A study was conducted to explore the relationship between a child's exposure to television content portraying various levels of physical agression, verbal aggression, altruism, and affection, and that child's enactment of these four types of behavior under different conditions of parent-child co-viewing and discussion of the television content. Seven hundred twenty-one children in grades four, six, and eight responded to a questionnaire listing 29 television programs appearing in one season and indicated the frequency of viewing for each program. In addition, an index of social behavior was constructed to rate each child on the four areas of behavior under consideration, and a random subsample of 293 mothers of these children participated in the study by viewing television with their children. Results of the study show that parental comments, in parent-child co-viewing of television, can shape the child's response to television messages by reducing the negative effects of physical and verbal aggression and increasing the effects of altruism and affection. (MAI)