Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Semester of Degree Completion

1986

Thesis Director

Ronald T. Wohlstein

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis has been to develop, test and utilize a reliable method to quantify the prevalence of pro- and anti-social behavior on children's television as assessed from a contextualist perspective. Many previous studies in the area of television have arbitrarily assigned either pro- or anti-social labels to television programs without the benefit of analyzing the content of these programs

The few studies that have attempted to analyze the pro- and anti-social content of children's television have used only physical parameters to define pro- or anti-social behavior. Through the development of a reliable method of analyzing the contextually assessed content of children's television it is hoped sociologists will have an instrument to aid them in better understanding the pro-social and anti-social messages being presented to children via the media.

Sample programs were selected over a nine-month period. While five programs were specifically chosen to be analyzed, the individual episodes were selected at random during this time period. The sample included episodes of "Sesame Street," "Mr. T." "The Super-Powers Team," "He-Man and Masters of the Universe," and "Bugs Bunny."

The results of this study reveal that specific guidelines, a method with approximately .80 reliability, can be developed to analyze the contextually assessed pro-and anti-social content of children's television.

Findings also reveal quantification of pro- and anti-social behavior, as well as the inclusion of contextualists considerations, may alter many of the labels either scientifically or arbitrarily imposed upon television programs in·previous analyses.

These findings suggest that in order to completely understand the effect of the media upon society, future research should incorporate contextualist auguments and content analysis in their research designs to better measure the pro- and anti-social effects of the mass media.

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