The Effects of Mediation Content and Form on Children's Responses to Violent Television

This research explores the role of mediation content and its grammatical structure in children's responses to a violent television program. An experiment was conducted with 103 children ranging in age from 5‐ to 12‐years‐old. Mediation strategies that emphasized the program as either factually inaccurate or socially unrealistic were developed. This information was communicated to children either directly (in statement form) or by asking children to consider the program's reality status. The results revealed that the utility of various approaches to mediation depend on the age and viewing history of the child.     

A Cross-Cultural Content Analysis of Children's Television Advertisements

Two sets of television advertisements were video-recorded from weekend children's television in London and New York and were coded by two white women in terms of their gender-role portrayals. The advertised products covered by this analysis included snack and fast food, toys and breakfast cereal. Each advertisement was coded according to nine criteria including the ethnicity and gender of the people appearing, gender of central figure and of any voice over in the commercial, presence or absence of music, and other sales-related content. In general, males were more numerous than females in both American and British advertisements. There were more similarities than differences between the two national markets in terms of the nature of gender-role portrayals, with males generally occupying more central and authoritative positions. Only two analyses yielded significant differences. Girls outnumbered boys in American commercials, but the opposite was true of British commercials. Hispanic males were present in American commercials but not in British commercials.     

Gender Stereotyping in Children's Reports About Educational and Informational Television Programs

Children in the 2nd through 6th grade wrote reports about their favorite educational and informational television programs, and the reports were examined for the presence of gender stereotypes. Children's written reports contained more male than female characters, more male than female pronouns, and more masculine than feminine behaviors. Effects were most pronounced for boys. Over time, preadolescent girls showed a greater preference for educational programs that featured female lead characters, and the girls used more feminine pronouns, behaviors, and expressed a greater range of feelings in their writings about their favorite programs. Girls and boys, however, were more likely to report masculine behaviors for male and female characters. Moreover, gender-stereotyping effects were eliminated for boys who selected a favorite program featuring an adventurous female lead character. Although memories of educational television programs are often gender stereotyped, a few nontraditional programs can drench the audience, providing nontraditional images and models for those who search for them.     

The Effects of Nonsexist Television Commercials and Perceptions of Reality on Children's Attitudes About Women

To test the hypothesis that television content can teach sex-typed attitudes, this study presented third and eighth graders with television commercials showing either traditional or nontraditional women. Crossing this manipulation, the children's perceptions of the reality of the commercials were altered with instructions that the characters in the commercials were all real people (reality set), that they were all acting (acting set), or that the commercials were just like ones seen at home (no instructions). Results showed that the children's perceptions of reality were successfully manipulated, and that younger children thought all content was more real. The two sets of commercials were found to have a significant differential impact on the children's attitudes about women only for groups that had been in-structed about reality. For these groups, there was an interaction with sex of subject so that eighth grade boys had more traditional attitudes about women after viewing the nontraditional women, while all other groups showed the reverse pattern of means. Finally, rather than the predicted interaction, perceived reality had a main effect such that children who believed the characters to be acting were less traditional in their attitudes about women. This result is supported by a matching correlation between the two variables for the noninstructed groups.     

Impact of Television News Exposure on Children's Perceptions of Violence in Northern Ireland

Abstract

The present study assessed the impact of television news exposure on Irish children's perceptions of the level of violence in their neighborhoods. Estimates from children (N = 570) of the local levels of violence in three areas (high-, low-, and no-violence) were subjected to a four-way analysis of variance (Area x Sex x Age x News Exposure) that showed a main effect for area and sex with respect to the high-violence area and boys. Two two-way interactions also reached statistical significance. The first suggested that the perception of lower levels of violence by girls was confined to the high- and low-violence areas. The second concerned the level of actual violence and the amount of reported news exposure. Only in the high-violence area were these two variables related: Accurate estimates of actual violence levels were associated with more frequent news exposure.     

A Capacity Model of Children's Comprehension of Educational Content on Television

Many studies have shown that children of various ages learn from educational television, but they have not explained how children extract and comprehend educational content from these television programs. This paper proposes a model (the capacity model) that focuses on children's allocation of working memory resources while watching television. The model consists of a theoretical construct with three basic components (processing of narrative, processing of educational content, and distance, that is, the degree to which the educational content is integral or tangential to the narrative), plus several governing principles that determine the allocation of resources between narrative and educational content. A review of empirical research points to characteristics of both television programs and viewers that affect the allocation of resources under the model, as well as developmental influences on the relevant processing. Finally, implications for the production of effective educational television are discussed.     

Social Aggression on Television and Its Relationship to Children's Aggression in the Classroom

A survey was conducted with over 500 children in grades K‐5 to examine whether exposure to socially aggressive content was related to children's use of social aggression. The results of the survey revealed a significant relationship between exposure to televised social aggression and increased social aggression at school, but only for girls and not for boys. Although this relationship was dependent on the sex of the child, the study is the first to provide evidence that viewing social aggression on television is related to an increased tendency for elementary school children to perpetrate such behaviors in the classroom. The findings are discussed in terms of social cognitive theory and information processing theory.     

Variations in the Gender-Stereotyped Content of Children's Television Cartoons Across Genres

This study examined the gender-stereotyped content of children's TV network cartoons across 4 genres: traditional adventure (e.g., "Spiderman"), nontraditional adventure (e.g., "Reboot"), educational/family (e.g., "Magic School Bus"), and comedy ("Animaniacs"). Acting negatively, showing physical aggression, and being a victim were significantly less likely in the educational/family genre cartoons than any of the other three genres. Demonstrating romantic behavior was significantly more likely in the traditional adventure and the comedy genres than the other genres. Male characters were represented in cartoons significantly more than were female characters, but only in the traditional adventure and the comedy genres. Male characters were more likely than were female characters to use physical aggression, but only in the traditional adventure genre. Behaviors that were relatively more likely among female characters across genres included showing fear, acting romantic, being polite, and acting supportive. Most of the significant differences were also associated with very large effect sizes.     

Maternal Acceptance: Its Contribution to Children's Favorable Perceptions of Discipline and Moral Identity

The authors examined the contribution of maternal acceptance or warmth to children's and adolescents’ perceptions of discipline and formation of moral identity. The sample consisted of 93 male and female students from Grades 5, 8, and 10 and their mothers. Students completed measures pertaining to perceived maternal discipline practices and acceptance-rejection, as well as moral identity. A subsample of mothers reported on their accepting or rejecting actions toward their children. Children were more likely to feel accepted, if their mothers used inductive discipline (vs. power assertion and love withdrawal). Perceived acceptance was also related to more favorable discipline evaluations in certain respects. Specifically, inductive discipline recipients who felt accepted also evaluated induction as appropriate and responded to it with positive and guilt-related emotions. Power assertion was evaluated as appropriate among those children who did feel accepted. Finally, among inductive discipline recipients, those who felt accepted also reported higher moral identity.     

Rape Perceptions as a Function of Gender-Role Traditionality and Victim-Perpetrator Association

Perceptions of stranger, acquaintance, date, andmarital rape scenarios and their relation to observers'gender-role traditionality were examined. PrimarilyCaucasian (81%)male and female undergraduates reported their reactions to one of four rapescenarios, attitudes toward men's and women's genderroles, and tendency toward a socially desirable responsestyle. The marital rape scenario was characterized less often as rape and considered less violent,less of a violation of the victim's rights and lesspsychologically damaging to the victim as compared tothe other scenarios. Observers holding less traditional gender-role stereotypes perceived rapescenarios overall as more serious and were less likelyto blame the victim. Also, an exploratory regressionanalysis revealed that gender did not add significantly to the prediction of rape perceptions beyondthe contribution of gender-role beliefs.     

幼儿的情绪认知发展及其与社会行为发展的关系研究

研究通过采用家庭情绪表露问卷、表情辨识程序和幼儿社会行为教师评估问卷,对82名3～4岁幼儿的家庭情绪表露气氛、情绪认知和社会行为表现进行测查,并分析三者间的相互关系。结果表明:(1)幼儿的情绪认知与其亲社会行为和退缩行为显著相关;(2)家庭情绪表露与幼儿情绪认知发展显著相关;(3)家庭情绪表露可能通过影响幼儿的情绪认知发展,进而影响幼儿的社会行为表现。     

The Television Situation Comedy and Children's Prosocial Behavior

The moral lessons of television situation comedies were explored as possible contributors to children's prosocial development. In order to determine if children comprehend the moral lessons of adult sitcoms, children in small groups watched sitcoms and then were individually interviewed to determine if they comprehended the moral lesson. An over-whelming majority of 1st, 3rd, and 5th graders understood moral lessons contained in an episode of The Cosby Show. Similarly, one third of the 1st graders and half of the 3rd graders were able to identify an overarching moral lesson in an episode of Full House. Finally, a correlational analysis was undertaken between the frequency with which the children viewed prosocial sitcoms and the frequency of their prosocial behavior. As anticipated, viewing emerged as a predictor variable, particularly for those subjects who evidenced understanding of the moral lessons of sitcoms.     

幼儿的情绪认知与适应行为发展关系的研究

研究对50名3—5岁幼儿的情绪认知能力和适应行为的发展水平进行了测查,并分析了二者之间的关系。结果表明：幼儿的情绪认知能力和适应能力的发展存在显著正相关;但与适应能力发展的不同方面存在着不同的关系模式：情绪认知能力和生活自理能力、交往能力、社会化能力、自我管理能力存在显著的正相关,而与运动能力和作业能力则相关不显著。     

Attention to Television: Alpha Power and Its Relationship to Image Motion and Emotional Content

A laboratory experiment investigated the impact of image motion and emotional content in brief television clips on attention. Using an electroencephalogram (EEG) as a measure of attention, cortical activity in 25 participants was measured while they viewed either still or moving emotion-provoking images. Spectral analysis of the EEG was done to gauge changes in alpha-wave (8-13 Hz) power because reductions in alpha power are thought to indicate greater attention. The analysis revealed that subjective reports of emotional arousal were directly related to cortical activation (i.e., reduced alpha power), and this was particularly true at the parietal recording site. The relationship between alpha power and ratings of valence was curvilinear; cortical activation was associated with both positive and negative images relative to neutral images. Alpha power was also reduced during the viewing of moving compared with still images, and this effect occurred independent of stimulus valence. The association of greater cortical activation with moving than with still images is consistent with previous research using autonomic measures and suggests that image motion modulates emotional responding-and sustains attention-primarily through increasing "gain" in the arousal dimension.     

Television Viewing and Public Perceptions of Attorneys

This investigation examines the way prime-time network television programming depicts attorneys, and the influence of these images on the public's perceptions of attorneys. In addition, the study examines some of the theoretical and methodological controversies identified with the cultivation explanation of the way television shapes perceptions of social reality. The results reveal that network prime-time television programming depictions of attorneys affect public perceptions of attorneys, particularly in terms of front region behaviors. The results involving attorneys’back region behaviors are mixed. In addition, the results indicate that content-specific viewing is a more reliable predictor than total viewing or select viewer sociodemographic variables of the public's tendency to perceive attorneys in the same way they are portrayed in prime-time television programming.     

The Derivation of Gender-Role Scales GM and GF for MMPI-2 and Their Relationship to Scale 5 (Mf)

Separate scales for masculine and feminine gender roles (GM and GF, respectively) were developed for the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality inventory-2 (MMPI-2) based on the item endorsements of men and women in the restandardization sample. Each scale reflects the pattern of answers of a majority of the members of the respective sexes. There are no items in common between the two scales, and they correlate -.10 with each other for both men and women. Distributional, temporal stability, and internal consistency characteristics were analyzed, as well as their item overlap and correlations with the basic profile scales. These separate unipolar scales were contrasted with Scale 5 (the Masculinity-Femininity scale, Mf), the traditional measure of these constructs in the Minnesota Multiphasic Personaaty Inventory (MMPI). The conjoint use of GM and GF to form gender-role groups is recommended to supplement and clarify the ambiguity of midleveI scores on Scale 5.     

Children's Perceptions of Unfair Reward and Punishment

Being able to judge the fairness of a personal encounter and having an appreciation of the associated feelings are important components of prosocial development. This study explored a common feature of everyday experience: unfair reward and unfair punishment. Scenarios depicting 4 possible variants of unfairness were read to children aged 9 to 11 years, who then made judgments regarding the degree of unfairness and the nature and strength of the feelings experienced by the characters. Our hypothesis that children with classroom conduct problems would judge the non-receipt of a deserved reward as worse than the receipt of an undeserved punishment was not confirmed. This differentiation, however, did prove to be characteristic of boys in general, but not girls. Being asked to think of unfair things that had actually happened did not appear to influence the children's responses to hypothetical unfair situations, but did reveal that children experience and remember a variety of unfair events in everyday family contexts. This study provides evidence that children actively monitor the receipt of social reward and punishment according to their perception of fairness.     

Migration Factors in West African Immigrant Parents’ Perceptions of Their Children's Neighborhood Safety

Immigrants make up large proportions of many low‐income neighborhoods, but have been largely ignored in the neighborhood safety literature. We examined perceived safety's association with migration using a six‐item, child‐specific measure of parents’ perceptions of school‐aged (5–12 years of age) children's safety in a sample of 93 West African immigrant parents in New York City. Aims of the study were (a) to identify pre‐migration correlates (e.g., trauma in home countries), (b) to identify migration‐related correlates (e.g., immigration status, time spent separated from children during migration), and (c) to identify pre‐migration and migration correlates that accounted for variance after controlling for non‐migration‐related correlates (e.g., neighborhood crime, parents’ psychological distress). In a linear regression model, children's safety was associated with borough of residence, greater English ability, less emotional distress, less parenting difficulty, and a history of child separation. Parents’ and children's gender, parents’ immigration status, and the number of contacts in the U.S. pre‐migration and pre‐migration trauma were not associated with children's safety. That child separation was positively associated with safety perceptions suggests that the processes that facilitate parent–child separation might be reconceptualized as strengths for transnational families. Integrating migration‐related factors into the discussion of neighborhood safety for immigrant populations allows for more nuanced views of immigrant families’ well‐being in host countries.