Effects of “The Might Morphin
Power Rangers” on Children’s Aggression with Peers
C.J. Boyatzis,
G.M. Matillo, & K.M. Nesbitt
Child Study Journal, volume 25, No. 1,
1995
This study investigated the effects of
"The Might Morphin Power Rangers,"
currently the most popular and violent children's TV program, on children's
aggressive behavior. Subjects were 52 elementary school children (26 boys, 26
girls), mean age 7 years 9 months, enrolled in an after-school program. Children
were randomly assigned to the Power Rangers condition or a control group. The
control group was observed while playing in their classroom and the number of
aggressive acts by each child was recorded in a 2-minute interval per child. On
the following day, an episode of "The Power Rangers" was shown to the
Power Rangers group. Children in the Power Rangers condition committed more
aggressive acts per interval than control group children. Expressed as a ratio,
for every 1 aggressive act by control group children there were 7 by children
who viewed "The Power Rangers" episode. Boys committed significantly
more aggressive acts than girls. This study corroborates the causal link
between TV violence and real-life aggression, and reasons for "The Power
Rangers" effect on aggression are presented.
Since the classic "Bobo doll" experiments (Bandura,
1965; Bandura, Ross, & Ross, 1961, 1963) three
decades ago, which demonstrated that children imitate the aggressive actions of
a model, researchers have investigated and confirmed a link between children's
exposure to TV violence and their aggression in real life. (for
reviews see, e.g., Hearold, 1986; Liebert
& Sprafkin, 1988; Parke & Slaby,
1983). It has also been established that TV viewing is related to a variety of
negative developmental outcomes that contribute to greater aggression. For
example, children who watch television more than their peers have been found to
be more restless and have less self-restraint (e.g., Singer, Singer, & Rapaczynski, 1984), adopt a view of the world that is
negative and "scary" (e.g., Gerbner, Gross,
Morgan, & Signorielli, 1980), are more tolerant
of aggression in real life (e.g., Drabman &
Thomas, 1974), and ultimately grow up to engage in more criminal activity, get
arrested more often as adults, and are more likely to physically abuse their
own children (Huesmann, 1986; Huesmann,
Eron, Lifkowitz, & Walder, 1984). Children have also been found to imitate
directly the aggressive behaviors of television characters (see, e.g., Bandura, 1965; Heller & Polsky,
1976). thus, television violence not only leads to
many negative and aggressive outcomes, but it provides specific new forms of
aggression for children to emulate.
The present study investigated the
effects of "The Mighty Morphin Power
Rangers," currently the most popular children's TV program, on children's
aggression. It is also a highly visible and available show, as in many TV
markets the show airs 5 or 6 times a week. "The Power Rangers" is a
racially diverse group of friendly adolescents who are ordered by their elderly
white leader, Zordon, to transform or
"morph" into superhero-type characters in order to battle monsters
sent to the earth by the evil Rita Repulsa, a shrill
Asian woman intent on taking control of the planet. One of the program's
prominent qualities is its violence, both in terms of its frequency and
severity. The violence occurs, not only in the clashes, which make up much of
each program, between the Powers Rangers' and their evil counterparts, but in
other aggressive behaviors that are frequently modeled in non-fighting scenes,
such as when the teenagers practice martial arts. The National Coalition on
Television Violence (NCTV), which has analyzed the violence in TV programs
since 1980, has stated that "The Power Rangers" is the most violent
children's program it has ever studied, averaging 211 violent acts per hour (Kiesewetter, 1993). The NCTV has also reported that most of
the aggression in the show is severe, and the sort that would be classified as
hostile rather than instrumental (e.g. Feshbach,
1970), that is, most of the violence in the show is intended to harm or kill
another character.
There are several reasons why, according
to a framework of social learning theory (e.g., Bandura
& Waiters, 1963) and the research it has inspired, we predicted that
"The Power Rangers" would increase children's aggressive behavior.
"The Power Rangers" airs frequently, thereby creating opportunity for
repeated exposure to its violence, and repeated exposure has been linked to
greater real-life aggression (e.g., Huesmann, Lagerspetz, & Eron, 1984).
Because the Power Rangers are the heroes and "good guys" of the
program, their high prestige and status could increase children's imitation of
their behaviors (e.g., Bandura & Waiters, 1963).
Also, the majority of Power Rangers are boys, and their aggression (compared to
the girls') is usually highlighted in the show. Thus, there are many aggressive
role models in "The Power Rangers" for boys to identify with and
emulate. Research has found that the more that children, especially boys,
identify with aggressive TV characters, the more aggressive they are rated by
their peers (Huesmann et al., 1984). There are, thus,
numerous reasons to expect that children, in particular boys, will become more
aggressive after watching "The Power Rangers."
The present study is valuable because, as
far as we can tell, it is the first assessment of the effects on children's
aggression of "The Mighty Morphin Power
Rangers," whose popularity and visibility make it an especially potent
influence on children's behavior.
Subjects
The subjects in the study were 52
elementary school children (26 boys, 26 girls) ranging in age from 5 to 11
years old with a mean age of 7 years, 9 months. The sample was ethnically
diverse, and all children were enrolled in a public elementary school in
southern
Materials
For the purpose of analyzing aggression
in this study, observers operationally defined and coded aggression when
children displayed verbal aggression (e.g., speaking or yelling in an insulting
or threatening manner) or physical aggression (e.g., hitting, shoving, kicking,
rolling into or tripping other children) that was aimed directly and
intentionally at people. Some instances of aggression centered around objects,
such as throwing objects at each other (e.g., throwing cups from a kitchen set
at each other) or taking objects away from another child without that child's
consent. Accidents and unintentional contact, such as accidental trips, were
not recorded as aggression, nor were acts such as throwing balls in the air.
A videotape of a randomly chosen episode
of "The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" that
aired in November, 1993, was used in this experiment. The program was roughly
22 minutes long. According to our analysis of the episode (using the above
criteria), there were 140 aggressive acts in the program.
Procedure
Children were randomly assigned to the
"Power Rangers" condition or a control condition (which did not view
the program), resulting in 27 children in the control group and 25 (two were
absent on the observation day) in the Power Rangers group. Thus, this study had
an independent groups, post-test design with simple
random assignment to ensure equivalent groups. On the first day of the study,
each of the control group children, chosen in random order, were observed while
engaging in their regular play inside their classroom for a 2-minute interval
per child and the number of aggressive acts by each child was recorded. On the
following day, the "Power Rangers" episode was shown to the children
in the Power Rangers condition. After viewing the program, the children were
told to engage in their regular play in the classroom and their aggressive acts
were recorded exactly as in the control group.
Reliability
Two observers (the first two authors)
obtained reliability on a total of 40% of the sample. The number
of aggressive acts committed by the first five children were tallied and
then the observers compared the number of aggressive acts they recorded for
each child. Following the first five children, the observers did reliability
checks systematically on every third child. There was 99% agreement between the
observers across all observations; the high reliability was caused in part by
the discrete, easily identifiable nature of the children's aggression. In cases
of disagreement the observers averaged their totals.
A 2 (condition) x 2 (child sex)
between-subjects analysis of variance revealed that children in the Power
Rangers condition committed significantly more aggressive actions per 2-minute
interval (M = 1.6) than did children in the control group (M = .22), F(1,48) = 6.017, p < .02. This difference is especially
clear when expressed as a ratio: For every 1 aggressive act
by control group children there were 7 aggressive acts by children who viewed
"The Power Rangers" episode.
There was also a main effect for
children's sex, as boys (M = 1.59) committed significantly more aggressive acts
than girls (M = .08) did, F(1,48) = 8.022, p < .01.
There was also a significant interaction between condition and children's sex, F(1,48) = 6.854, p < .01, due to boys in the Power
Rangers condition (M = 2.79) showing more aggression than children in any of
the other conditions. Control group boys committed few aggressive acts (M =
.31), and girls showed virtually no aggression in the Power Rangers (M = 0.0)
or control (M = .14) condition.
This study demonstrates that viewing
"The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" leads to
greater aggression by children, especially boys. The results of this study
corroborate prior research on the effect of violent TV content on children's
real-life aggression (e.g., Hearold, 1986; Huesmann et al. 1984; Joy, Kimball, & Zabrack, 1986). It should be noted that TV violence,
including that in "The Power Rangers," does not influence all
children similarly. In this study, boys were particularly susceptible to the
aggression-inducing effects of "The Power Rangers."
One manifestation of the boys' emulation
of the Power Rangers' violence was their precise imitation of the characters'
acts, such as flying karate kicks. Although we did not systematically assess
the intensity of aggression displayed by children, boys in the Power Rangers
condition displayed more severe and hostile aggression than the aggression by
control group children. A typical (and instrumental) aggressive act by children
in the control group was taking another child's crayons.
The finding that boys were influenced
more by the aggressive content of "The Power Rangers" corroborates
research on boys' greater imitation of modeled aggression (e.g., Bandura, Ross, & Ross, 1961, 1963; Huesmann,
Lagerspetz, & Eron,
1984). Among the several plausible explanations for the greater impact on boys'
aggression, one is that children's programs that are high in fantasy and
aggression (like "The Power Rangers") feature a predominance of male
characters (e.g., Fernie, 1981). Also, the more that
children, especially boys, identify with aggressive TV characters, the more
aggressive the children are (Huesmann et al., 1984);
most of the Power Rangers are boys, and it is often their aggression that is
made most salient in the show. Thus, there are more role models (and highly
aggressive ones, at that) in "The Power Rangers" for boys to emulate.
Further, the Power Rangers are the heroes of the program and, thus, their high
status increases the likelihood that children will imitate them (e.g., Bandura & Walters, 1963). Added to these TV-specific
reasons for boys' aggressiveness is the obvious gender socialization (e.g.,
Block, 1984) that fosters boys' aggression.
As far as we can tell, this is the first
experimental assessment of the effects of "The Power Rangers" on
children and, therefore, this study needs to be replicated, ideally with larger
samples and with children tested individually (i.e., viewing "The Power
Rangers" alone and then playing with peers who did not view the video)
rather than as a group. Also, in future studies the observers should be
"blind" to the experimental condition of the children to avoid any
potential of observer bias. Nevertheless, this study has many
strengths. Children in the present study were observed in a natural
environment (their school) and the aggression measured here was part Of their ongoing behavior with peers (as compared to
unnatural behavior in a laboratory setting). Further, this study's design
avoids the shortcomings associated with correlational
investigations. The children were randomly assigned to their conditions to
obtain equivalent groups, and all conditions other than exposure to the
"Power Rangers" program were equal for both groups. Also, children in
both groups were observed in a random order by the experimenters. Thus, this
study offers a valid, naturalistic assessment of the impact of "The Power
Rangers" on children's aggression. It should be noted, however, that
viewing the videotape may have created an expectation to behave in a particular
way in the children; this is plausible because the children at that school did
not frequently view videotapes.
Future researchers may investigate short-
and long-term effects of repeated exposure to the "The Power
Rangers." Because the program airs many times a week in many TV markets,
children's repeated exposure to its violence may be a particular cause for
concern, as televised violence is most likely to cause aggression when there is
regular exposure to it (e.g., Huesmann et al., 1984).
Researchers could also study how the program affects children's anxiety, as
some work (e.g., Pena, French, & Doerann, 1990)
has found that contemporary superhero programs, compared to programs from past
decades, feature characters with more anxiety and concern about others'
hostility toward them, as well as higher hostility toward others and more
references to others as being bad or unfriendly.
Researchers might also investigate how
exposure to "The Power Rangers" affects children's prosocial behavior and conflict resolution techniques.
These latter variables may be especially worth studying because although the
Power Rangers occasionally offer positive verbal messages (e.g., "Fight
only in self-defense," "Express your anger responsibly"), the
program highlights the use of violence to settle conflicts and disputes. The
findings of the present study suggest that such positive messages are not
suppressing children's aggressive behavior. The characters' moral exhortations
(e.g., "If at first you don't succeed . . .") are typically embedded
in a context of violence. Such attempts to communicate prosocial
messages -- by placing a moral amidst violence -- are likely to fail, as the prosocial pleas are probably insufficient to override the
excessive visual violence (see, e.g., Liss,
Reinhardt, & Frederiksen, 1983). Further,
aggression may be a likely result of viewing the program even though it offers
some moral, prosocial messages because "visual
presentations of aggressive acts, independent of plot and dialogue, may be sufficient
to engender aggression" (Huesmann et al., 1984,
p. 771). In addition to attending to the salient visual features of the show's
violent action, children are also likely to be engaged by the dramatic sound
effects (Calvert & Gersh, 1987).
Our ongoing research is investigating the
effects of "The Power Rangers" on children's prosocial
acts and aggression, as well as measuring correlations between children's
viewing of "The Power Rangers" and their teachers' and peers'
judgments of their aggressiveness. Another important determination is whether
the violence in "The Power Rangers" is responsible for children's
increased aggression or whether children's aggressiveness is the result of a
more general arousal. We are now comparing children's behavior after viewing
different kinds of action programs -- with violence and without -- to test this
issue.
Despite the need for more research on the
effects of this highly popular children's program, it is an important and
alarming discovery -- from an experimental design in a natural setting with a
valid measurement of aggression that children's aggression was immediately and
markedly greater following exposure to but a single episode of "The Power
Rangers."
Portions of this research were presented
at the UCI Social Ecology Research Conference,
Correspondence should be addressed to:
Chris J. BoyatzisDepartment of Child DevelopmentCalifornia State University-Fullerton