A series of studies is proposed to examine preschoolers' and grade-school children's cognitive and affective responses to persons, situations, and events portrayed in typical dramatic programs. In previous research, pronounced age differences have been found in children's understanding of television plots and inferences about implied connections among important scenes. Children who understood programs poorly were found to form incorrect impressions and evaluations of characters and their actions. However, little is known about how age and individual differences in children's knowledge and expectations affects their understanding and evaluation of typical shows. Four- to eight-year-old males and females will participate in experiments and field studies involving both programs produced for general audiences and programs specially produced for testing young children's comprehension. Knowledge relevant to the plots of the program will be independently assessed prior to viewing. Subsequently, recognition, reconstruction, and recall measures of comprehension of explicitly presented plot information and inferences about implicit information will be taken. In addition, detailed structural and content analyses of stimulus programs and of children's previewing knowledge and expectations about program events will also be conducted. Finally, children's attributions, affective evaluations, and predictions about subsequent behavior or events will be assessed. The studies are designed to investigate cognitive and personality influences on children's perception and interpretation of television, which is a common source of information about social roles, attitudes, and behavior. Children's behavior and adjustment may be affected both by age-related abilities for comprehending the content of shows and their individual knowledge, experience, and predispositions. Results may provide a basis for ameliorating potential negative impact and facilitating positive effects of television on children.
