Many critics worry about violence on television, most out of fear that it stimulates viewers to violent or aggressive acts. Our research, however, indicates that the consequences of experiencing TV's symbolic world of violence may be much more far-reaching. We have found that people who watch a lot of TV see the real world as more dangerous and frightening than those who watch very little. Heavy viewers are less trustful of their fellow citizens, and more fearful of the real world. Since most TV "action-adventure" dramas occur in urban settings, the fear they inspire may contribute to the current flee of the middle class from our cities. The fear may also bring increasing demands for police protection, and election of law-and-order politicians. While none of us is completely dependent upon television for our view of the world, neither have many of us had the opportunity to observe the reality of police stations, courtrooms, corporate board rooms, or hospital operating rooms. Although critics complain about the fixed characters and plots of TV dramas, many viewers look on them as representative of the real world. Anyone who questions that statement should read the 250,000 letters, most containing requests for medical advice, sent by viewers to "Marcus Welby, M.D." --a popular TV drama series about a doctor-- during the first five years of his practice on TV. Violence on television leads viewers to regard the real world as more dangerous than it really is, which must also influence the way people behave. When asked, "Can most people be trusted?" the heavy viewers were 35 percent more likely to choose "Can't be too careful." Victims, like criminals, must learn their proper roles, and televised violence may perform the teaching function all too well. Instead of worrying only about whether television violence causes individual displays of aggression in the real world, we should also be concerned about social reality. Passive acceptance of violence in the face of injustice may result from far greater social concern than occasional displays of individual aggression. We have found that violence on prime-time network TV cultivates overstated  assumptions about the threat of danger in the real world. Fear is a universal emotion, and easy to exploit. The overstated sense of risk and insecurity may lead to increasing demands for protection and to increasing pressure for the use of force by established authority. Instead of threatening the social order, television may have become our chief instrument of social control. According to the author,   _   is mainly to blame for people's fear of the real world.
network TV social reality individual display of violence televised violence