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Module Two |
Reading Three: TV says kids are: |
The research on TV viewing tends to look at the effect of violence. For an excellent
summary of the findings click here:
VIOLENCE and TV for Children.
Additional effects studied:
+ the effects of the amount of time children spend watching TV
( http://www.cep.org/studies.html
)
+ potential changes in the way children think and interact if watching begins
in preschool
( http://www.limitv.org/preschool.htm
)
+ the way life and values are portrayed
+ the influence of TV advertising directed to children.
( http://www.ksu.edu/humec/c&t.htm
)
Some people believe human nature is static, that there is little change over time; that human needs, ways of expressing them and who we are as a race changes little. You may have your own ideas about that. I know I do.
Konrad Lorenz, an ethologist, wrote about human nature, and won the Nobel Prize for his studies of animal behavior, in particular for his discovery of the phenomenon of imprinting. You may have seen Dr. Lorenz or his students, on PBS, being followed by a string of baby geese, or as the geese grew up, teaching them to fly, and watching them fly south. He suggested human applications for the things he learned from animals. One belief he had was that imprinting was very similar to modeling and who we became was deeply affected by the things we saw about being human.
How many tots race around in a cape, declaring themselves to be Superman, Wonder Woman, or "Spidey." How many learn classical music while watching Bugs Bunny cartoons? In the opera the other night, a young woman was gleeful when the orchestra struck up one of her all time favorite Bugs vs. Doc themes. Does the interaction and verbal repartee become part of their socialization? Do children learn who they are and what to expect from others based on hundreds of hours of network interactions?
There is little information about how television portrayals of children are affecting adults, if current programs give teachers a different viewpoint, or provide students a sense of license or empowerment.
These issues beg the question. Is TV changing who children are, what they
believe about themselves and what we believe about them?
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Dr. Murray's essay on effect of current TV. http://history.hanover.edu/texts/beavis.html