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Much of the research regarding the psychological/mental effects of television has been compromised by flawed methodology, particularly the fact that content has not been taken into account. When all the research data is examined together, it suggests that well-designed educational programming can be beneficial, while violent programming can be detrimental. Dr. Anderson feels that if you pick and choose, you can make whatever argument you want from the available literature. The vast majority of studies have only taken number of hours viewed as a factor, and have not discriminated between different types of programming. For instance, California has used annual achievements tests for many years. One of the questions asked, as part of the testing process, has been "How many hours did you watch TV yesterday?" What they have found was that, overall, children who watch no television actually do worse than kids. who watch some TV; up to about 10 hours a week, achievement actually goes up. From 10 to 20 hours a week the relationship is flat. After about 20 hours of television a week, achievement starts to goes down as measured by high school grades and achievement in specific areas such reading and mathematics.
The picture gets more complicated if you break down the analysis by socioeconomic group. For upper middle class children, the relationship is mostly negative; 0-10 hours yields little benefit, while more than 20 hours leads to steep drops in achievement. For the solidly middle class/working class, you get the expected U-shaped function, with highest achievement coming with moderate amounts of TV viewing. With lower class children, however, the function is positive; in general, the more television they watch, the better their performance. Of course, these relationships are just correlations. It is important to determine what children are doing when not watching TV. The amount of TV a child is allowed to watch may also say a great deal about the parents' attitudes and parenting skills in general. As Dr. Anderson points out, "upper middle class parents that are letting their kids watch 3-5 hours of TV a day are most likely very different from the parents who let their kids watch only 1-2 hours a day."
Dr. Anderson warned against interpreting these results too broadly. There are about six good longitudinal studies examining reading achievement and television at early ages for later effects. Two studies have found negative relationship with reading, while the rest have found no relationship at all. Dr. Anderson believes that the evidence largely suggests no relationships. He does feel that there is some possibility that watching a great deal of TV at very young ages may retard reading achievement, but when overall grades and broader measures of achievement are examined, by and large the studies find no effects.
The likely reason for finding no effect is a failure to take content into account. Very few studies have done so, because it is much harder to discover what people are watching than just the numbers of hours watched. The studies, including Dr. Anderson's own work, that have taken content into account have consistently found that children who watch educational television, even after controlling for parental and family variables, positively predicts later achievement and grades. These same studies have found that watching non-educational television TV, and, in particular, television that has violence in it, predicts lower achievement and lower grades.
Viewing of violent programming is linked to both lower achievement and additional negative psychological effects. Researchers have established at least six ways in which watching violence can produce later effects; there is no single mechanism that produces the negative effect.
Particularly for younger children, viewing of violent content may lead to simple imitation of the violent acts. For older children and adults, viewing of such material may lead to short-term priming, where tendencies toward endorsement of or actually demonstration of violent or aggressive behavior are increased. Exposure to violent material may also lead to desensitization, where viewers are less likely to feel empathy with victims of violence and need additional exposure to violent material to achieve the same state of physiological arousal. While early theory suggested that viewing violence might act as a catharsis and thus help to inhibit violent episodes, this theory has now been largely discounted. The data also shows that early exposure to violent media correlates with predictions about aggressive attitudes at a later time and ultimately even predicts arrest records. Some research has been done to suggest that a similar desensitization occurs with exposure to pornography. Dr. Anderson does not believe that there is any evidence that media or technology retard emotional development, but he also admits that he is not aware of anyone who has looked for it.
The effects on attention span are similar to those on academic achievement. While only a handful of studies have dealt with attention span, i.e. task persistence, the clearest evidence is that television viewing is generally unrelated to attention span, with two content-related exceptions. Educational programs, such as Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers, which intentionally set out to teach attentional skills, that is, to reduce impulsivity and increase thoughtfulness before action, seem to be successful at doing it. Violent programming, on the other hand, appears to make children, in the short-term, act more impulsively, without thinking first.
The evidence tends to support the proposition that imagination is reduced by watching television, although the effect depends heavily on what is being watched. Dr. Anderson felt that many of the studies in this area can be individually criticized, but that a recent review of the available research literature suggested that the effect is, in general, negative. Again, it is the case that television programs, such as "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood," that are specifically designed to stimulate creativity and that attempt to engage children in role-play can be successful at doing so. Some research suggests that violent material does inhibit imagination, but Dr. Anderson feels that this area is ripe for much more additional research before any sort of sweeping claims can be made with confidence.
There is an intimate connection between obesity and television viewing that extends from childhood into adulthood. Several studies show distinct correlations between hours of TV watched per day and obesity. This same connection has been established between hours of TV watched and lack of physical fitness. While Dr. Anderson admits this is not the sort of. area in which you can do experimental testing, the correlations are well established, with statistical analysis leading to the conclusion that the TV viewing is the causal factor. Even controlling for current obesity, hours of TV viewed will predict later obesity levels.
The causal factors are felt to be twofold. The sedentary nature of TV viewing typically leads to less exercise and physical activity. The aforementioned studies, however, also brought to light clear evidence that a major factor is children's desire for advertised food items. Since such items are almost always high in sugar and fat, Dr. Anderson feels that the causation is probably partly because of advertising. He has found these same patterns and behaviors in his own research as well. Dr. Anderson notes that while most of this research has concerned television viewing, much of what has been reported would apply equally to book reading or computer use.
Anderson, D.R. & Evans, M.K. The impact of the Internet on children: Lessons from television. In J. Turow & A. Kavanaugh (Eds.), The Internet and the family: New views on a new world. Cambridge: MIT Press, (in press).
Anderson, D.R. & Evans, M.K. Peril and potential of media for toddlers. Zero to Three, 22(2), 10-16, 2001.
Wright, J.C., Anderson, D.R., Huston, A.C., Collins, P.A., Schmitt, K.L. & Linebarger, D.L. "Early viewing of educational television programs: The short- and long-term effects on schooling." Insights, 2, 5-8, 1999.
Anderson, D.R., Huston, A.C., Wright, J.C. & Collins, P.A. Initial findings on the long term impact of Sesame Street and educational television for children: The Recontact Study. In R. Noll & M. Price (Eds.), A communications cornucopia: Markle Foundation essays on information policy (pp. 279- 296). Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1998.
Anderson, D. R., & Collins, P. A. The influence on children's education: The effects of television on cognitive development. Washington, D.C.: U. S. Department of Education, 1988.
Bryant, J. & Anderson, D. R. (Eds.). Children's understanding of TV: Research on attention and comprehension. New York: Academic Press, 1983.
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