ABSTRACT
The television set is a unique new factor in the human environment, as important in its way as the development of written language or the invention of the printing press. Occasionally it is used by a hundred million viewers in the United States as a source of significant local, national, or world information or as a guide in periods of temporary natural crises such as floods or blizzards. However, it is mainly a form of entertainment, a daily resource for pleasure seeking and distraction. As an entertainment medium in a relatively affluent society in which considerable leisure time is available to a large majority of the population it must compete with card playing, attending movies, theatres, sports events, athletic activities, dancing, and bar-hopping. Aside from its obvious convenience (availability in the home) and remarkable affordability, what special appeal does television have for us? Why do we turn the set on almost automatically on awakening in the morning or on returning home from school or work? What special characteristics does the television medium have to draw our attention and to compete as a leisure activity with reading or card playing or conversation? A recent popular book (Winn, 1977) sets forth the thesis that TV viewing has all the properties of an addiction, and at least some evidence is adduced therein to support this extreme position. If television does have at least some of the power that Winn asserts can we find a theoretical approach to the psychological reason for its attraction?
