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Article: Lights, camera, reactions. (research on effects of television and movies on behavior)
- Article from:
- Science News
- Article date:
- September 14, 1985
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1985 Science Service, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Investigators of the effects of television and movies on behavior have recently begun to focus on whether people perceive specific media presentations as "real" or "made up." Yet if a viewer closely identifies with a TV or movie character, it may not make much of a difference if he or she thinks the show is a slice of life or a back-lot melodrama, according to a report presented at the recent American Psychological Association meeting in Los Angeles.
David F. Ross and John C. Condry of Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., showed a short, highly emotional film to 60 male and 60 female college students. It contained several women talking, in turn, to a therapist ...