Researchers Find Infants Pick Up On Emotions Around Them

What do infants learn as they watch people talk or act in a certain manner? If a television is on in a room, how much do infants pay attention to it?

A new study led by Donna Mumme, assistant professor of psychology at Tufts University, found that 12-month-olds are able to observe the emotional reactions on TV or of the people around them -- and they use that information to draw implications for their own actions.

The study, co-authored by Anne Fernald of Stanford University, is published in the January/February issue of Child Development.

Much of the time infants are awake, they watch the actions and reactions of other people -- a parent smiling after tasting soup or a baby sitter gasping in alarm as a glass falls and breaks. Infants also observe the actions and reactions of real and animated characters on television.

"Children as young as 12 months are making decisions based on the emotional reactions of adults around them. It turns out they can also use emotional information they pick up from television," Mumme said. "This means that adults might want to think twice before they speak in a harsh or surprising tone or let an infant see television programs meant for an older person."

Mumme and Fernald designed two studies for 10- and 12-month-old infants to examine whether they paid attention to what an actress on a videotape looked at and how she reacted to objects such as a blue ball or a yellow garden hose attachment. The actress reacted with neutral, positive or negative responses (in terms of her voice tone and facial expressions) toward one object while ignoring another equally appealing one.

The infants got to play with duplicate objects and they played happily with objects to which the actress responded positively or neutrally. However, after watching the actress respond negatively to an object, infants avoided that object and chose to play with other ones instead.

"What is remarkable is that 1-year-olds paid attention to televised stimuli and used information presented on television to guide their subsequent interactions," Mumme said. "This shows that television is not just a useful and engaging medium; it also carries messages that can influence the behaviors of very young children."

The researchers also studied 10-month-old infants, but they found that they did not pick up on the actress' emotion and chose all toys objectively.


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For all those parents on the org!

TV is dangerous. Advertisers, MTV, Corporate News - National AND LOCAL, it's all manipulative. And it stays with kids through adulthood.

A very powerful and dangerous medium if you don't know how decipher things presented to you.

Crucial skill when watching TELEVISION: CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS.

Advertisers wanting your kids mind. Wouldn't you protect your kids from a dangerous stranger?

Then, well, advertisers and TV producers are after them too. Influencing them, giving them desires...that could lead to negative results.

MTV is a prime example of that. Soap Opera's with their over the top drama...Nike selling you a fantasy, toy makers, McDonalds and their crap, Soprano's TV violence influence, DisneyLand saying they are the happiest place on earth! Shouldn't that be your home?

Just remember that movies and TV makers have total control of what they capture. Behind the square screen is a totally different envirnment. "Cut!" after every scene...then they go eat fancy lunches.

It's ALL an illusion. Don't let them take your mind!


"Don't let your children watch television until they know how to read...

Or else all they'll know how to do is cuss, fight and breed!
No child is bad from the beginning... they only imitate their atmosphere"

- Prince "Sexuality" 1981

Santa Clause

Easter Bunny

Flyingcloud, I agree with all of your points (and the article). I really try to monitor what my 3 1/2 year old watches because of all of the garbage on tv these days. Once in awhile though, when I'm busy doing something else and not paying attention) he sometimes gets exposed to a show that is inappropriate. Believe me, my son Michael picks up on all of the negatives.
For example, occasionally he'll say in a stern voice something such as, "You get over here right now buster". That definately isn't a phrase that my husband and I use, so he must be getting it from tv. There are many wonderful children's programs out there that my son does watch in which he learns positive things from, so tv isn't always bad. What it amounts to is that parents need to be familiar with the content of what their children are watching and not let them watch unsuitable shows.
Another thing I would like to mention is that just recently, my son Michael wants me to buy everything that he sees on tv commercials (what a pain!). Yes, television is indeed a very manipulating almost brainwashing medium.
In my opinion, the idiot box is partially the downfall of our society today.

Phantasy said:

It's so powerful that people think it's okay and that it can't be all that harmful. It's all glimmery and it has all these colors and effects, eye candy, over produced videos and commercials with "cool" songs...

The best you can do is start discussing what they see in television or in magazines.

It's MEDIA LITERACY.

And media is ANYTHING that provides a medium of mass communication, mass media.

Whether it's a magazine, a newspaper, an internet site, a flyer, a tv commercial, a movie, a billboard, a banner, news cast, a documentary, a radio show, a radio commercial...it's all mass media and it all wants to control your life or influence you in someway, whether positive or negative.

Somethings you can accept as non-damaging, but there are more that are selling you as an adult or young adult, teenager, a lifestyle or in the case of a child, a cool toy, or McHamburgers, etc.

It's just choosing what your child may take the wrong way and explaining to the child what may be really behind it.

And then again, there are things that you can allow them to enjoy, I mean, you know, you can't deny kids that special toy they will always enjoy.

It's tricky but I think somethings are questionable as too how harmless or harmful they really are. Take for instance those extreme video games, or what the US Army allows kids to download, a military shoot em up video PC game at their website...that's kind of subversive.


See these informative sites:
http://www.medialiteracy.com
http://www.medialit.org

This is a great post...thanks for sharing it.