In the News-Cartoons and Violence

Study Finds Violence in Cartoons Does Not Make Them More Appealing to Children

Researchers at Indiana University, Purdue University, and two out-of-state institutions have found in a study of children's viewing habits that cartoon violence does not make a program more enjoyable or appealing. Andrew J. Weaver, assistant professor of telecommunications at Indiana University, and his co-authors suggest that action--often associated with or conflated with violence--is more likely what appeals to children when they're watching cartoons. You can read a more complete discussion and summary in the journal Media Psychology and in a number of articles on the Internet, at the IU Newsroom, TG Daily, and Irish Health among them.

Copyright 2011 Terence E. Hanley