A 5-year study of the social and cognitive effects of the introduction of commercial and educational television on rural Alaskan children utilized a variety of social and cognitive measures given to both longitudinal and cross-sectional samples of grade-school children: in 1977, when no participating village received television; in 1979, when half of the villages had television; and in 1982, when all villages had at least one year's experience with television. Findings showed television did not have simple or direct effects. Most television effects depended on other factors including age, sex, ethnicity, and previous exposure to the "lower 48" majority culture. Exposure to television strongly influenced children's sex-role stereotyping, perceptions of their own and the majority culture, and some cognitive abilities. Experience with television affected other media usage of both parents and children, impacting both knowledge of the world "outside" and beliefs concerning the reality of what was seen on television. The report includes a comprehensively documented glimpse of behavioral aspects of television use in Alaska. Favorite shows and changes in their popularity, viewing times, the parental role in program selection, and other patterns of television use are reviewed. Implications of these data for state policy are briefly discussed. (Author/NEC)