Love or Comprehension? Exploring Strategies for Children’s Prosocial Media Effects

Abstract

Given children’s difficulty comprehending prosocial narratives, we examined strategies to bypass comprehension (affiliative priming) and reduce cognitive burden (simplified lessons, adult scaffolding). In Study 1, one hundred seven 3- to 5-year-olds watched a prosocial narrative (helping vs. waiting) with affective primes (loving vs. funny) or a control narrative. Comprehension was low and behavioral outcomes were unaffected by lesson or prime. In Study 2, sixty-four 3- to 5-year-olds watched shorter stimuli (1-minute song videos) about loving or helping others. Those in the helping condition helped more, but the loving condition did not differ from a no-exposure control. In Study 3, 636 parents of 2- to 10-year-olds were surveyed about a time their child showed prosocial responses to media. Over 70% recalled an instance, a third of which involved songs. Reported response duration was positively predicted by family discussions after exposure (rather than at the time), including explicating the lessons and giving timely reminders/praise.