Mass Media Influence Upon Personality Development of Children

Education and Applied Didactics EAD 2017, 1(1), June, 7-25

MASS MEDIA INFLUENCE UPON PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN

Karla Melinda Barth  Nicoleta Ramona Ciobanu University of Oradea, Romania

Abstract We live in a world that moves constantly in a fast and technologized manner and parents often do not have time to deal with their children. Resources which remain to keep them busy are television, computers or gadgets that are everywhere and with whom children spend a lot of time. The cartoons are another favourite way to spend the free time from the perspective of children. However, not all have the predictability desired by parents. The present study is an applied theoretical foray wishing to explore the main categories as media personality acts on its role developing children's personality, and also develop an analysis the most known cartoons and if they have an educational or non-educational value.

Keywords: television, personality, cartoons

Media

Media is the plural form of a word borrowed from Latin, which has been taken over in Romanian, meaning “mass (ways of communication) communication media”. The word can be used if needed in singular when it says in English "medium" and in Romanian "environment". For example: "To advertise the Xyz company used as a medium for the masses, especially radio. Another example: "... in the Romanian media ...” . Media (or mass media) includes all sources/public information environments that reach a very large number of people, such as television, radio, internet, newspapers, in which we include regular appearances as

Correspondence concerning this paper should be addressed to:  PhD, University of Oradea, Faculty of Humanistic and Social Sciences, Educational Sciences Department. Address: Universităţii Street, no.1, 410087, Oradea, Bihor County, Romania. E-mail: [email protected] 7 K. M. Barth & N. R. Ciobanu / EAD, 2017, 1(1), 7-25 ______newspapers (e.g. daily or weekly), magazines, or lampoons. This implies that the product is readily available and is affordable for all social groups (“Mass- media”, 2017).

Fundamental media categories

Television The word "television" comes from the Greek "tele" = distance and from the Latin "visio" = vision/sight and requires a telecommunication system for transmitting and receiving moving pictures and sound through remote. This transmission can be carried out via radio or via cable television networks.

Childhood programs The category of programs developed for children are cartoons, which involves static and moving elements, comic frame or film sequences on film. Classification of childhood programs. Because of the character that cartoons have, the language and the type of behaviour that is shown, they can be classified as follows (Asencio Chilan, 2012, p. 16): - personalized educational program; - personalized programs without an educational character.

Television in education

The traditional concept of what was considered to be the educational infantile television program was defined by adults, being associated with the school environment and having vertical designs being considered both qualitative and educative, when improving academic achievement in school. In today's society, cartoons are attractive, but not rich in values, sometimes negatively influencing children's personality development. Children get to spend a lot of time in front of the small screen substituting for reading activities, extra school work, and games or interacting with others.

Television in learning

Television is a window towards other children (Asencio Chilan, 2012, p. 20), a world that allows children to develop sensitivity and knowledge such as 8 K. M. Barth & N. R. Ciobanu / EAD, 2017, 1(1), 7-25 ______ecology, animal world, to develop skills, and formation of new values. Television is an integral part of our society, not only because of the information, but also because of its humorous characters, entertainment, education, direct or indirect in various fields. Parents consider watching television, as a fun and safe activity for their children; because they spend a longer time watching TV, while adults have other domestic activities. Undoubtedly it is necessary to take into account the emotional and neurological development, because it differs from a child to an adult. Brain maturity is completed in about 18-20 years. This process is evolutionary cortical, from the back area to the frontal area, which means that the prefrontal areas are the last to mature. The prefrontal cortex plays an important role in higher brain function, cognition (behaviour control, reflection, judgment, etc.). Regarding children less than 5 years, there is a capacity for fantasy and perception of images on TV as real and true, affecting their personality and language. There is a possibility that they learn things that are not good, often distinguish between fantasy presented on television and the real life they live, influenced by thousands of ads they see annually, many of which are related to alcohol , tobacco, sweets, eat fast food or toys.

Television and family

The child needs to discuss the content of television programs with their parents because they can see the impact that television programs have over the child's development. Parents can choose the shows and cartoons which the child is watching and in this way they are creating a secure environment both intellectually and emotionally. Each parent has asked himself, from time to time these questions: - Is it good for children to watch television shows or programs? - How many hours should be given to a child to watch television? - What could I use to fill the child's free time, so he will not become addicted to TV? Most parents ask themselves these questions only when the child starts primary school and wakes up to the need to keep up with school, but these questions should appear before this period. The child may get addicted to television; this situation is quite difficult for parents, because it means changing habits and setting standards and rules related to time spent in front of the small 9 K. M. Barth & N. R. Ciobanu / EAD, 2017, 1(1), 7-25 ______screen. In preschool, because the child spends a lot of time watching TV he may lose many opportunities to develop activities with a rich intellectual and emotional input (Asencio Chilan, 2012, p. 22).

Television and formation of values

Regarding this issue there are different opinions about the influence of television in shaping children's values. Quintana (1989) stated that television is a concern which takes much of the evil that occurs in society (the crisis of values, atrophy of imagination, offenders, increasing aggression, violence, etc.). Others, such as Gomez and Dominguez (1996), believe that television has educational opportunities and could be a powerful tool against social impairment (as cited in Asencio Chilan, 2012). There is another point of view, of Murillo (1996, as cited in Asencio Chilan, 2012, pp. 22-23), who had an attitude so radical, like others, he claimed that television does not have a negative impact, or positive impact; he believes the impact of television on training the values is neutral. In this regard it is argued that human nature has a mechanism or a level of acceptance that allows decoupling from what this medium to might convey. Television can be positive or negative, depending on the coordination that exists between programs which are available to pupils in school and what programs children are allowed to watch at home. The first programs are chosen by specialists, and others have a varied character, discrepancies may exist in the final effect if selected programs were not appropriate content. The authors believe it would be very beneficial, as most of the work that teachers can do, parents should also learn to select quality programs accessible to children on the basis of the evolutionary process and the time spent watching TV programs. There is a possibility that in the absence of this selectivity, the child does not develop sufficient critical capacity to be able to discriminate content, adopting a passive attitude of total acceptance of information provided by the media. Good coordination between the two social agents, family and school, creates the possibility of a potential advantage of television (as cited in Asencio Chilan, 2012, pp. 22-23).

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The language used for childhood programs

Children imitate cartoon neutral language. Experts and parents say the following: children attending kindergarten or school, are expressing themselves more often with terms coming from the cartoons they watch. This language is called neutral language. Many teachers and parents are wondering where to draw the line between this language and its effect on language learning, supporting the idea that this type of language could be applied for pedagogic purposes if stimulated conditions required were used (Asencio Chilan, 2012, p. 25). In a longitudinal study, Wright et al. (2001) researched the impact of education on vocabulary on 240 children, aged 2 and 4 from low-income families. The students were analyzed for a period of 3 years to established if the children who watched Sesame Street between ages 2 to 3 had acquired special skills. Children who watched educational broadcasts frequently when they were 2-3 years old, fared significantly better on tests of language. This contrasted with those 4-5 year old children who watched broadcasts geared for a general audience that had reduced communication skills compared to the other category of children. This data reinforces the idea that opportunities that are opened earlier are more successful for students. In Britain, research related to language development confirmed these results based on direct comments made by parents of the children. The study by Marsh et al., (2005, as cited in Kondo & Steemers, 2007, pp. 5-7) was based on how children use modern technology and have confirmed that 79% of parents of babies under 6 years of age have seen benefits and improvements in speech and language acquisition of their children. Parents have confirmed that children were interested in the content of programs they watched; they were attracted to and interested in the activities of singing, dancing, copying the behaviour of the characters, imitating characters’ responsible behaviour enthusiastically, and role play. In relation to television language, parents have confirmed that children's language was in accordance with the requirements of the curriculum in Britain: - use of words, gestures, simple questions - imitating rhythm, songs, stories sung, - repeatedly identifying with characters children enjoyed listening to and understanding oral language, listening and responding to the requirements of vocabulary development, 11 K. M. Barth & N. R. Ciobanu / EAD, 2017, 1(1), 7-25 ______

- looking for meanings of new words and language use in the story of events; use language to address issues, debates - and expressing feelings and sound association with the corresponding letter ability to understand and trace the action. These studies show that under certain conditions, television can provide opportunities for developing children's language, but it requires more thorough research on certain effects and causality (as cited in Kondo & Steemers, 2007, pp. 5-7).

Cartoons

Drawing definition: 1. Graphical depiction of an object through a combination of straight or curved lines, dots, spots etc. ◊ Free Drawing = Drawing made freehand without instruments; = drawing is drawing to scale plan of an object, of a building etc.; cartoon = sequence of drawings that represent phases of a movement and when played sequentially on the screen, giving the impression of living beings in film animation. 2. The art and technique of drawing. 3. Plan a building. 4. ornamentation of fabrics. [Pl. Us, var. S. N. appointments /

The history of cartoons

Cartoons have appeared before cinema. It attributes its paternity, to the visionary Frenchman Emile Reynaud who brought the illusion drawing moving to another level, combining the show with drama in an era in which the animation was just over optical illusion to demonstrate scientific theories and to amuse children. Emil Reynaud invented and designed between 1892 and 1902 the Praxinoscope, which is the first animated quality image and Lumier designed a cartoon on a transparent gelatine screen, creating bright pantomime cartoons as precursors. With the help of the Praxinoscope, Reynaud designed theatres full of spectators with lights and mirrors, more than 500 successive drawn pictures using a manual device. His audience was amazed; he performed a 15 minute show, with simple love stories and comedy, with young romantic people and villains.

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Edwin Es. Porter made the first animated objects to company Edison, revolutionizing the Reynaud’s Paxinoscope using the projection of images, frame by frame, managed to create in 1905 "How Jones lost his tag rolls" and "The Whole Dam Family and the Dam Dog", the information content from the written letters appear randomly cut and they moved in 16 frames/second, aligning itself to compose each phrase. Walt Disney’s animated scenarios were the first to broadcast cartoons in the early 30s, taking the first writer and animator was Webb Smith, followed by Winsor Mc Kay, creator and designer of "Gertie the Dinosaur", and Otto Messer, author of "Felix the Cat" (1914). The first of Disney animations were in 1928, "Mickey", and the first sound animated film was "Steam Boat Willie". Austrians Max and Dave Fliescher gave birth to some very popular and enduring characters, making competing with drawings of Walt Disney, "Coco the Clown" (1920-1939), “Seductive Betty Boop” (1930-1939) and "Popeye the Sailor Man". Since 1940, Disney has felt the thrill of competition with Walter Lantz, the maker of "Panda Andy” the1941 animation series, "Woody Woodpecker", introducing sadism and "Furore”, a destructive woodpecker, followed by the series "Tom & Jerry" created by William Hanna and Joe Barbera ("Los dibujos”, 2017).

Classification of cartoons

Programs for children are summarized into two main categories:

Educative programs There are many educational programs that stimulate cognitive and motor development of the child, but also the development of certain skills and new skills. Some examples of programs that fall into this category are (Asencio Chilan, 2012, p. 25):

Dora the Explorer Dora is the explorer, who develops the cognitive skills of children learning English language and spatial orientation. The series is designed for preschool children and created by Chris Gifford, Valerie Walsh Valdes and Erik Weiner.

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Dora is a 7 year old Latina girl, Dora Marquez, which together with her friend Botas (a purple monkey anthropomorphic that is 5 years old), embarks on a journey in every episode in which they propose to find something lost or helps Botas to carry out a mission. In a format reminiscent of a part of a interactive computer game, in every episode Dora asks her friends and viewers to find new places using the map, which is actually another character, and to help them overcome any difficulties. Another important objective of the program is the entertaining teaching of English for Hispanic children (in the original drawing) (interactive "Dora, la exploradora ”, 2017).

Little Einsteins Little Einsteins is an animated cartoon aired on Disney Channel's Playhouse Disney block in the morning that began with the movie directly, "Our Big Huge Adventure" (Our Big Huge Adventure), released on the 23th of August, 2005. It is a series for preschool education, made for Douglas Wood television that created the characters and concept. The series is produced by the winner of Emmy, the director of Olexa Hewryk and Dora the Explorer, and Curious Pictures, The Baby Einstein Company ("Micile genii”, 2016).

Mickey Mouse Club House Mickey Mouse Club House is a cartoon created and produced by Walt Disney Television Animation, which premiered on Disney Channel on the 05th of May 2006. The program is part of the series Playhouse Disney (now Disney Junior) for preschoolers. The production program was suspended for four months in the spring of 2009, following the death of Wayne Allwin voice of Mickey Mouse in 1977. Bret Iwan will be the voice of Mickey Mouse for the following episodes. Each episode helps viewers to "solve a specific problem of age, using the basics, such as identifying shapes and counting to ten." The series uses a curriculum of cognitive development, social development, and imagination, and creates learning opportunities. Once the problem was explained, Mickey invites viewers to join the Mouseketeer, a form of head giant Mickey whose primary function is to distribute the necessary instruments (a collection of objects needed to solve the problem), then he asks for help: "Oh Toddles!" Mickey's name, where he is hiding and fly to the screen so that the viewer can choose the tool that Mickey required. Once instruments are displayed on the 14 K. M. Barth & N. R. Ciobanu / EAD, 2017, 1(1), 7-25 ______screen Toddles is quickly evacuated (a small extension shaped like Mickey's head). One tool is "The little secret tool", which is a surprise instrument represented by a question mark. Mickey and friends have previously appeared on television in Mickey Mouse Works (1999-2000) and the House of Mouse (2001-2003) (“La casa”, 2017).

Lazy Town Lazy Town is a cartoon from Iceland. Its central characters are Stephanie, Sportacus and Rotten Robbie. Lazy Town is a combination of live action, puppetry, and computer-generated cartoon with a story full of energy. The series promotes a healthy lifestyle through a fun mix of music and comedy which has an exact story that is well placed in a dynamic colourful world, turned upside-down! In Romania, Lazy Town made its debut on the 19th of May 2008 on Jetix. Currently, the cartoon is broadcasted every morning on Disney Channel. On the 1st of September 2010 Lazy Town started its first broadcast on Disney Junior, and on the 25th February 2013 it started being broadcasted on the Boomerang channel as part of the block Cartoonito ("Orășelul leneș", 2016).

Doc McStuffins Doc McStuffins is a children's animated television series produced by Brown Bag Films. It was created and produced by the winner of the Emmy Award and Humanitas Award - Chris Nee and it was premiered on the 23 of March 2012 on Disney Channel and Disney Junior. This series is about a six year old girl, who can "fix" toys, with a little help from her friends. One day, McStuffins decided she wants to become a doctor, just like her mother. She claimed to be a doctor for toys and dolls. When she put the stethoscope on toys, dolls, and stuffed animals, they came to life in a magical way and it cannot communicate with them. With a little help from her friends, the stuffed animals, Hallie, Lambie and Chilly - Doc McStuffins helps the toys to "feel good" offering them treatment and makes diagnoses from the great book called "The Big Book of Boo Boos". Each episode is 11 minutes and includes original songs such as "Just in time for check-up", "I feel better" and introduction in Season 2, "Tell me what's wrong." Doc McStuffins offers advice to viewers about how to stay healthy ("Doc McStuffins", 2017).

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Non educational programs Such programs are loaded with violence and foul language, inappropriate for children under the age of 13. In this category we include: a. Anime Anime are cartoons of Japanese origin who were born in the twentieth century, characterized by the combination of hand drawings and computer animation. They rise, most often in series of comics called "manga". When a manga series has a success, it is translated to the screen, and this is how "anime" is created. They are structured in successive episodes, following the thread of the action. Manga is the Japanese word for comics (sometimes known as komikku). Outside Japan, the term is used strictly for the comics of Japanese origin. Manga is created from the mixture of Japanese art ukiyo-e and foreign styles of drawing, and took its present form shortly after the Second World War. It consists primarily of black and white drawings, besides the covers and sometimes the first few pages; in some cases, it is fully coloured. Unlike the US and Europe where comics were considered for children, in Japan manga sites have addressed changes in the age range, reaching to be read by children, teens, and adults, thus creating specialized publishers for a target audience. Japanese names for these age groups have come to be used in the West on manga sites, they are the following ("Manga”, 2016): - Kodomo - for children - Shōjo - young and teenage girls - Shōnen - boys and adolescents - Josei / Redisu / Redikomi - addressed to young women aged 18-30, and men still read - Seinen - young men aged 18-30 but reaching an audience of up to 40 years. Pioneering cartoons took place in 1918, and the first anime feature film appeared in 1932. Anime content is varied, but most often is based on science fiction, robots, giants, flying characters, and superheroes, and even sex life Hetai anime type. The age category anime is dedicated to is between 4 years and aged people, depending on the specific design. However anime cartoons are considered to be the most violent.

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Astro Boy was the first broadcasted anime. It was considered to be the first anime, lasting 20 minutes, and the first productions were black and white. The creator of this character was Osamu Tezuka (God of Manga) in the 60s, having tremendous success and turning in one of the anime production model, supported by Rintaro (Hayashi Shigeyuki). The first episode was issued in 1963, just after he caused a stir among technology enthusiasts manga version of comics, though, with the arrival of this series in the United States, NBC put censorship on it, dismissing it as unhuman, degrading animals and slapstick to enable transmission and children's access to this animated series. The action involved a scientist who seized dogs and turned them into Cyborg soldiers; action which did not at all thrill the people at NBC (Cordova, 2016). b. Dragon Ball Z). These cartoons are loaded with violence, having an ambiguous characters and exhibiting antisocial behaviours. The Japanese anime seized the audience of young viewers of Disney programs; this was due to the type of action presented, the new types of characters, but also the load with violent situations, firearms, conflict situations, and bleeding victims. This anime has been loved by children but denigrated by parents because it induces behaviours of social violence. In some sequences from Dragon Ball Z you could easily see battles, ferocious animals, transformations of the characters, and persecution. Observing these images, we can easily identify cruelty, brutality, and lack of rules (Asencio Chilan, 2012, p.17-18). c. Doraemon It is considered a Japanese manga created in 1970 by Fujiko. The episode has a simple action. Novita is the main character; he is a normal boy, but facing difficulties at school because he does not prepare his homework. One day, Doraemon came out from the drawer of his desk, a strange creature, a combination of a robot and blue cat. During the action we see fights, persecution, blackmail, threats, and even the use of weapons. Doraemon has a pocket from which he brings out objects to help Novita solve his problems. He is always angry and irritated due the strife that he has with his mother, unhappy with the marks he gets ("Los dibujos", 2017). d. Simpsons Family It is an American animated series, created by Matt Groening, conceived especially for adults, in which we meet a series of very different characters, 17 K. M. Barth & N. R. Ciobanu / EAD, 2017, 1(1), 7-25 ______with different cultures and conceptions. The action is based on everyday life of an American family. It is the most productive American animated television series, counting 25 seasons and 500 episodes. It was voted best TV series of the twentieth century by the magazine "Time" in 1998 and is regarded by many critics as one of the most influential series of all time. The film followed the adventures of a "private" family (one of the first mottos of the show is: "We put the FUN in DysFUNctional” (crossword untranslatable in Romanian, a word by word translation would be: "We put the fun in dysfunctional), from the working class, glancing a very satirical look towards the world they live in. The Simpsons mock almost everything related to American popular culture, most of the characters being stereotypes. The series has helped to raise standards of animation for adults, preparing the way for other cartoons like the South Park. In Romania the series was aired between 1993 and 1999, being broadcasted the series from 1 to 6. In 2010 the public television from Bucharest resumed broadcasting the series with the series from 7 to 11 ("Familia Simpson", 2016).

Why do we like cartoons?

Cartoons are simply animated. Not only because it uses a richness of colours and shapes that captures visual and aural attention of children, but also because of the many short songs and background sounds used. All these facilitate the sustained attention of the child and reduced cognitive effort, delivering ease of tracking episodes. Dolls with different signs marked on the body, women in short skirts and big breasts, men which in contact with water turned into different creatures, children who use a bad language and criticize politics, creatures with rare names that struggle to destroy invented creatures, these are some of the reasons why children are interested in cartoons, but also these same reasons bring cartoons into polemics about whether they are more or less educational (Cordova, 2016).

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Attraction In a world where television was turned into the most common activity of leisure for children, the biggest attraction is directed to cartoons (Cordova, 2016). We spend time watching TV substituting the need for companionship and relaxation, but also to escape and reduce the effects of a stressful environment. Studies conducted in the UK found that most children are watching cartoons when they are bored, looking for pleasure and awakening interest in cartoons watched rather than in the educational activities in which they can participate (Kondo & Steemers, 2007, p. 14).

Content Children watch TV because it is exciting, loaded with action, comedy and induce a state of good mood. However, it also satisfies their desire for knowledge and finding comfort. Some researchers say that it is a way of combating a hostile social environment. From educative cartoons up to the ones loaded with violence or full of humour, the content of animated cartoons are varied and because of this, may have a violent, funny, topical, or fancy character, which vary according to sex or age (as cited in Kondo & Steemers, 2007, p. 14).

Violent character TV violence can have an impact on children, especially on their behaviour. Most research had as interest the effects on children's behaviour. For many people, the violence "turns" ordinary cartoon into something more “attractive” which benefits wider audience productions, but which in turn creates controversy among the population. Luis Ventura, the editor of the journal "La Revista" from Colombia, considers that "The cartoons are no longer an attractive and educational company dedicated to children, they are exposed to unscrupulous content contaminated with illicit messages with a less harmonious elaboration, all these incorporating violence.” It is very important for parents to supervise the type of cartoons their children watch, because most do not have control over what they see, which does not forbid terrible animated characters, full of violence, anti-social behaviours, and more frequently sexual contents. 19 K. M. Barth & N. R. Ciobanu / EAD, 2017, 1(1), 7-25 ______

It is essential to understand what violence is. ”Violence is an unfair act which brings injury or offends a person” (Cordova, 2016). Violence, violent. 1. What occurs or acts in power, with intensity, with violence; intense, strong. (About colours, light etc.) Strikingly, screamed; hard, live strong. 2. (About beings) who has a compulsion threads that easily gets angry, impulsive, brutal, irascible. (About manifestations of beings) that shows violent, impulsive, irrepressible aggression. 3. What is done with force; brutal, forcibly? Violent death = death caused by an external factor (traumatic, physically, chemically, mechanically or mentally). [: Vi-o-] - From fr. Violent it. violentus, violento (Romanian Academy, 2009). Is this true? How many of us have not heard of cases of violence influenced by action cartoon? We have all heard of cases in which children have thrown themselves from the window, hoping that they can fly like their favourite characters, or children who imitated actions, behaviour, language, or even the way of thinking of characters (Cordova, 2016).

Comic character When the child chooses a certain type of cartoon, for most of them, the content and the comic characters shows interest, even if they are sometimes associated with criticisms to train other characters. The attraction towards this type of cartoon comes from the amusement and the comic action they broadcast (Kondo & Steemers, 2007, p. 15).

Timeliness The influence of everyday life is important to note because it highlights topical issues, criticism of the government or a state, of sexual minorities and religions. All these concerns are expressed in a humorous manner and are particularly destined for adults, presumably to change attitudes and mentalities, to attract a diverse audience or to be used strictly as a mean of expression. Some cartoon characters smoke or consume alcohol, thus arousing children's interest in experiencing this type of activity (Cordova, 2016).

Fantasy Most of cartoons are based on a story full of fantasy characters flying, super-heroes, creatures from other planets, with extraordinary powers, moving 20 K. M. Barth & N. R. Ciobanu / EAD, 2017, 1(1), 7-25 ______away from reality, causing increased imagination of children, which is not an adverse factor, except if they focus on the wrong things (Cordova, 2016).

Variety by gender Mostly, the stories from anime series, have a main character, usually one male or female, human or less human, making it more attractive to the public, addressing both girls and boys by characters varied and appear throughout the series, to the public interest for them, but separating them at the same time, the series destined for males is abundant in heroes male and specific activities to them and to the public, while females are relying on female characters, famous humanized dolls or specific activities of this category of audience (Cordova, 2016).

Age category It's essential for the animated series to contain information regarding to what age groups are intended, and to display this information at serving time, but especially in the specific time interval. Age category is designated in accordance with the content of the cartoon, just as there are programs for the general public, without a specific age needed, there must exist well established categories for each series or each episode, when action no longer matches the specifics of what was mentioned before (Cordova, 2016). In early childhood, individuals have an imitative behaviour, so television content is used for building and living in imaginary worlds with the purpose of the imaginative play. Television is representing a way of expressing feelings and fantasies. After Huntermann and Morgan, the game influenced by the media has an important role in the personal development, identity development by establishing models and role models, modelling is also what kids think about the environment and how to see themselves in this environment. In later childhood, children that are pursuing cartoons develop their critical thinking, they realise what they enjoy and what disgusts them, becoming more sophisticated viewers. As Buckingham said, this process develops their own identity, they become aware of the critical perspective of the content that is televised as part of their daily lives, judgments about reality that are presented more or less in TV, and they choose their favourite programs, which defines general cognitive function, and critical discussions. 21 K. M. Barth & N. R. Ciobanu / EAD, 2017, 1(1), 7-25 ______

You do not have to be a child to be able to watch cartoons. Depending on the specifics of cartoons, they are intended for multiple age groups (Kondo & Steemers, 2007, p. 15).

The impact Cartoons nowadays have a strong violent nature and children, due to imitative behaviour, most often are trying to match their favourite characters in action. They rarely express acquired behaviour around their parents most often their actions are witnessed by younger children or toys. Because of this, they do not understand the gravity of the actions they perform and the conclusion is they will not change their attitude as long as they are not warned and corrected. The same characters, also present children an inappropriate language for their age, with expressions that annoys or should be used in different situations. There are times when the same group of children are watching a particular cartoon, and if one of them did not see a particular episode, the discussions about the action of that episode, be it full of action, violence, or injuring a villain brings children's wellbeing, the satisfaction and triumph in front of that character. The effects of cartoons is not always negative, there are also cartoons that teach children about body parts, colours, sizes, music sounds; there are comic series for the whole family, the parents shall ensure the validation of the child's response to the demands of the character/characters redressing the child if he was wrong. There are also cartoons, such as those with hearty teddy, which teaches children about family, concern for others, about the love for other people, and trust. This family of bears also teaches children to not lose confidence in achieving the goals and to protect their own parents. The social-cognitive theory of Albert Bandura, states that people learn most behaviours by observing others, or observing what they see in television programs. Behaviours that are rewarded or not punished are the most attractive in being imitated. Social cognitive theory had a real support in the context of media violence. In his previous studies, Bandura presents to children a video in which another child applies fists and feet hits to a doll. There were two alternatives for ending this video. One where the child was rewarded for the behaviour he presented, and the children who have seen this alternative, when they had the opportunity to play with a doll, they applied the 22 K. M. Barth & N. R. Ciobanu / EAD, 2017, 1(1), 7-25 ______aggressive treatment observed. For children who have not seen the child being rewarded for aggressive behaviour, when they had the chance the imitating incidence observed was very small. Violence in the media is "rewarded" when the perpetrator fulfils the goal, gaining the admiration of others, avoiding the traps set by other characters or even where it is not punished for his actions. On the other hand, based on social cognitive theory, viewers will easily imitate villain behaviour, precisely because it has not been punished and has not brought negative consequences for the aggressor (Asencio Chilan, 2012, pp. 25-26). Vargas-Trujillo and Barrera (2005) also expose Bandura's theory of imitation and modelling psychologically, explaining what trends account for an important reference in understanding the processes after which television influences behaviour. The theory states the following: the vast majority of viewers are young people and they tend to copy themselves behaviours and characteristics of the characters seen on TV. Many of these young people are children and they copy and imitate behaviours of cartoon heroes, trying to resemble as much as they can of these characters, this is a psychological process known as identification. In the learning process, selection and observation, children show interest for those contents which motivate them, which are comical, which contain fantasy, adventure, action, and in which some of the characters or situations overlap situations in their real world or their imaginary world. Albero (2006) asserted that motivation may indicate a child's ability to understand and interpret what he sees in relation to what is assimilated by other means of knowledge. When the motivation for a TV program decreases the tendency of a child is to quit watching that television program. Also television offers adolescents and children role models, superheroes, superstar athletes, and characters with which to identify more easily based on skills they hold in order to obtain an acceptable social status and worth (as cited in Lorduy, 2011, p. 43). For a child to emulate this type of observed aggressive behaviour, there are a number of factors to consider, such as gender, the predisposition to aggression, family environment, and a multitude of other features. It is important to highlight that children's exposure to violent cartoons with this behavior does not inspire all children. This may be a risk factor, resulting in increasing the frequency of this type of behaviour. For example, if a group of 100 children was exposed to violent cartoons and a group of 100 children was 23 K. M. Barth & N. R. Ciobanu / EAD, 2017, 1(1), 7-25 ______not exposed to that type of media content, there is a possibility that the group of children who watched violent material to have children who do not imitate the behaviour; they restrained themselves. There is also the possibility that in the control group, some children exhibit aggressive behaviours in spite of not having viewed cartoons with aggressive behaviour (Asencio Chilan, 2012, p. 27).

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