Option 1) For 30
minutes, observe a child (under the age of 12) as he or she watches television.
Answer the following questions: 1) How did the child actually interact with the
television? In other words, how would you describe the actual process of
“watching” and the impact it had on the child? 2) Describe what was being
watched and then provide an assessment of what you think the child understood
or did not understand?Why did you arrive at these conclusions? Explain.
Option 2) Reflect
on and describe an experience from your childhood or from the childhood of one
of your siblings in which you (or he or she) were traumatized or confused by
something you saw in the media. You may also interview a roommate for this.
What did you learn from this experience? Why do you think television (even
though it is just fantasy) can have such profound effects on our perceptions of
reality and experience? Finally, do you think we learn more from observation or
direct experience? Why?
This is due Tuesday, May 01 at 3:00 p.m.
Option #2
ReplyDeleteI was raised as the 5th of 6 kids in an LDS family from Washington. Being one of the youngest, I was exposed to older entertainment at a very young age. My favorite TV shows growing up were Seinfeld and The Simpsons. Because I had so much exposure as a 10 year-old to the TV shows of my older siblings, I heard and saw things that I sometimes didn’t understand.
One day as a 10 year-old I was watching the TV show Friends with my older sisters. In the episode, a casual reference was made by one of the characters to something that was particularly sexually graphic. I had absolutely no idea what it was, but saw the characters on the screen laughing along with the show’s laugh-track. Because I was confused, I asked my Dad about it. My Dad gave me a simple and appropriate answer and then admitted that he was very upset that I was being exposed to such graphic material on prime-time TV at a young age.
I learned then that there really isn’t a moral code for television. They will say and do whatever they are legally allowed to do to get a reaction. I remember feeling really embarrassed that I had watched a show that was talking about graphic sex so casually. It really stuck with me, and I can still remember the events in detail almost 14 years later, because the whole concept was so foreign to me at the time, and it came from such a non-personal source.
At that age, I had zero experience with anything in the “adult world”, so my entire perception of non-LDS adults stemmed from TV shows. TV has the ability to really shock ignorant individuals in to believing certain things about the world.
Reflecting on my life up to this point, I feel that I definitely have learned more from direct experience than observations. I may observe something and create perceptions internally, but they are always superseded by my own personal experiences.
Brett Lee
Kristen Shimomiya
ReplyDeleteI interviewed one of my family friends. She said that there are two events which traumatized by something she saw in the media. First, when President Kennedy was shot, she saw the funeral on the TV. she can vividly remember that the little John saluting to his father's casket as it went by. She was only five or six years old, but she felt like crying that he would not have a dad anymore. Second, When Walter Cronkite came on with the evening news, the first seen was always about the Vietnam War. It always made her so afraid when it came on. The combination of the music and the images of battle were terrifying for her. Her brothers knew that she was afraid, and they would try to go out of the room and shut the door making her have to be the one to turn off the TV. She learned to go upstairs before the Gilligan's Island show was finished, so she did not have to turn off the TV. She felt safe in her home, but she was afraid of the outside world because of what she saw on TV. Thinking back on it, she can still see the images vividly in her head and realize how important the children today are protected from inappropriate TV. In other words, parents need to select appropriate television shows for their children, so those children can be protected from false advertising. She thinks what we learn from observation is limited and that we need to be careful what we see on TV because TV is also limited. For example, when we see the certain experience on TV, we could lose the other side of the reality from how TV was presented.
I agree about how observation is more limited than direct experience. We can learn so much more from direct experiences because we use more senses in a direct experience. We can remember how we actually felt in the moment rather than watching from a third-person view. In other words, when we experience from ourselves, we can learn a lot quicker and apply to ourselves.
Michal Savage
ReplyDeleteOption 2.
When I was 10 years old my family rented the edited version of the movie "Braveheart." My parents chose to watch it for its historical value told my family about it and the accompanying story. The next day several of my brothers congregated around the television to enjoy the movie.
I only watched two small parts of the movie, but both I remember vividly. The first I watched perhaps a ten minute clip when at the end, a man is pushed out of a window and dies. It was upsetting to me, and so I left the room. Later, because of the noise that was made, I reentered the room curious to know what was going on. At this point several men were on horses with lances and I caught them in the rush to battle, just before the battle began. Once again, I left the room before I saw anything.
I have never had such a hard time sleeping as I did that night. I had horrible nightmares reoccurring from 5-10 minutes apart. I couldn’t keep myself asleep, nor did I want to because of the haunting experience it was. I remember over and over waking up completely traumatized. That was the only night I have ever slept walked and I believe it was completely due to the violent exposure. Watching that film was one of the worst decisions I ever made, and I hardly saw any of it.
I believe that experience is due to the fact that I was young, had a very hard time differentiating reality and fiction (even if it was all historical). I have talked to several people since that time and all of them have made comments saying how much they enjoyed the movie and asked why I struggled with it so much. I too have since seen similar films, none of which have ever had such a profound effect. I believe that my reaction to the movie was because I was unable to separate the film from my reality, particularly at night which explains why I kept having nightmares. Judging from my personal experience, I would never want a child to have that same exposure to anything because of the trauma I incurred. It was an uplifting and positive experience for others, but while I could not differentiate media from reality, it was bleak and overwhelming.
Option #2
ReplyDeleteOne of the most random experiences of my childhood that truly affected me and still does is when I first saw the Lion King in theaters. I was three years old when I went and saw it with my parents. And to this day they still tease me for what I said when we walked out of the theater. "Mufasa's dead, Scar killed him." Such simple words but the point I took away from the movie was not about Simba, the main character, but the grave injustice of sibling betrayal. I did not have any siblings at the time because I am the oldest but my whole life I have always been big on family loyalty. And not the just family you are born into, but the family you create by the people you surround yourself with. I would do just about anything for my friends and family. How could you not support the people who support you back?? Whenever I consider doing something that would significantly help me but could cause some damage or disservice to someone I care about, the thought of 'do I want to be eaten by hyenas' always crosses my mind. I realize I wont be eaten by hyenas but I feel I would deserve the bad karma that would be coming my way. I think television can effect our realities because we learn new things that relate to our own life. They may not be applicable the same day but we learned long ago that what we saw on television came in handy when dealing with a situation in our lives. Small instances of affirmation in the things we watch transferring over to our reality has conditioned us to accept what we see as what we can use. I think we learn broad ideas from observation but direct experience is what has the most impact on us because the situations and its effects are more real and tangible to us. The memories of actual events we participated in create more lasting memories than observations we make of others, but what we learn from others saves us the trouble of having to experience everything ourselves. If that were the case, the population would be significantly smaller as we tried things that were dangerous to come to understand the danger in them.
Anecdotal sidenote: When my sister saw Chicken Little in theaters, she burst out crying because she thought the sky was actually going to fall. And refuses to see that movie til this day. True story, kids are affected by what they see.
Spencer Cornett
ReplyDeleteOption 2
I remember one night sneaking out of bed when it was past my bedtime. My parents had just put in a movie when we got our goodnight drinks and went upstairs. I couldn’t sleep. I decided to sneak downstairs to see what my parents were watching. They were watching Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves with Kevin Costner and Morgan Freeman. I loved the cartoon version of Robin Hood and I had begged and pleaded with my parents to let me watch the “real” one but they said I was too young. Well that night I decided it was time for me to finally see the real version. I snuck behind the couch where I was able to listen, but not really see what was going on. It sounded like a battle and I wanted to see Robin Hood in action. I peeked my head around the corner and I saw a haggard looking lady with white hair running full speed at Morgan Freeman. Freeman Had just enough time to raise his weapon and the women impaled herself on a 7 foot long spear. I screamed out loud as she pulled herself down the hallway, the spear poking out of her abdomen and the small of her back.
My parents heard my scream and pulled me out from behind the couch. It took a long time for them to get me to calm down. Looking back on this experience I realized just how scared I had been to see that woman get stabbed. I specifically remember calling that version of Robin Hood the “real version”. I realize now that I did think that what I was seeing was real. As a child it is difficult to tell the difference between reality and fantasy. With movies trying to be as “real” as possible it makes their effects very potent on young audiences. Television and movies have such a profound effect on our perceptions of reality because often times it is trying to portray a “reality” of some sort. I would even go as far as to say some people try to escape their reality in television (much like Elder Bednar spoke of in a recent conference). It is for this reason that it can have such a strong effect on us.
I believe that both observation and direct experience give us great chances to learn, but the researcher in me tends to think that more can be learned from observation if it is done properly. We can distance ourselves from the situation at hand and think clearer than if we were experiencing it ourselves. Because of this we can be more objective and draw better conclusions. That being said, often times the only way to learn some of life’s most important lessons is through experiences we go through ourselves.
Andrea Wise
ReplyDeleteOption #2
When I was younger we had a rule in my family that we could not watch T.V. on the weekdays because my brother was obsessed with watching T.V. and movies. My mom wanted us to be outside playing with the neighborhood kids rather than just watching T.V. So I did not watch T.V. often as a child, but when I did I usually watched shows that were for a more mature audience than I was. I am the youngest of four, so my siblings were always watching more adult things. Because of this, I do not find many things scary. Somehow I actually really like watching scary movies.My biggest fear when I was young though was being kidnapped. The Elizabeth Smart case came out and I was afraid to even just be in the dark. My mom would always watch the news stories on it to see what was going on, so sometimes watched it too. I did not like to be home alone, so when I was, I was constantly calling my parents to see when someone was going to come home. Even though there was a very small chance of this case happening to me, I was still very afraid and really thought about it a lot.
I learned from this experience that as a child I became afraid of things more easily than I do now as an adult. I believe that as a child we really get caught up with things that are not real or may be real but have a small chance of actually occurring. I think television can have profound effects because it makes a person feel like it is real, even though it may not be. It is a way for a person to let their mind get lost in the story, but sometimes the mind cannot get back out of the story. The mind gets confused into thinking what is reality.
I think we learn more from direct experience because it helps us to know how the media affects us personally. We can observe many cases, but if we do not experience it ourselves, we may never know the true feeling of how the media affects us. Observing can help you to see things you might not have seen before, but experiencing it for yourself gives you the true feeling of it.
I was able to observe my friend’s almost 2-year-old toddler watch his favorite show Yo! Gabba Gabba! Personally I could care less for the show and am shocked that children would watch something as ridiculous as this. But I guess someone could have said the same thing about my life and my obsession with “Sesame Street.” Personal opinions aside, it was interesting to watch the toddler, Brody, as he was watching the show.
ReplyDeleteHe is beginning to speak and recognizes when we tell him that we will put on “Gabba.” He becomes so excited and jumps around yelling abba abba! with great fervor. He was entranced during the course of the show. His eyes never left the screen during the half hour I was watching Brody and he was so involved in everything that was happening on screen. Whenever the cast of crazy creatures would dance or sing, Brody would mimic them. He would stand up and dance, and would shuffle side to side and sing. Reinforcement of the attitude was seen from his mother as she encouraged him to continue to express himself during the course of the show.
It is very convincing that Brody was able to comprehend much of what was being said during the course of Yo! Gabba Gabba! He was able to follow what was being said to him and understood when the characters were in a certain situation that Brody would then mimic. He was able to pick up objects that symbolically represented what was being shown on TV.
Brody would then use the pretend object as such. We would consider this the preoperational stage according to Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory. He was able to make the connection but they only continued as the show was in view and as long as he was able to mimic what has happening in front of him. Once the show was gone, so was Brody’s attention and ability to mimic what he was watching. This is an indication of what Brody was being influenced by during the show.
The scope to which Brody was being influenced went only as far as the time allotted on the show and indicated that he was not able to take concepts outside of the show with him. This emphasizes that what Brody was experiencing may shape what is in his mind and help to structure his thinking even at a young age. As he is still very young and rather impressionable it is important to monitor what information he is taking in so as to prevent skewed perspectives of his world.
My family loves to watch American Idol, including my six-year-old sister. She absolutely loves it. Even though it is a very entertaining show, the judges don’t always use the best and most appropriate language. A couple seasons ago my mom and sister were watching it together and after every time someone would take the Lord’s name in vain, my mom would tell my sister it is not ok to say that. At first my sister was confused why the judges were using it so much when it wasn’t ok to say. It got to the point where one day my sister started crying because she was so scared she was going to take the Lord’s name in vain at school because she was hearing it so much. She was afraid and traumatized that it would accidently slip out one day. Now my sister hardly watches American Idol anymore, and when she does my mom is right there to fast forward through the all judges comments.
ReplyDeleteTelevision can have such a profound impact on our perception of reality because it is so prevalent in our lives. Television is something we watch almost on a daily basis and when something is that common and familiar to us, it starts to incorporate itself into the rest of our lives, whether we are aware of it or not.
I think we learn from both observation and experience, but they have different effects on us. Observations can teach us of different things, that we have either not heard before, or do or don’t agree with. We can decide from observation whether we agree or not and would like to have our own similar experiences. On the other hand, direct experiences stick with us for longer. We better remember the lessons we learned from direct experience and know for ourselves if we want to continue to have those experiences or not.
This is probably a little telling about how sheltered I was as a kid, but I remember one time we were watching Star Trek as a family when Captain Picard’s second in command barked out some orders to the crew and then proceeded to describe the enemy aliens with a word that meant they were born illegitimately. I’d never heard this particular word before and thought it was so funny sounding that I enthusiastically repeated it out loud. My parents were shocked. My mom gave me the Look and asked me if I knew what the word meant. I went red from embarrassment and said “no, is it bad?” My parents, also embarrassed, explained to me that it was indeed a swear word and I shouldn’t say it.
ReplyDeleteThis was the first time that I learned that there really were bad things in the media. I knew that the cheesy violence I’d seen in movies was definitely fake, but this swear word thing was much more real to me because I was capable of repeating it. I always knew that there were movies that had bad parts that our family didn’t watch but I’d never actually experienced one until that moment.
Television has such a profound effect on our perception of reality and experience because it contains elements (like dialogue) that can be instantly easily reproduced by anybody in the room watching. I also think about how there is so much reality on T.V. with the news and athletic events that the lines are blurred between what is real and what is fantasy.
I don’t know if we can quantify the difference between what we learn more from observation or direct experience. I think of it as more of a progression. First we observe others, then we attempt to replicate what they’ve done. My story of a swear word from Star Trek is a good example of this. If I hadn’t repeated the word then I likely wouldn’t even have remembered it.
Chase Lucero
ReplyDeleteOption 2
When my sister was a little girl there was a series of commercials that showed a clown called It. This clown came from a movie and so he was placed into many different commercials and advertisements. Now, It is not the most attractive and compelling clown you’ve ever seen. To say the least my sister was extremely scared by this clown. She had nightmares for a very long time just from having seen the commercials. This created a great problem because she had not even seen the movie, but just from a short clip she had created a great fear of a person or thing that did not exist.
What I learned is something that came from the movie Inception. That is that an idea is something that is very difficult to get out of your mind. Whether this idea was only established for a brief moment, it can have a very long lasting affect. Obviously, a short term affect as well. As it is proved by my sister, she was not able to sleep comfortably for a very long time and she was scared to be in her room alone. That is something short term. The affect she has had long term is that she really does not have a very big interest in clowns. For the longest time any clown scared her completely, even if it was just a little kid dressed as a clown for Halloween, she hated it. I don’t know to what extent she is actually scared when she sees clowns nowadays, but she definitely still has a disinterest for them.
Television establishes that way of thought. It puts an idea or perception into the mind of someone and once that seed has been planted it is very difficult to uproot such a motion.
I think it depends, if we observe or reflect on out direct experiences it can be very beneficial, but if we don’t then observation is better. This is so because with observation you are able to peel apart the waste and really look into what is the meat of the issue. You are able to see the true causes and find the reason behind why certain things are the way they are.
I interviewed my roommate Lauren Couch about a traumatic experience from her childhood involving the media. When she was much younger, age seven, the movie Titanic came out on DVD. Although it was very popular her parents forbid her from watching it because it wasn’t appropriate for a small child to view. Lauren’s best friend at the time was Michelle Campbell and Michelle’s parents didn’t often regulate which movies their daughters could watch. Lauren was playing at Michelle’s house and Titanic was playing on their television. Lauren knew she wasn’t allowed to see it but her parent’s never said why. She just happened to walk in the living room where the movie was playing as the scene came on where the leading lady was being sketched so she was laying on a couch naked. Lauren immediately recognized that the scene was not appropriate and then realized why her parents said she wasn’t allowed to watch the movie. She described this experience as traumatizing because she now will forever have the picture of Rose, the leading lady in Titanic, naked on a couch and because that inappropriate scene is stuck in her mind due to her disobeying her parents.
ReplyDeleteViewing something that is inappropriate often is something that the viewer doesn’t completely understand, especially if the viewer is very young. Lauren said in both the nude sketching scene and in another scene where the two main characters become intimate inside a car cab and fog up the windows Lauren at age 7 didn’t know what was going on but became curious to know more about what was going on. Although she felt like she couldn’t ask her parents because then they would know that she watched the movie they specifically asked her not to watch. “This is why high schoolers and sometimes even younger start having sex so early. They see it all over movies and shows and it is portrayed as normal and morally okay.”
Lauren mentioned how it is very interesting how movie rating requirements have changed over the years and that she doesn’t like it because society is downgrading itself morally.
“I have never consciously thought about it, but I think I learn both ways. Everyone is different but I probably learn more through experience.”
Option 2:
ReplyDeleteI interviewed a friend who had a traumatic experience with the media in her youth. She decided to watch a scary movie by herself one night. It was some scary movie involving water. It was about an orphan who went to a haunted house. She didn’t find it too scary or alarming but as she was trying to sleep, a disturbing image from the movie kept replaying in her mind. She felt encompassed in this scary experience. She tried to scream and move but she was completely paralyzed and couldn’t get a peep out. The image was so life-like and vivid, it truly scared her. This happened three times. She couldn't get the scene out of her mind. Eventually she was able to sleep but she decided she would never watch the movie again. After having this bad experience, she said she cannot watch any scary movies involving water.
I learned that media can have a profound physical and emotional effect on us. The images and sounds we experience can be recalled many years later and sometimes have a very negative effect on us. In the case of my friend, a scary scene kept replaying in her mind and she felt she lost control of her body. She could not move or speak perhaps from fear or anxiety of the disturbing image from the movie she watched.
Television can have a profound effect on our perceptions of reality and experience because when we view something, our mind takes it in. Whether or not the media we experience is real, the media was part of our life experience. Depending on our level of focus and comprehension and many other factors, we can understand or feel some false media to be quite real.
I believe that overall most people learn best from direct experience but observation can be just as helpful for some people because that is how they learn best. Personally, I learn better when I actually do something but media can also have a profound effect on me. I feel like I learned from watching media how negative actions create negative consequences. My morals and role models and the media portrayals of such acts that I watched kept me from smoking and drinking in high school.
-Sara Anderson