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ACTIVITY AND DISCUSSION QUESTION #3

Concept and Goal: This activity is taken from Diversity Activities for Psychology by Valerie Whittlesey (Allyn and Bacon) and is a good activity to illustrate the effects of modeling on children's behavior. This activity examines television shows and the characters portrayed in different kinds of television shows.

Instructions: Record your observations of half an hour of the following: (a) a PBS children's show (e.g., Barney, Sesame Show, Mr. Rogers) and (b) a commercial children's show (e.g., Bugs Bunny, Ninja Turtles, Road Runner). Print off the sheet below and record your observations.

OBSERVATIONS OF PRESCHOOL CHILDREN'S TELEVISION:

  1. Name of TV Show:

  2. TV Network:

  3. Brief Summary of the Show: _________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

   4. Number of physically aggressive acts:  __________________

5. Number of verbally aggressive acts:  ____________________

6.  Number of physically prosocial acts (smiling, handshake, acts of kindness):

7.  Number of verbally prosocial acts (thank you, please, words of kindness):

8.  A.  Number of male characters:

     B.  Were the leading male characters strong or weak?

     C.  Number of female characters:

     D.  Were the leading female characters strong or weak?

9.  Number of gender unidentified (e.g., animal with neutral name) major characters:

NSTRUCTIONS: When you finish you should have 2 sets of data: one per different television program. Answer the following questions and give your general overall impression of children's television programming. Send your responses (both data results and your answers to the questions below). You will receive 2 points for this activity.

Are there any differences between PBS and commercial television children's shows in their aggressiveness? What is the ratio of male and female characters in the shows? Are there differences between the male and female characters in their level of aggressiveness?