ceedingly complex; sometimes character motives are not explicitly portrayed but must be inferred between scenes. The complexities of interpreting social behavior--even social behavior in day-to-day situations--is heightened on television because of the use of various production techniques. For example, a dissolve from the face of one boyfriend to the other used to illustrate the heroine's ambiguous love relationships could be crucial to the plot. Young children who may not understand such production forms may have more difficulty interpreting the program plotline. Furthermore, use of various production techniques, such as flashbacks, requires that viewers leap back and forth in time and coordinate symbols which may tax and confuse the young child. On another level, children must develop an understanding of television's reality--Who are those people on television? When is television real and when is it fantasy? The events portrayed on television can represent a "magic window" reality (Hawkins, 1977) showing children places and people beyond their everyday experiences. The characters, however, are "acting," and the programs themselves are drama, not real life. Such understanding about the reality of the events portrayed on television and about the characters on the programs may develop only gradually. Finally, television has a programming structure which should be understood by the viewers. Programs are distinct from advertisements and other sorts of announcements. Children must come to understand, at the most simplistic level, that advertising content is different from other types of programming and, further, that the motivations of advertisers should be considered when interpreting the advertising message. In the remainder of this section consideration will be given to each of these issues. First, age-related differences in children's abilities to accurately recognize dramatic plotlines will be discussed. Second, children's perceptions ...
