It seems almost inevitable that children witness sports violence on television, not only because competitive contact sports like soccer and hockey are extensively broadcast but also because these broadcasts receive high ratings among children. Especially during highly broadcasted World Championships when the ratings are high. Young viewers may at least partly derive their values of what is and what is not appropriate....
             How television commentary affects judgment on a sports match.
             The first hypothesis of this study is based on Bandura's theory and the aforementioned research showing that (a) children's perception of televised violence is influenced by commentary from adults, and (b) adult's perceptions and enjoyment of sports contests is affected by sports commentators.
             Hypothesis: People are most critical of a player's behavior if the commentator disapproves the behavior, less critical if the behavior is neutrally described, and least critical if the behavior receives approving commentary.
             Hypothesis 2: People's sensitivity to commentary effects does not depend on their viewing experience.
             The stimulus material consists of nine 1minute videotaped excerpts from professional sports matches. Each excerpt shows a similar aggressive foul. In all cases, a player of one team (the offender) brought down a player of the other team (the victim) and in all cases the official punished the foul. The excerpts started with a small part of the match preceding the foul.
             For each excerpt, three types of commentary were recorded (neutral, disapproving, and approving). In the neutral version, the commentator described the events while withholding all value judgment concerning the players. In the disapproving version, the commentator criticized the aggressive behavior and applauded that the official punished it. In the approving version, the commentator questioned the aggressiveness of the behav...