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Television, Moral Messages on

Television is a medium with great potential to influence the lives of children and adolescents. However, the bulk of prior research regarding the impact of television viewing on children and adolescents has focused on possible negative influences of television. For example, ample research suggests that watching violence on television contributes to aggressiveness in children and adolescents. Research has also reported links between television content and adolescents' sexual behaviors and attitudes. It seems that policymakers, educators, and the general public also tend to focus on the negative effects of television viewing. Yet, not all television content is negative; positive moral messages can be found in a significant amount of television content. Although research regarding moral messages on television is limited, it suggests that exposure to such messages tends to have a moderate effect on the attitudes and behaviors of children and adolescents. These associations, however, are often mediated by other factors such as characteristics of the child, the context in which the message occurs in the television program, and factors in the environment in which the child views the program.

Content of Moral Messages

There are differing opinions on what might be considered moral messages on television. Social scientists tend to divide morality into justice-based morality, with its focus on issues of fairness and equality, and prosocial morality or a morality of care, which emphasizes kindness and helping. Thus, ideas or behaviors presented on television that embody the values of justice or care might be considered moral messages. These messages might appear in the form of proscriptions or prohibitions. Proscriptions are “thou shalts,” which encourage behaviors that should be engaged in (such as helping others), whereas prohibitions are “thou shalt nots,” which discourage actions that should not be performed (such as causing harm to others).

Analyses of the content of television programming suggest that television might portray as many moral messages as it does immoral messages (i.e., messages that promote or condone things such as violence and dishonesty). Ironically, some programs intended to convey moral messages—cartoons, for example—also contain significant violent content. Programs targeted at preschoolers contain the highest proportion of moral messages, followed by those directed to children and adolescents, with adult programs having the lowest ratio of moral to immoral messages. In addition, programs broadcast earlier in the day tend to have a higher moral to immoral messages ratio than those later in the day. Thus, programs most noted for incorporating moral messages are early morning shows for preschoolers such as Barney, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, and Sesame Street, which convey moral messages such as the importance of honesty, kindness, and fairness. Interestingly, some programs originally intended for adults that became popular with children (such as The Cosby Show and 7th Heaven), also have a strong emphasis on moral messages.

Effects of Moral Messages

There are several possible mechanisms by which exposure to moral messages on television might positively impact children and adolescents. First, moral messages might be conveyed through modeling of moral behaviors. Psychologist Albert Bandura originally provided evidence of modeling by showing that when children see adults on television acting violently toward an inflatable doll, the children tend to act violently toward the same doll when given the opportunity. This mechanism of modeling may also facilitate the learning of moral behaviors. For example, children may learn the importance of sharing by observing people on a television program who are engaged in sharing. Research has found some support for this idea. For instance, in one experiment, a group of children was shown a prosocial program where a boy risked his life to save a puppy, while another group of children was instead shown a neutral program with no modeling of moral behavior. Then, both groups of children were asked to play a game in which they could earn points by repeatedly pushing a button; the more times they pushed the button, the more points they earned. However, they were also told to listen to puppies in a distant kennel and push a help button when the puppies seemed distressed. Children who had seen the prosocial program were more likely to push the button to help the puppies than children who watched the neutral program. In short, it seems that characters on television may teach moral messages by example.

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