Abstract
Three studies were designed to explore children’s understanding of television programmes. Seventy-two children from 6 to 9 years of age and attending a primary school, viewed one adult and one children’s television programme. They took part in procedures that examined their 1) memory for crucial plot events immediately after viewing, 2) understanding of the motives of the protagonists, and 3) character evaluation of the protagonists. The results yielded age differences in these abilities and suggested variable recall, poor comprehension, in terms of being able to relate motives to consequences, and confused character evaluation when the heroes and villains were not clearly discriminated. The results are interpreted in relation to the television literature, reading comprehension and children’s desire to make sense of what they see.
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I am indebted to the Broadcasting Standards Council, London for the grant that supported this research.
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Sheppard, A. Children’s understanding of television programmes: Three exploratory studies. Current Psychology 13, 124–137 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02686796
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02686796