, a discontent-
ment begins to swell among family members. Olivia
accuses him Of acting on his own, without consulting
her or considering her. John tells her that he loves
her and says that he's not going to let anything come
between them and what they've got. The grandparents
and children question him about taking the job, too,
and he is unable to explain to anyone's satisfaction
why the move into town is necessary. It will clearly
benefit nobody but himself, since no one believes the
little bit of extra money he will make is worth the
father's absence.

Once in town, John takes up residence in the
boardinghouse of an attractive fortyish widow, Mrs.
Champion. When they meet, she tells John that he
seems too young to have seven children. John beams
at the compliment. In a remarkably short time period,
they become spouse surrogates for each other. John sits
and talks with her while she makes breakfast and packs
his lunch; he helps her with chores; and in the evenings,
they talk about their personal lives and about his
family. They have formed a sort Of Stage 3 mutual
admiration society, but at the expense of Olivia and
the rest of the Walton family and Of the widow's long-

time boyfriend, who also lives in the boardinghouse.

174

Back on Walton's Mountain, Olivia is lonely
and depressed; one night she goes to bed crying.

The younger children need help with their homework,
but John-Boy is too busy with his own school work.

If only their father were home, they say. During the
middle of the week, Olivia becomes so depressed that
she calls John at the boardinghouse. He tells her that
he won't be able to come home that week-end because

he is being forced to work overtime or lose his job.
The next day, she loses control and screams at John-
Boy when he expresses frustration that his father will
not be home on the week-end to discuss his school
problems.

Finally, events force John into a perception
of the hedonistic nature of his activities. John-Boy
drives into town to visit his father on the week-end
and is warmly greeted by the attractive Mrs. Champion.
As they talk, John-Boy tells his father that he is
greatly missed at home. Later that afternoon, after
showing John-Boy where he works, John takes his son to
a local tavern for a drink. The boyfriend is there
drinking with friends and he tells John that if he
were really fond Of his wife and children, he would be
with them. He goes on to say that John has upset
Mrs. Champion with his talk Of happy family life and

that this has disrupted their relationship. A close-up

175

of John's face reveals that he is taking the boyfriend's
comments seriously. The boyfriend and his buddies
start a fight, but John and John-Boy manage to hold
their own and escape out into the street. After
congratulating each other on how well they handled
themselves in the brawl, John says he wants tO go
home.

Although John may have needed an exposure to
life outside Walton's Mountain, his real reasons
for going, which were rooted in Stage 2 instrumental
need satisfaction, became apparent to him when they
violated his conscious Stage 3 values. John knew

in advance that his new job would be a snap. He went

to town seeking reassurance, adventure, approval. In
order to Obtain this, however, John immediately estab-
lished a relationship with another woman much like

his wife--less demanding on him because Of the lack Of
children and real home responsibilities, but more
demanding on the woman since it caused her to reorient
herself emotionally without any hope Of a change in
her previously satisfactory lifestyle. Metaphorically,
that the move was an unsatisfactory abberation is
revealed by its abrupt termination. John realizes

his error and returns to Walton's Mountain to pursue

this normal life. Like Olivia, he asks no deeper

questions about the nature of his discontent and merely

chalks the entire episode up to adventure.

176

Like their son and his wife, Grandpa and Grandma
Walton are primarily oriented toward responsibility
within the in-group and maintaining harmonious family
relationships. In addition, since they are familiarly
known as "Grandpa" and "Grandma" to visitors and
town residents, they symbolize that all Of Walton's
Mountain is one big family as in-group. An episode
which focused on the grandparents' Stage 3 values
centered around their decision to leave the Walton
house because they felt insufficiently appreciated.
Neither the family on the Mountain nor the grandparents
in town are happy with the new arrangement, but both
John and his father have too much pride to admit it
and ask for a reconciliation. Finally, John-Boy acts
as the catalyst that reunites the family.

Occasionally, Grandpa violates the Stage 3
"be nice" ethic for reasons Of personal whim (Stage 2),
but before the episode's conclusion, he has grown
tired of his wife's disapproval and unhappiness and
has mended his ways. For example, in one episode,
Grandpa wins a statue at a community fair lottery
which looks just like his old girlfriend. He places
the statue on the front lawn in convenient view from
his porch rocker. He gazes at it for several days,
thus provoking a series of outbursts from Grandma,
but at last, he grows tired of the harassment and dumps

the statue in the river.

177

Of all the Walton children, John-Boy, the oldest
son, is most focal to the program. Patterned after
the series' creator, Earl Hamner, Jr., the "adult"
John-Boy is now a successful writer living in Califor-
nia. As such, he is relating events that happened
to his family when he was a teenager, still aspiring
to be a professional writer. It is his voice that
Opens each episode with a brief statement of what the
current story will be about. At the conclusion of
the program, John-Boy-as-adult again comments on what
his family learned--usually about family togetherness--
from the events portrayed. In each episode, John-
Boy is on hand to watch events transpire, and frequently
he has revealing conversations, with family members
and others, which help the audience understand what
these characters are thinking. When he is on camera,
moreover, John-Boy is generally the focus of attention,
with frequent shots Of his eye movements and facial
expressions to indicate how he is reacting to events.

John-Boy is his family's principal link with
the outside world. He is attending a college in a
nearby town, and he knows that if he is to become a
successful writer, he must eventually leave Walton's
Mountain. As an episode in the program's first season
revealed, John-Boy desparately wants to maintain his

close family ties while at the same time pursuing his

178

goal of becoming a writer. In part, he has decided
he will do this by writing about his family.
Significantly, the series began with John-Boy
beginning to question what he wants to do with his
life. In the 1974-75 season, John-Boy is well into
his college studies and has integrated their demands
into his home routine. Nonetheless, home life still
comes first for John-Boy, and in episode after episode,
he acts as the wise conciliator of disputes between
his parents and siblings. As such, John-Boy portrays
a highly equilibrated form Of Stage 3 values and shows
signs of being in transition tO Stage 4. His Stage 4
leanings are revealed in his sense of responsibility,

both for family welfare and toward his school work

and the creative writing he continually seeks to
publish.

As various episodes suggest, however, John-
Boy does not yet feel a sense of social or artistic
responsibility to write with perfect honesty. Instead,
he often sees his desire for professional prominence
as a hedonistic rejection of his Stage 3 concerns
regarding in-group solidarity and harmony. For
example, in one episode John-Boy discovers that he
has the Opportunity to publish a story he has written
about the fantasized love affair of a local Spinster.

The trouble is that the fragile Old woman has come to

179

believe in the fantasy, and the well-intentioned owner
of the general store has already told her that John-
boy's new story is tO be about her. Olivia cautions
John-Boy against hurting Miss Emily's feelings, but

at first John-Boy can only think about his need to
publish. He offers to read the story to Miss Emily,
however, before sending it Off for publication.

Tears begin swelling in the aging woman's eyes as
John-Boy begins. Unable to endure her pain, he trans-
poses the story to read as though the love relation-
ship had actually existed. Since John-Boy only dimly
feels a responsibility to portray his view of society
honestly for its own sake, apart from the reward he
may gain by writing a certain type of story, he views
his predicament as a battle between his Stage 2 con-
cern for reward and his Stage 3 concern for others.
Accordingly, he chooses the higher value and respects
the feelings Of Miss Emily.

During the 1974-75 season, second son Jason
has been featured in several episodes. Jason, like
John-Boy, plans a career that will take him away from
his father's sawmill business. He wants to be a musi-
cian and has already done some creditable composing.
Jason's composing has thus far, however, brought him
little but disapproval from his family. Like John-

Boy, Jason is motivated to conciliate difficulties as

180

they arise, since he still places the highest value

on family cohesiveness. The other children are fea-

tured less Often, but indications are that teenagers
Ben and Mary Ellen are primarily oriented toward a
peer approval form of Stage 3 and that the younger

children are still largely preconventional, or oriented

toward Stages 1 and 2.

In summary, family drama such as The Waltons

 

depends on an underlying Stage 3 conventional morality

which is shared by the principal characters. Conflict

arises when one character violates this morality for

selfish reasons, or when a character's well-intentioned

actions lead to misunderstanding or trouble for others.

The protagonists of this type Of drama portray both the

Stage 3 norm and its violation, so that most Of the

conflict occurs within the protagonists themselves.

In addition to The Waltons' current popular imitator

Little House on the Prairie, examples of this type Of
drama in the past have included such favorites as

Father Knows Best, The Real McCoys and Lassie.

Another type of program, classified as "drama"

by the television networks, features a professional

person as the principal character/super-hero. In

this type, the norm is portrayed by the super-hero

but the violation Of the norm which produces the con-

flict is portrayed by another character, who is rarely

181

a regular on the program. During the 1974-75 season

and in the past, these programs have focused on the

professions Of law, medicine and education. The super-

lawyer, super-doctor or super-teacher is portrayed

 

as possessing conventional morality, par excellance.

He--there have been almost no "shes"--radiates a

perfect blend of social and professional responsibility

(or Stage 4) and empathy (or Stage 3). His clients

or students, however, who are often personal friends

as well, are less committed to conventional values.

Most commonly, medical, legal or educational problems

are traced by the super-professional to the client's

personal problems. The solution then involves helping

the client see the value of "getting along" with certain

others (Stage 3) or Of assuming some type Of personal

or social responsibility (Stage 4). In any case, the

first step always involves the client's realization,

guided by the professional, that he must deal honestly

with himself and others.
One popular medical drama, however, has taken

up ethical issues that are central to that Of the

profession. Medical Center's Doctor Gannon argued

in two episodes for legalization and licensing Of mid-

wives and against state-controlled behavior as a condi-

In both, Gannon focused on the

tion of prison parole.
current law and the potential precedents involved,

182

asking the question "Is the law serving the purpose

it was designed to fulfill--namely, to safeguard the

right of people?" In these episodes, Gannon's orienta-

tion is toward Stage 5. Unfortunately, his dialogue

on the programs approaches legal jargon and the Stage 3,
empathic concerns Of the minor characters dominate the

moral tone. In each case, however, these empathic

concerns reinforce the need for more humane laws.

Like the drama programs which feature profes-
sional heroes, drama/adventure programs also feature

a super-hero who embodies the norms of our society.

In drama/adventure, the super-hero is a law enforcer

Of some type. In the mid-seventies, he is commonly

a policeman or police detective, though Marshall Matt

Dillon of long running Gunsmoke portrays the last Of

a long series of western super-heroes. In some

westerns Of the past, the law enforcer was a free-

lancer, either a hired gun or a land owner Of such
proportions that his or her word was law for the terri-

tory. Free-lance crime fighters, even of the private

investigator sort, however, are not common in modern

the mid-seventies version of

crime drama. In fact,

the super-COp is Of a highly professional, even analyti-

cal crime fighter, someone who radiates a college

education and good breeding. This is true for uni-

formed policemen and their non-uniformed affiliates

and supervisors as well.

 

 

183

Hawaii Five-O, the 1974-75 season leader in

 

the drama/adventure category, is a program about pro-
fessional crime fighting designed for an audience Of
professionals. Sponsored by Buick, Pontiac, Honda,
Cashet perfume and chunky beef stew, even the ads for
such mundane products as CONTAC exhibit the executive
flair. (A stylish young woman speaks confidently into
the camera: "This tablet--shot of a competitor with
name clearly visible--contains only a pain killer and
decongestant; this tablet--another shot of a cold
product--contains a decongestant and an antihistimine,
but no pain killer; this tablet--shot of CONTAC--con-
tains all three. You have to take po_t_h of these other
cold tablets to get the medical effectiveness Of one
CONTAC tablet ...") The Opening credits are backed
by shots of blue skies and sparkling ocean, laced with
superimposed close-ups of exotic restaurants, hula
dancers and airplanes taking Off. "Vacation in Hawaii!"
is written all over the screen.
Super detective Steve McGarrett and his assis-
tants are first and foremost tacticians. Even at the
scene of a potential shoot-out, it is common for
McGarrett to be carrying a manila envelope of papers,
reflecting the research he has just completed on
the particular crime in progress and the criminal.

He frequently refers to criminology studies and always

13111.. ,

 

 

184

prefers the apprehension procedure that research has
shown most effective. McGarrett's goal is alwaYS
responsible; he wants to secure the greatest number
of people from potential harm. In the case where a
hostage or other innocent bystander is involved,
however, they come first in his Considerations, even
if this means delaying the apprehension Of the criminal.

In his dealings with his associates, McGarrett
is also cool, analytical and non-authoritarian. Much
like a top-level executive, he invites Opinions and
impressions from his subordinates, considers these
and then acts according to his reasoned judgment.
His principal assistant, Dan Williams, also displays
McGarrett's executive charisma. He is never pictured
as incompetent or in need Of close supervision; he
is simply younger, and is Obviously being groomed
to walk in McGarrett's shoes one day. Both McGarrett
and Williams and the other members Of the Five-O team
are always shown as efficient, intensely conscientious
and unaffected by the personal slurs Of the uninformed.
As such, they are all strong representatives Of Kohl-
berg's Stage 4 Of values development.

Like the super-doctors, -lawyers, and -teachers
On drama programs, however, the super-professional
policemen do not in themselves embody dramatic con-

flict. The conflict arises almost solely from the

185

norm violation of amoral or pathological law-breakers.
And furthermore, only rarely is the process that
leads normal, conventionally moral people to crime
portrayed.

In one Hawaii Five-O episode this season,

 

however, three women are portrayed as driven to a
series of armed robberies because Of unresolved
personal conflicts. One woman is married to a domi-
neering slob of a man. She has no job skills and no
money, and therefore fears to leave her husband though
she is miserable with him. The youngest Of the three
women is a junkie unable to support her habit. The
third is widowed with an invalid son who requires

an expensive Operation--it will cost at least $10,000.
The junkie suggests the robberies and the other women
reluctantly agree.

At first, the woman with the sick son is sym-
pathetically portrayed, and it is hard for the viewer
to consider her actions immoral since a human life is
at stake. As the plot progresses, however, robbery
turns to assault and then murder when the junkie be-
comes frightened and fires her gun. In a police battle
that follows, the discontented wife is killed. The
junkie and the mother get away, but the junkie tells
the mother that if she gets caught, she'll blow the

whistle on the mother as well. Now desperate, the

186

mother takes out a contract on the junkie. The two
are captured in time to prevent further violence,
however.

In the Hawaii Five-O plot related above, and

 

in the smattering Of other plots that attempt to show

a normally moral person driven to crime, the overall
message is that committing one crime inevitably leads
to committing others and finally to the formation of

an amoral criminal personality. Morality and legality
are carefully shown as inseparable companions on crime
drama programs. This effectively closes Off the possi-
bility of demonstrating any postconventional or post
Stage 4 reasoning and behavior. Had the woman with

the invalid son, for instance, stolen the amount

needed for his Operation using nonviolent means, the

 

situation would be morally ambiguous--even though
technically, of course, she committed a crime. Had
she turned herself in for prosecution after the Opera-
tion had been performed, the situation would have been
even more ambiguous morally. But even in programs
which profile a rationally motivated criminal, this
rationality is portrayed as eroded by committing a
crime.

More typically, furthermore, criminals are
pictured as affiliates of crime syndicates. As such,

their immorality is depicted as fully formed at the

187

time they commit the crime for which they are appre-
hended. The other criminal type commonly portrayed

is the psychOpath. Individuals are depicted as men-
tally disturbed because Of unrequited love affairs,

war experiences, childhood traumas or are simply
presented as deranged, killing out of boredom. Neither
the gangland criminals nor the psychopaths, of course,
are considered as morally rational. In contrast to the
great bulk of actual crime, which stems from personal
or social problems, crime on crime drama shows occurs
largely in a vacuum. Even on a program as sophis-

ticated as Hawaii Five-O, where McGarrett makes every

 

effort to understand the criminal type as a means Of
apprehending him, the social and personal causes
Of the crime are barely hinted at.

Some general conclusions can be drawn from the
foregoing structural analysis of prime time TV pro-
grams. First of all, as many critics have assumed,
popular television programs do reflect the values of
the majority of the viewing public. Although comedy
portrays values somewhat below the mean for the public,
this is done because the audience recognizes these
values as inferior and therefore views the preconven-
tional characters as "funny." As portrayed by other
characters in the comedy, however, conventional or
normative values provide the superior outlook which

challenges the comic characters' views.

189

In non-comic forms of drama as well, conven-
tional values are reflected and endorsed. The essence
of family drama is predictable family unity and all
family members are devoted to this goal. Since this
type of in-group loyalty is a conventional norm, charac-
ters on family drama are conventional, though they
are continually tempted to engage in preconventional
or egoistic behavior. Even television's super-heroes
are revealed to be super-conventional. Their super-
iority turns out to equal consistency above all else,
since that which separates them from other dramatic
characters is their inflexible adherence to the con-
ventional mode.

The implications of TV as a conventional moral
force will be discussed in Chapter 8. But first,
Chapter 7 will attempt to answer some broader ques-
tzions about the portrayal Of men and women on tele-

\7tision. Specifically, for the sum Of programs studied,
ist will show the percentage Of characters at each stage
(If values development by sex, age, occupational status
EH1d.marital status. Historical trends and differences

tuitween categories of programming will also be noted.

190

Notes to Chapter 6

1Elder Olson, Tragedy and the Theory of Drama

 

2Refer to Chapter 4 for Kohlberg stages.

3Kohlberg, "Moral Psycholoqy and the Study
Of Tragedy," in Collected Papers.

4

 

Ibid. (Essay contains no page numbers.)

5See the following reviews:

Newsweek, 15 March 1971, 68.

Senior Scholastic, 25 October 1971, 7.

See also Arnold Hano, "Can Archie Bunker Give
Bigotry a Bad Name?" in Reader's Digest, July 1972,
29-34. (Condensed from New York Times Magazine.)

 

 

 

 

6Charles L. Sanders, "Is Archie Bunker the Real
White America?" in Ebony, June 1972; see also Myron
Roberts and Lincoln Haynes, "TV: Archie's Hang-Ups“
in Nation, 15 November 1971, 509.

7Robert Lewis Shayon, "Love That Hate,“ review
in Saturday Review, 27 March 1971, 20.

 

8Joseph Morgenstern, "Can Bigotry Be Funny?"
in Newsweek, 29 November 1971, 60.

9"TV: Speaking About the Unspeakable,‘ in
Newsweek, 29 November 1971, 54.

 

 

CHAPTER 7
THE KOHLBERG VALUES AND FREQUENCY OF APPEARANCES

OF PRIME TIME TELEVISION CHARACTERS,

BY SEX, MARITAL STATUS, OCCUPATION,

AGE, AND PROGRAM CATEGORY, 1960-1974

According to television, people are their most
interesting when they are:

male

single

professional workers

in their prime-of-life.

These traits are disprOportionately dominant in television
characters, and in Kohlberg's terms, characters with these,
traits also exhibit the highest values.

The present chapter will detail the findings
regarding overall average values portrayed by television
characters in relationship to the variables of sex, marital
status, occupation, age and TV program category. In addi-i
tion, the frequency of observation by demographic
variable will be set forth and compared,in terms of
percentage,to its respective frequency in the 0.8.
population as a whole. In discussing Kohlberg values
portrayed by TV characters, findings for the 1974 season
will be given first, then compared to those of past sea-
sons. The values of TV characters will also be compared

with Kohlberg's prognosis regarding the distribution of

moral values of the U.S. p0pulation.

191

192

A full presentation of data and of the techniques
involved in analyzing the data are not essential to an

understanding of the findings presented in this chapter

and would impede its flow. Thus, the material has been

placed in the Appendix. Included in the Appendix are
raw data tables listing all of the characters covered
in this study by program, program category and year.
The sex, marital status, occupation,4age and Kohlberg
value of each character are identified on the charts.
The Appendix also includes a full explanation of the
procedures used to aggregate raw data by variable and to
find average Kohlberg values and observation frequencies.
Sources and computation techniques used in compiling
data for the U.S. population also'appear.

The reader will recall from Chapters 4 and 5 that
the Kohlberg value scale is hierarchical, with Stage 2
the lowest stage commonly found among adults and Stage 5

the highest. The reader will also recall that although

each stage of values-development is associated with a
specific set of characteristics, that individuals are

Talmost never found to convey only one stage of values

deve10pment at a time. As a result, Kohlberg's scoring

technique is designed to record more than one value con-
veyed by an individual and to weight the different values
according to their dominance in the individual's

thinking. The chart below briefly recaps the major

193

channfieristics of the values on the sliding scale used

for this study.

Kohlberg Value
2

2(3)

3(2)

3(4)

4(3)

Characteristics in Order of Dominance
Self-centered and naive

Self-centered; empathy and approval
oriented

Empathy and approval oriented;
self-centered and naive

Empathy and approval oriented

Empathy and approval oriented;
oriented to social responsibility

Oriented to social responsibility;
empathy and approval oriented

Oriented to social responsibility

Oriented to social responsibility;
concerned with human liberty and
constitutional rights

Concerned with human liberty and
constitutional rights; oriented to
social responsibility; empathy and
approval oriented

Values by Sex and Marital Status

Table 8 on the following page gives a comprehen-

sive overview of the average Kohlberg values for the 1974

TV population by sex, marital status and occupation. As

the table indicates, males in general, at an average ,

of Stage 3(4) , portray slightly higher Kohlberg values

than do females in general, at an average of Stage 3.

Although the values of both single and married females

coincide with the average for the group as a whole,

194

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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195

singhanmles at Stage 3(4) portray significantly higher

values than married males, at Stage 3(2) . The reasons

for Unadifferences in values between men and women and

between single and married males will become clear as

the chapter progresses.
Historically as well, males have portrayed higher

values than females and, as Tables 9-A, 9—B and 9-C

show, single male characters have portrayed values
equivalent to or higher than those portrayed by married

male characters. Single men in comedy programs portrayed

slightly higher values than married men during the 1965

to 1971 period, when this pattern became more erratic.

In drama programs, single men portrayed a consistent

Stage 4 of values deve10pment in comparison to married

men who portrayed Stage 3 values. In drama adventure

programs as well, single males have portrayed slightly

higher values than married males. In the case of drama

adventure programs, however, the Stage 5 component in
‘the 1963 to 1966 time period may be affected by the sam-

ple selections, since these included principal characters

fronItflua three remaining western leaders of the sixties:

Gunsmoke, Bonanza and The Virginian. A more complete

discussion of the characteristics of these western

heroes will follow in a later section of this chapter.
fflhe average values of single versus married

female characters in the historical sample have seemed

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199

more dependent on program category than on marital

status per se. More will be said later about the role
structure imposed on men and women by the various program

categories, but suffice it here to say that comedy
emphasizes married women, or more recently single women
with spouse surrogates, and drama/adventure programs

feature a predominance of single characters of both

sexes. It is to be expected that the traits emphasized

by a particular proqram category will be associated with

relatively higher values. Married women in comedy por-

trayed slightly higher values during the 1966 to 1971 time
period, after which single women portrayed higher values.
In drama/adventure programs, single females have por-
trayed slightly higher values than married females,
though the percentage of all women in this program

category has remained very small over the years. In

drama programs, the values of married and single females

have remained about the same.

Values by Occupation
Occupation breakdowns used in this study were

adapted from United States Census classifications, and

are summz ri zed below . *

 

*Classification system-- from 1970 Census of Population,
Classified Index of Industries and Occupations, U.S.
Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1971.

Complete classification system includes 441 specific
occupation categories (each with detailed listings of

200

Occupation Division Occupation Groups

1. Vflute Collar 1. Professional, technical
and kindred workers

2. Managers and administrators,
except farm

3. Sales workers
4. Clerical and kindred
workers
2. Blue Collar 5. Craftsmen and kindred

workers

6. Operatives, except
transport

7. Transport equipment
operators

8. Laborers, except farm

3. Farm Workers 9. Farmers and farm managers
10. Farm laborers

11. Farm foremen

‘4. Service Workers 12. Service workers

Referring again to Table 8, the trend emerges
that employed characters exhibit higher values than
unemployed characters (including housewives and children).
For men in the TV population, the highest values are
portrayed by farm workers, service workers (mainly law

enforcement officers) and students--all at an average of

 

jobs) , twelve major occupation groups and four basic
occupation divisions (groups and divisions as shown

above).

201

Stm¥24(3). The second highest values are protrayed by

whancmllar workers and military personnel--both at
Stage 3, followed by blue collar workers, at Stage 3(2) .
Forvnmen in the TV pOpulation, the highest values are

gxutrayed by farm workers at Stage 5-4-3 and blue collar

workers, at Stage 4(3). Next come white collar workers

and service workers, at Stage 3(4), with militarthouse-

wives, students and children--at Stage 2(3)—-all far

behind.
Not only in the 1974 season, but consistently

throughout the entire time period studied, farm and

service workers have exhibited the highest values. In
part this can be explained as a result of the law-and-
order function provided by the principal characters in

westerns of the past and in the modern crime-drama pro-

grams. The land owners in the westerns were portrayed

as responsible for maintaining justice within their

;province; modern day "protective service" workers (police)

luave taken over this function. According to television's

Exxrtrayal, moreover, these principal characters in both
the western and now the crime-drama carry out their

roles with a high orientation toward social responsibility,

a dominant characteristic of Kohlberg's Stage 4 of
values development.
Looking strictly at the 1974 season programs,

however, it is more difficult to explain the high values

202

portrayed by farm workers, since there is only one
program about a farm family represented in the sample

and the format of this program varies significantly from

the format of the major westerns of the past. This

program, Little House on the Prairie, features a nuclear
family comprised of mother and father in their thirties,

two school age daughters and one female toddler. The

overall youth of the family stands in sharp contrast to

 

western families such as those portrayed on Bonanza, The

Virginian or Big Valley in which parents were portrayed

 

as middle-aged or older and where children were adults or

in their late teens. In common with earlier versions of

farm living, however, the Ingalls family lives in a
recently settled, western community in which law and

order, or justice, is still heavily in the hands of

individual community leaders. Despite their youth,

Charles and Caroline Ingalls provide much of this leader-

ship for their town, and in so doing, exhibit the higher

values associated with the older heroes of western

adventure programs. Little House is always more low

keyed than the tamest installments of the western formula,

but its roots are nonetheless clearly in that genre.

White collar workers portray lower values than
might be expected though female white collar workers, at
Stage 3(4) portray overall average values that are

somewhat higher than those portrayed by males, at an

203

average of Stage 3. The white collar jobs portrayed in

comedy, however, are concentrated in areas demanding the

least education. In the case of males in comedy, this

trend is particularly evident. The Stage 2 values

portrayed by such characters as salesman Walter Finley

 

(Maude) and junk dealer Fred Sanford (Sanford and Son)
dilute the higher Stage 3, 4 and 5 values portrayed by
the doctors and educators in the drama programs. White

collar jobs for women in comedy are also concentrated at
the quasi-professional levels, however, and include such

jobs as bank teller (Brenda in Rhoda), clerks (Gloria in

All in the Family and' Georgette in Mary Tyler Moore

Show), and real-estate salesperson (Maude in Maude).

The exception is Mary Richards of The Mary Tyler Moore

Show who portrays the producer of a television news

program.
The high values portrayed by female blue collar

workers can be explained by the small sample size and

the fact that both females portrayed as blue collar

workers are comedy characters portraying higher values
than the male blue collar workers in the program. Irene,

 

Archie's next door neighbor and co-worker in All in the

Family, portarys Stage 4 values which, when juxtaposed
against Archie's Stage 2 egoistic values, create comedy

on the program. Rhoda, on the comedy program by that

name, portrays Stage 3 values which sometimes come into

204

conflict with her husband's more dyadic value system.
Joe relates primarily to the give and take in their
particular relationship, whereas Rhoda orients to a
larger in-group of relationships which includesmembers
of her family and some of her friends in addition to her

husband.
Housewives (concentrated in comedy and drama

programs) portray relatively low values, and this seems

to be correlated heavily to their lack of employment

since the average Kohlberg values of women in each

occupation division contains a Stage 4 values component.
Historically, there have been unemployed women in the

TV population, also portraying low values, but there are
Unemployed means potentially

none in the 1974 season.
Such

in the labor force but not currently employed.
Por-

 

women have included Lucy and Viv on the Lucy Show.

trayed as widows, neither had a full-time job though

both were often involved in temporary employment in the

hope of making a quick fortune.

Values by Age
Table 10 gives a breakdown of Kohlberg values

by age and marital status, for the 1974 TV population.
As the table shows, the highest overall values are

portrayed by persons in the 20- to44-year-old age rangeI
regardless of sex or marital status. Although the 20-

to 29-year-old sample is fairly small (7.9 percent of

205

 

 

 

 

 

 

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206

total), the 30- to 44-year-old sample equals 50 percent

of the total for all ages. Within the sub-grouping

of 40- to 44-year—olds, however, single men and women,
at Stages 4(3) and 3 respectively, do portray signifi-

cantly higher values than do married men and women, who

both average Stage 2(3) . Taking a cross section by sex

and marital status, moreover, the consistently highest

values are portrayed by single males in the 30 to 64, or

prime-of-life age range. This sample represents 43.6

percent of the total TV population.

Values by Program Category

The average values protrayed in drama and drama/

adventure programs are higher than the average values

portrayed in comedy, as Table 11 indicates. There are a

number of factors which correlate with this finding.
To begin with, as explained in Chapter 6, drama and

drama/adventure prOgrams are about conventional values

of an institutional sort. Historically and in the 1974

season, drama programs have been concerned with the

institutionalized professions of medicine and education

and with the institution of the family. Doctors and

teachers, whose work is most commonly carried out in

large public buildings, are considered vital to national

as well as personal welfare. It has been an accepted,

if unfounded belief of the society that these individuals

are responsible and concerned about the welfare of those

207

 

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208

Hwy anve.l In Kohlberg terms, these qualities trans-

]ate:hmo the Stage 4 and 3 values which are in fact

observed in the idealized portraits on television of such

docUns and teachers as Marcus Welby, Joe Gannon, Lucas

Tanner and others.
Drama prOgrams which deal with the family are

almacxmcerned with conventional morality since the

nuclear family is an institution this country is at great

pains to preserve. Accordingly, idealized benefits of

the family as a socializing agency are portrayed on TV.

 

Parents in such past drama programs as Father Knows Best
and in such current programs as The Waltons and Little
House on the Prairie convey to their children and others

the higher Stage 3 and 4 values which make for a smoothly

running society. They stress getting along lovingly with

others, taking responsibility for one's mistakes, and

honest.labor as a means of self-fulfillment and of

helping others.
Particularly since the advent of All in the Family,

comedy has come increasingly to depend on a

however,
The brand of comedy that Norman Lear

clash of values.
instituted with Family and which has been imitated in

such other Lear productions as Sanford and Son, Maude and

 

most recently The Jeffersons and Hot LBaltimore, has

been called "adversary comedy" by at least one critic

because of its focus on characters in ideological conflict.

209

As described in Chapter 6, this type of comedy features

eague-conventional or Stage 2 character in conflict with
onecnrmore conventional, or Stage 3 or 4, characters.
In the repartee that ensues, the lower values of the

naive egoist appear as "funny" in comparison to the higher

values of the conventional moralist. The net result on

the average values portrayed by comedy programs, however,
is to lower them in comparison to average values for

drama and drama/adventure programs which more uniformly

portray conventional values.

It is perhaps significant, moreover, that after
1970, the year in which All in the Family appeared,

female comedy characters have shown improved values.
(See Table 9A.) This is in part due to the structure of

adversary comedy and the fact that, so far, females on

these programs have tended to portray the conventional

values which come into conflict with the pre-conventional

values of the principal male character. In addition, the

major characteriStics of the female comic superstar

have changed. She is no longer a frolicking egoist of

the Lucille Ball ilk, nor is she a placid housewife

 

like those of the previous Ozzie and Harriet, Donna Reed

Show era. She is a woman with a family or other close

personal ties who in general works as well. Most

importantly, she portrays some concern with the world

beyond her immediate in—group or family. Female comedy

210

stars who fit this pattern include Gloria Stivic

(All in the Family), Rhoda Morgenstern Gerrard (33993)
and Mary Richards (The Mary Tyler Moore Show).

Although values portrayed in drama programs
remained fairly stable during the years in the historical
period when such programs were among the popular leaders,
within the drama/adventure category, average values for
men have decreased slightly over the years whereas

average values for women have increased slightly,
(See Table 9B.) The lower

especially in recent years.
values of women in the drama/adventure category during

the mid-sixties is due to the sample size, which

 

included only one female, Becky, in the Daniel Boone

series, who was cast as a housewife despite the frontier

setting of the program. Becky remained in the back-
ground in the series, with participation in the Revolu-

tionary War activities limited to Daniel and their son

Isreal. Later drama/adventure heroines, however,

including Dana on Mission Impossible, and most recently
Jill Dago of The Rookies, Pepper Anderson of Police Woman

and Amy Prentiss of AmLPrentiss, have been themselves

professional persons involved in the action of the
Accordingly, their values are molded to

series' plots.
accommodate the constraints of the program type, which

demands the portrayal of job commitment and social

responsibility, both Stage 4 characteristics.

211

As previously noted, the Stage 5 component among

drama/adventure males is also a result of a limited

sample size including primarily the principals from the

 

western classics Bonanza, The Virginian and Gunsmoke.
The western, however, which was the dominant drama/

adventure formula during much of the sixties, has largely

disappeared from prime time TV. The Stage 5 component

in.the values of such western superheroes as Ben Cart-
wright, Judge Garth (The Virginian), The Virginian, and
Matt Dillon, moreover, seems to be passed down not to

the policemen and detectives in the crime drama programs,

but rather to the doctors and school teachers. In fact,

both crime dramas and drama programs about doctors and

teachers appeared in the late sixties to fill the gap

left by the westerns.
The concern with maintenance of law and order,

however, wag passed down from the western heroes to the
crime drama heroes. That this should have happened in
the late sixties seems reasonable given the national
situation at the time. As the tempestuous sixties

closed, the American people needed reassurance that law

and order was possible and that society was not breaking

down. Civil Rights demonstrations and demonstrations

against the Viet Nam war were common occurrences on
college campuses and in large cities across the country.

The large following of law-and-order extremist George

212

Wallace in the presidential primaries of 1968 is one
indication of the seriousness of the average citizen's
concern over street violence. The crime drama dealt
"better," that is, more concretely, with the law and
order issues posed in the 1960's. The westerns simply
could not reassure the public that the "system" wasn't
breaking down.

Western characters moreover could show higher
than conventional values (that is, Stage 5 as opposed to
Stage 4) because of the artificial, past setting in
which the action was played out. In such a setting,
the viewer was more willing to suspend judgments con-
ditioned by a conventional moral outlook (Stage 4). It
is unlikely, however, that post-conventional or Stage 5
values would be tolerated in modern crime dramas, for
the reason suggested in the following example. In a
Bonanza episode titled "The Honor of Cochise," which was
aired in 1961, Ben Cartwright and his sons actively
sympathize with and aid an Indian warrior who is pursuing
an unethical Army officer. In so doing, they cross the
color line, the culture line and also the boundaries of
legality, since Cochise is a wanted man in white terri-
tory. According to the story, however, the Army officer
has lured a group of Apaches, including men, women and
children into a mass massacre. Although the Cartwrights
stand firm on the issue of legal retribution as opposed

to the violent revenge planned by Cochise, they are

213

instrumental in discrediting the actions of the corrupt
officer and in turning him over to higher officials for
appropriate punishment.

To translate this story into a plot for modern
crime drama, one needs to imagine supercop Steve McGarrett
in Ben Cartwright's role, an FBI officer in the role of
the corrupt Army officer and a black or anti-war militant
in the place of Cochise. It is critical here to empha-'
size the situational dimensions of this moral dilemma.

In the Bonanza episode, Cochise is clearly portrayed as
a violent man; he kills his own second-in-command when
he becomes insubordinate. In this particular situation,
however, Cochise is in the right. Accordingly, in the
:modern version of the episode, the Cochise figure would
have to be someone with a history of violent activity
and not merely a disillusioned teenager. Perhaps the
Inodern militant could be associated with bomb-making

(or with a past armed robbery of the type performed by
IPatty Hearst and the other members of the Symbionese
lliberation Army. To complete the parallel, moreover,
tine corrupt law officer would have to be a member of a
Imational organization such as the FBI. During the Bonanza
pueriod, the Army was the national force for law and
cxrder since local law enforcers were rare and police
tuiheard of. It would not be sufficient for the modern-

day corrupt officer to be a local policeman (such plots

214

are occasionally aired) because that makes his corruption

personal and local. A large, national organization needs
to ' be implicated.

It seems obvious that, given national attitudes

toward violence, a major commercial network would never
aldxmv one of its superheroes to aid a former bomb-maker
iJi the pursuit of an unethical FBI officer (if it could
even be believed that there is such) unless perhaps the

bomb-maker could be conveniently apprehended as well. A

major impact of the Bonanza episode, however, comes from

the bond of trust that is formed between Ben Cartwright

and Cochise. At the conclusion of the program, Cochise

has come to recognize some justice in the white man's
system and it is clear that he is altered by this recog-
nition. In addition, Cartwright has seen Cochise's

honor and has decided to trust him. He tells the Indian

that he will always be welcome on his land, and the two

part as friends.

Although the old western could not keep pace with
the viewer's need for reassurance regarding law and
order, a new type and format of western may be reemerging
to meet the mid-seventies nostalgia seekers:' needs.

The pilot for such a program type may be the 1974 season

starter Little House on the Prairie. Although this

prOgram is a family drama, its roots, as noted above,

are firmly in the western genre, and Michael Landon, who

215

plays Charles Ingalls on the program, is an adult version

of the Little Joe Cartwright character he played on

Bonanza. .The extent to which the western motif in

 

Little House will be imitated and expanded upon is yet,

of course, unknown-

A Comparison of TV and U.S. Values

In general, TV mirrors Kohlberg's prognosis

regarding the values of the viewing public. Recall that

Kohlberg has hypothesized that women have been socialized

to accept Stage 3 values as the female norm, whereas

men in general more closely approximate 'Stage 4, or

the mean value for the population as a whole, according

to Kohlberg. As Table 11 shows, within drama programs,

the values of the viewing public and of TV characters,

by sex, are essentially the same. Men portray a mix of

Stage 3 and Stage 4 values whereas women portray Stage 3

values. The parallel between TV and viewing public

values also holds for men in drama/adventure programs,

although women on such programs also portray a strong

Stage 4 component in their values. As discussed above,

the nature of the program category forces such women

into higher—than-viewer values.

In comedy programs, women reflect Kohlberg's

prognosis for women in the population, since they portray

an average of Stage 3 values. Men in comedy programs,

216

however, at an average of Stage 3(2), portray values
considerably below Kohlberg's prognoSis for males in

the U.S. population. This is related to the nature of
adversary comedy, discussed above, but it may have more
complex ramifications as well. It is no doubt signifie-
cant that women, rather than men, portray the higher
values in adversary comedy. My hypothesis regarding the
cause behind this finding is that comedy programs,
especially of a family sort, are aimed primarily for a
female audience. If this is the case, then the writers
and producers of such shows may consciously portray
women as morally superior to men. Deprived (until
recently) of power in the world at large, women may need
to feel some type of power in the home situation and

to have this power reflected in their media. Since the
audience vindicates the higher values of the females

by approving of them, the higher values become a type of
power. Other genres which have pictured women employing
goodness in the Stage 3 sense as a tool against men have
included sentimental and domestic fiction and the modern-

day soap opera.

Freguency by Sex and Marital Status

 

As shown on Tables 8 and 12, in comparison to
their representation in the U.S. population, males make

up a proportionately large percent of the TV population.

.21L7

 

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ma udn‘h

218

Whereas there is a near equal number of males and
females in the U.S. pOpulation (48.9 percent males and
51.1 percent females), males comprise 66.4 percent of
the TV p0pu1ation with females comprising 33.6 percent.
Historically, too, if one assumes 1) that the comparative
number of programs by program category has remained
relatively constant during the 1960 to 1974 time period,
and 2) that the relative popularity of each category
has remained the same, men have outnumbered women by as
much as three to one.

There is also almost a direct reversal of the
percentage of single and married males in the TV versus
the actual U.S. population. In the U.S. population, by
far most people over 18 years of age are married. In
the case of men, 74.5 percent are married with only 25.5
percent single, widowed or divorced. In the TV popu-
1ation, however, 74.7 percent of all characters 18 years
and over are single, with 25.3 percent portrayed as
married. Since the homes of most of television's super-
heroes are never visited on the programs, it would be
possible to argue that some of these men were in fact
married, even though the wives do not appear on the
programs. My response to such an argument would simply

be that these men function as single, and since wives

 

are never seen or mentioned, there would be no reason
for the viewer, at any but a contrived level, to assume

their existence.

219

Though there are more married than single
females in both the TV and U.S. populations, the per-
cent of women portrayed as married by TV is less than
the percent of married women in the population. In the
U.S. pOpulation, 68.1 percent of all females over 18
are married, and 31.9 percent are single, widowed or
divorced. This compares to a TV breakdown of 56.7
percent married women and 43.3 percent single women.

The finding that far more women than men are portrayed
as married by TV would tend to support the hypothesis
that marriage is more normative and obligatory for women
in our culture than it is for men.

Furthermore, as Table 13 shows, the proportion
of married to single males has remained relatively con-
stant over the historical review period, but there are
more married women in the 1974 season than there were
in the sixties. In fact, for comedy, the genre in which
women are most highly concentrated, single women out-
numbered married women throughout the sixties by a ratio
of about 4 to 1. It is interesting, even ironic, that
in the pggt Women's Liberation period of the early
seventies the percentage of married women on television
‘would begin to increase. It is difficult to pinpoint
the cause of this trend, however, since it might just
as well have resulted from an increased consciousness

<3f women and attempt to portray them more realistically

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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221

as from deliberate antifeminist backlash on the part of

the media.

Frequengy by Occupation

 

Although 41.9 percent of all people are in the
United States labor force, 84.3 percent of all TV
characters are portrayed as in the labor force. Among
the U.S. population, 27.1 percent of all people are not
in the labor force for all reasons, whereas only 12.7
percent of the TV population is not in the labor force.
(The remaining percentage of individuals in both U.S.
and TV populations are children under 16 years of age.)
Occupations which show the greatest diversity between
the percent of actual and TV people in their ranks
include the white collar, service and military job
categories. In every case, television exaggerates the
percentage of individuals employed in these types of
jobs: 28.6 percent of the TV population is engaged in
white collar work as compared to 18.6 percent of the
actual population*; 27.8 percent of the TV pOpulation is
engaged in "service" work as compared to only 4.7 per-
cent of the U.S. population as a whole; and 12.5 percent
of the TV pOpulation is in the military as compared to a

mere 1.5 percent in the actual population.

 

*Note that this is the percent of the entire U.S. popu-
lation engaged in white collar work, not the percent of
the labor force .

222

In contrast, TV minimizes the number of house-
wives in its population, at least as compared to the
actual U.S. pOpulation. TV portrays 8.6 percent of all
characters as housewives whereas their percentage in
the actual population is 16.1 percent. More single than
married women are portrayed as employed on TV, although
in the actual U.S. population more married than single
women are in the labor force.

The most interesting of these disparities is in
the occupation division classified as "service." Of
the 27.8 percent of all TV characters who have jobs
classified by the census as "service," almost all are in
"protective service," or police work. In addition, most
of these protective service workers are men. By compari-
son, of the small 4.7 percent of the U.S. pOpulation who
have jobs classified as "service," more than half are
women employed in domestic service and only about 2 per-
cent are police. In other words, television portrays a
police state, justified however on grounds of the
benevolence and responsibility of the individual police
officers.

Also of interest is the finding that different
types of jobs are featured within different program
categories. Comedy tends to portray persons as employed
within a variety of white collar jobs. Historically,

there have also been more unemployed peOple in comedy

223

than in either of the other two major categories. Until
the entry of family dramas in the 1970's, drama has
typically portrayed white collar professionals, pri-
marily doctors, lawyers and teachers. Protective service
workers, and formerly farm workers, have been concen-
trated in the drama/adventure category. Most drama
programs and all drama/adventure programs focus on the
jobs of the principal characters. This is the case
because programs in these categories are abggt_work, in
the sense of jobs which benefit society as a whole. In
contrast, work is deemphasized in comedy where charac-
ters such as Maude and Walter Finley (Maggg), or Emily

Hartley (The Bob Newhart Show) may have jobs without

 

ever appearing at work on the programs.

Frequency by Age

 

The TV population is dominated by prime-of-life
adults, as shown in Tables 14A and 14B. Although only
28 percent of the actual population falls between the
ages of 30 and 54, 78.3 percent of the TV p0pulation is
within this age range. Furthermore, a disproportionate
50.7 percent of the TV population is both prime-of-life
(30 to 54 years) and single. The median age for charac-
ters in the 1974 sample was 40 as compared with a
median age for the U.S. population (in 1973) of 28.4. As

would be expected, given the preponderance of prime-of—

224

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226

life characters, very few children or old people are
portrayed at all. Although almost 20 percent of the
U.S. pOpulation is over 55, only 9.2 percent of the TV
pOpulation is over 55 years of age. Even more signifi-
cantly, only 4.6 percent of the TV pOpulation is under
20 years of age, although in the actual U.S. population,
young peOple under 20 comprise a hearty 38.7 percent

of the total. The percent of children portrayed in the
sixties was somewhat greater than for the early seventies,
however, and the trend against portrayal of children may
again be reversing since a number of the new 1974-75

season programs feature children.

Frequency by Prggram Category

 

In the 1974 season, males outnumbered females in
every program category (Table 13) although the distribu-
tion was most equitable in comedy, where males represented
56.2 percent of the total characters and females 43.8
percent. In drama, men outnumbered women by about 2 to
l; in drama/adventure, men outnumbered women by 8 to l.
Historically, males have also been consistently over-
represented in all program categories, and the disparity
has been greatest in drama/adventure programs.

Furthermore, women have consistently been con-

centrated in comedy. No doubt this is the case because

the comedy setting has traditionally been a domestic

227

setting as well. Accordingly, women can be portrayed
as mirroring society's normative view of them as wives
and mothers. Even on 1974 season comedy The Mary Tyler

Moore Show and past comedies such as The Doris Day

 

 

 

Show and Here's Lucy, in which the heroine is single and
employed, there are always spouse surrogates available
to her. In the case of the examples mentioned, these

include the staff of the local news program on The Mary

 

Tyler Moore Show, Doris's boss on The Doris Day Show

 

and "Uncle Harry“ on Here's Lugy. Likewise, women do

 

not fit in with drama/adventure's characterization of
peOple involved in exciting, adventurous jobs. Women
on TV are rarely portrayed as committed to jobs; more

commonly, they are committed to other peOple.

Summaryaand Conclusions

To briefly recount the highlights of this chapter:

- A startlingly disporportionate 50 percent of
all TV characters are single males. The
Kohlberg values portrayed by these characters
are among the highest on television.

- About twice as many people in the TV popula-
tion are in the labor force in comparison to
the actual U.S. population. People in the
TV labor force also portray higher values than
non-working persons.

- There are over ten times as many police
officers portrayed on television, in propor-
tion to the overall TV population, as there
are in the actual population. These "pro-
tective service" workers portray conventional
or Stage 4 values.

228

- TV is dominated by prime-of-life adults.
Prime-of-life people, and in particular
prime-of-life single males, also portray
the highest values shown on television.

Having set forth the major findings regarding

the values of television characters, it now remains to
evaluate the findings in part in terms of television's

predicted impact on society's values. This will be the

task of the final chapter.

229

Notes to Chapter 7

Recently, Watergate, the proliferation of
well publicized medical malpractice suits and teacher
unionization (followed by demands for accountability)
have thrown the ethics of these major professions
into question among the general public.

2Melvin Maddocks, "What's Become of America's

Great Comedians?" The State Journal, Lansing, Michigan)
17 January 1975.

CHAPTER 8

SUMMARY, SPECULATIONS, CONCLUSIONS,
AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

Chapter One of this study demonstrated that

the values embodied in pOpular culture have long
been a concern of critics. Some elitist critics

have tried to discredit all popular culture as inferior

according to standards for elite art. Other critics

such as Leo Lowenthal, Ian Watt, Herbert Gans, and

Marshall McLuhan, among others, have aimed to examine
the values contained i3 popular media in order to better
understand individual popular works, popular art forms
and the cultures which produced these works and art
forms. The present study also had as its goal to
determine the values contained ia television, in order
to better understand both how TV functions as an art

form and what TV indicates about the values of our

culture. Specifically, the purpose of this dissertation
has been to determine, using Lawrence Kohlberg's scale
of values development, the values portrayed by prime
time television characters.

Just as critics have disagreed about the
"value" of popular culture, depending on the standards
and methods they have used, philosophers have disagreed

about the locus of all values, and thus about a defi-

nition of value itself. As some elitist critics have

230

231

imposed arbitrary standards for pOpular culture to
"match up to," so some philOSOphers have argued that
all values are intrinsic. These "nomothetic" theorists
believe that values derive from the environment and
come to the individual as always normative and oblig-
atory. Conversely, so-called "idiographic" philosophers
claim that values are located internally; therefore
values are perceived somewhat differently by each
unique individual. Since these philosophers believe
that values should not be judged by externally imposed
standards, they resemble those popular culture apolo-
gists who deny the validity of aay_criticism which seeks
to do more than describe a given work or art form.

As Chapter Two explained, neither nomothetic
or idiographic value theories seemed promising tools
for the present study, given its goals. On the one
hand, the nomothetic theories purport to be founded
on natural laws, but nonetheless have little or no
scientific evidence to back them up. Idiographic
theories are even less useful in studying values, since
they precisely avoid listing, comparing, or ranking
values in terms of their general importance to people
or to society.

Since much recent research on television has
been conducted by behavioral scientists, their methods

and conclusions were discussed in Chapter Three.

232

Extensive studies on the effect of televised violence
were conducted by the United States Surgeon General's
office in the early 1970's. The Committee which
coordinated the project concluded that television
QQEE affect the behavior of certain individuals, and
may affect their values as well. This finding was
considered important for the present study, since it
furnishes further evidence of television's impact

on our society as a socializing institution. The
methods of the behavioral scientists, pa; aa, were
considered unsuitable for the present study, however,
primarily because of their emphasis on behavior as
opposed to the underlying values.

Lawrence Kohlberg's Theory of Values Develop-
ment, summarized in Chapter Four, provided the
requisite practical methodology needed to study the
values of television characters. Based on Jean Piaget's
structural-developmental theories of human intelligence,
Kohlberg's approach mediates between the mutually
Opposed nomothetic and idiographic theories of value
(discussed in Chapter Two) and supplies an analytical
model” based on cross-cultural research, which is both
philosophically sound and practically useful for
content analysis. Chapter Five explained how Kohlberg's

laboratory method for determining the values of subjects

233

was adapted to the study of television characters.
Chapters Six and Seven presented the major findings
of this study.

Several tasks remain for the present concluding
chapter. First, it was stated in Chapter One that

McLuhan's challenge to consider television's form as

 

part of its value message would be accepted. Since

the focus of the present study has been on content,

the discussion of TV form has been postponed to this
chapter. Second, the major findings of the study will
be recapitulated and evaluated, from the author's point

of view. This evaluation involves some speculations

regarding the effects of TV values on the viewing

public. Some potentially rewarding areas for further
research will then be suggested. Finally, the chapter
will conclude by summarizing the major contributions
the author feels have been made by the present study.
* * 'k *
Evaluating television's form as part of its
overall value message adds an additional perspective

to the present study. As stated earlier, it is the

structural aspect of Kohlberg's theory, particularly

 

in combination with McLuhan's theory of media values,

which supplies the means whereby media form, as well
as content, may be analyzed and assigned a "level of

values deve10pment."

234

Recall from Chapter One McLuhan's belief that
very different values are associated with television,
compared to values associated with previous popular
culture media. The most drastic changes, in McLuhan's
view, however, have come in the transition from printed
media to media that operate electrically. Although
McLuhan carefully avoids labeling this transition as
a progressive one, it aaaga (by applying the Kohlberg
structural view), in fact to be precisely that.

Considering McLuhan's analysis of media values
as prOgressive, involves making an assumption about
the Kohlberg technique, logical in view of some of
Kohlberg's statements. It is Kohlberg's prognosis that
not only are an individual's values developmental, but
that the values embodied in political systems have also
develOped with the passage of time. In particular,
Kohlberg believes that the Stage 5, or the social
contract/legalistic view of morality, appeared in
government systems only after about 600-400 B-C-1 If
this theory of Kohlberg's is correct, it seems logical
to assume that BEESE institutions of the society,
including media of communications, would similarly

develOp over long periods of time.

In discussing the transition from print to

electric media, McLuhan is essentially talking about

235

a change of values, instituted by massive technological

change. In brief, McLuhan prOposes that the following
values are inseparable aspects of the print and electric

media forms, respectively:*

 

Print Values Electric (TV) Values
1. Individualism 1. Intensive Social Involvement
a. Job specialization a. Involvement in "role,"

with strong commitment to
the group or society

b. Competition for b. Emphasis on external
Consumer Goods consensus and community
(ala Horatio Alger welfare
myth)

c. Separateness of c. The "Global Village”
peOple in time and united by phone, radio,
space TV and airplane

d. Competition d. International conscious—
between nations ness and cooPeration

("nationalism")

2. Visual Standardization 2. Visual Nonconformity

a. Uniform social a. Group-derived norms,
codes, arbitrarily based on consensus
adhered to

b. Standardized b. Consumer goods reflecting
consumer goods life styles and ethnic
(ala the assembly affiliations (ala the
line and depart- "boutique")

ment store)

By comparing Kohlberg's hierarchical scale of
values to the values McLuhan associates with print and
electric media, McLuhan's print values appear to be
essentially pgafconventional in the Kohlberg sense,

whereas the electric values appear as conventional

 

*These values are taken from the discussion of
McLuhan in Chapter one.

236

according to Kohlberg's theory. The emphasis on
individualism as defined by McLuhan, associated with
print media, implies concern only with that which bene-
fits the self. This, of course, is a pre-conventional
characteristic, in Kohlberg's terms. Associated with
individualism is the naive assumption that what
benefits the self is somehow good for others as well.
This assumption is illustrated by McLuhan by reference
to the Horatio Alger myth (a common theme in literature),
which he says television has destroyed:

In our electric age, the one-way expansion

of the beserk individual on his way to the

top now appears as a gruesome image of trampled

lives and disrupted harmonies. Such is the

subliminal message of the TV mosaic with its

total field of simultaneous impulses.2
Again, in Kohlberg's terms, the Horatio Alger myth-—'
with its naive view of human interrelationships and its
emphasis on wealth and property--is clearly a Stage 2
representation. The print value of visual standardiza-
tion also seems pre-conventional in Kohlberg terms,
since it implies automatic adherence to arbitrary codes
and pre-set standards.

By contrast, the electric values of intensive

social involvement, adherence to external consensus,

involvement in role and commitment to society, sound

very much like Kohlberg's "conventional" level of

237

morality, at which individuals are oriented to in-group
love and approval, to group-derived norms, and to

social responsibility. If it is true that the form

 

of the television medium is portraying conventional
values as well as the content, then McLuhan is right,
and the medium ia the message.

As detailed in Chapters Six and Seven, the
findings of this study indicate that TV portrays
primarily that conventional morality (Stage 3 and Stage
4) which Kohlberg believes is the norm for our society.
Typically, these conventional values are portrayed on
drama/adventure and drama programs by single, profes-
sional males in their prime-of—life, although women on
comedy programs tend to portray conventional values as
well. It is important to emphasize, however, that the
single male professionals, despite their life styles,

g9 exhibit conventional morality specifically in

 

Kohlberg terms. Even the superheroes in current crime
dramas and in former westerns--whose counterparts in
popular fiction are often loners--have close rela-
tionships with work associates who serve as family
surrogates. In-group loyalty, approval and harmony
(Stage 3 characteristics) are thus stressed by the
characters on these programs. In addition, these

characters display an orientation to society's laws

238

and to social responsibility which transcends in-group
loyalty--qualities associated with Kohlberg's Stage 4
of values development.

Since a recent comparative study of television
formulas lends support to the findings of this disser-
tation, it is appropriate to review it briefly at this

point. Horace Newcomb's TV: The Most Popular Art has

 

as its central thesis that all television formulas--
including those he calls situation comedy, domestic

comedy, westerns, mysteries, doctor and lawyer shows
and adventure programs--are more like each other than
like the literary formulas they are descended from.

As Newcomb puts it:

The crucial point is that in adapting the
clearly recoqnizable forms of pOpular enter-
tainment for its own uses, some of the
distinctions begin to fade, and the forms are
changed into specifically television versions
of themselves. Those versions often bear

more resemblance to each other than to their
non-television counterparts. Recent television
westerns are directly related to recent mys-
teries and both bear strong resemblance to

the formulas we have already discussed, the
situation and domestic comedy. For the world
of television is a world of explicit values,
and in the evolution of forms we see more and
more how values from one segment of that world
filter into other segments, and ultimately into
our own 1ives.3fi

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the quotation implies, Newcomb believes that

the domestic and situation comedy formula is television's

239

basic model, after which other formulas have become
increasingly patterned. He cites the appearance of
family surrogates in programs of all types and further
notes that "intimacy," pa£ aa, has become a value of
television formulas. According to Newcomb, television
formulas portray values-~such as love, family cohesive-
ness and concern for others--which are associated with
an older, idealized era in American history.

Newcomb's study also supports the notion that
TV £953, as well as content, must be evaluated when
analyzing those values portrayed by the medium. Like
Marshall McLuhan, Newcomb believes that a major portion
of television's value message comes through the form
of the medium, though he concentrates on the physical
and production constraints of TV as opposed to the
electronic means of transmission. In particular, he
believes that the sense of intimacy (with its Stage 3
overtones of "getting along" peacably within the
in-group) is created in major part by the smallness
of the TV screen, a part of one's own living room; and
by the fact that only a few faces or forms on it can be
distinguished clearly at a time. "Television is at its
best," he says, "when it offers us faces, reactions,

explorations of emotions registered by human beings."4

240

All this leads to the question of what effect
TV has had on its viewing audience. As Chapter Three
explains, behavioristic studies of television lend
significant support to the hypothesis that television

agaa influence the behavior, and perhaps the values of
the viewing audience-~although the degree of influence
remains in doubt. In addition, Kohlberg, Piaget and the
other developmentalists believe that we learn in part
by witnessing higher levels of reasoning and higher
values in others. Clearly, television provides ample
role models, and it seems reasonable to assume that the
thinking and behavior they portray have an effect on
the viewers.

If television values affect the viewing public,
it is both reassuring and alarming to realize that TV
is such a consistent force for conventional morality.
It is reassuring to know that children, adolescents and
other pre-conventional moral thinkers have so many strong
models of conventional morality to emulate. It is
alarming, however, to consider the possibility that,
by its sheer pervasiveness in our lives, TV works to
inhibit adult deve10pment beyond the conventional norm.

Despite perhaps justifiable concern about the
effect of televised violence, the present study would

indicate that overall, television should have a

241

pggfsocial effect on children and pre-conventional
adolescents. Recall from Chapter Three that the Surgeon
General's Committee reported the findings of one study,
conducted on children, which supports this conclusion.
The study found that TV viewing can have a pro-social
effect, particularly on youngsters from lower socio-
economic backgrounds, if pro-social prOgrams are viewed.
Conventional morality, of course, is pro-social for
this culture (and for other cultures, if Kohlberg's
cross-cultural data is valid).

In the case of adolescents whose values lie
below the norm, TV should also accelerate the movement

toward conventional values. In fact, according to

McLuhan, television has ended adolescence in the United

States. Certain legal and social changes that have tran-

spired since UnderstandingMedia was published (1964)

 

support McLuhan's theory. 'For example, within the past
decade the voting and drinking ages have been lowered

to 18; in addition, the age at which females can obtain
contraceptives without parental knowledge and consent

is continually being reduced. Perhaps most significantly,
the Viet Nam War was in effect ended by a generation of
men in their late teensand.early twenties who refused

to fight a war they didn't believe in. Finally, young

people are among some of the most active participants

242

in the new personal growth and group-involvement

movements which have emerged since the late sixties,
including Transcendental Meditation, Transactional
Analysis, empathy counseling, and the charismatic reli-
gious movement. Superficially, at any rate, it seems
that young people are acting out conventional values

at an earlier age than before, and that television may
be responsible for this change.

Some pre-conventional adolescent and adult
citizens, however, lack practical means to act out
conventional values in society. PeOple in this sub-
grouping include the poor, the undereducated, and (until
recently) the young and many members of minority groups.
The effect of TV on these people may be to produce
aagiesocial attitudes and behavior. This seems
especially likely because television encourages in-group
identity and social responsibility but cannot, in itself,
provide access to socially committed roles. In large
part, this is because "roles" are so closely linked to
“jobs" in our society. The poor young black person who
becomes distressed about the conditions of ghetto life
as a result of watching TV, for instance, cannot
necessarily improve conditions for his peers or even
find a socially responsible job. Because the TV values
of empathy and consensus may be encouraging understanding

and inter-group harmony, television may also ultimately

243

cause barriers between groups to be broken down,
however, thereby allowing society's benefits to flow
more evenly to all its citizens.

For the majority of Americans who are already
conventional moralists, television may work to inhibit
further development. To repeat from Chapter One: 95
percent of all U.S. homes have at least one television
set and the average viewer spends 1200 hours per year
watching TV. As continuous exercise builds up certain
body muscles, so should it be expected that continuous
television watching would strengthen a person's belief
in values reinforced by TV, making these values ever
more resistant to change.

That TV may inhibit post-conventional develop-
ment is alarming because of the differences between
conventional and post-conventional morality, according
to the Kohlberg scale. People at Stages 3 and 4 of
values development are only as "moral" as the society
in which they live. Hitler appealed to the values of
in-group loyalty and approval, and of social reponsi-
bility, to gain support during his rise to power in
Nazi Germany. In Kohlberg's belief, however, the
authors of the U.S. Constitution, as well as the

defenders of its principles, have been Stage 5 thinkers.

If our democracy is based on the quality of thinking

244

that questions norms rather than blindly accepts the
prevailing mode, then it seems logical that the more
Stage 5 individuals in all walks of life, the better
and more open that life will be. To the extent that
television increases complacent acceptance of existing
norms, and in so doing precludes or delays post-con-
ventional development for some peOple, it is a

regressive influence in this society.

 

The 15 percent or so of the U.S. population

which is already oriented to post-conventional or

Stage 5 or 6 morality is not likely to be affected by

values transmitted by television, since there is nothing
for them to learn or affirm from TV in a values sense.
It is important to note, however, that if McLuhan's
"electric values" can be translated into Kohlberg's
"conventional values," then post-conventional peOple
aga, contra McLuhan, able to see TV for what it is and

to put it into proper perspective.

What, then, is TV's future? There is every
reason to believe that the values transmitted by
television will not change in the foreseeable future.
This supposition is supported by the historical
analysis included in this dissertation. The distribu-
tion of value levels within TV content has remained

essentially constant over the years under study,

245

regardless of the fact that this period has been char-
acterized by an accelerated amount of social change

in the area of equal rights. Programs featuring minority
characters are becoming common, but they follow the
established formats for the various program categories.
Equal rights, pa£_aa, are never at issue on these
programs; in-group harmony and social responsibility

are stressed as primary values.

It is clear that television is capable of
portraying post-conventional values in a manner
appealing to viewers, since there has been a smattering
of popular Stage 5 characters. Documentaries of an
issue-oriented nature and news specials of various
sorts also seem to be gaining increased air time
and popularity in recent years. Since post-conventional
morality is analytical, questioning and issue—oriented,
this type of programming perhaps holds out the greatest
hOpe for advancement in terms of television's overall
value message. An exploration into the values portrayed
by this type of program is beyond the scope of the
present study, however.

The findings of this dissertation suggest that
much additional research in this area is required.
First, there must be a much broader and deeper study
of more programs, more types of programs and a greater

historical coverage of programs. Fortunately, more

246

information on past programs should become available,
with the increasing establishment across the country

of popular culture repositories, which include television
scripts and videotapes of past programs.

More SOphisticated statistical sampling
techniques are also needed, incorporating detailed
Nielsen data on past programs. For a comprehensive
study, access to the actual Nielsen reports, as
opposed to summaries reprinted in trade publications,
would be crucial. If possible, computerization of
the computational technique would be extremely helpful,
since this would allow more data to be analyzed faster
and would offer the possibility of multivariate
analysis. In addition, a detailed survey of all
relevant literature on media values transmission is
indispensable for further study. This should include
all significant behavioristic studies, as well as studies
utilizing independently-derived models and studies of
a more subjective nature.

Other projects of a related nature are also
suggested by the findings of this study. Since single,

professional, prime-of-life males predominate on prime

time television, it would be interesting to know what
percentage of scripts are written by men rather than
women. It would further be interesting to compare

authors and producers with the principal characters

247

in programs they have written or produced, in terms
of the demographic variables selected for this study.
Finally, daytime programs, especially the
daytime dramas, warrant analysis and perhaps comparison
with evening programs. On the one hand these programs
appear to deal seriously with such issues as divorce,
unwed motherhood, alcoholism and abortion, well beyond
the limits of prime time television. On the other hand,
the viewing audience for the daytime serials consists
primarily of housewives. Not only does Kohlberg believe
that socializing practices for all females have tended to
reinforce Stage 3 morality as the female norm, but also
housewives, in particular, act out society's most
conventional female role. It might therefore be
predicted that complex issues are resolved in the day-
time serials by using conventional, Stage 3 logic.
If this is the case, then conflict might be expected
to originate from Stage 2 characters as it does on
prime time comedies. It would be especially interesting
to discover similarities between the evening comedies
and the daytime serials since the audience for the

comedies is also projected to be primarily female.

It is my belief that this study has made several

contributions to the field of knowledge in American

Studies. First of all, the study has contributed

 

   

248

toward a better understanding of pOpular TV formulas.
Determining the values of television characters uncov-
ered the preponderance of conventionally moral charac-
terizations. In the case of comedy, the manner in which
conventional and pre-conventional characters are pitted
against each other to create humor was illustrated.

In the case of drama programs, determining characters'

values showed that they accept conventional roles and

norms and that tension and crisis are created when these
norms are violated. Resolution comes in drama programs
when characters reaffirm their traditional values.

Finally, in the case of drama/adventure, the discovery
that principal characters exhibit conventional moral

values allowed for a better understanding of pOpular
culture's aapaghero as embodying, rather than transcending,
cultural norms.

Likewise, the study suggested that the Kohlberg
model would be a valuable tool in studying other works
of popular and elite culture. It has traditionally
been argued that the "vision" or "world view" of the
elite practitioner is more complex and more complete

than the popular artist's is. Within the area of human

values, the Kohlberg scale could be used as one means

of testing this hypothesis. In addition, one study I

did of William Faulkner's Absolom, Absolom! indicated

 

that applying the Kohlberg theory can yield a meaningful

249

new reading even to a well-critiqued classic. My

study revealed the growth of post—conventional thinking
in Charles Bon and thus made his sacrifice of life a
more integrated part of the novel's ending. Analyzing
the values of the novel's various narrators also helped
filter out and explain the unreliable portions of each
version of the Sutpen/Bon story. Kohlberg himself

has suggested that his theory is a helpful aid in
studying tragedy. The present study indicates that

the potential applications are very broad indeed.

The study has also contributed toward a better
understanding of American cultural values since Kohlberg's
hypothesis that "conventional" morality is normative for
our society was supported by this study. Certainly
conventional morality is normative for television,
America's most pOpular art form. The study suggests
that conventional morality may even represent an
unattainable ideal for some peOple since drama/adventure
characters portraying Stage 4 values are so often tagged
as superheroes. In particular, performing well in a
job which benefits society as a system may be viewed
as the highest possible ideal by many Americans.

In-group solidarity, especially family love and harmony,

would also appear to be "high" values in the perception

of most Americans. "Getting ahead" per se, in the sense

250

of materialistic gain, is 99E a value endorsed by tele—
vision. Thus, per McLuhan, television is modifying

the American dream of wealth and esteem to a dream of

a moderate income combined with a responsible job and
ample close relationships with family or work colleagues.

Finally, this study has confirmed the criticism
of many feminists that men and women are portrayed
unequally by television. The Kohlberg analysis showed
that women on TV, on the average, represent lower
values than men. In addition, frequency comparisons
showed that men as principal characters outnumber women
by as much as eight to one in the drama/adventure
category, while they predominate in every other category.
A majority of these men are presented as single, dedi-
cated professionals, in their prime-of-life age range,
so that women are only episodes in their lives, according
to TV. Women characters, on the other hand, are
concentrated in domestic comedy and family drama, where
they appear as married or affiliated with Spouse
surrogates. Thus women are shown almost exclusively
as interdependent with men for peer relationships and
peer approval. Most men, however, are pictured in
primary relationships with other men, usually work

associates.

251

Though in general there are no sexual conno-
tations to the relationships between men on television,
the recurrent pattern of these relationships surely
provides another example of the theme of "cultural
homosexuality" which Leslie Fiedler ascribes to much
of American literature.5 More importantly, however,
the fact that there are numerous sets of male peers
on TV and almost none of women, unless they are rela-
tives, indicates that female peer relationships are
not seen as normative (or even possible?) by our
culture. Clearly women are expected to find peer
approval and a satisfying relationship only with a
man. Men, on the other hand, can meet these needs
for each other. I intend to explore some of the

ramifications of this finding and to trace its appearance
in other popular media in a forthcoming book—length

study.

252

Notes to Chapter 8

lKohlberg, "Moral Psychology and the Study of
Tragedy," in Collected Papers. (Essay has no page
numbers.) On the subject of moral development throughout

cultural history, Kohlberg cites L.T. Hobhouse, Morals
in Evolution (London, 1906).

2McLuhan, UnderstandingMedia, 257.

Horace Newcomb, TV: The Most Popular Art
(New York, 1974), 65.

41bid., 245-246.

See Leslie Fiedler, Love and Death in the
American Novel, rev. ed. (New York, 1966).

APPENDIX A
PRIMARY DATA TABLES

The following tables present the unaggregated
data collected for TV programs and TV characters for
the years 1962 through 1974 which this study covers.
The data are presented first by program category (i.e.,
comedy, drama, or drama/adventure), then by show title,
followed by year. Characters fall under the classifi-
cation of the show on which they appear, and the relevant
demographic and values variables are shown for the
character to which they apply. A list of explanatory
abbreviations appears at the end of the primary data
tables.

The following variable values were estimated by

the author:

- Age of character

- Occupation of character where not clearly
stipulated

- Marital status of character where not
clearly stipulated.
Judgments about the values of characters included
in the analysis were made using the procedure detailed

in Chapter 5.

253

254

 

 

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APPENDIX B
THE PROCEDURE USED TO AGGREGATE DATA
BY VARIABLE OF INTEREST

The procedure used to classify the data within
the variable categories of sex, marital status, occupa-
tion, age, program category and Kohlberg value was
quite straightforward for all seasons audited except
for 1974, for which a slightly more complex averaging
technique was employed. The analytical procedure

for earlier years will be described first.

I. Analytical Procedure for Years 1962 through 1973*

 

The analytical procedure used to obtain the
information found in Chapter 7 for the years 1962
through 1973 is best explained in step—by-step fashion.
Each part of the procedure will be illustrated by an
example.

A. Frequency (Distribution) of Character
Appearance by Variable Classification

 

 

Step l--Since frequency means the number of
times a character with some characteristic
appeared in a certain year, if we are interested
in knowing the number of single males on comedy

shows in 1973, for example, we simply consult

 

*The years 1960 and 1961 were omitted
from the analysis because of the small size
of the sample for those years.

262

263

Appendix A in order to determine the number of
characters with these characteristics (male,
single, comedy) in 1973. The number in this

case is 8.

Step 2--Now, "frequency" can be stated in more
than one way. It can be given directly as the
number of observations (for example, "8" in

the Step 1 example) or stated as a percentage

 

of some total. For example, 31% of all 26 comedy
characters in the 1973 sample were single males;
or 53% of all 15 male comedy characters in the
1973 sample were single.

B. Average Kohlberg Values (K-values): How
They Were Computed-~The procedure used for com-

 

 

puting average K-values was as follows:

SteE 1-—I assumed that each K-value in the range
"2“ to "5-4-3" could be assigned a numerical
value from 1.0 to 9.0 respectively, thereby
positing a difference of one unit between each
value on the scale. Table 17 below illustrates
the numerical values assigned to the different

K-values.

264

 

 

 

TABLE 17
Numerical Numerical
K-Value Equivalent K-Value Equivalent
2 1.0 4(3) 6.0
2(3) 2.0 4 7.0
3(2) 3.0 4(5) 8.0
3 4.0 5-4-3 9.0

3(4) 5.0

 

Step 2--I determined the number of times a
particular K-value was portrayed in a given year
by characters with certain characteristics,

for example single males in comedy. For 1973,

the distribution is shown in Table 18 below.

 

 

 

TABLE 18
K—value Number of Occurances for
K-Value Equivalent Single Males in Comedy

2 1.0 3
2(3) 2.0 -
3(2) 3.0 -
3 4.0 2
3(4) 5.0 _
4(3) 6.0 -
4 7.0 3
4(5) 8.0 -
5-4-3 9.0 -

 

265

Step 3--I multiplied the total number of charac-
ters for each respective K-value by the K-value
equivalent and summed the result. For example,
if "n" represents the number of single male
characters and K represents the numerical K-value

equivalent (with possible values 1.0 through 9.0),

then the sum described by this step is:
Kl(nl) + K2(n2) + . . . K9(n9) = sum (K times n)

where Kl through K9 means K-value equivalents 1.0
through 9.0, and n1 through n9 means the number
of characters of the given characteristics with
equivalent K-values of 1.0 through 9.0, respec-
tively. Filling in the equation with the data
for single males in comedy, 1973, it reads

as follows:

1(3) + 2(0) + 3(0) + 4(2) + 5(0) + 6(0) + 7(3) + 8(0)

+9(0) = sum (K times n)
or

3 + O + 0 + 8 + 0 + O + 21 + O + 0 = 32

Step 4--I divided the above sum, sum (K times n),
by the sum of all characters with the character-
istics of interest. This sum can be denoted as

"sum(n)." Step 4, therefore, is represented

symbolically as:

266

sum (K times n)

 

sum (n) average K—value equivalent

For example, for single male comedy stars in
1973, the numerator and denominator of this
32

fraction are: —§-.

Step 5--I retranslated the nuemrical K-value
equivalent back into actual K-value terms.
Thus, 3%-0r 4 in the example implies an average
of Kohlberg Stage 3 (as inferred from Table 17

above) for single men in comedy for the year 1973.

II. The Analytical Procedure Used for the 1974 Season

 

The procedures used to compute average Kohlberg
values and frequencies of character appearance for 1974
were identical to those described in Section I,
except in the case where Kohlberggvalue averages and

frequencies were reported for all program categories

 

combined.

 

A. Procedure Used to Determine the Relative
Importance of Character Observations for Different
Program Categories

 

 

 

Step 1--Each of the three program category
samples contained a more or less equal number
of programs, while the actual distribution of
programs by category in the t0p 44 shows of

1974 was different from this artificially

267

selected distribution.* Excluding movies, news
programs, variety shows and the like, the actual
distribution of comedy, drama, and drama/adven-
ture shows in the top 31 shows of this type

was as follows:

- 12 of the top 31 shows were comedies,
representing 292 million viewers

- 6 of the top 31 shows were dramas, repre-
senting 124.4 million viewers.

- 13 of the top 31 shows were drama/adven-
ture shows, representing 256.3 million
Viewers

- The total number of viewers for all three
types of shows was 681.7 million.
Step 2—-Since choosing an equal number of shows
(as was done in the sample) would imply a viewer
distribution of 33% for each type of show, it
was necessary to adjust the variable values
observed for TV characters in the sample so

that they reflected the relative importance of

 

the actual distribution (by number of viewers)
on TV in 1974.

The relative importance of each type of show
was measured by the percentage of the total

number of viewers watching that type. Thus,

 

*"Top shows" means the shows with the
highest Nielsen ratings. The Nielsen rating
is the number, in millions, of viewers watching
a particular show during its airing.

268

292 million viewers

I =
Comedy 3 percentage 681.7 million viewers

 

= 42.8 percent of relevant
viewers

Drama's percentage = 18.2 percent of relevant
viewers

Drama/Adventure's percentage = 39.0 percent
of relevant viewers.

The above percentages represent the relative
amounts of viewer exposure to shows of these
three types, thus the relative importance of
each type of show.

B. The Procedure Used To Compute Adjusted

Character Observation Frequencies for 1974
Observations

 

 

 

For 1974, I made adjustments so that observations
for comedy characters were comparable to obser-
vations for drama characters, etc. Strict com-
parability on an inter-program category basis

for years before 1974 was not possible because
complete Nielsen ratings were not available to
me for earlier years. For 1974, the frequencies
of character appearances were made comparable
beteween one type show and the next in numerical

terms by using the following formula:

269

Adjusted frequency

of appearance of no. of comedy
characters in 1974 = (42.8%) characters
with set of with charac-
characteristics teristic3"x"
"XII

number of drama
characters with
characteristics
"x"

+ (18.2%)

number of drama/
+ (39..., $213.52: :2???

characteristics

"X"
The term on the left-hand side of the equation
above will henceforth be referred to as the
"adjusted frequency." For all frequencies reported
on an inter-program-category basis, percentage
frequencies were computed as described in
Section I.A. above except that all frequencies
were determined using "adjusted frequencies"
(further described below) rather than unadjusted
frequencies.

C. The Procedure Used To Compute Average Kohlberg
Value for 1974

 

 

The procedure used to compute average Kohlberg
values, once the adjusted character frequency was
computed for characters with some given set of
characteristics, is identical to the procedure

described in Section I.B. except that adjusted

270

frequencies were used in place of actual fre-
quencies. The formula for average Kohlberg

value is:

)

Sum (K times n

 

Average = adjusted
K Value Sum (“adjusted)
. u - n
where nadjusted 18 the adjusted frequency

defined in Section II.B. above. An example can
best illustrate the technique. Early in the

analysis, I computed the average Kohlberg value
for all male characters in 1974. This was done

as follows:

Step l--I determined from the raw data (given in
Appendix A) the number of times male comedy, drama

and drama/adventure characters with each K—Value

equivalent appeared.

Step 2--I computed n for male comedy

adjusted

characters, for male drama characters and for

male drama/adventure characters in 1974 at each

K-value equivalent using the procedure detailed

in Section II.B. above.

Step 3--I multiplied n by its respective

adjusted

K-value equivalent for male comedy, drama and

drama/adventure characters, and summed the result.

271

Step 4--From data in Step 2, I summed the adjusted
frequency for all characters, thereby obtaining

sum(nadjusted)'

Step 5--I divided sum(K times n ) from

adjusted

Step 3 by sum(n d) from Step 4 and trans-

adjuste
lated the numerical K-value equivalent into the
actual K-value--in the case of this example,

to Stage 3(4).

D. Additional Comments on the Assumptions
Behind this Procedure

 

 

The method used for adjusting the frequencies of

variable appearance presumes that:

(1) Nielsen rating is an accurate measure of
the exposure of the viewing audience to
programs of different types.

(2) Comedy, drama, and drama/adventure are
mutually exclusive typological categories.

(3) The sample of TV characters chosen in a
given program category is statistically
representative of the actual characteristics
of characters in that program category.

(4) The Kohlberg-values scale can be represented
in numerical terms on a scale such as that
given in Table 17 above.

These assumptions do not, in general appear to be

272

very restrictive ones. In some cases, however,
small sample sizes were encountered for charac-
ters with a large number of associated charac-

teristics (e.g., white-collar, single males in

comedy for 1974). In such cases, the validity

of assumption (3) above may be questioned, but

a study of much larger scope would be needed

to determine the severity of any such distortion.

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