Description
TELEVISION
AND
AGGRESSION
Truth hurts. When we watch television, the
most dangerous and most damaging scenes we
can see are the true ones-the violence in the
newscasts. The violence in a western, a cops-and-
robbers show, a Tom and Jerry cartoon-all
these are harmless. We know that these scenes,
however violent, are fictitious. But turn on the
evening news and it’s a different story. We know
that these scenes are true. And truth hurts.
Television and Aggression is a revolutionary
new book that holds important implications for
the future of television programming. It reports
the first attempt to carry out a laboratory study
of the effects of television viewing in a natural
setting. They show that violence on television
may actually help to reduce or control aggressive
behavior-despite the conclusion of recent na-
tional investigations that violence on TV stimu-
lates aggression in children.
Television and Aggression is the first work of
its kind to take laboratory procedures into the
field situation. Through the cooperation of a
number of private schools and boys’ homes, the
authors were able to control the television view-
ing behavior of several groups of boys aged nine
to fifteen (Chapter 3). Some groups watched a
diet of more aggressive programs-such as The
FBI, Gunsmoke, Have Gun, Will Travel, and
The Untouchables. Others watched a milder
diet-such programs as American Bandstand,
Bachelor Father, Ed Sullivan, Gidget, Lassie,
and My Favorite Martian.
The authors kept track (Chapters 4 and 5)
of the changes in aggressive attitudes and values
as well as in the number of aggressive acts in
which the boys engaged during their exposure
to the two very different viewing diets. The
findings refute several popular theories about
the impact of violence on television (Chapter
6) and will undoubtedly have a serious bearing
on future programming (Chapters 7, 8).
The authors of Television and Aggression are
concerned lest their findings be taken as license
for unlimited violent programming on tele-
vision, on the grounds that the vicarious ag-
gressive experience is “therapeutic.” The find-
ings revealed here represent only part of the
story. Much work remains to be done. Yet, as
Feshbach and Singer point out in their Pro-
logue, “we must be more discriminating in our
evaluation of … violence on television. Blanket
indictments of aggressive content, regardless of
the dramatic context or the character of the
audience, are inappropriate and should not be
made. Violence in the guise of dramatic fantasy
is found throughout history, and it seems un-
likely that the vicarious participation in these
fantasies does not satisfy some human need.”
THE AUTHORS
SEYMOUR FESHBACH is professor of psychology at
the University of California, Los Angeles. He
is coeditor of Cognition, Personality .. and Clin-
ical Psychology (j25sev-Bass, 1967).
ROBERT D. SINGER is professor of psychology at
the University of California, Riverside.
Ex-library book
In good preloved condition but well read with worn cover with small tears and library stamps and marks throughout book.
186 pages
