CHILDREN'S PERCEPTIONS OF TELEVISION CHARACTERS1

This study explores the cognitive dimensions used by children in differentiating among television characters. By linking content-free judgments of the differences among television characters with content attributes suggested by prior research, a four-dimensional mapping is identified. This cognitive mapping is virtually identical for children at three different ages. Further, dimensions identified are strong predictors of the children's desires to model the social behaviors of the TV characters. The dimensions identified and discussed include those of humor, attractiveness, strength, and activity. The findings also indicate that young boys and girls use the same dimensions in markedly different ways.     

The Role of Gender in Young Children’s Selective Trust of Familiar STEM Characters

Female characters are less likely to engage with science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) content than male characters on young children’s television shows. The current study examined how preschool-aged children’s selective trust of male and female characters to teach STEM differed by child gender, and how trust relates to children’s character identification. Forty-eight 3- to 6-year-old children’s selective trust of male and female characters to teach STEM content, gendered character identification, and personal interest in STEM activities was measured. Boys and girls had similar interest in STEM and had greater identification with same-gender characters. Although boys had significantly greater trust in male characters, girls had similar levels of trust in male and female characters. Overall, children had greater trust of male characters to teach STEM content, but this effect was driven by boys, indicating identification and selective trust are related, but not identical constructs. The discussion considers how representations of female and male characters on television may impact children’s trust of educational media characters to teach STEM.     

Do Young Children Really Learn Best From the use of Direct Address in Children’s Television?

A large body of research has considered children’s novel word learning from video; however, no known work has compared children’s novel word learning from an educational television show in which the character speaks directly to the child (participatory cues) and a show in which the child overhears two characters speaking to one another (third-party joint attention). Using two professionally produced videos that mimic contemporary children’s television shows, we conducted a 2-condition experiment (N = 73) to examine under which condition children were better able to learn a novel word. Results indicated a main effect of condition and age: children in the participatory cues condition and older children demonstrated greater word learning than children in the third-party joint attention condition and younger children. There was an interaction between age and condition, but only among children between the ages of 28.20 and 41.46 months. These findings demonstrate that the participatory cues model, typically used in children’s television programming, is a better model to use to promote children’s word learning. These findings run counter to a similar study that used stimulus videos that did not mimic a children’s program, finding that the third-party joint attention condition was more effective.     

An in-home investigation of maternal teaching strategies during Sesame Street and a popular situation comedy

A naturalistic in-home investigation of maternal teaching strategies while viewing an educational program (Sesame-Street) and an entertainment program (a situation comedy) was conducted. Fourteen mothers and their pre-school children tape-recorded their coversations while jointly viewing the two television programs. Mothers tooks the role of teacher during both types of programs, but they talked more and asked proportionally more questions about the content of Sesame Street than they did about the content of the situation comedy. Likewise, during Sesame Street, mothers talked more about educationally relevant concepts such as size, color, and number. Children, while watching Sesame Street, engaged in ore labeling of educationally relevant concepts than they did while viewing the situation comedy. During the situation comedy, mothers explained why television characters performed particular behaviors and assigned traits and emotions to characters more frequently than they did during Sesame Street. The findings suggest that the parent may play an important role in helping children maximally utilize television as a teacher.     

CHILDREN'S PERSON PERCEPTION: THE GENERALIZATION FROM TELEVISION PEOPLE TO REAL PEOPLE

This study investigated children's perceptions of television people and the extent to which these perceptions are generalized to impressions of peers. Elementary school children (W=172) completed questionnaires measuring viewing, knowledge of, identification with, and the perceived reality of television characters, and ratings of peers on 11 traits (e.g., funny, attractive, kind, nice). Two criterion variables were studied: children's mean rating of peers on each of the traits and the variance in the ratings of peers on each trait. Multiple regression analyses (controlling for grade and sex) revealed that: (1) identification with television characters was a significant predictor of the mean evaluation of peers on the traits; (2) television viewing was a significant predictor of the variance in children's ratings of peers; and (3) the relationship between television viewing and the variance in trait ratings was lower for attributes found in past studies to be suggested by television presentations. Implications of these findings for the traditional concern that television standardizes perceptions of people through stereotyping are considered.     

Understanding the properties of interactive televised characters

Children's television programming frequently uses interactive characters that appear to directly engage the viewers. These characters encourage children to answer questions and perform actions to help the characters solve problems in the televised world. Children readily engage in these interactions; however, it is unclear why they do so. To investigate this issue, 53 5-, 7-, and 9-year-olds made decisions about events occurring in the real world based on information provided by a live individual and by a televised interactive computer-generated character. Five-year-olds followed the advice of both the live individual and the televised computer-generated character, whereas 7- and 9-year-olds only followed the advice of the live individual. Results are discussed in terms of a transition from children believing that interactive televised characters can engage in a real communicative interaction to children understanding that this apparent interaction is an illusion.     

The Gender-Role Content of Children's Favorite Television Programs and Its Links to Their Gender-Related Perceptions

Two studies were conducted to (a) examine the gender-role stereotypical, counterstereotypical, and gender-neutral messages contained in a sample of first- and second-grade children's favorite television programs; and (b) to link the results of the content analysis to the children's gender-role values and interpersonal attraction to same- and opposite-gender television characters while the content analysis showed that there was a great deal of gender neutrality in the programs the children preferred. However, as predicted, male characters were still more likely than female characters to answer questions, boss or order others, show ingenuity, achieve a goal, and eat. The results of the survey showed that preference for stereotypical content predicted boys' valuing hard work and humor. In addition, for girls preference for male stereotypical and male counterstereotypical content negatively predicted interpersonal attraction to female characters, whereas preference for female counterstereotypical and gender-neutral content positively predicted interpersonal attraction to female characters. For boys preference for female counterstereotypical content positively predicted interpersonal attraction to male characters.     

Television sex roles in the 1980s: Do viewers' sex and sex role orientation change the picture?

This study investigated viewer perceptions of female and male television characters as a result of viewer sex and sex role orientation. Young adult viewers (N=677) rated television characters and themselves using the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ). Viewers were classified as feminine, masculine, androgynous, or undifferentiated in their PAQ orientations. The television characters were four men and four women who shared the lead and a working relationship on crime action shows. Results indicated that viewers rated all the male characters as stereotypical masculine, but only one female character as stereotypical feminine. Viewer sex and sex role orientations did affect ratings. Viewer sex had a greater impact on the ratings of female characters than on the ratings of male characters. Female viewers tended to rate female characters as higher in instrumental and masculine traits than male viewers did. Results based on sex role orientation of the viewer were inconsistent across characters, but in general, undifferentiated viewers rated both male and female characters as low in expressive and instrumental traits compared to how androgynous viewers rated them. Further, a masculine sex role orientation appeared to block perception of expressive traits in both male and female characters.This research was supported in part by a University of Akron faculty research grant.     

When Men Divulge: Portrayals of Men's Self-Disclosure in Prime Time Situation Comedies

The media have been widely criticized for promoting unhealthy images of masculinity. To better understand how men are portrayed on television, we analyzed male characters' self-disclosures on television. From the 11 most highly rated situation comedies, 1,320 min of programming were examined, in which 328 incidents of self-disclosure were identified. Results indicated that male characters disclosed an average of once every 4.08 min (5.96 times per 24-min episode), disclosed more often to male than to female characters, and expressed negative emotions more frequently to male than to female characters. Male characters self-disclosed freely and comfortably, and they were moderately emotionally expressive and personally revealing. They typically received somewhat favorable responses from others to their disclosures. However, the demographic characteristics of the characters failed to represent the diversity of U.S. society. Potential implications for television and society are discussed, and directions for future research are suggested.     

Children's Gender Orientation and Perceptions of Female,Male, and Gender-Ambiguous Animal Characters

The purpose of the current study was to examine the effect of preadolescent children's gender orientation on their social perception of animal characters whose gender was clearly female, clearly male, or gender-ambiguous. Nine- to 12-year-old middle-class Israeli children who had completed a Hebrew version of Boldizar's scale for gender orientation in children assigned gender to the animal characters and indicated their degree of liking for them. Children's gender orientation did not influence their perceptions of the gender of animal characters that are clearly female and clearly male, but did impact on their perceptions of the gender of ambiguous animal characters. Second, children's liking for animal characters of different apparent gender interacted with gender orientation such that children with an androgynous gender orientation did not evidence differential liking of animal characters on the basis of their apparent gender. Children's liking of the animal characters was only partly mediated by their perceptions of the gender of these animal characters. Finally, gender orientation interacted with gender in determining degree of liking for the animal characters. The findings are discussed in terms of the impact of gender stereotyping in social perception.     

The Media and Violent Behavior in Young People: Effects of the Media on Antisocial Aggressive Behavior in a Spanish Sample1

This study discusses the relation between television, computer games, and the Internet and antisocial aggressive behavior in under‐18s. Given that the media are an important source of socialization for children, this research examines which variables in media exposure lead to antisocial behavior in under‐18s. A sample of 93 participants (male and female), aged 13–18, answered an antisocial behavior inventory and a survey on computer gaming and TV viewing. Results show gender differences in the relation between media use and preference for violent media and direct and indirect aggressive behaviors. These findings support the idea that lack of interaction and role taking leads to deprived socialization and, in turn, to antisocial behavior.     

The portrayal of men and women in U.S. television commercials: A recent content analysis and trends over 15 years

This article summarizes the content analyses of male and female portrayals in U.S. television commercials that have been published since 1971. The paper also includes the results of a content analysis of television commercials conducted on a 1985 sample. Where possible, the data from the present study are compared to the findings of previous research to illustrate trends over time. The results reveal several differences between the portrayal of men and women, but many of the gaps seem to be narrowing. Men and women now appear equally often as central characters in prime-time commercials. Although a prior study indicated a difference between male and female primary characters' use of arguments, the present data revealed no differences in this regard. A lower percentage of female than of male central characters are depicted as employed, but males are being presented in increasing numbers as spouses and parents, with no other apparent occupation. Women are still more likely than men to be seen in domestic settings, advertising products used in the home. Although the difference seems to have become smaller, women are more likely than men to be shown as users of the products they advertise. The most striking gap persists with regard to narrators. Consistent with other content analyses conducted over the past 15 years, approximately 90% of all narrators are male. The findings are discussed in terms of the potential effect of exposure to stereotyped depictions on viewers' sex role attitudes.     

幼儿从电视中学单词──项伴随学习的研究

对幼儿从电视中伴随学习单词的可能性及其影响因素进行了初步的探讨。４０名小班幼儿和４６名大班幼儿参加了实验,他们在接近自然的状态下观看有字幕的动画片。结果发现：幼儿在无任何指导的情况下观看有字幕的动画片,能伴随学习到汉字,这表明,电视对幼儿的词汇发展有着积极的影响;不同性别的儿童都能同等程度地从电视中伴随学习到单词;词义的伴随学习受幼儿原有的词汇水平和幼儿对目标词熟悉程度的影响;词音的伴随学习只发生在词汇水平较高的幼儿当中,并且随着幼儿对目标词熟悉程度的增加而增加;词音和词义的伴随学习存在频度效应。     

Effects of the "beauty is good" stereotype on children's information processing

The authors tested schematic information processing as a function of attractiveness stereotyping in two studies. An adult experimenter read children (ages 3 to 7 years) eight different stories in which a child narrator encountered two characters who varied in level of attractiveness and displayed positive or negative traits that were either consistent or inconsistent with the "beauty is good" stereotype. Following the story, the experimenter showed each child a photograph of the two characters' faces and asked the child to point to the character who displayed the positive trait. In Experiment 1, children made more errors in identifying female characters with stereotype inconsistent traits but did just the opposite with male characters. Experiment 2 replicated the findings with female characters but found no difference in errors with male characters. The findings have implications for how attractiveness and gender stereotypes affect children's information processing, how attractiveness schemata may be organized, and why physical attractiveness stereotypes are maintained.     

Portrayal of body weight on children's television sitcoms: a content analysis

Television programs portray characters with idealized body types that for most viewers are unattainable. These body types have become a common source of comparison for many young viewers who evaluate their own self-worth and bodies based on the models they see on television. This study examines body weight, both in terms of frequency and portrayals, focusing on how preadolescent and adolescent characters’ bodies are presented on the sitcoms from three children's television networks. The results indicate that while children's situation comedies have relatively few overweight characters, this small percentage closely parallels national figures. Male and female characters do not differ in their distribution across weight categories. However, when character ethnicity is factored, significant shifts occur. Surprisingly, no differences were observed in the portrayal of physical and mental attributes among weight categories except in social popularity where overweight characters were not as embedded in social networks. Compared to other relevant studies, this research provides some evidence that the treatment and portrayal of overweight characters in children-targeted sitcoms is more positive, equitable, and less stereotypical than in other programming venues and that children are experiencing body type diversity in these fictional portrayals. Nonetheless, above average weight characters still suffer some social marginality and ethnic misrepresentation.     

Gender Roles in Tween Television Programming: A Content Analysis of Two Genres

This content analysis of gender role portrayals in 49 episodes of 40 distinct United States tween television programs aired in 2011 examined two genres: teen scene (geared towards girls) and action-adventure (geared towards boys). This programming is of interest because tweens are a lucrative market, they watch more television than any other age group, and television programs are created specifically for them. Furthermore, members of this special group are in an important developmental stage in which social and intellectual schema are established and identity and gender are explored. The analysis focused on the numbers of male and female characters in both genres, and the gender role portrayals of characters in terms of appearance, behaviors, and personality characteristics in the two genres. Results show that females, compared to the U.S. population, were underrepresented in the action adventure genre, but that the gender distribution in the teen scene genre mirrored the male–female distribution in the U.S. population. Overall, compared to males, females were more attractive, more concerned about their appearance, received comments about their “looks.” Females were presented similarly in both genres. Overall, males were shown in varying levels of attractiveness, and were portrayed more stereotypically in the action adventure genre. Exploring these results through the lenses of cultivation theory and social cognitive theory shows that tween viewers could potentially develop narrow conceptions about their range of possibilities in the world.     

Sex role stereotyping in Australian television advertisements

Television has attracted considerable attention in recent years because of alleged bias in its sex-role content. Studies of television in Great Britain and the United States have generally fuelled concerns that the medium presents male and female characters in traditionally stereotyped ways. Comparatively little research has focused on the way men and women are depicted in other nations' television. Such analyses contribute towards a more comprehensive account of sex role stereotyping and to cross cultural investigation. The present study examined the portrayal of male and female characters in a sample of contemporary Australian television advertisements. A sample of evening commercials was analyzed using measures developed in North American and British work. Strong evidence of differences in the presentation of male and female characters was obtained, and the differences were consistent with those reported in studies of television content in the northern hemisphere. There is little reason to suppose that this area of Australian media is changing substantially in response to public debate. The implications of possible differences between nations in terms of sex role stereotyping in commercials are discussed.     

Understanding the Relationship Between Mothers’ Attitudes Toward Television and Children’s Television Exposure: A Longitudinal Study of Reciprocal Patterns and the Moderating Role of Maternal Stress

This two-wave panel study among mothers (N = 508) of children between ages six months and six years investigated a) the possibility of a reciprocal relationship between mothers’ attitudes toward television and children’s television viewing, and b) the conditional probability of this reciprocal relationship. Two-wave multigroup cross-lagged analyses provided evidence for reciprocal patterns that depend on the level of maternal stress. The findings indicated that mothers’ attitudes toward television predicted children’s subsequent television viewing among non-stressed mothers, but not among stressed mothers. Children’s television viewing predicted mothers’ subsequent negative attitudes toward television among stressed mothers, but not among non-stressed mothers. Implications for the role of parents’ attitudes regarding children’s television viewing are discussed.     

The Relation of Story Structure Properties to Recall of Television Stories in Young Children with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Nonreferred Peers

In this study, the authors examined memory for televised stories to gain insight into similarities and differences in story comprehension between young children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and their typical peers. In particular, the authors investigated the extent to which 4- to 6-year-old children's free recall of story events is predicted by several structural properties of story events (number of causal connections, whether an event is on or off the story's causal chain, story-grammar category, and position in the story's hierarchical structure), whether differences exist between children with ADHD and nonreferred comparison children in their sensitivity to structural features of stories, and whether age differences in sensitivity to structural features are similar for both groups. For both groups, recall of story events was predicted by all four structural properties, but the effects of the two causal properties was stronger for comparison children than for children with ADHD. Further examination revealed that this difference was observed only when a competing activity was available during television viewing. These findings indicate that both groups of preschool children are able to benefit from causal structure when recalling television stories, but that children with ADHD lose this benefit when attention is divided. Consistent with previous findings for nonreferred children (P. W. van den Broek, E. P. Lorch, & R. Thurlow, 1996), in both diagnostic groups the effects of causal properties increased across age, and older children were more likely to include causally important protagonists' goals in their recalls than younger children.     

Aunt Jemima Isn't Keeping Up with the Energizer Bunny: Stereotyping of Animated Spokescharacters in Advertising

This study sought to examine one aspect ofstereotyping in television advertising, specifically,the use of animated spokes-characters as productrepresentatives and whether spokes-characters contribute to gender-stereotyped portrayals. Undergraduatestudents — of a variety of races and an almostequal number of men and women — identifiedmemorable spokes-characters, presumed genders, notedgender-distinguishing characteristics, and viewed programmingfeaturing commercials with spokes-characters. Hypotheseswere confirmed that participants will recall more maleanimated characters than female and that most of the spokes-characters in television advertising aremale. Using male spokes-characters reinforces thestereotypical notion that males are more important thanfemales. Such effects may be greater than those associated with other aspects of advertisinglargely because of the memorability and popularity ofanimated spokes-characters.