Mediation: The Role of Significant Others

Abstract

Comments of a signijicant other can enhance learning; television may even be capable of mediating itself.With experience, viewers of television have been able to acquire the skills to interpret, evaluate, and appreciate what they watch, Adults may exercise such skills, for example, by asking of a program or commercial, "How realistic is the portrayed action and its consequences?' "Does it correspond with other sources of information?" and "Does it agree with my own attitudes and beliefs?" However, such attempts to analyze television content are at best infrequent among adults. Children have been observed to be even less sophisticated viewers. They often do not understand the plots of programs (see 26) or the implied consequences of portrayed acts (e.g., 4), and do not critically evaluate products advertised on TV (e.g., 42,43). They have a lower order of mental skills, fewer analytical abilities, and less experience with the world with which to interpret, understand, and critically appreciate television programming.Thus it may be argued that in order for children to be in any sense critical television viewers, they need adult assistance. Parents, older siblings, and teachers apparently can have a direct and substantial impact upon children's understanding of the factual and value implications of television portrayals (1,8,9,10,22,32,34,37) by providing a limited commentary on what children view. The mere presence of an adult as a co-viewer (see 2, 28) is insufficient-interaction directed toward the program is the critical element. However, families rarely discuss television commercials being viewed (42), and little family interaction occurs with regard to television content (19), despite documented paren-

Media Literacy Interventions: What makes them Boom or Boomerang?

“…There is considerable evidence that interventions can have an immediate influence the dependent measures. Studies have demonstrated an immediate change toward increased ability to recall information in the intervention (Abelman & Courtright, 1983;Rapaczynski et al, 1982;Valkenburg et al, 1998;Vooijs & van der Voort, 1993), a desired change in evaluation of a program (Nathanson, 2004;Nathanson & Cantor, 2000;Valkenburg et al, 1998), a harsher evaluation of violent characters or aggression (Nathanson, 2004;Nathanson & Cantor, 2000;Vooijs & van der Voort, 1993), a change toward positive attitudes toward nontraditional sex roles (Corder-Bolz, 1980;Nathanson, Wilson, McGee, & Sebastian, 2002), desired change in involvement and awareness (Nathanson, 2004), lowered belief that the portrayed violence was justified (Nathanson, 2004) and a decrease in aggressive behaviors (Robinson et al, 2001).…”

Family Conversations About Television

“…To the extent that children do absorb the information in such comments, cases of this kind may be seen as supplementing or reinforcing the formal educational process (a possibility also suggested by Lull, 1980). In this regard, it should be noted that there is considerable evidence, in the work of Corder-Bolz and others (see Corder-Bolz, 1980;Corder-Bolz and O'Bryant, 1978;Kerr et al, 1982), that informational commentary by parents or other influential adults does indeed increase the educational potential of children's television viewing.…”

Medijacijska uloga roditelja prilikom djetetovog gledanja televizije

“…U eksperimentalnim istraživanjima pokazalo se da zajedničko gledanje televizije, pri kojem roditelji usmjeravaju pažnju djeteta na najvažnije aspekte programa, komentiraju sadržaj i proširuju lekcije sadržane u programu, može povećati korist koju djeca imaju od gledanja obrazovnih programa jer poboljšava djetetovo razumijevanje radnje, likova i poučnih sadržaja, razlikovanje mašte od stvarnosti i dosjećanje detalja iz obrazovnih programa (Collins, Sobol i Westby, 1981;Corder-Bolz, 1980;Desmond, Hirsch, Singer i Singer 1987;Wright, St. Peters i Huston, 1990). U korelacijskim istraživanjima pokazalo se da je učestalije korištenje aktivne medijacije značajno povezano s većim skepticizmom prema televizijskim vijestima (Austin, 1993), pozitivnijom slikom prema vlastitom tijelu (Nathanson i Botta, 2003), prihvaćanjem netradicionalnih spolnih uloga te povećanjem prosocijalnog ponašanja (Nathanson, 2002).…”

“…Dodatno ohrabrujući je podatak da roditelji često s djetetom komentiraju sadržaje koje dijete gleda na televiziji, pokušavaju im pomoći da razumiju ono što gledaju, ukazuju na motivaciju likova i zašto su neke stvari koje likovi rade dobri ili loši. Naime, većina provedenih istraživanja govori u prilog koristi od aktivne medijacije u smislu jačanja djetetovih vještina kritičkog vrednovanja televizijskih sadržaja, ublažavanju negativnih efekata gledanja nasilja te više koristi od gledanja edukativnih programa (Austin i sur., 1990; Collins i sur., 1981;Corder-Bolz, 1980;Desmond i sur., 1987;Linder i Werner, 2012;Nathanson, 1999Nathanson, , 2002Nathanson i Cantor, 2003;Wright i sur., 1990). U skladu s time su i rezultati koje su dobili Sindik (2012) (2014).…”