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The Influence of Television on Measured Cognitive Abilities

A Study with Native Alaskan Children

Western Washington University

Robert M. Thorndike

Western Washington University

Norma E. Forbes

State Of Alaska Department Of Health And Social Services

Clark Ashworth

University of Washington

In 1979 and again in 1982 data were collected in rural Alaska to assess certain effects of commercial entertainment television, which began in 1977 in selected rural sites. The findings reported here include two major culture groups: the northern Inupiat Eskimo (four villages) and the southwestern Tlingit and Haida (two villages). In 1979, half of the villages had received television for two years; by 1982 all villages had reception capabilities, allowing for a longitudinal as well as cross-sectional study of the differential effects of television on children. Age, sex, culture area, and amount of television watched were major predictor variables while scores on four cognitive tests (CEFT, Kohs Blocks, Raven Matrices, and PPVT) were the criterion variables. Data analysis was a three-stage procedure in which the independent variables were treated as sets. There was no evidence that television by itself had a major effect on cognitive abilities. Numerous interactions show that television in Alaska did not, during the period of the study, have a uniform effect on the children in the study. The social learning concept of reciprocal determinism can be used to explain the complex ways in which television interacts with person variables and other environmental variables to influence test scores.

Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, Vol. 16, No. 3, 355-380 (1985)
DOI: 10.1177/0022002185016003006


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