In his new book published by Wyston Books, Inc., “Through Children’s Minds: The Marketing and Creation of Children’s Products”, Dr. Stanley Goldstein states that television’s harmful effect on children has been greatly exaggerated. Rather than being a blank slate which slavishly incorporates behavior and attitudes, children relate to television with increasing sophistication and beliefs which mirror those of their parents.
In his new book published by Wyston Books, Inc., “Through Children’s Minds: The Marketing and Creation of Children’s Products,” Dr. Stanley Goldstein states that television’s harmful effect on children has been greatly exaggerated. Rather than being a blank slate which slavishly incorporates behavior and attitudes, children relate to television with increasing sophistication and beliefs which mirror those of their parents.
Goldstein states that children early determine that the function of television is to entertain and not to instruct. They ignore programs which aren’t “fun” and require a different orientation. News programs and documentaries, which demand cognitive effort, are not focused on unless the item is local or of particular interest and meaningful in their lives. The incidental violence in a TV series is quickly identified as fictional and considered a ritual of identification, playing a role similar to the hat which the hero always wears or the recurring phrase they use. Thus a brutal scene on television is related to differently than if the same scene were read, when it would be experienced emotionally.
Goldstein states that children orient to television as if it lacked consequence, an activity to be engaged in when they are bored in order to pass the time or as background for something else. They ignore most of its rapidly changing scenes, like a car driver who is traveling along a road which they have passed many times before.
Goldstein states that children possess increasing sophistication about advertising and, despite public concern about snacks being advertised, that television commercials have relatively little effect on children’s nutrition, the major influences being their parents and family meals.
But children’s thinking does differ profoundly from that of adults and to successfully market and create children’s products requires knowledge of these differences, Goldstein states. In his book he details these differences, and explains how children relate to television and describes what they enjoy. These include commercials which children generally consider thirty second entertainment.
Goldstein states that though children’s behavior can seem quirky and inexplicable, it possesses an inherent logic which can be understood by adults.
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- Courtesy of PRWeb