TV and Videogames Lecture Notes PDF

8/29/24 Lecture 9: TV and Videogames Television Professor Rachel Zajac office: 413 William Jam...

8/29/24 Lecture 9: TV and Videogames Television Professor Rachel Zajac office: 413 William James Building phone: 479 3988 email: [email protected] 1 2 Some (US) Statistics Children watch an average of 5.11 hours of TV per day When asked to choose between watching TV and spending time with their fathers, 54% of 4- to 6-year-olds choose TV The average American child spends 900 hours per year at school, and 1200 hours per year watching TV 3 4 What About Preschoolers? What About New Zealanders? The amount of TV that preschoolers watch is 64% of children aged 5 to 14 years watch increasing more than 2 hours of TV per day 35% of secondary school students watch 90% of children watch TV before the age of TV for more than 3 hours per day 2 40% of 3-month-olds watch TV 5 6 1  8/29/24 American Academy of Pediatrics Age Hours per day Television as an Educational Under 2 None Tool 2-year-olds None 3- to 5-year-olds 1 hour 5- to 8-year-olds 1 hour 8 years and older 1.5 to 2 hours 7 8 Learning from TV Sesame Street Even 6- to 18-month-olds can imitate some actions seen on television Improved performance if demonstration is live Infant DVDs are no match for direct interaction with parents 9 10 Sesame Street Sesame Street 11 12 2  8/29/24 Sesame Street Ball & Bogatz (1970) Children’s Television Workshop Evaluation of Sesame Street Targeted for 3- to 5-year-olds 3- to 5-year-olds (N = 950) Aimed to foster intellectual and cultural 5 cities in the US curiosity in preschoolers Alphabet and writing skill measured Designed for children from before and after a 26-week season of disadvantaged backgrounds Sesame Street Broadcast to 50 countries 13 14 Ball & Bogatz (1970) Evaluation of Sesame Street Groups: 1. Rarely watched 2. Watched 2-3 times per week 3. Watched 4-5 times per week 4. Watched more than 5 times per week 15 16 Ball & Bogatz (1970) Evaluation of Sesame Street à No difference in children’s scores as a function of viewing frequency prior to watching Sesame Street à Children from all groups increased in alphabet and writing skill à Children who watched Sesame St the most exhibited the biggest gain on the alphabet and writing test 17 18 3  8/29/24 Ball & Bogatz (1970) Life After Sesame Street Evaluation of Sesame Street à Children from disadvantaged backgrounds watched Sesame Street as much—and learned as much—as children from advantaged backgrounds. à In fact, children from low SES families showed the biggest gains. à Children learned even when they watch Sesame Street alone. 19 20 Claims Against TV Viewing 21 22 Claims Against TV Viewing Television watching in infancy delays development 23 24 4  8/29/24 Claims Against TV Viewing Claims Against TV Viewing Television mesmerises children Television mesmerises children Children are over-stimulated by television, leading to hyperactivity 25 26 Claims Against TV Viewing Claims Against TV Viewing Television mesmerises children Television viewing decreases children’s reading achievement Children are over-stimulated by television, leading to hyperactivity Television displaces other valuable cognitive activities, including homework 27 28 Claims Against TV Viewing Claims Against TV Viewing Television viewing decreases children’s Television violence has a negative effect on reading achievement children and adolescents Television viewing disrupts children’s sleep 29 30 5  8/29/24 31 32 Boyatzis et al. (1995) How do researchers study the 52 children (mean age 7.75 years) effects of violence on TV? Power Rangers condition (22 min, 140 aggressive acts) Control condition 33 34 Boyatzis et al. (1995) 52 children (mean age 7.75 years) Power Rangers condition (22 min, 140 aggressive acts) Control condition Each child observed for a 2-minute period Number of aggressive acts recorded by a trained observer 35 36 6  8/29/24 Boyatzis et al. (1995) Huesman et al. (1984) à Boys committed more aggressive acts 198 8-year-old boys and their parents than girls Assessed preference for violent TV à Those watching “Power Rangers” committed 7 aggressive acts for every Re-interviewed boys at age 30 years aggressive act committed by a control child Accessed criminal justice records for all boys Rated severity of criminal offences (violence rated higher) 37 38 Huesman et al. (1984) à Boys who exhibited a higher preference for violent TV at age 8 had committed more serious crimes by the age of 30 years than boys who showed a lower preference for violent TV at age 8 39 40 Huesman et al. (1984) Huesman et al. (1984) Violent TV Violent Preference Acts ? Violent Predisposition 41 42 7  8/29/24 The Verdict Even very young children can learn from TV Extensive exposure to violent television does appear to have a reliable negative effect Videogames on children’s behaviour 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 TV violence 43 44 Videogames Videogames From childhood into adolescence, the From childhood into adolescence, the average time spent playing videogames average time spent playing videogames per week is 5.5 hours for girls and 13 hours for per week is 5.5 hours for girls and 13 hours for boys boys 20% of male secondary students play videogames for more than 3 hours per day (compared to 5% for females) Several companies are now designing videogame consoles for preschoolers 45 46 Videogames Videogames Preschoolers aged 2 to 5 years play for an Preschoolers aged 2 to 5 years play for an average of 28 minutes per day average of 28 minutes per day The amount of time spent playing videogames is increasing, but television watching is remaining stable 47 48 8  8/29/24 Videogames Videogames 49 50 Potential Benefits Potential Benefits May be therapeutic and/or educational for May be therapeutic and/or educational for children with chronic illnesses children with chronic illnesses May improve fine motor skills and coordination 51 52 Potential Benefits Potential Benefits May be therapeutic and/or educational for May be therapeutic and/or educational for children with chronic illnesses children with chronic illnesses May improve fine motor skills and May improve fine motor skills and coordination coordination May distract from physical and emotional May distract from physical and emotional pain pain May improve decision making skills and brain plasticity 53 54 9  8/29/24 Potential Benefits Criticisms May foster persistence, resilience, and Claims made against videogame play are prosocial behaviour generally the same as those made against TV 55 56 57 58 59 60 10  8/29/24 Anderson & Dill (2000) Experiment 1 How do researchers study 227 University undergraduates the effect of videogame Measures: violence? - Aggressive Personality Questionnaire (APQ) - Delinquency (Violent/Nonviolent) - Videogame Use Ø 91% reported videogame use (M = 2.14/week) Ø Videogame use correlated with aggressive personality, non-aggressive delinquency, and aggressive delinquency 61 62 Anderson & Dill (2000) Anderson & Dill (2000) Experiment 1 Experiment 2 210 University undergraduates Aggressive Personality Questionnaire (APQ) Assigned to one of two groups matched for aggressive personality Group 1 played Myst (nonviolent) Group 2 played Wolfenstein (violent) 63 64 Anderson & Dill (2000) Anderson & Dill (2000) Experiment 2 Experiment 2 210 University undergraduates à Overall, women delivered longer blasts than Aggressive Personality Questionnaire (APQ) men Assigned to one of two groups matched for à Individuals with higher scores on the APQ aggressive personality delivered longer blasts than those with lower APQ scores Group 1 played Myst (nonviolent) Group 2 played Wolfenstein (violent) à Individuals who played the violent 3 x 15-minute sessions of play videogame delivered longer blasts than those who played the nonviolent videogame Competitive reaction time task 65 66 11  8/29/24 Anderson & Dill (2000) The Verdict Experiment 2 à This effect occurred even when other Non-violent videogame use can have variables (e.g., gender, APQ score) were benefits controlled for 67 68 The Verdict The Verdict The danger of violent videogames for Studies on the effect of violent videogame children and young people should in theory use are plagued with methodological be greater than the dangers of violent TV problems – player is often the aggressor Studies that address these kinds of problems – there are often rewards for aggression show that the effects on aggression tend to be significant, but relatively small Violent videogames with a prosocial or team-work components are likely to be less problematic 69 70 71 12