Children's emotional responses to real and fictional television and effects on their recall and prosocial behaviors

The present study was to determine how children react to news and fictional television programs about a natural disaster (a tornado or an earthquake). Children individually saw one of five videotapes. Four of the tapes showed natural disasters. The fifth one was a neutral (non-disaster) control. After viewing the experimental stimuli, children's own emotions and their perceptions of the emotions of the people in the film were assessed. All children then saw a film showing safety tips for natural disasters. Immediate recall for the safety information was measured. Finally, children were given an opportunity to donate tokens to a Red Cross disaster relief fund. One month after the individual session, delayed recall of the safety information was measured. Findings showed that both news and fiction aroused children's emotions, both sadness and fear. Children who saw news responded with more intense emotion, more similarity of emotion to people in the film, and higher levels of empathy than those who saw fiction. The news format elicited somewhat more frequent prosocial actions in children than did the fictional one. But children in the control group recalled more safety information than did those in the experimental groups. Arousal of fear appeared to interfere with information processing of safety information. However news could be used to teach children to exercise their ability in taking others' perspectives.