ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses prosocial programming to exert a consistent pattern of significant effects on children's social behavior. Subsequent meta-analyses have taken narrower slices of the literature, examining effects of either prosocial or antisocial television without examining the two simultaneously. The literature to date indicates that exposure to prosocial television can result in more positive interactions among preschool children. Some studies involving prosocial segments from Sesame Street found significant effects only when the testing situation has been similar to the context shown on-screen. Taking the literature as a whole, Mare's meta-analysis found one of the larger effect sizes for altruism, suggesting a moderate to large effect of prosocial programming on children's altruism. Significant amount of research has investigated the role television plays in the formation and combating of gender and ethnic stereotypes. The largest-scale evaluations of a television series designed to reduce gender stereotypes among school-age children is Johnston and Ettema's summative research on Freestyle.
