Effects of Talk Show Viewing on Adolescents

Abstract

The authors investigated the effects of talk-show viewing on adolescents social reality beliefs. A survey was administered to 282 high school students to evaluate the following three popular hypotheses about the effects of viewing talk shows: (a) viewers overestimate the frequency of deviant behaviors, (b) viewers become de-sensitized to the suffering of others, and viewers trivialize the importance of social issues. The results provided support for the first hypothesis but not the second. Contrary to the third hypothesis, talk show viewing was positively related, among some age groups, to perceived importance of social issues.