Effects Of Prosocial Cartoon Models On Aggressive Cognitions And Aggressive Behaviors In Kindergartners

Over the past decades,the relationship between media and children's aggression has become a hot topic among child psychologists,but there are great controversies on the empirical research findings.With the rapid development of cartoon media technology,cartoon video has become the main stimulus variable affecting kindergartners' aggressive behavior,domestic and foreign child psychologists are keen to explore the relationship between cartoon violence and children's aggressive behavior.However,the causality between models of pro-social cartoons and children's aggression related variables is relatively lacking.In view of this,this experimental study based on the General Learning Model(GLM)and Social Learning Theory(SLT),we focused on testing the potential causal relationship between the pro-social models in cartoons and aggressive cognitions and aggressive behaviors in kindergartners,to enrich and perfect the General Learning Model and Social Learning Theory,and to provide research reference for the intervention of kindergartners' aggressive behavior,and hoped that it can arouse public attention to pro-social media.The main contributions of this study are as follows: first,the experimental situation of kindergartners watching pro-social cartoon models for five consecutive days was created,and the superposition effect of aggressive cognition and aggressive behavior of kindergartners were tested with mature experimental paradigm.Better external validity than most previous studies focused on the short-term effects of media on aggression.Second,this study makes up for the relative lack of experimental research on the aggressive cognitive and aggressive behavior of kindergartners with pro-social cartoon models in China,and enriches the research results in the field of the development of kindergartners' social behavior.Third,pro-social cartoon models significantly reduce kindergartners' aggressive cognitions and behaviors,and aggressive cognition has a significant mediating effect on the influence of pro-social cartoonmodels on aggressive behavior,which provides new means and strategies for educators to intervene kindergartners' aggressive behaviors by adding pro-social cartoon model elements and reducing aggressive cognitions.First of all,this study selected 5 cartoons with more pro-social content and pro-social pictures.In order to ensure that the models in the cartoons have the attributes of pro-social behavior,we specially invited 61 experts to watch these cartoons,and evaluated the pro-social level of the cartoon models by 5 grades,and selected the pro-social role models that meet the experimental requirements.Second,through peer nomination and teacher nomination,A total of N = 174 kindergartners(50% girls)with aggressive tendency which were 5-to 6-year-olds were randomly recruited to participate in the experiment.Half of them watched cartoons with pro-social models for 5 consecutive days(Experimental Group),while the other half did not watch cartoons(Control Group).then,a three-factor experimental design,namely,a 2(pro-social cartoon models: watching vs.not watching)×2(gender: male vs.female)×2(age: 5,6)between-subject experimental design was used to investigate the main effects and interactions of pro-social cartoon,gender and age on aggressive cognition and aggressive behavior.Experimental paradigm includes Modified Semantic Classification Task(MSCT)to measure aggressive cognition,the reaction time of kindergartners to aggressive pictures is the measure of aggressive cognition level.The shorter the average response time,the higher the aggressive cognitive level,the longer the average response time,and the lower the aggressive cognitive level;And a modified Taylor Competitive Reaction Time Task(TCRTT)were employed to measure aggressive behavior.Based on the step 2 of the formal session in TCRTT,kindergartners punish virtual opponents by setting different noise levels for them.The set noise intensity represents the measurement index of the level of aggressive behavior.The higher the mean of the set noise intensity is,the stronger the level of aggressive behavior is,while the lower the mean is,the lower the level of aggressive behavior is.Finally,the experimental variable data were analyzed by three-factor analysis of variance and mediating effects to reveal the causal relationship between independent variables(pro-social cartoon models)and dependent variables(aggressive cognition,aggressive behavior),and to test whether aggressive cognition had significant mediating effects between independent and dependent variables.The conclusions are the follows:(1)Watching pro-social cartoon models significantlyreduced aggressive cognitions and aggressive behaviors in comparison with not watching the pro-social model.(2)Compared with girls,the pro-social cartoon models significantly reduced aggressive cognition and aggressive behavior of boys.(3)Compared with 5 year old kindergartners,the pro-social cartoon models significantly reduced the aggressive cognition and aggressive behavior of 6 year old kindergartners.(4)Aggressive cognition partly mediated the relationship between pro-social cartoon models and aggressive behaviors.(5)Aggressive cognition partly mediates the causal relationship between pro-social cartoon models and aggressive behavior of kindergartners aged 6.Findings of this study indicated that watching pro-social cartoon models for five consecutive days could significantly reduce aggressive cognitions and aggressive behaviors,boys and 6-year-old kindergartners had the greatest decrease in aggressive cognition and behavior in pro-social cartoon model situations.aggressive cognition is an intermediary variable for pro-social models to reduce aggressive behavior,which provided a research reference for aggression prevention and intervention in kindergartners.The implications are the follows: Cartoon producer,preschool teachers,parents and policy makers can use pro-social caortoon model as a stimulus to reduce kindergartners' s aggressive cognition and aggressive behavior,and the boys(especially boys aged 6)can also be used as a focus group for aggressive behavior prevention and intervention in the context of pro-social cartoon models.In addition,educators can take the way of reducing aggressive cognition as an effective way to reduce aggressive behavior in pro-social cartoon situations.