Research On Values In Cartoons And Its Relationship With Children’s Pro-social Tendencies

With the rapid development of electronic media technology, mass communications has become a powerful social effect. The primary and secondary period is critical for the development of positive moral character, and is also the critical period of the moral education. As a major TV media for children, the cartoon plays a vital role in children’s moral education. The present research uses questionnaire, experiment and other research methods to analyze the positive effects of moral character in cartoons in terms of value, and discusses the relationship between the values in cartoon which children prefer and their pro-social behavior.Study1compared the differences of values in cartoons in three decades, which is from1980to1989, from1990to1999and from2000to2009, by evaluating27Chinese television cartoons. The results show that the frequency of violence mentioned in the cartoons increased after slightly decreased in three decades. While the content of eroticism, vulgar and superstition are less involved in cartoons. In short, there are few negative effects in cartoons except for violence. Furthermore,1990s and2000s lay more stresses on respect and citizenship than1980s, but there was no significant difference between1990s and2000s.Study2aimed to explore the relationship between the values in cartoon which children prefer and their pro-social behavior by questionnaires. Correlation analysis results shows that there was a positive correlation between the values score of respect and the children’s compliant pro-social behavior. In other words, the more emphasis on the value of respect in cartoons which children preferred, the more compliant pro-social behavior the children do.Study3tested the short-term effect of pro-social cartoons on children’s pro-social behavior. It turned out that there was no significant difference in emotion between two groups. While the intention of pro-social behavior in the group which watched pro-social cartoons are higher than the group which watched violent cartoons.