Pow! Boom! Kablam! Effects of Viewing Superhero Programs on Aggressive, Prosocial, and Defending Behaviors in Preschool Children

Coyne, Sarah M.; Stockdale, Laura; Linder, Jennifer Rue; Nelson, David A.; Collier, Kevin M.; Essig, Lee W.

doi:10.1007/s10802-016-0253-6

Cited by 44 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…Therefore, children may interpret the behavior of a superhero to be acceptable, even when they are committing severely violent acts, such as "use of a lethal weapon", "murder", and "mass murder". This relationship between violence depicted in the media and more frequent aggressive behavior has been found in several published studies [3,[18][19][20]. Furthermore, McCrary suggested that television superheroes may influence the development of moral values in kindergarten-aged children, and Martin found that the feelings children have towards superheroes are related to the way in which they feel about themselves [21][22].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 64%

Violence Depicted in Superhero-Based Films Stratified by Protagonist/Antagonist and Gender

Muller

Moroco

Loloi

et al. 2020

Cureus

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The objective of this study was to describe and quantify acts of violence depicted in a select number of superhero-based films, further stratified by protagonist/antagonist characters and gender. A total of 10 superhero-based films released in 2015-2016 were analyzed by five independent reviewers. The average number of acts of violence associated with protagonist and antagonist characters for all included films was 22.7 and 17.5 mean events per hour, respectively (p=0.019). The average number of acts of violence associated with male and female characters for all included films was 33.4 and 6.5 mean events per hour, respectively (p<0.001). The most common acts of violence for all major characters were "fighting", "use of a lethal weapon", "bullying/intimidation/torture", "destruction of property", and "murder" (14.9, 11.4, 3.5, 3.4, and 2.4 mean events per hour, respectively). Based on our sample of superhero-based films, acts of violence were associated more with protagonist characters and male characters.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 64%

Violence Depicted in Superhero-Based Films Stratified by Protagonist/Antagonist and Gender

Muller

Moroco

Loloi

et al. 2020

Cureus

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“…For example, recent research suggests that children struggle in understanding popular media models of defending behavior. In particular, Coyne and colleagues () investigated whether preschoolers would be more likely to engage in defending behavior if they had exposure to superheroes, who frequently act very aggressively in their bid to defend others against harm. Unfortunately, children with greater superhero engagement were not more likely to engage in defending behavior.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These children who are willing to actively defend others against bullying are referred to as defenders (Olweus, ). Defenders are seen in all types of bullying behavior, including physical, verbal, relational, and cyberbullying (e.g., Chen, Cheng, & Ho, ; Coyne et al, ; Pečjak & Pirc, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Does parenting correspond with children's defending behavior? Examining linkages in the context of peer social preference

et al. 2020

Self Cite

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Bullying intervention research points to the important role of children standing up for victims (defending behavior). This study provides an initial look at how certain parenting practices may be generally related to the socialization of defending behavior among children. Defenders typically enjoy significant social status, allowing them the social capital to intervene. With this in mind, we also assess how parenting and children's social preference scores might uniquely or interactively predict defending behavior. This cross‐sectional study employs a sample of 219 (101 boys) fourth‐grade children living in the Western United States. Both mothers and fathers self‐reported their authoritative, authoritarian, and psychologically controlling parenting practices. A peer sociometric assessment provided each child's social preference score. Peer nominations provided each child's reputation for defending behaviors. Multiple regression results showed that a few of the parenting dimensions significantly predicted girls’ defending behavior above and beyond peer social preference. In contrast, the defending behavior scores of boys were unrelated to parenting. Finally, we used interaction analyses to probe whether the association between defending and parenting meaningfully varies according to children's levels of social preference. We did not find evidence to support this. We discuss the ramifications of these findings for future research.

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“…Yet we cannot assume that increased exposure always has a positive impact upon how children perceive their own and other nations (Barrett, 2012), as this depends on what content children consume. Thirdly, we must continue questioning the suitability and impact of media upon children, highlighting unintended or unimagined consequences of media exposure, as Coyne et al (2017) did through their findings that exposing children to superhero media, even with prosocial behavioral intentions, resulted in increased physical and relational aggression.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Octonauts - National Identity and Attribution Theory

Barraclough-Brady¹

2021

Preprint

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Children develop a sense of their own national identities, and knowledge of and attitudes towards other nations, around five to seven years old, with the media facilitating such learning. Though multiple psychological studies in this area exist, they must continue given the growing accessibility of media content and its potential impact upon children's attitudes towards people from other nations, and to better relate culture to attribution theory. To address this, content and discourse analyses, and an adapted version of Kelley's covariation model of attribution theory were applied to the children's television series Octonauts to determine how character behaviours were explained to children, how these behaviours relate to character national identities, and the potential representational impact of these relationships. Findings show the majority of behaviours were explained through internal attributions, fitting the series' educational focus, with some national identities being assigned to explain character behaviours or relationships between characters whilst also propagating negative representations of some nations. Findings also discuss missed opportunities for the series to enhance the geographic knowledge of child audiences, and how efforts to change behaviours within episodes potentially influence the moral development of children. Corresponding address: alexbrady1@hotmail.com

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Pow! Boom! Kablam! Effects of Viewing Superhero Programs on Aggressive, Prosocial, and Defending Behaviors in Preschool Children

Cited by 44 publications

References 58 publications

Violence Depicted in Superhero-Based Films Stratified by Protagonist/Antagonist and Gender

Violence Depicted in Superhero-Based Films Stratified by Protagonist/Antagonist and Gender

Does parenting correspond with children's defending behavior? Examining linkages in the context of peer social preference

Octonauts - National Identity and Attribution Theory

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