Peculiarities of Perception of Cartoons by Younger and Older Schoolchildren

Abstract

The problem of determining particularities of the effect of media texts on schoolchildren is relevant due to the active involvement of modern children in the media world. Cartoons are the core product of media consumption in the younger age group, while the mechanisms and methods for determining their developmental potential or psychologically destructive effects on children are under-investigated. The article presents a psychological analysis of animated films on the subject of insomnia: A Well-Tried Remedy (Vernoye sredstvo) (1982) and Insomnia from the Mi-Mi-Bear (Mi-mi-mishki) series (2015). The results of a comparative empirical study of the perceptions of the characters of those cartoons by younger and older schoolchildren were described. 44 people participated in the research: young schoolchildren of the second grade (N=21, ==8.4 y/o) and eleventh graders (N=23, = 17.5). It was revealed that cartoons, similar in plot and characters, produce varied psychological effect on younger schoolchildren due to differences in the means of artistic mediation of communicated meanings. Judgment about less critical perception of younger schoolchildren than that of the older ones was empirically substantiated.