Dorothy G. Singer
Television and its potential for imagination
Television can stimulate imaginative play and it can be a wonderful
teacher when it considers the possibilities and prerequisites of
children. Many years of research have produced important evidence
for this.
Television exerts a powerful influence on the cognitive, social,
and emotional development of children. Although videos, and computers
are increasing in usage in American homes, television still remains
the favoured electronic media among young children (Woodard and
Gridina, 2000). The average elementary school-aged child spends
about 4 to 5 hours a day watching TV, while pre-school children
spend about 2 1/2 to 3 hours per day in front of the set (Comstock
and Scharrer, 2001).
As a result of so much television exposure, a question often asked
is: "How does television affect a child's imagination?"
We define imagination as the capacity to form images in one's mind
of absent objects or to maintain thoughts or ideas without necessarily
converting those into acts. Children are engaged in imaginative
or symbolic play around the age of two, although researchers such
as Greta Fein have found evidence of pretend play among 18-month-old
toddlers (Fein, 1981). Although Fein offered the following criteria
as necessary components for defining symbolic play more than twenty
years ago, they still are relevant:
- An activity may be performed in the absence
of necessary material or a social context (washing a doll in a
pretend tub)
- Activities may not have a logical conclusion
(pirates sail away after their boat sinks)
- Inanimate objects may be treated as real
(a stuffed animal is offered food)
- An object or gesture may be substituted
for another (a stick becomes a doll)
- A child may carry out an activity usually
performed by someone else (pretending to be a mail carrier or
astronaut)
Our interest in television and its effect
on imagination began over thirty years ago when we observed a group
of children in a day-care centre "playing" Peter Pan.
We thought that the teacher had read the story to the children and
now they were just acting it out. We were surprised to learn that
the children obtained their material from a television programme
they had seen the night before. That incident led to the question
we posed at the beginning of this article
concerning television's ability to enhance a child's imagination.
Until that charming scene in the day-care centre, we had been studying
children's play and imagination, but had not considered the possibility
that the television variable exerted any influence in a child's
life. Our work, soon after, at the Yale University Family Research
and Consultation Centre, addressed the question of television and
its effects on imagination. Mainly through the use of naturalistic
studies, we were to find that television plays a prominent role
not only in children's lives, but in the lives of all of us. Unfortunately,
many child development specialists who publish in the most prestigious
child-oriented journals still do not include television viewing
as a variable in their studies, despite the fact that young children
are among the heaviest viewers of television today.
Programmes that stimulate imaginative
play
In our research, we usually do not present
children with programmes to view, but rather have caregivers keep
records of what the children actually do watch on a daily basis
(Singer and Singer, 1981). We have also used studies where pre-schoolers
are exposed to particular programmes such as Mr. Rogers' Neighbourhood
or Barney & Friends among other programmes geared for pre-school
children; older children are shown programmes, for example, such
as Degrassi Junior High, or Power Rangers. Results from many studies
we and others have carried out that pertain to imagination suggest,
in general, that television programmes, without any mediation, does
not stimulate imaginative play or creativity (Singer and Singer,
1976; Singer and Singer, 1981; Singer, Singer and Rapaczynski, 1984;
Valkenburg, 2001; Zuckerman, Singer and Singer, 1980). However,
we do find that some programmes have the potential to stimulate
imagination if there is adult reinforcement of particular elements
during, or after the programme is viewed, or if the programme itself
is rich in imaginative content (Singer and Singer, l998b).
When producers offer
a child
material that is conducive to
stimulating imagination,
we can see positive results
It is not television per
se that causes this reduction of creativity and imaginative
play, but the content that is presented. When producers offer
a child material that is conducive to stimulating imagination,
we can see positive results. For example, we have been analysing
the content of Barney & Friends since the programme has
been broadcast. At this point we have watched all programmes
(about 20 programmes in each series) from the first #100 series
to the #700 series that began in the Fall, 2002. Our data from
the earlier series until the current programmes that we are
now evaluating indicate that Barney & Friends contain many
cognitive (including imagination) and pro-social elements in
each show. Pre-school children are pre-tested and post-tested
on school readiness skills. The experimental groups who watched
particular episodes of Barney, and also were given the opportunity
for reinforcement of ideas presented on the programme by an
adult immediately after the programme, made gains in school
readiness skills such as numbers, colours, shapes, and in civility.
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The programmes without such reinforcement,
or control groups who did not watch these episodes scored lower
than the experimental groups as evidenced on post-test scores. When
we exposed toddlers (a major segment of the Barney audience) to
ten episodes of Barney compared to a control group that did not
see these episodes, the experimental group showed more signs of
imaginative play in their free play period than did the control
group. These toddlers also demonstrated more signs of persistence
and co-operation than the controls (Singer and Singer, 1998b).
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Reinforcement in our studies of Barney
& Friends consisted of simple concepts and materials we
had prepared in advance that were based on the content of each
programme we showed to the children. Generally the adult reviewed
vocabulary words, played a game or carried out an activity with
the children that was similar to the game or activity seen on
the particular Barney episode they had just watched. The children
in the experimental groups, therefore, had the kind of reinforcement
that a parent could easily carry out in the home with no expense
or complicated preparation. Our research indicates not only
the importance of reinforcement after a programme is viewed,
but that a key factor in determining whether or not television
can stimulate imagination is the presence of a caregiver who
co-views with the child during the programme. The adult can
explain a concept, define a word, help a child determine the
reality and fantasy distinctions, discuss the theme or plot,
and even comfort a child if there is something that is anxiety
provoking on the screen. We call this parental mediation, and
feel that it is an extremely important component in a pre-schooler's
and even in a young school-aged child's life. |
Unfortunately, many children watch TV
alone and parents tend to use TV as a babysitter. When a caregiver
interacts with a child, we see much learning of new words as was found
in a study of Sesame Street by Dafna Lemish and Mabel Rice (1986).
In a more recent study Bickham, Wright and Huston (2001) indicate
that children who watched educational programmes at pre-school ages
two and three had higher scores at age five on measures of language,
maths and school readiness. On the other hand, commercial cartoons
and adult programmes were found by these researchers to be detrimental
to children's academic future.
The study of pre-schoolers' imagination
One way that we study the imagination of
pre-schoolers is through direct observation. Research assistants
are trained in our scoring procedures using video tapes of children
(who are not in our studies), or with written protocols of children's
play episodes that encompass many verbatim statements. These vignettes
are then scored by raters until good agreement is reached. Generally,
our reliability is about .80. Once we have trained these observers
they rate children in a particular study at least two times, for
ten minutes each time, over a period of two weeks in some studies.
In other instances, observations are made periodically over a year's
time. Ratings are generally correlated with other measures of children's
imagination such as questionnaires, Barron Inkblots (a projective
test using ambiguous pictures in order to obtain scores that yield
a score of imagination) and actual controlled play situations where
segments of the play can be scored (see Singer and Singer, 1981
and Singer and Singer,1998b for details concerning various measures
of imagination).
In order to determine the effect of TV on imagination or creativity,
in most of our studies we compare heavy TV viewers (three or more
hours per day), with light TV viewers (one hour or less per day),
because we cannot find large enough samples of children who do not
watch any television. Research with a sample of non-TV viewers was
carried out, however, in one rare study. Television had been introduced
into a town (No-Tel), where there had been no access to television
because of the mountainous terrain. The researchers were able to
compare the effects of TV on this town's populace compared to a
town that had access to one TV channel (Uni-Tel) and to a town that
had access to many channels (Multi-Tel). Upon introduction of TV
to the No-Tel town, the children's creativity scores decreased (Harrison
and Williams, 1986).
It is possible that viewing of television with its ready made pictures
interfered with a child's own capacity for imagery production.
Pacing, repetition, and camera work for
young viewers
Many of the educational gains ascribed to
television come from the educational programmes that are either
on Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) or on particular cable channels.
Blues' Clues, for example, is a programme on Nickelodeon that has
many of the elements that I consider essential for quality programming
for pre-schoolers. Pacing of programmes for this age group needs
to be at a speed that enables a young child to process the information.
Educators acknowledge that
parents, other caregivers, and teachers of young children need to
speak slowly to children if they want a child to follow instructions
or to learn something new. Having a live host or other children
on a programme is important for young viewers. Young children identify
with the host or with the children on the show and are apt to model
the positive behaviours demonstrated. Animation, and puppets of
course, are appealing to children; in terms of imagination, there
are many possibilities of fanciful stories when these are used.
But we have evidence that there is a psychological attachment to
adults when they are an integral part of the show as in Blue's Clues,
Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, or Sesame Street. Adults certainly identify
with the characters they see on TV. Witness the popularity of Raymond
or Friends in the United States.
Pacing of programmes
needs to be at a speed
that enables a child
to process the information
Repetition is also important. As adults,
we get the sense of a story when we hear it the first time, but
young children need the repetition in order to encode the information.
This is one reason why children do not tire of hearing a story read
to them time and time again. They may grasp some of the ideas the
first time they hear the story, but hearing it again allows them
to gain more information. And of course, it feels good when a child
knows what to expect and what the story outcome is. This gives a
child a feeling of mastery or efficacy.
We also believe that there should be one theme in a television programme
in a half hour show. There, of course, can be variations on the
theme to prevent boredom. A good story (not unlike a good book)
that contains a beginning, middle and ending helps a child to best
process the material.
In addition, camera work must be carefully planned so that a child
understands that when an object is presented, he/she is aware of
the size of the object as it would appear in context. Filming an
animal, for example, that occupies the entire screen, with no other
objects around it that are familiar to a child, may distort and
exaggerate the size of the animal so that it may loom large and
frightening. I remember the evening when our then four-year-old
watched The Nutcracker ballet on television with us. When the mouse
appeared on the screen with his long teeth and large whiskers, our
child ran from the room screaming, and in tears. He and we were
not prepared for this zoom shot that made the mouse a menacing creature.
Programmes for pre-school children should be geared for their age
in terms of cognitive and social skills. Clear distinctions must
be made between reality and fantasy. Fred Rogers does this very
well on his programme. Children enter a segment of a make-believe
world through use of the trolley car as a device to take them there,
Mr. Rogers is always ready, when the trolley car returns, to help
clarify and to explain anything that he believes might be confusing
to his young
audience.
If a writer wants to use words or concepts that are beyond the young
child's level of comprehension, these need to be defined in a phrase
following the use of the word or concept. If a word such as "gigantic"
is used, the character might say, "The animal is gigantic,
very large." This can be done quite naturally and offers the
child a new word with an explanation right there. Writers must be
careful in their use of metaphors. We remember a child who thought
that "blackmail" meant black envelopes. When camera effects
are used to enhance a story for pre-schoolers, they must be carried
out with caution and in such a way that a child understands that
these events are not real. The use of special effects that may add
some fantasy or imaginative elements to a programme such as slow
motion, fast motion, dissolves and fades, or a character leaping
up in the air, or disappearing may be interesting to a producer,
but may leave a child confused by what is happening to the character
or to the distorted picture on the screen.
The value of TV curricula
We have tried to explain many of the effects
in our various curricula prepared for different ages of children
including kindergartners. Research has demonstrated that when a
child is taught how some of the effects on TV take place, the child
becomes an intelligent consumer of television and hopefully will
not try to imitate some of the more daring or unsafe events shown
on TV (Brown, 2001; Singer and Singer, l998a). Many of the suggestions
above also may pertain to elementary-school-aged children. The content
may change in terms of stories that contain more conflict or with
sub-plots and secondary themes included. Basically, even though
children are older, many of them do get confused about the use of
various camera shots and the use of flashbacks or other devices
to deal with issues of time. For this reason, we suggest that elementary-school-aged
children and even older children should be exposed to curricula
that teach them how to process the material on TV and how to deconstruct
ideas in stories as well as in commercials.
Stories should involve
the audience through
material demanding the
viewer's intellectual interaction
In terms of imagination, we would like to
see stories that can involve the audience through presentation of
material that demands intellectual interaction on the part of the
viewer. An example of such a programme is Ghost Writers, where not
only do the children on the programme search for clues to solve
a particular dilemma, but the audience, in effect, is also trying
to make sense of the clues on the programme. Blue's Clues does this
very well for pre-schoolers. Asking questions, before a character
gives the answer, or a character thinking out loud also stimulates
the viewer to think and to try and come up with a solution. In addition
to dramatic shows that include imaginative elements, we also would
like to see more programmes that deal with art, music and dance
for young children in order to encourage their own creativity and
imagination.
Newer programmes on PBS that address social and emotional issues
rather than imagination specifically, are Dragon Tales and Teletubbies.
I am not aware of empirical studies that deal with
imagination on either of these programmes, although these programmes
may indeed be affecting a child's imagination (TelevIZIon, 1999;
Dragon Tales, 2002). I also would like to see more research carried
out on the current line-up on PBS before we pass judgement about
the effects of TV on children's development of imagination and creativity.
Sesame Street for example, despite its popularity and its significant
positive impact on children's social and emotional development,
is not a programme that was originally conceived to enhance children's
imagination (Fisch and Truglio, 2002). It is a programme designed
primarily to help children learn cognitive skills needed for school
readiness.
Educational programming
must be balanced with entertainment
More than ten years ago, in "Readiness
to Learn: A Mandate for the Nation" (Boyer, 1991), recommendations
were made concerning the potential power of television as a teacher.
Ernest Boyer suggested that we design television programmes that
could convey to young children the skills needed for entrance into
school. Educational programming, however, must be balanced with
entertainment. The suggestions made above for children's programmes
should be considered when programmes are still in the planning stages
of development.
I remain optimistic that television can be a wonderful teacher,
and used with discretion it offers us a "window on the world".
Indeed, the television programmes that are selected from countries
around the world and are viewed during presentations by Prix Jeunesse
(Kleeman, 2001) suggest a myriad of possibilities for encouraging
the imaginations of young people, if only all producers and writers
would let their own imaginations soar.
REFERENCES
Bickman, D.S., Wright, J.C., & Huston, A.C.
(2001). Attention, comprehension, and the educational influences
of television. In D. Singer & J. Singer (Eds.), Handbook of
children and the media (pp. 101-119). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications,
Inc.
Brown, J.A. (2001). Media literacy and critical television viewing
in education. In D. Singer & J. Singer (Eds.), Handbook of children
and the media (pp. 681-697). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications,
Inc.
Boyer, E (1991). Readiness to learn: A mandate for the nation. Princeton,
NJ: The Carnegie Council for the Advancement of Teaching.
Comstock, G. & Scharrer, E. (2001). The use of television and
other film-related media. In D. Singer & J. Singer (Eds.), Handbook
of children and the media (pp. 47-72). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications,
Inc.
http://www.pbskids.org/dragontales/caregivers/aboutevaluation.html#fullreport.2002
Dragon Tales Research (2002).
Fisch, S.M., & Truglio, R.T. (Eds.) (2001). "G" is
for growing: Thirty years of research on children and "Sesame
Street." Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Harrison, L.F., & Williams, L.M. (1986). Television and cognitive
development. In L.M. Williams (Ed.), The impact of television: A
natural experiment on three communities (pp. 87-142). New York,
NY: Academic Press.
Kleeman, D.W. (2001). Prix Jeunesse as a force for cultural diversity.
In D. Singer & J. Singer (Eds.), Handbook of children and the
media (pp. 521-531). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
Lemish, D., & Rice, M. (1986). Television as a talking picture
book: A prop for language acquisition. Journal of Child Language,
13, 251-274.
Singer, D.G., & Singer, J.L. (1976). Family television viewing
habits and the spontaneous play of pre-school children. American
Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 46, 496-502.
Singer, D.G., & Singer, J.L. (1998a). Developing critical viewing
skills and media literacy in children. Annals of the American Academy
of Political and Social Science, 557, 164-179.Singer, J.L., &
Singer, D.G. (1981). Television, imagination, and aggression: A
study of pre-schoolers. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Singer, J.L., Singer, D.G., Rapaczynski, U.S. (1984). Children's
imagination as predicted by family patterns and television viewing:
A longitudinal study. Genetic Psychology Monographs, 110, 43-69.
Singer, J.L., & Singer, D.G. (1998b). Barney & Friends as
entertainment and education: Evaluating the quality and effectiveness
of a television series for pre-school children. In J.K. Asamen &
G. Berry (Eds.), Research paradigms in the study of television and
social behaviour (pp.305-367). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications,
Inc.
TelevIZIon (1999). Special English issue: The Teletubbies. Munich,
Germany: Internationales Zentralinstitut fuer das Jugend- und Bildungsfernsehen
(IZI) at Bayerischer Rundfunk.
Valkenburg, P.M. (2001). Television and the child's developing imagination.
In D Singer & J. Singer (Eds.), Handbook of children and the
media. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
Woodard E.H. & Gridina, N. (2000). Media in the home 2000: The
fifth annual survey of parents and children. Washington, DC: Annenberg
Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.
Zuckerman, D.M., Singer, D.G., & Singer, J.L. (1980). Television
viewing, children's reading, and related classroom behaviour. Journal
of Communication, 30 (1), 166-174.
THE AUTHOR
Dorothy G. Singer, Ed.D., is Senior Research
Scientist, Department of Psychology at Yale University, and Co-director
of the Yale University Family Television Research and Consultation
Centre, New Haven, Connecticut, USA. She was formerly the William
Benton Professor of Psychology at the University of Bridgeport,
Connecticut.
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