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Cognitive Processes in Television Viewing: Description and Strategic Implications

  • Chapter
Cognitive Strategy Research

Part of the book series: Springer Series in Cognitive Development ((SSCOG))

Abstract

Television is now a common feature of the environments of children throughout the world. In the United States the average family operates television sets more than 6 hours per day (Comstock, Chaffee, Katzman, McCombs, & Roberts, 1978); children under the age of 6 view an average of 4-5 hours daily (Roberts & Bachen, 1981). The potential impact of this extensive exposure to television on psychological and behavioral development is now well established (Ball & Bogatz, 1972; Collins, 1982; Comstock et al., 1978; Stein & Friedrich, 1975). Television programs have been found to influence patterns of social behavior and self-regulation in laboratory and field experiments (e.g., Friedrich & Stein, 1973; Leyens, Camino, Parke, & Berkowitz, 1975; Rushton, 1979). Evidence from correlational field studies supports the relationship between viewing preferences and patterns of general behavioral tendencies, which may persist over long periods (e.g., Belson, 1978;Eron, 1982;Eron,Huesmann,Lefkowitz, & Walder, 1973;Huesmann, 1982). In addition, programs produced with a teaching intent, like “Sesame Street” and “The Electric Company,” have demonstrated effectiveness and efficiency in teach ing certain basic skills of literacy to children who view regularly (Ball & Bogatz, 1972;Watkins, Huston-Stein, & Wright, 1980).

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Authors
  1. W. Andrew Collins
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  2. Mary Wiens
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada, N6A 5C2

    Michael Pressley

  2. Department of Educational Psychology and Wisconsin Center for Education Research, University of Wisconsin Madison, Wisconsin, 53706, USA

    Joel R. Levin

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© 1983 Springer-Verlag New York Inc

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Collins, W.A., Wiens, M. (1983). Cognitive Processes in Television Viewing: Description and Strategic Implications. In: Pressley, M., Levin, J.R. (eds) Cognitive Strategy Research. Springer Series in Cognitive Development. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-5522-2_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-5522-2_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-5524-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4612-5522-2

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