Your friend Chuck does not have a TV in his house because he feels that TV will have only negative effects on his children —they will become more violent, they will have more stereotyped views of males and females, and they will ask for junky toys

Question

and sugary cereals. Chuck feels that nothing good can come from TV viewing. What can you tell Chuck about the research on the effects of television on children?
What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

A good answer will be similar to the following:
Chuck is mostly, but not entirely, correct. A number of negative effects are associated with large amounts of television viewing: children who watch violent TV are more likely to behave violently; children who watch a lot of TV do have more stereotyped views of males and females; children who view a lot of TV are less creative and have lower IQ scores; and most children do ask for and receive the products that they see advertised on TV. However, children are more likely to engage in prosocial behavior if they see it modeled on TV and children who watch educational programs like Sesame Street have larger vocabularies, are more proficient at the targeted academic skills, and adjust more readily to school. Unfortunately, there are many more violent, stereotyped programs than there are prosocial, educational programs on television. If Chuck monitors what his children watch and he limits their viewing, they could learn some good things from television.