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Abstract
Television can have a strong impact on how children perceive the world around them if they believe that television reflects the real world. Children mainly watch TV for entertainment, and therefore, choose entertainment‐oriented shows much more than informational ones. Such shows may not always be very realistic portrayals of the real world. Cultivation theory suggests that the more television children watch, the more they will perceive it as realistic. Our results from research with junior‐high level children indicate that they do watch TV mainly for entertainment, and strongly prefer entertainment‐oriented programmes. We had children watch a specific programme about a Thai family, which pilot tests indicated was relatively neutral in realism (i.e., no strong belief that it is either realistic or unrealistic). The children who watch TV more frequently do indeed perceive both the specific show and TV in general as more realistic, and are more likely to want to be a member of the family in the TV programme.