Charlton et al (2000) Children's playground behaviour Across Five Years of Broadcast Television: A Naturalistic study in a Remote Community

Question 1

Aim

Answer 1

To investigate the effects of television on children’s behaviour. Researchers wanted to see if it would make them more aggressive

Question 2

Procedure

Answer 2

The researchers went to the island in 1994 and recorder the behaviour of the children 4 months before the TV was introduced. They set up video cameras in 2 primary schools and observed children aged 3-8. They used the Playground Behaviour Observation Schedule (PBOS) to code for pro and antisocial acts. 5 years after the TV was introduced, the researchers came back and filmed similar aged children in the primary schools of once more. They coded using PBOS and also noted whether the acts where committed by a single, paired or groups of mare than 3 girls or boys or mixed groupings

Question 3

Results

Answer 3

Of 64 pre and post TV comparisons made, only 9 significant differences were found. The researcher found 5 declines in prosocial behaviour in boys and girls of single and mixed gender groups/pairs. There was also 2 increases in prosocial behaviour of boys and girls that were playing alone. There was no change in antisocial behaviour on the playground. Boys had a tendency to display more antisocial acts than girls and Girls had a slight tendency to display more prosocial acts.

Question 4

Conclusion

Answer 4

The TV had little influence on the behaviour of the children studied and that they did not copy the aggression they had witnessed on TV. Researchers also pointed out that there may be environmental conditions specific to the island that could explain why they didn’t imitate the aggression for example, high levels of adult surveillance.

Question 5

Strengths

Answer 5

Same primary schools were used before and after the TV which adds validity
It was a natural experiment so the children couldn’t show demand characteristics

Question 6

Weaknesses

Answer 6

The finding may be limited to the community as similar experiments found that TV did increase the aggression in children
The TV programmes watched on the Island were different to mainland TV so it isnt generalisable