| This study sought to conceptualize moral mediation as a form of television mediation through the frameworks of social cognitive theory and moral developmental theory. Particularly, three types of moral mediation messages were examined for their immediate influence and parental influence on children's post-viewing attitudes and moral reasoning of televised violence: judgment-only, consequence-based, and motive-based mediations.;A survey of parents and an experiment with their children were conducted. Survey data from 216 parents of children in kindergarten to fifth grade, in conjunction with the data from the children in the experiment, were collected to explore the parental influence of moral mediation on children. It was found that parents who discuss consequences of violent behavior on TV to their children can reduce the children's acceptable attitudes toward televised violence.;The experiment, which included 201 children randomly assigned to conditions, revealed that all three types of moral mediation were conducive to the decrease of children's positive attitudes toward televised violence. However, judgment-only mediation had the most effective immediate influence on children. As for consequence-based and motive-based mediation, they were more effective in encouraging children's use of higher level moral reasoning strategies than judgment-only mediation.;These findings suggest that moral mediation comprises at least three message types and are effective in their own way. |
