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In-Class Activities

Children’s Television: Media and Aggression

Author: Sara Lindey, Ph.D.

Related Videos:
Jerome Singer:  Social Learning Theory (PDF Transcript)
Mister Rogers: Expressing Feelings
Mister Rogers: Model Airplane

Hold a discussion concerning media and behavior, especially aggression. To add context, show the video clip, “Jerome Singer: Social Learning Theory,” from the Fred Rogers Oral History Project interviews wherein Jermone Singer, faculty of Yale University in the Yale Child Study Program, discusses his findings in a 1960s study that children with increased television viewing increases aggressive behavior.  However, he found that, after two weeks of viewing Mister Rogers Neighborhood children’s aggressive behavior markedly decreased and were replaced with good behavior.

Discuss the applicability of Singer’s findings to today’s children’s media experience and behavior patterns. To spark discussion about today’s media, show the following clips of children’s programming considering what kind of behavior children might express based on the pacing and content.
Mister Rogers: Expressing Feelings
Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood 1287: Mister Rogers Puts Together a Model Airplane

Complementary Materials:
Coates, B., Pusser, H. E., & Goodman, I. (1976). The influence of “Sesame Street” and “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” on children’s social behavior in the preschool. Child Development, 47(1), 138-144.

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