The Role of Fantasy in the Response to Television

It is deemed critical to an understanding of the influence of the media, TV in particular, that we examine the functions of behaviors classed as fantasy activities. A major dimension of importance to such understanding is the extent to which fantasy is construed as a reality experience. Results of an experimental test with children in a controlled viewing situation support the hypothesis that a reality set may stimulate an aggressive behavior response, while a fantasy set reduces it over that of a no‐TV control group. Factor analysis of field study data reveals systematic differences in subjects' preferences for particular classes of aggressive programs, reinforcing the view that the issues in this area are multifaceted and multivariate. Five mechanisms by which a fantasy experience can produce a diminution in aggression are discussed, and it is suggested that analysis and study of these factors is a necessary next step.