Journal article
Liking Violence and Action: An Examination of Gender Differences in Children's Processing of Animated Content
Media psychology, Vol.14(1), pp.49-70
03/09/2011
DOI: 10.1080/15213269.2010.547829
Abstract
It is widely assumed that children like violence in cartoons, but this assumption has not been supported in existing studies that show nonviolent programs are liked just as much or more than violent programs. The present experiment extended enjoyment of media violence research by testing whether violence and action (independently manipulated) influenced children's liking of slapstick cartoons. We also proposed a path model to test potential indirect effects of violence and action on liking. Using animation software, four versions of a slapstick cartoon were created that varied in terms of violence (present, absent) and action (high, low). A total of 128 elementary school children watched one of the four versions of the program. Violence had no direct effect on the liking of the cartoon, but did indirectly decrease liking for males by decreasing boys' wishful identification with the anthropomorphized characters. Action increased liking for males but not for females.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Liking Violence and Action: An Examination of Gender Differences in Children's Processing of Animated Content
- Creators
- Andrew J Weaver - Department of Telecommunications , Indiana UniversityJakob D Jensen - Department of Communication , Purdue UniversityNicole Martins - Department of Telecommunications , Indiana UniversityRyan J Hurley - Department of Communication , North Carolina State UniversityBarbara J Wilson - Department of Communication , University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Media psychology, Vol.14(1), pp.49-70
- Publisher
- Taylor & Francis Group
- DOI
- 10.1080/15213269.2010.547829
- ISSN
- 1521-3269
- eISSN
- 1532-785X
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 03/09/2011
- Academic Unit
- President; Communication Studies
- Record Identifier
- 9984105917702771
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