Child Development L9 Flashcards
Is television an effective educational tool?
6-18 month year-olds can imitate some actions seen on television
They learn better if the demonstration is live
The learn best if directly interacting with their parents/a caregiver
What did Ball and Bogatz’s (1970) evaluation of Sesame Street yeild?
Children who watched Sesame Street the most over a 26 week period displayed the highest increase in alphabet and writing tests.
Children from low SES showed the biggest gains
Children learned even when watching Sesame Street alone
What is the main claim laid against television and videogames
Violent television causes real violence.
What are the main studies surrounding the effect of TV violence?
Boyatzis, Matillo, and Nesbitt (1995) found that after watching Power Rangers children commited 7x more violent acts per minute then those who didn’t watch it (very short term)
Huesman et al (1984) found that boys who exhibited a higher preference for violent TV at age 8 had committed more serious crimes by the age of 30 than boys who showed a lower preference for violent TV at age 8.
(very long term)
What is one problem with many studies regarding the effect of violent TV?
Children with violent predispositions will obviously prefer violent TV shows, correlation does not equal causation.
What is the verdict on violent media when taking into consideration the psychological literature as a whole?
. Even very young children can learn from TV
. Extensive exposure to violent television does appear to have a reliable negative effect on children’s behavior
. Children who view shows in which violence is realistic, repeated, and/or unpunished are more likely to imitate what they see
. Children with emotional, behavioral, learning, or impulse control problems may be more easily influenced by violent TV.
What are some potential benefits of videogames?
. Maybe therapeutic and/or educational for children with chronic illness
. May improve fine motor skills and coordination
. May distract from physical or emotional pain
. May improve decision making and brain plasticity
. May foster persistence, resilience or prosocial behaviors (specifically if a team video game)
How do researchers study the effect of video-game violence?
Anderson and Dill (2000) experiment 1: Gave participants a questionnaire and found that people who play video-games report higher levels of aggressive personality, non-aggressive delinquency, and aggressive delinquency.
Anderson and Dill (2000) experiment 2: Individuals who were exposed to violent video-games blasted participants with white noise for longer than those who weren’t even after controlling for other factors (the groups were matched to have the same baseline aggression scores). Females also more agresisve in this measure
What is the consensus on violent video-games according to the psychological literature as a whole?
. Nonviolent video-game use has benefits
. The danger of violent video-games for children should be greater than the dangers of violent television ( because you are controlling the person and often receive rewards)
. Studies that look at the effect of violent video-games are plagued with methodological problems.
-Games with more teamwork invovled have less of a negative effect
