Book chapter
Chapter 20 - Children's responses to emotional portrayals on television
Handbook of Communication and Emotion, pp.533-569
Academic Press
1998
DOI: 10.1016/B978-012057770-5/50022-9
Abstract
Young children encounter certain emotions and affective situations on television long before they experience these same phenomena in real life. Television plays a central role in children's beliefs about emotions, their own emotional experiences, and their overall emotional development. This chapter focuses on children's responses to emotional portrayals on television. The chapter begins by focusing on the developmental differences in children's processing of television. Then, the children's understanding of emotional portrayals on television is reviewed. Children acquire a more differentiated understanding of emotions as they develop. When applied to television, one can expect that preschoolers will understand simple portrayals in which characters experience basic emotions like happiness and sadness. During the school years, children increasingly should comprehend portrayals involving complex emotions, simultaneous emotional experiences, and idiosyncratic affective reactions to equivocal situations. These developmental improvements are consistent with the older child's increasing ability to (a) attend to conceptual information like a character's personal history and personality, (b) consider and integrate multiple pieces of information at one time, (c) role take with characters, and (d) draw inferences from emotional information that is not overtly depicted. The chapter also deals with long-term consequences of children's exposure to affective portrayals on television, such as desensitization and the development of parasocial relationships.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Chapter 20 - Children's responses to emotional portrayals on television
- Creators
- Barbara J. WilsonStacy L. Smith
- Resource Type
- Book chapter
- Publication Details
- Handbook of Communication and Emotion, pp.533-569
- Publisher
- Academic Press
- DOI
- 10.1016/B978-012057770-5/50022-9
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 1998
- Academic Unit
- President; Communication Studies
- Record Identifier
- 9984366271602771
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