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Abstract
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A sample of 169 first- and third-grade children, selected because of their high exposure to television violence, was randomly divided into an experimental and a control group. Over the course of 2 years, the experimental subjects were exposed to two treatments designed to reduce the likelihood of their imitating the aggressive behaviors they observed on TV. The control group received comparable neutral treatments. By the end of the second year, the experimental subjects were rated as significantly less aggressive by their peers, and the relation between violence viewing and aggressiveness was diminished in the experimental group.
VioLit summary:
OBJECTIVE:
The purpose of this study by Huesmann et al. was to test two behavior modification programs that purport to decrease adolescent violence by changing attitudes and beliefs about violence on TV.
METHODOLOGY:
Two quasi-experimental designs were employed using 169 children who were in the first or third grades in 1976. The subjects were selected from a sample of 672 students who were participating in a three year longitudinal study of the effects of TV violence. Of these 672, only the most "violent program watchers" were chosen. If a child watched at least six highly violent shows, he or she was selected. The violence level was determined by two independent raters whose interrater reliability was .77 for 80 programs. These students were randomly assigned to either experimental or placebo groups. Both groups were given a "realistic behavior" questionnaire which assessed how realistic each child perceived the actions of TV characters to be. In addition to the realistic behavior score, aggressiveness was measured by the peer-nomination technique used by Eron et. al. TV violence viewing, TV realism, and identification with TV characters were also recorded. The experimental subjects were exposed to three training sessions designed to reduce the effect of TV violence on their behavior. These sessions included 3-8 children and were given over a period of 6-8 weeks. The training sessions were designed to teach the children three things. 1) The behavior of characters on TV do not represent the behavior of most people. 2) Camera techniques and special effects are giving the illusion that the characters are performing unrealistic feats. 3) The average person uses other methods to solve problems. The treatments were followed by a post test which was the same as the pre-test, and then 3-4 months later, the subjects' aggressiveness was assessed. Two years later, 132 of the original 169 subjects participated in a second experiment which examined a different type of behavior modification manipulation. For this experiment, the purpose of the experimental conditions was to teach children directly that watching TV violence was not desirable and that they should not imitate violent TV programs. A pretest questionnaire which asked children about their attitudes about TV violence was given to both the experimental and control groups. Training sessions for the experimental group occurred under the pretense of producing a film to alter the attitudes of school children in Chicago. The children developed arguments about the negative aspect of TV violence, wrote their arguments out, were videotaped and viewed the tapes of themselves and their classmates. The children in the control group did the same thing, except the topic was "their hobbies." A re-test of TV violence attitudes was given 2-3 months later. To measure the effectiveness of the manipulation, the post test was supplemented by the same measures used in experiment 1. ANCOVA was used to analyze data.
FINDINGS/DISCUSSION:
In the first experiment, there were no significant differences. In the second experiment, the experimental group had significantly better attitude scores than the control group (p<.001). ANCOVA revealed that the experimental group had significantly smaller increases in their level of aggression than the control group (p<.001). In a correlational analysis, TV violence was significantly and positively correlated with aggression for the control group, but negatively correlated for the experimental group. Gender was significantly and positively correlated to aggression for all groups. (Boys were more aggressive than girls). In the experimental group, identification with TV characters was positively and significantly correlated with aggression. Identification with TV characters negatively and significantly correlated with attitude change (p<.01). Judgment of TV realism negatively and significantly correlated with attitude change.
EVALUATION:
This study begins from an interesting vantage point--the children who watch the most violent television. The linkage of training confronting unrealistic notions about television and actual aggression is an important processural link that may be operating between media and violence. With any experiment, the artificiality of the study and geographic specificity (possibly leading to class and racial specificity as well) may pose some validity and reliability issues, but the researchers worked to combat as many of these as possible. The large sample size (169) helps to support their findings. Remaining questions involve more of the uncovering of processural links between television and aggressive behavior and the expansion of such research to other geographical areas and ages. (CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado)
KW - 1970s
KW - Longitudinal Studies
KW - Grade 1
KW - Grade 2
KW - Grade 3
KW - Middle Childhood
KW - Elementary School Student
KW - Child Aggression
KW - Child Perceptions
KW - Child Attitudes
KW - Exposure to Violence
KW - Television Viewing
KW - Television Violence
KW - Media Violence Effects
KW - Aggression Causes
KW - Social Learning
KW - Imitation
KW - Aggression Prevention
KW - Violence Prevention
KW - Child Violence
Language: en |