Suchergebnisse

A total of 228 9th and 10th graders completed a questionnaire that measured (among other variables) the use and perceived effectiveness of strategies for coping with scary films (distraction, unreality, momentary avoidance, interpersonal comfort), coping style (monitoring, blunting), and two dimensions of empathy (empathic concern, personal distress). Regression analyses identified predictors of each strategy for coping with scary films. In general, the results for coping style were consistent with evidence that blunting is characterized by distraction or reinterpretation of scary events, whereas monitoring is characterized by attention to threat cues. With regard to empathy, results were consistent with expectations based on the other-oriented focus of empathic concern and the self-oriented focus of personal distress. Findings also suggested that effective coping may enhance empathic viewers' enjoyment of scary films. Finally, gender differences in coping were interpreted as evidence of gender role socialization of emotions.

Children in first to sixth grade recalled a time they had watched television with someone who became scared, described how (if at all) they comforted the coviewer, and rated other aspects of the viewing situation. Children also described how they would comfort a hypothetical friend, whose age (younger, peer) and sex (same, opposite) were varied. Finally, they completed a self-report measure of empathy. Comforting messages were coded for their level of sensitivity using a nine-level hierarchy employed by Burleson. As expected, empathy was positively related to comforting level in both situations. Comforting level also increased with grade level, but only for the hypothetical situation. Higher level comforting messages were suggested for same-sex peers, but comforting was unaffected by the younger friend's sex. Emotions played a significant role in the real situation, with higher level messages used by less frightened children and offered to more frightened coviewers.

Children at three age levels (5-6, 8-9, and 10-12 years) were exposed to a story in one of three videotape formats (audiovisual, video only, or audio only). Comprehension of the story and memory for the temporal order of events were assessed. The 5- to 6-year-olds in the video-only condition performed more poorly on the comprehension questions and tended to remember temporal order (as assessed by a picture-ordering task) less well than did subjects in all the other groups. The data suggest that understanding and integrating temporal aspects of a narrative are more difficult for young children when the story is presented visually than when it is presented verbally, whereas older children comprehend narratives in both formats equally well. This pattern of results is consistent with research indicating a greater developmental increase in the ability to analyze and interpret pictorial information than in the ability to process verbal information, at least among children in the age range studied. Unique characteristics of the way different media convey information are considered, and apparent discrepancies between the present study and previous research are discussed.

This article explores how mobile phones function as an affective technology for young adults, by adapting the self-expansion model to understand attachment to mobile phones. In an online survey, 272 smart phone users reported on their recalled responses to loss/separation from their mobile phone (not by choice), as well as their use of the mobile phone for self-expansion. Results show that self-expansion via mobile phone was associated with greater inclusion of the mobile phone in the self-concept and greater subjective well-being. Most respondents reported negative feelings, such as loneliness/disconnection, anxiety, and boredom, when without their mobile phone, but others felt relieved to be out of touch with others. The use of the mobile phone for self-expansion was associated with more negative emotion and less positive emotion (relief) in response to loss/separation from the phone. Interpretations of the findings are discussed.

A random telephone survey of parents of children between the ages of 3 and 18 was conducted the night after The Day After was aired on television. Based on theories and research indicating a developmental shift from perceptual to conceptual information, it was expected that the level of emotional upset to the movie would increase with age. This prediction was confirmed, despite the fact that the movie was not very upsetting overall. Other findings revealed that children's postviewing behaviors were significantly related to both age and degree of upset. Nonpermissive parents (those who had prevented a child from viewing the movie) were more likely than permissive parents to have been upset by the movie. Parents reported mass media to be more influential than schools, in their decisions regarding whether or not to let a child view the movie; schools, in turn, were more influential than both religious and political organizations. The influence of advice from schools was stronger among nonpermissive than among permissive parents.

This study examined predictors of support for censorship of television violence, including third-person effects (the belief that others are more affected by televised violence than oneself) and exposure to specific news stories about the issue. A random sample of 253 residents in a small, Midwestern metropolitan area participated via telephone interviews. The third-person effect for aggression predicted greater support for censorship, but the third-person effect for mean-world perceptions did not. However, when perceived effects on self and others were examined separately, greater support for censorship was associated with respondents' beliefs that violent content increased others' aggressive tendencies but their own mean-world perceptions. More frequent exposure to news stories about imitation was associated with more willingness to censor violent content, but four other types of news stories were unrelated to censorship support. Interpretations and implications of these and other findings are discussed.