The Influence of Television Content on Very Young Children's Play

自20世纪90年代初以来，美国婴幼儿越来越多地观看电视，包括“婴儿视频”和为他们制作的电视节目。 人们对看电视对婴幼儿行为的影响知之甚少，包括他们玩玩具。 几乎所有关于人类发展的理论都认为，玩玩具对认知、社会和身体的发展都很重要。 虽然众所周知，电视会影响年龄较大的儿童的游戏和游戏主题，但对于它对幼儿玩具偏好和游戏的影响却一无所知。 从一个观点来看，可以认为电视对玩耍的影响很小，因为刚学会走路的孩子几乎不能理解他们在电视上看到的东西。 从另一个角度来看，电视可能有很大的影响，因为它可能会影响玩具的偏好，并已声称将儿童置于一种被动的认知和行为模式，在观看后转移到其他活动。 此外，针对非常年幼儿童的玩具经常以电视人物为基础或以电视人物为品牌。 这种授权产品价格昂贵，因此制造商可能认为非常年幼的儿童对这种品牌有积极的反应。 对于孩子们开始喜欢电视角色玩具的年龄，以及看电视对孩子们早期玩耍的影响，我们一无所知。 本研究探讨了电视对1岁和2岁儿童玩玩具的影响，包括三种类型的研究，所有这些研究都在实验室游戏室进行。 最初的研究确定了儿童在什么年龄对基于电视剧的玩具产生偏好。 这项研究还确定了看电视后玩玩具是否不同于与父母一起阅读后玩玩具。 具体而言，本研究探讨发挥插曲长度，集中注意力在发挥，并发挥成熟后，电视观看。 第二，研究确定电视角色行为是否会影响幼儿对玩具的偏好和游戏类型。 孩子们将看到电视片段，其中的人物从事亲社会行为，如分享，拥抱，或轮流，或其中的人物从事侵略性和反社会行为。 问题是，非常小的孩子是否对亲社会或反社会的电视角色表现出偏好，如果是这样，他们的游戏是否根据他们所观看的内容而有所不同。 第三，本研究探讨了程序的可理解性和程序类型（强调建设活动或强调人物互动）的作用。 如果非常年幼的孩子受到内容的影响，那么在观看了以建筑活动为特色的教育节目后，游戏应该强调对建筑玩具的偏好。 另一方面，他们应该更喜欢玩玩具的基础上的字符后，观看娱乐故事为基础的节目。 如果他们确实对节目有一定的顺序和语言理解，那么在观看了可理解性降低的电视节目（通过随机顺序拍摄和使对话倒退而创建）后，他们的玩具偏好和游戏活动应该不那么明显。 1999年，美国儿科学会建议2岁以下的儿童不要看电视。 从那时起，一些研究报告说，非常年幼的儿童看电视与认知和语言发展缓慢以及注意力缺陷症状有关。 然而，我们不知道是什么因素产生了这些关联，甚至不知道这种关系是否是因果关系。 然而，尽管这些研究提出了警告，最近的调查表明，美国婴幼儿的电视收视率稳步上升。 目前的研究增加了关于电视影响的可能机制的重要信息，而这些机制现在还一无所知。 电视会影响幼儿的游戏行为吗？ 如果是，影响的性质是什么？ 游戏被认为是发展的重要性，也构成了很小的孩子的清醒时间的很大一部分。 了解电视是否以及如何影响游戏，可能有助于提供一个合理的机制，即电视以累积的方式对发展施加影响。

Since the early 1990s American infants and toddlers have increasingly watched television, including "baby videos" and TV programs that have been made for them. Little is known about the impact of watching television on infant and toddler behavior, including their play with toys. Nearly all theories of human development assert that toy play is important for cognitive, social, and physical development. While it is well known that television influences play and play themes in older children, nothing is known about its impact on toddler toy preference and play. From one point of view it can be supposed that TV has little effect on play because toddlers can understand little of what they see on TV. From another point of view, television may have a substantial effect because it may influence toy preference and it has been claimed to place the child in a passive mode of cognition and behavior that transfers to other activities following viewing. Toys directed at very young children, moreover, are frequently based on or are branded with television characters. Such licensed products are expensive, so presumably the manufacturers believe that very young children positively respond to this branding. Nothing is known about the age at which children begin to prefer toys based on television characters or how TV viewing influences play at early ages. This research examines the effect of television on toy play by 1- and 2-year-old children and consists of three types of studies, all conducted in a laboratory playroom. The initial study determines at what age children develop preferences for toys based on television series. The research also determines whether toy play following TV viewing is different from toy play following a book reading session with a parent. Specifically, the research examines play episode length, focused attention during play, and play maturity following TV viewing. Second, the research determines whether television character behavior influences toy preference and the type of play in which very young children engage. Children will be shown TV segments in which the characters engage in prosocial behavior such as sharing, hugging, or taking turns, or in which characters engage in aggressive and antisocial behavior. The question is whether very young children show preferences for either prosocial or antisocial television characters and if so, whether their play differs based on what they have watched. Third, the research examines the role of program comprehensibility and program type (emphasizing construction activities or emphasizing character interactions). If very young children are affected by content, then play should emphasize preference for construction toys after watching the educational program that features construction activities. On the other hand, they should prefer play with toys based on characters after watching the entertainment story-based program. If they actually have some sequential and linguistic understanding of the programs, their toy preference and play activity should be much less pronounced after watching reduced-comprehensibility versions of the TV programs (created by putting shots in random order and making dialogue run backwards). In 1999 the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that children under 2 years of age not watch television. Several studies since then have reported that TV viewing by very young children is associated with slower cognitive and language development as well as attention deficit symptoms. It is not known, however, what factors produce these associations, or even whether the relationship is causal. Nevertheless, despite the warning flags raised by these studies, recent surveys have indicated that TV viewing by American infants and toddlers has steadily increased. The present research adds important information about possible mechanisms of television influence where nothing is now known. Does television influence play behavior in very young children? If so, what is the nature of the influence? Play is thought to be developmentally important and also constitutes a large portion of very young children's waking time. Knowing whether and how television influences play may help provide one plausible mechanism by which television, in a cumulative fashion, exerts an influence on development.