Reducing Children's Emotional Reactions to Mass Media Through Rehearsed Explanationand Exposure to a Replica of a Fear Object

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to assess the effectiveness of two strategies for reducing emotional reactions to mass media. Children from two grade levels (kindergarten andfirst versus third through fifth grade) receivedo desensitization treatment in which a verbally presented explanation of tarantulas that required rehearsal (rehearsed explanation, no explanation) was factorially varied with gradual exposure to a replica ofa tarantula (exposure to a replica, no exposure). Subjects then viewed a frightening movie scene inuolving tarantulas. The two strategies reduced emotional reactions in both younger and older children. In contrast, only the rehearsed explanation altered children’s conceptions of the dangerousness of tarantulas. The findings had been predicted on the basis of developmental research on rehearsalstrategies and on the basis ofd$ferent levels of processing involved in the two types of fear-reduction techniques.