Children and the Movies: Media Influence and the Payne Fund Controversy in Bloomington, MN

Children and the Movies analyzes the first and most comprehensive study of the influence of movies on American youth, the Payne Fund Studies. First published in 1933, these studies—reproduced here in their entirety—are intrinsically important for their insights and conclusions regarding the effects of movies on behavior. They are, moreover, an important landmark of modern social science research, demonstrating the rapid evolution of this discipline in American academic institutions over the first three decades of the century.