Recently collected data appear to warrant advancing some tentative conslusions concerning the short-term effects of violence in television on children: 1) children are exposed to a substantial amount of violent content on television, and they can remember and learn from such exposure; 2) correlational studies have disclosed a regular association between aggressive television and a variety of measures of aggression; and 3) experimental studies preponderantly support the hypothesis that there is a directional, causal link between exposure to television violence and an observer's subsequent aggressive behavior. However, it is important to distinguish between the statement that observation of violence can have such effects and that it will have them for any particular child. It should also be pointed out that every relevant study has at least one methodological flaw on which it might be challenged. (SH)