Perceived television reality and children's emotional and cognitive responses to its social content

Abstract

Children's emotional and cognitive responses to factual and fictional television programs depicting family conflict were investigated. 97 third and fourth graders saw one of three 15-min versions of the same content: documentary, drama, or realistic drama. Self-reports of emotion and facial expressions varied with the content portrayed, and emotions were similar to those perceived for the people shown. Although children perceived the documentary as more factual than the other versions, neither the experimental manipulations nor individual perceptions of factuality had much influence on emotional responses. Children who considered the content factual recalled more complex, inferential content and more psychological states (e.g., intentions, motives) of characters than those who did not. Perceived social realism was positively related to reporting affect similar to that of the characters and to recall of concrete actions and dialogue. The results indicate that children experience vicarious