Bruce Watkins

Children's recall of television material: Effects of presentation mode and adult labeling.

Children from preschool, kindergarten, and Grades 3 and 4 viewed an edited prosocial cartoon in one of four viewing conditions that changed program features and introduced viewing information to aid subjects in recognizing and structuring central plot information. Childrens recall of central and incidental program content was assessed. Older children recalled more total information; participants who had viewed with an adult experimenter recalled more material than did children in other viewing conditions. Visual presentation enhanced central recall.

Public Policy and Children's Television.

Television occupies a large part of childrens time from an early age. Among its many functions, edu- cation, social learning (prosocial as well as antisocial), and selling products are well documented by research ev- idence. Commercial programming for children in the United States consists primarily of cartoons and enter- tainment shows; educational and informative programs are supplied by public broadcasting and, to some degree, by a few cable channels emphasizing the child audience. The structural organization and revenue sources for chil- drens television have a direct effect on program and com- mercial content. We propose two principal goals for public policy in this domain: to promote programming that serves the di- verse needs of children for education, entertainment, aes- thetic appreciation, and knowledge about the world, and to protect children from television content and advertising practices that exploit their special vulnerability. In recent years the Federal Communications Commission has fol- lowed a philosophy of deregulation, based on the as- sumption that market forces would generate diverse pro- gramming and limit commercialization. The data, as ap- plied to the programming marketplace for children, contradict that assumption. We recommend a requirement for a minimum amount of informational and educational programming for children on every station, and we propose strengthening public broadcasting, currently the only source of such programming for many children. Cable and alternative technologies cannot carry the burden of serving childrens needs unless they become universally available. Regulation is also needed to protect children from commercial exploitation. The long-range policy goal should be to eliminate advertising to children; short-range goals include reinstatement of time limits on advertising and restrictions on product-related programs. Television is ubiquitous in the United States and most other industrialized societies. Because most American children are born into homes in which the television set is turned on several hours a day, it enters their lives long before most other socializing agents such as schools, peers, or religious institutions. Our purpose in this article is to review and evaluate public policies affecting childrens television. There is ample evidence that television affects childrens knowl- edge, beliefs, attitudes, and behavior, for good or ill. Al- though the negative effects of television often occupy the spotlight of public controversy, the potential of the me- dium for positive contributions to development is at least as important. We take the position here that the goals of public policy ought to be twofold: (a) to promote pro- gramming that serves the diverse needs of children for information, entertainment, aesthetic appreciation, and knowledge about the world, and (b) to protect children from television content and advertising practices that ex- ploit their special vulnerability. The fact that this childrens public policy issue in- volves a private-sector, profit-making industry makes it an especially complex one. Most television programming is designed to attract audiences for advertised products; the welfare of child viewers is secondary to merchandising goals. As a result, polieymakers typically ask to what ex- tent the government should police or supplement the pri- vate marketplace to assure services to children, rather than asking directly what role government should play. Proposals for government intervention meet not only the usual barriers of scarce dollars and conflicting priorities but also opposition from a powerful industry with huge economic stakes to protect. In this essay, we review briefly what is known about childrens uses of television and some of its major influ- ences on their lives. We then examine what kinds of tele- vision fare are available for children in the United States and how the content of programs is related to the struc- tural organization of broadcasting and production. Law and public policies affecting childrens television pro- gramming and advertising are reviewed and evaluated, and proposals for feasible and effective policy changes are presented. How Children Use Television Although estimates of childrens viewing time vary widely (from 11 to 28 hours a week), they all indicate that Amer- ican children spend more time watching television than in any other activity except sleep (A. C. Nielsen Co., 1988; Anderson, Field, Collins, Lorch, & Nathan, 1985; Car- penter, Huston, & Spera, in press; Comstock, Chaffee, Katzman, McCombs, & Roberts, 1978; Huston, Wright, Rice, Kerkman, & St. Peters, 1987; Timmer, Eccles, &

Alpha wave biofeedback training therapy in alcoholics.

This investigation evaluated the therapeutic efficacy of alpha-wave biofeedback treatment for alcoholics. Twenty-five Ss were compared to a matched control group before and after administration of a 3-week alpha-wave biofeedback regimen on a wide variety of criteria that included State-Trait Anxiety, the MMPI, Multiple Affect Adjective Check List, Zuckermans Sensation Seeking Scale, Watsons Anhedonia Scale, the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, and baseline alpha. The experimental Ss received 10 hour-long alpha training sessions. The experimentals showed more improvement than did controls on alpha production and two anxiety measure. Contradictory results appeared on two suspicion/paranoia measures. Alpha training appeared useful in the treatment of anxiety, but not other problems. However, the absence of significant correlations between amount of change on alpha and the anxiety measures suggests that the improvement may be due to a placebo effect.

The Effects of TV Action and Violence on Children's Social Behavior

Abstract The independent contributions of action and violence in television programs to childrens attention and social behavior were investigated in 66 preschool boys and girls. Same-sex pairs of these children were assigned to one of four television conditions: (a) High action-high violence, (b) High action-low violence, (c) Low action-low violence, or (d) No TV. Action was defined as rapid movement by characters and objects; violence was physical aggression by characters. Visual attention was greater in high action than in low action programs; there were no differences in attention as a function of violence when action was controlled. Children were observed in free play sessions before and after viewing. Those who saw Low action-low violence TV or who saw No TV increased in imaginative, fantasy play; those who saw High action-high violence decreased in imaginative play; the High action-low violence group fell in between. There was some tendency for aggressive behavior to follow the opposite pattern—hig...

Comparison of 4 Fluoroscopic Views for Dorsal Cortex Screw Penetration After Volar Plating of the Distal Radius

PURPOSE To determine whether use of the dorsal tangential view improves the diagnostic accuracy of intraoperative fluoroscopy compared with conventional views in detecting dorsal screw penetrations during volar distal radius plating. METHODS Dorsal cortices of 10 cadaveric distal radii were penetrated in each of the second, third, and fourth dorsal extensor compartments at 0, 1, 2, and 3 mm penetration. We obtained 4 standardized fluoroscopic images of the wrist: lateral, supination, pronation, and dorsal tangential views. Using high-definition digital images, 2 observers blinded to the experimental paradigm determined whether screws were penetrating the dorsal cortex. RESULTS For screws that penetrated the floor of the second dorsal compartment, the 45° supination view was 92% sensitive for detecting screw penetration of 2 mm, and 98% for 3 mm. For screws that penetrated the third dorsal compartment, the lateral view was 68% and 80% sensitive in detecting screw penetrations of 1 and 2 mm, respectively. However, the dorsal tangential view showed 95% sensitivity for 1 mm and 98% for 2 mm penetrations. On the floor of the fourth dorsal compartment, pronation and dorsal tangential views were both 88% sensitive for 1 mm screw penetration and 90% and 93% for 2 mm, respectively. CONCLUSIONS The standard lateral view of the wrist failed to detect all screw penetrations. The dorsal tangential view increased the accuracy of detecting screw penetrations on the floor of the third dorsal compartment, whereas we needed oblique views to detect screw penetrations on the floors of second and fourth dorsal compartments. CLINICAL RELEVANCE Routine clinical use of the dorsal tangential view has the potential to increase accuracy in detecting dorsal screw penetration during volar plating of the distal radius.

Evolution of Children's Television Regulatory Policy.

Childrens television regulation has remained a highly visible and controversial topic in communications policy over the last 25 years. However, few substantive policies in this area have been enacted. This essay analyzes the development of childrens television regulation and discusses the various attempts at reform and the reasons behind their lack of success. An assessment of the future outlook for regulation indicates an increasing emphasis on legislative proposals is likely to emerge. Implications of this new approach are discussed.

Understanding television: An exploratory inquiry into the reconstruction of narrative content

This article examines the claim that television is a “passive” medium, one that does not actively involve the viewer cognitively in ways usually associated with mature information processing. Evidence is reported that suggests active and differential processing of television information by viewers and an increase in the level of sophistication in understanding the medium.

Television viewing as a dominant activity of childhood: A developmental theory of television effects

This essay provides a theoretical framework for thinking about the role of television for American children from a developmental perspective. It is proposed that television viewing be seen as any other activity of childhood: a constant series of interactions with social, cultural, and personal information that lead to the child becoming a functioning member of society. The “interactions” with television are examined as a dominant activity of American childhood and adolescence. A dominant activity, long a theme in Soviet cognitive psychology, is composed of a set of tasks common to most children in a particular culture. By viewing the television setting in this way, we can better understand its effects and suggest a more theoretically‐coherent research agenda.

Level of education, diagnossi and race‐related differefnces in MMPI performance

MMPIs were obtained from eight groups of black and white, schizophrenic and nonschizophrenic, and highly educated and poorly educated psychiatric patients. Profiles were classified blindly by use of two rules (Sc greater than 70; Sc greater than PT). All but poorly educated blacks were classified correctly beyond a chance level. Almost half of the poorly educated black nonschizophrenics were misclassified as schizophrenic. Implications for diagnostic work were discussed.

HMO marketing and selection bias: are TEFRA HMOs skimming?

The research evidence indicates that health maintenance organizations (HMOs) participating in the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 (TEFRA) At-Risk Program tend to experience favorable selection. Although favorable selection might result from patient decisions, a common conjecture is that it can be induced by HMOs through their marketing activities. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between HMO marketing strategies and selection bias in TEFRA At-Risk HMOs. A purposive sample of 22 HMOs that were actively marketing their TEFRA programs was selected and data on organizational characteristics, market area characteristics, and HMO marketing decisions were collected. To measure selection bias in these HMOs, the functional health status of approximately 300 enrollees in each HMO was compared to that of 300 nonenrolling beneficiaries in the same area. Three dependent variables, reflecting selection bias at the mean, the low health tail, and the high health tail of the health status distribution were created. Weighted least squares regressions were then used to identify relationships between marketing elements and selection bias. Subject to the statistical limitations of the study, our conclusion is that it is doubtful that HMO marketing decisions are responsible for the prevalence of favorable selection in HMO enrollment. It also appears unlikely that HMOs were differentially targeting healthy and unhealthy segments of the Medicare market.