Children’s Interpretations of Good and Bad Television Characters

Abstract

AbstractWhile there has been much concern over television’s influence on children, few studies have investigated the way young children and adults differ in their ability to distinguish the behaviour of “good” and “bad” television characters. The present study investigated the extent to which preschool children, primary school students, and adults differed in their interpretations of the actions of a stereotypically good and a stereotypically bad character. An edited television drama programme was examined for comprehension and for the extent to which children and adults differed in their belief that the characters in the programme were real. Preschool children were found to evaluate characters similarly to adults, although significant differences were evident in their comprehension of the programme and their judgement of the reality of the television content.