oa De televisie als morele oefenruimte

Television as a moral training room. A quantitative exploration of moral reflection induced by television narratives.

In this article the focus is on a quantitative exploration of different groups of viewers and how they engage in moral reflection during or after watching television. Using perspectives derived from literary philosophy, the television narrative is viewed as a moral training room, a moral laboratory, in which the viewer can experiment with various moral insights. Based on socio-economic and socio-cultural features of the viewers, and media use differences between groups of viewers were expected. Using an internet survey among a representative sample in the Netherlands, results show that gender and age prove to be relevant for moral reflection. Women show more moral imagination than men, and young and old people reflect on different moral insights. More important, however, seems media use. The larger the media repertoire, the more morel reflection one seems to engage in.