Cognitive Developmental Stages in TV Viewing
Preschoolers (2- to 5-years-old)
- Dramatic increases in visual attention to TV
- Not yet well-developed story schemata
- Retain relatively little central content of drama
- Gradually increase recall of incidental content of drama
- Rarely or incorrectly infer missing content
- Do not infer relations among scenes well
- Typically recall isolated events rather than plots
- Tend to prefer magazine formats rather than plotted programmes
- Representations of dramatic programmes incomplete and disorganized
- Retain more stereotypical information than older children
- Common knowledge scripts feature more in their recall than with older children
- Can interpret some formal features of TV
- Comprehension better when content accompanied by salient formal features
- In process of learning that what’s on TV is generally not real
- High attention to ads
- 4- to 5-year-olds can usually distinguish between programmes and ads
- Have higher trust in ads than older children
- Lower recall and understanding of ads than older children
Young Children (6- to 8-years-old)
- Attention to TV continues to increase
- Attention is better with narration for 5- to 7-year-olds (audio and visual interdependence)
- Audio probably helps with monitoring of attention-worthy content
- Gains in comprehension skills but comprehension and retention still not great
- Recall of incidental content increases
- Inferences about missing content improve
- Inferences about relationships among scenes improve
- Story schemata improve so that well-developed by 7- to 8-years-old
- Like plotted programmes and continuity rather than segmented content
- Have better recall of plot than preschoolers
- Comprehension of content best when accompanied by salient formal features
- Greater understanding of formal features than preschoolers
- Judgements of social realism of drama may decrease
- Attention to ads still high: attention shifts to TV when ads start
- 6- to 8-year-olds can usually distinguish ads from programmes
- Lower recall and understanding of ads than older children
- Have higher trust in ads than older children, though by 7- to 9-years-old begin to understand persuasive intent of ads
Older Children (9- to 12-years-old)
- Attention to TV starts to level off and decline after about 10-years-old
- Capacity to process and monitor the audio and video channels more independently for attention-worthy content
- 8- to 14-year-olds improve in comprehension and recall of central content
- Decrease in recall of incidental content by 8- to 14-year-olds
- Story schemata are better developed
- Increased ability to infer missing content
- Better able to infer relations between scenes
- More complete and more organized representations of dramatic programmes
- Less stereotypical information retained
- Common knowledge scripts less likely to be recalled as plot events
- Comprehension of content less closely associated with salient features
- Social realism judgements of TV drama may continue to decrease
- Attention to ads starts to decrease
- Generally shift away from TV or tune out at onset of ads
- Readily perceive differences between programmes and ads
- Less trusting of ads
- Better recall and understanding of ads
- Understand persuasive intent, and, near adolescence, common persuasive techniques
Adapted from: Doubleday, Catherine N & Kristin L Droege (1993):
‘Cognitive Developmental Influences on Children’s Understanding of
Television’. In Gordon L Berry & Joy Keiko Asamen (Eds.):
Children and Television. Newbury Park, CA: Sage, pp. 23-37
Daniel Chandler
March 1997