Fix It One Day While Watching Television Dr. Ortiz Noticed That Much

question 43

Essay

Fix It
One day while watching television Dr. Ortiz noticed that much of the programming was negative. The local news ran numerous stories about crime and another network channel was playing a marathon of a popular crime drama. Based on this observation, Dr. Ortiz hypothesized that people who watch more television may experience higher levels of perceived threat. To that end, he administered a survey to 250 adults. On the survey the participants were asked to indicate how many hours of television, on average, they watch each week. They also completed The Perceived Threat Scale (PTS). The PTS produces a single score that indicates how much perceived threat one feels, with greater PTS scores indicating higher levels of perceived threat. Dr. Ortiz analyzed the relationship between hours of television watching with perceived threat and found a statistically significant effect (r (248) = +.75, p < .05). He communicated his findings to other psychologists at a regional meeting in a poster presentation. The title of the poster was "T.V. Causes People to Feel Threatened".
Do you agree with Dr. Ortiz' conclusion about television and perceived threat? What do you think about his poster presentation? Fix it!

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Definitions:

Developmental Stage

A period in a person's life characterized by specific psychological or physical attributes typically associated with certain age ranges.

Defense Mechanisms

Psychological strategies used unconsciously by individuals to protect themselves from anxiety and unacceptable impulses.

Conscious Forms

Refers to the aspects or configurations of conscious experience that are known and understood by an individual.

Oral-Retentive

Characterized by behaviors thought to be the result of a fixation in the oral stage of psychosexual development, often manifesting as meticulousness or stinginess.