Effects of

animated
cartoons on
the
imagination
of children
Effect of fantasy on
imagination
Research by Nauwarah Zafar.
Supervised by Sir Muhammad
Shamsuddin, Department of
Mass Communication.
2

INTRODUCTION:
Fantasy the question is that what is fantasy? In my opinion, fantasy is like living in another
world which is immensely perfect and where various impossible things can be possible. Fantasy
is a world where we can imagine that everything is beautiful and colorful. Some people like to
imagine about fantasy because it has some psychological reasons. The reason is that when they
imagine about this world, they forget their real life problems for some time. But for children,
fantasy is itself a real world. Fairytales, fairylands, flying in the air, magic world, tree houses,
cloud houses, houses made of cakes, biscuits, chocolates and ice creams, even friendship with
wild animals attract children a lot. You cant stop them from indulging in their thoughts about
fantasy.
Imagination plays a very important role in everyones life. There are so many things in our lives
which affect our imagination and sometimes we do things according to our imagination or what
we observed or adapted from our environment.*Imagination is considered "a power of the mind,"
"a creative faculty of the mind," "the mind" itself when in use, and a "process" of the mind used
for thinking, scheming, contriving, remembering, creating, fantasizing, and forming
opinion. The term imagination comes from the Latin verb imaginari meaning "to picture
oneself." This root definition of the term indicates the self-reflexive property of imagination,
emphasizing the imagination as a private sphere. As a medium, imagination is a world where
thought and images are nested in the mind to "form a mental concept of what is not actually
present to the senses." In the sense of the word as a process, imagination is a form of mediation
between what is considered "externalized" reality and internalized man. The term is considered
"often with the implication that the (mental) conception does not correspond to the reality of
things." Finally, imagination is a term that circulates forms of mass media when the
"internalized" private imagination is presented as public, or expressed in a media form, such as
film or in virtual reality technology.
According to Aristotle, the imagination bridges the gap between "images" and "ideas,"
implying that rational thought takes place in the form of images, and are stored and combined in
the imagination. Thus, imagination is implied as an actual space or medium in the individual's
mind, and in this space it has a power to combine images and ideas to do the work of reason.
According to Lacan's mirror stage, the child's perception of the Imaginary is an essential stage
of recognition of what is real and what is unreal. If the Imaginary is the child's reflected image
in the mirror, it is probable that the imagination is the mental faculty for integrating this
'represented' image into the child's experience of himself in the world. By Lacan's division of the
Symbolic, the Real and the Imaginary, the real is that which resists representation. If the
imagination is a counterpoint to perceptible reality, Lacan's implication is that the Imaginary is in
fact representational. This representation is the mirror.*
*(http://csmt.uchicago.edu/glossary2004/imagination.htm)
3

Children learn fantasy from cartoons and consider it real. Children love to fantasize the life of
Barbie, Spiderman, Batman, Scooby-doo, Tom and Jerry etc. Their real heroes are Spiderman,
Batman Barbie, Snow-white, Cinderella, Shrek etc. The life in Barbie is very beautiful. Green
land, colorful environment, flying horses, cloud houses/cloud queen, a charming and fascinating
life under sea, and the best part of these cartoon series is the Barbie itself who is bold, brave,
beautiful, and has charismatic or perfect personality and always ready to face any danger at any
time. This is a work of imagination that is no link with reality and children like it a lot because it
is appealing for them and it grabs their attention.
Spiderman, Batman, Toonami, Casper, Popeye, Cinderella, Snow white, Ben10, Stuart little,
Scooby-doo etc are the cartoons in which they are showing the characters with perfect
personality and co-incidentally they all are brave and always face the danger easily and their
endings are always happy. In some cartoons, they tell children how to talk and behave and the
best example of it is, Baby Looney Tones, in which Granny told the Looney tones how to walk,
how to talk, how to sit, how to eat, dining table manners, how to behave while sitting in bus or
how to cross a road etc. In short, it is a complete package for small children.
These things play a very important role in the imagination of children. We can also say that
these cartoons actually build or enhance their imagination and they become close to fantasy and
far from reality. All these cartoons are basically animated. Now what is an animated cartoon and
how it started?
*An animated cartoon is a short, hand-drawn (or made with computers to look similar to
something hand-drawn) film for the cinema, television or computer screen, featuring some kind
of story or plot (even if it is a very short one). This is distinct from the terms "animation" and
"animated film," as not all follow the definition. Although cartoons can use many different types
of animation, they all fall under the traditional animation category.
Hanna-Barbaras show The Flintstones was the first successful primetime animated series in the
United States, running from 1960-66 (and in reruns since). While many networks followed the
show's success by scheduling other primetime cartoons in the early 1960s, including The Jet
sons, Top Cat, and The Alvin Show, none of these programs survived more than a year in
primetime. However, networks found success by running these failed shows as Saturday morning
cartoons, reaching smaller audiences with more demographic unity among children. Television
animation for children flourished on Saturday morning, on cable channels like Nickelodeon and
Cartoon Network, and in syndicated afternoon timeslots.
Primetime cartoons were virtually non-existent until 1990s hit The Simpsons ushered in a new
era of adult animation. Now, "adult animation" programs, such as Aeon Flux, Beavis and Butt-
head, South Park, Family Guy, The Boondocks, American Dad!, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and
Futurama are a large part of television.

*(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animated_cartoon)
4

Animation Gives Wings to Your Imagination;
*The production of animated movies is growing every year. There are several outlets for
animation like movies, advertisements and video games. Animation attracts youths and kids
because it crystallizes their imagination. Research has found that kids and youths have a keen
interest in building a fantasy world of their own. Animation is the only tool that can color their
fantasies. On an average Hollywood churns out one animated movie every week. The craze for
digital film making is gradually engulfing the entire world. In recent times there have been
incidences when two animated films were released simultaneously like Astro Boy and Fly Me to
the Moon. In order to mitigate the growing demand for digital work, many leading animation
institutes are offering digital film making courses. The course curriculum comprises training on
visual effects (popularly referred as VFX), stop motion, digital design, sound editing, non linear
editing, modeling and texturing, lighting, particle and dynamics, character setup, skinning and
character animation to name a few.
Recent findings reveal that the use of animation is growing beyond depiction of action
sequences; it is also used to give life to our fairytale characters. The Shrek and The Ice Age
series are some example.
We have always heard that movies transport us to a dreamland and animation has strengthened
that belief. Digitally made movies are doing wonders to viewers of every age group. Children
enjoy animation because it gives life to their fairytale stories, youth like animation because it
gives a boost to their dreams and adults like animation because it takes them back to their
childhood days. Since digitally made movies have so many benefits they are bound to be loved
by all.*

Imagination is not a terrible thing but too much imagination of the things which are not possible
in the real world has some adverse effects on the minds of children. That is why; I wanted to
check that what kind of effects fantasy has on the imagination of the children. Can children
differentiate between reality and fantasy even in todays world? Is heavy viewing creating
problems for children to differentiate between real and fantasy world? People are producing so
many beautiful films and cartoons which appeal children as well as adults. In my childhood
Snow White, Cinderella, Thunder cats, Tom and Jerry, Popeye, Casper, Scooby-doo, etc were
very popular. But now, we can see an advance version of Tom and Jerry which is even more
interesting. Now children have more options like Barbie series, Stuart little, Mulan, Looney
tones, Sponge bob, Dora the explorer, Shrek, Spiderman and Batman, Handy many, Make way
for noddy etc.
Children do react while watching these cartoons and what I think is that mothers are the only one
who can observe the changes occurring in the personalities of the their children.
*(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animated_cartoon)
5

Once a mother was sharing her experience with me. Her 4 years old Son, Ali, read a story about
a dustbin in a book. In that story, nobody used dustbin and that is why the dustbin got annoyed
with everyone. He became so much obsessed with this story that one day when his father throws
a tissue on the floor, he straightforwardly said to his father: papa dustbin appse naraz hogaya
hai.
1
After thinking about it that why he was so much impressed with this story, I planned to do
a research on it. In my research, I have selected a list of cartoons which comes daily on cartoon
channel and are more popular than others. With the list of cartoons, I am also giving a brief detail
of cartoons just to give an idea what its all about because fantasy can only be judged by the
story line of a cartoon.
LIST OF CARTOONS:

1. BARBIE:
Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by the American toy-company Mattel, Inc. and launched in
March 1959. American businesswoman Ruth Handler (19162002) is credited with the creation
of the doll using a German doll called Bild Lilli as her inspiration. Barbie has been a virtual
actress starring in several feature films and short films. Mattel commissioned Barbie to be
featured as a heroine of several princess or fairy-themed stories to accompany a franchise of
related dolls and accessories. The list of the series is as follows:
The Nutcracker, Rapunzel, Swan Lake, The Princess and the Pauper, Fairytopia series, The
Magic of Pegasus, Barbie Diaries, The 12 Dancing Princesses, The Island Princess, The
Diamond Castle, A Christmas Carol, Thumbelina, The Three Musketeers, Sing Along with
Barbie, A Mermaid Tale, Toy Story 3, Barbie: A Fashion Fairytale

2. MULAN:
Mulan is a 1998 animated movie from Walt Disney Pictures, set in old-time China and based on
local legend. It stars the voices of Ming-Na Wen as the title heroine, along with Eddie Murphy.
A group of evil men, the Huns (led by Shan Yu), have made an attack on Chinese families. The
only ones who can fight them off are their male soldiers. Fa Mulan's father is willing to join, but
after he becomes hurt, his daughter replaces him and disguises as a soldier. When she disappears
from her family, a small, comic dragon named Mushu is called upon to find and save her. Mulan
herself meets him, before both join an army that plans on defeating Yu and the Huns. There are
also accompanied by a lucky cricket, given to Mulan by her grandmother.
Glossary:
1. Dad dustbin got annoyed with you.
6

3. SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS:
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (or Snow White and the Seven Dwarves in the United
Kingdom) is a 1937 American movie, based on the fairy tale "Snow White" by the Brothers
Grimm. It was the first movie length animated movie to be produced by Walt Disney, the first
color movie-length animated movie with sound, and the first American animated feature movie
in movie history.
An evil queen has a mirror and asks "Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?"
The mirror answers "Snow White". Snow White is lost in the woods, and comes across the home
of seven little men, or dwarves. She cleans their home, and they allow her to stay with them. The
queen eventually finds out that the heart in the box is of a pig so she goes and changes herself
onto an old hag. She goes to the dwarfs' cottage the next day while they're out and gets Snow
White to bite into an apple with makes her fall dead. Suddenly, the dwarfs chase the old hag up a
cliff and trap her. She tries to roll a boulder over them but lightening strikes and she dies. Snow
White is awakened by the kiss of a handsome prince.
4. CASPER:
Casper is a 1995 comedy fantasy film starring Christina Ricci and is based on the Casper the
Friendly Ghost cartoons and comic strips. The ghosts featured in the film were created through
computer-generated imagery. The film was merely distributed by Universal Pictures, and as
such, Universal still owns the rights to the film. This film and its prequel Casper Meets Wendy
were the only Casper films not sold to Classic Media.
A greedy heiress inherits the haunted Whipstaff Manor and discovers that the house contains a
treasure, which is guarded by three nasty ghosts. Ghost therapist Dr. James Harvey, and his
daughter Kat, move into the mansion to get rid of the supernatural creatures. Kat makes friends
with a ghost named Casper, the nephew of the 3 nasty ghosts.
5. BEN 10:
Ben 10 is an American animated series created by "Man of Action" (a group consisting of
Duncan Rouleau, Joe Casey, Joe Kelly, and Steven T. Seagle), and produced by Cartoon
Network Studios. It is the first series in the Ben 10 franchise.
When ten year old Ben Tennyson, his cousin Gwen, and their grandfather Max are on their
summer camping trip, Ben finds an alien pod on the ground. When he examines it, he finds a
mysterious, watch-like device called the Omnitrix. The device attaches itself permanently to his
wrist and gives him the ability to transform into a variety of alien life-forms, each with its own
unique powers. Although Ben soon realizes that he has a responsibility to help others with these
new abilities at his disposal, he is not above a little super-powered mischief every now and then.
7

Along with Gwen and Grandpa Max, Ben embarks on a summer-long adventure to fight evil,
both extraterrestrial and earthly.
6. POPEYE:
Popeye is a 1980 live-action film adaptation directed by Robert Altman and adapted from E. C.
Segar's Thimble Theatre aka Popeye comic strip. The screenplay by Jules Feiffer was based
directly on Thimble Theatre Starring Popeye the Sailor, a hardcover reprint collection of 1936-37
Segar strips published in 1971 by Woody Gelman's Nostalgia Press.
Marketed with the tagline, "The sailor man with the spinach can! the film is a musical. It starred
Robin Williams (in his first film role) as Popeye and Shelley Duvall as Olive Oyl. Popeye
features hallmarks of director Robert Altman's style, including an ensemble cast, overlapping
dialogue and cross-cutting to non-musical sequences during songs by Harry Nilsson.
7. TOM AND JERRY:
Tom and Jerry is an American animated series of theatrical shorts, television shows and specials,
feature film, home films created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera for Metro-Goldwyn-
Mayer that centered on a never-ending rivalry between a cat (Tom) and a mouse (Jerry) whose
chases and battles often involved comic violence.
8. CINDERELLA:
"Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper" is a classic folk tale embodying a myth-element of
unjust oppression/triumphant reward. Thousands of variants are known throughout the world.
The title character is a young woman living in unfortunate circumstances which suddenly change
to remarkable fortune. The word "Cinderella" has, by analogy, come to mean one whose
attributes are unrecognized, or one who unexpectedly achieves recognition or success after a
period of obscurity and neglect. The still-popular story of Cinderella continues to influence
popular culture internationally, lending plot elements, allusions, and tropes to a wide variety of
media.
9. SHREK:
Shrek is a 2001 American animated comedy film it is directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky
Jenson. Loosely based on William Steig's 1990 fairy tale picture book Shrek! The film was
produced by DreamWorks Animation. Shrek was the first film to win an Academy Award for
Best Animated Feature, a category introduced in 2001.
10. STUART LITTLE:
The adventures of a heroic and debonair stalwart mouse named Stuart Little with human
qualities, who faces some comic misadventures while searching for his lost bird friend and living
with a human family as their child.
8

11. SCOOBY DOO:
Scooby-Doo is a 2D animated series produced for Saturday morning television in several
different versions from 1969 to the present. The original series, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!,
was created for Hanna-Barbara Productions by writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, CBS executive
Fred Silverman, and character designer Iwao Takamoto. Hanna-Barbara produced numerous
spin-offs and related works until being absorbed in 2001 into Warner Bros. Animation, which
has handled production since then. All versions of the show feature a talking dog named Scooby
Doo; the original series included four teenagers or young adults: Fred "Freddie" Jones, Daphne
Blake, Velma Dinkley, and Shaggy Rogers. These five characters (officially collectively known
as "Mystery, Inc.", but never referred to as such in the original series) drive around in the
Mystery Machine van, solving mysteries by exposing seemingly otherworldly ghosts and
monsters as flesh and blood crooks. Later versions of Scooby-Doo featured different variations
on the show's supernatural theme, and include characters such as Scooby's cousin Scooby-Dum
and nephew Scrappy-Doo in addition to or instead of some of the original characters.
12. TOONAMI:
Toonami (a portmanteau of the words cartoon and tsunami suggesting a "tidal wave" of animated
cartoons) was a registered trademark of Cartoon Network, used initially for action-oriented
programming blocks on Cartoon Network television channels worldwide, mostly showing
American cartoons and Japanese anime, originating in the United States on March 17, 1997 and
ended on September 20, 2008.










9

LITERATURE REVIEW:

I have read some articles and research papers which are related to cartoons and imagination,
Banduras theory by Daniel chandler and a study on Barbie. The first one is Disney videos
which are developing imagination of young generation by Dr Helen Skouteris.
*1. Disney Videos - Developing the imagination of our youngest generation
During the ages of three to six years, children learn and acquire important social skills and values
which will shape the person they become. Television and videos are a part of many children's
lives and we know that early childhood television viewing experiences have long term
implications for children's development.
To fully understand the impact of video viewing on young children in Australia, Disney
commissioned a 'world first' independent study of the television and video viewing habits of
children aged between three and six years.
The study, called Our Children's Media Diet: 'A Mother's Perspective', was led by Dr Helen
Skouteris, an expert in Developmental Psychology from LaTrobe University's School of
Psychological Science.
The study found that Disney videos encourage children to be 'active viewers', frequently
incorporating events and characters into their 'pretend play'. Pretend play is one of the most
essential activities during childhood. Through pretend play, children develop language skills,
imagination, creativity and the ability to take another's perspective.
Dr Skouteris says that videos such as Winnie the Pooh titles, Pinocchio, Peter Pan and Mary
Poppins are very popular with young children and provide them with a fun and magical
experience. "Films such as these are easy for children to interpret, are entertaining, and most
importantly, encourage behaviors such as pretend play, singing and character role play," says Dr
Skouteris.
Disney videos promote positive social messages by showing children the importance of honesty,
trust, loyalty, fairness and friendship. Dr Skouteris found that when watching Disney films, the
majority of children recognize the difference between good and evil and value certain
characteristics such as bravery and a sense of humor.
Repeated viewing of animated Disney videos (five or more times) was also found to be an
extremely common and positive experience. Repeat viewing is associated with greater
enjoyment, greater appreciation and understanding of the storyline and children wanting to
partake in more frequent pretend play.
10

Dr Skouteris maintains that co-viewing (parents watching the videos with their children) and
repeat viewing of videos facilitate children's understanding of the storyline. With a greater level
of understanding, children are more likely to pretend to be characters, recite lines, and sing songs
from the video, all of which make watching a video an active rather than passive experience. Co-
viewing has the added benefit of providing close family time where parents can make a point of
discussing the various themes presented in the videos and answering any questions children
might have.
To further understand the impact of Disney videos on early childhood development, Disney has
commissioned a phase two study to be conducted by Dr Skouteris, the results of which will be
available in mid 2003.
Disney is committed to bringing its special type of magic to Australia's youngest generation. The
Walt Disney Collection titles are the epitome of healthy viewing and will bring entertainment
and delight to both young and old alike.
*(http://www.girl.com.au/effectoftvonchildren.htm)

An article by Esther Boylan Wolfson explains the importance of imagination.
*2. Imaginationa childs window to the world:
Esther Boylan Wolfson is the Director of an Early Childhood Development Center. She said that
young children love imaginative play because they can be whatever they want to be. The life of a
young child is extremely limited and structured. No three-year-old can go out for a walk by
herself, choose her own food, or buy her own clothes. A young child is totally dependent on a
parent or caretaker. True, he can express an opinion, but the bottom line is, the parent decides.
Children use a different method to see new places and experience new things --they use their
imagination. While a four-year-old named Tracy might only be allowed to walk from home to
pre-school and back home again, "Queen Tracy" rules a kingdom, lives in a big castle and rides
her horse whenever she wants. The life of three-year-old Michael might be boring, but "Michael
the fireman" is a hero.

Why Is Imagination Important?
The magic of early childhood is that children can not only imagine new and interesting situations
to enhance their lives but they can also learn from these imagined situations. By putting on a
cook's hat and baking up a storm, a child feels happier and more independent, and also thinks
about what it really means to be a cook. He reviews his experiences with Mom or Dad in the
kitchen and remembers what ingredients his parent use. In deciding to put the pretend pot on the
stove or in the oven, he has the opportunity to expand his own world while applying his
observations.
11

As adults, we learn from the world we live in and from our experiences; children do the same.
But children have an added talent that every parent should encourage. Children learn not only
from what they are, but also from what they want to be.

*(http://www.wholefamily.com/aboutyourkids/imagination/childhood_2.html)

A study by Daniel Chandler on television violence and behavior is:

*

3. Television Violence and Children's Behavior:
Concern about children and popular media has a long history. Plato proposed to ban poets from
his ideal republic, because he feared that their stories about immoral behavior would corrupt
young minds. In modern times, moral pressure groups have tried to 'protect' children from
popular literature, the music hall, the cinema, comics, television and 'video nastys. It's important
to see the issue of TV violence and children's behavior in a broader social, cultural and historical
context. Why is it such a popular subject? This isn't often the fate of academic research issues.
Well, it may be partly that it's a convenient scapegoat. Blaming the media can serve to divert
attention from other causes of change, and so claims about the 'effects of television' can be
massively exaggerated.
At the same time, we can hardly ignore the fact that TV does feature aggressive and violent
behavior. One commentator notes that by the age of 14 the average American child has seen
11,000 murders on TV. In fact, studies have shown that violence is much less prevalent on
British TV than on American TV. However, the type of program matters: there's more violence
in cartoons than in many other fictional programs, but children do discriminate between cartoon
violence and more 'realistic' violence. Nevertheless, violence is commonplace even on British
TV.
'Effects Research'
There has been a considerable amount of research into inter-relationships between the viewing of
violent films, videos and TV programs and aggressive behavior by the viewers of such material,
in particular the behavior of children. More commonly, research is framed as being concerned
with what are called the 'effects' of television. This perspective represents the dominant paradigm
in TV research. In its crudest form the relationship between children and television is portrayed
as a matter of single cause and direct effect, which puts this kind of research firmly in the
behaviorist tradition: based on what's sometimes referred to as the 'magic bullet' theory.
Approaches have become more sophisticated in recent decades, stressing such complicating
factors as the variety of audiences, individual differences and the importance of 'intervening
variables'.
The early survey work in the 1950s by Wilbur Schramm and his colleagues in the US and by
Hilde Himmelweit and her colleagues in Britain are remarkably cautious compared with many
later studies. Both present children as active agents rather than passive victims, unlike most of
the research in the 1960s.


*(http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Modules/TF33120/tv-violence_and_kids.html)
12

Both Schramm and Himmelweit suggested that the effects of television violence vary according
to the personal and social characteristics of viewers, and according to how violent acts were
portrayed. Sociological research has in fact tended to stress longer-term changes in behavior and
the enmeshing of television with the rest of social life, whereas psychological research has
tended to focus on short-term changes in behavior, treated in isolation in the laboratory.


[1]The Bobo Doll Studies;
The most famous psychological studies of children and aggressive behavior are Albert Bandura's
Bobo doll studies, which are now widely regarded as early research classics in the field. These
were experimental studies in which children of nursery school age observed a playroom in which
an adult was hitting, punching, kicking and throwing a large inflatable doll. Particular actions
were used (such as using a hammer and saying 'Pow... boom... boom') which children would be
unlikely to perform spontaneously. The children were then observed as they played alone in the
playroom with the doll for 10 to 20 minutes. A control group of children was allowed to play
with the doll without observing the aggressive adult behavior. As one might expect, the children
who witnessed the adult aggression performed similar acts; the others did not. In a series of
studies, Bandura and his colleagues have shown that children display novel acts of aggressive
behavior which they have acquired simply through observing someone else engaged in these
acts.
In a later version of the experiment (1965), the children were divided into 3 groups. One group
went straight into the playroom. The second group saw the model being rewarded for aggressive
actions before they went in. The third saw the model being punished. Those who saw the model
being punished showed significantly less aggression that those who saw the model rewarded or
who saw no consequences. This suggests that seeing a model punished leads to less learning of
the model's behavior. However, after all the children had played in the playroom with the doll,
they were offered rewards to behave in the playroom like the adult model had done. In the first
stage of the experiment the consequences for the adult affected the children's behavior. This
second stage showed that they had in fact learned the behavior because they were able to perform
it. So those children who had seen the model punished had still learned the behavior but would
only behave like that if offered an incentive. Bandura suggested that we should distinguish
clearly between the acquisition of aggressive responses and the performance of aggressive acts:
observation of modeling is sufficient for aggressive behavior to be learned, but reinforcement is
necessary for aggressive acts to be actually performed.


Experimental Studies of Television and Violence:
Bandura felt that there were three main sources of aggressive models: the family, the sub-culture
and the mass media. Of these sources, research has concentrated on the mass media, and in
particular on television violence.

[1] Michael Eysenck, Psychology an integrated approach, 1998, Addison Wesley Longman Limited New
York, 454-456.
13

The conclusions from such studies range from Howitt and Cumberbatch (1975: vii) who argue
that 'the mass media do not have any significant effect on the level of violence in society' to
Comstock and Lindsey (1975: 8), who state that 'the widespread belief that... the evidence
suggests a causal link between violence viewing and aggression is correct'.

Bandura did in fact do Bobo doll studies replacing the direct observation of an adult in the
playroom with a filmed version. However, later studies have used video material which is more
typical of interpersonal aggression in broadcast television programs. Liebert and Baron (1972)
conducted an experiment using real television programs, in which they measured the willingness
of children to hurt another child after watching a program. In a laboratory, children were shown
either a race track or an aggressive program and then allowed either to facilitate or disrupt
another child's game. They could hurt the other child by pressing a button to make the handle hot
which the child was holding. The children who had seen the aggressive program were
significantly more aggressive than those who had seen the non-aggressive program. This was
particularly the case with boys. In addition, when the children were later observed at play, those
who had viewed the aggressive program showed a stronger preference for playing with weapons
and aggressive toys than did the other children.
Similar results have been found in most experimental studies. They suggest that the more
violence is viewed, the greater the likelihood of aggressive behavior. However, apart from
ethical objections one might raise, such experimental studies have major limitations in terms of
their artificiality. They have been criticized for a lack of 'ecological validity' since they were
concerned with strange behavior in strange settings:
Children at home do not focus so closely on the screen.
The programs are often untypical of children's usual viewing, typically short clips quite
unlike normal TV.
Children don't often watch one-off programs on TV; the focus in the lab is on immediate
or short-term influence.
They don't often watch entirely on their own, or in large groups; they often watch with
siblings or friends, whose reactions are important; children's normal viewing is often
mediated by parents.
Experimenters may effectively encourage aggression, offering unintended cues. And
children behave in strange surroundings as they feel they are expected to: one child said,
Mummy is that the doll we have to hit?'
In an experiment children may not classify as deviant behavior which they might regard
as such in everyday life.
Children normally make distinctions between 'fantasy' violence (like towards a doll) and
actual interpersonal violence.
It is difficult to generalize about how representative the children are.

Field Studies:
Long-term field studies do not suffer from the same limitations as laboratory studies. In one
study a 'natural experiment' focused on the introduction of television into a small Canadian town,
and looked at the level of aggression in the community before and after its arrival (Joy et al,
14

1977). Other researchers (e.g. Phillips, 1986) have looked at the influence of heavily publicized
cases on the rates of suicide and murder.
In other field studies, people have been exposed to violent or non-violent television programs
over the course of days or weeks, and their behavior in their natural environment has then been
observed. Parke et al (1977) found that viewing violent films such as Bonnie and Clyde and The
Dirty Dozen lead to an increase in aggressive behavior. However, Feshbach and Singer (1971)
found that adolescent and pre-adolescent boys at a residential school were more aggressive if
they had a diet of non-aggressive TV programs than if they had watched aggressive programs.
Watching the programs seemed to be cathartic, harmlessly discharging pent-up aggressive
feelings. This study, has, however, been found to be flawed, and an attempt at replication did not
produce the same findings. In any case, catharsis requires more intense emotional involvement
than may be typical in normal home TV viewing. And the catharsis theory does not square with
evidence that more aggressive children prefer to watch aggressive programs, and are more likely
to do so than children who are less aggressive.
There are, of course, problems with any research method, and the field study is no exception.
Feshbach and Singer, for instance, trying to compare diets of 'aggressive' and 'non-aggressive'
TV with the boys already mentioned had to give in to the demands of both groups to watch
Batman, which by their standards was counted as relatively aggressive. Studies of adolescent
boys in residential homes are also unlikely to be very representative. However, to suggest as
some critics have done that the studies are consequently worthless is typical of how aggressive
rival researchers can be!
Another problem with field studies is that they are far more complex and expensive to set up
than laboratory studies, which means that we don't have so much evidence from such sources.
This consequently skews findings in favor of laboratory studies. Laboratory experiments are
more likely to find positive effects than other methodologies, partly because of the narrowness of
their focus, and partly because lab studies reporting 'null findings' are much less likely to be
published in the academic journals. In the academic world no news is not good news! So lab
studies may tend to exaggerate effects.
Another technique in television research is the survey, but these are not of much use in studying
young children. Longitudinal studies, or studies over time, can of course involve any kind of mix
of techniques, but have special advantages in testing causal hypotheses.

Theoretical Stances:
Various hypotheses have been offered to describe processes of influence which violent TV might
have on children's behavior. All I can do here is to refer to some of these proposed processes
briefly. No single process is likely to offer an adequate explanation.

Short-Term Influences:
1. Modeling/Imitation: Social learning theorists (such as Bandura) emphasize the
'observational learning' of particular kinds of aggression from a 'model'. Those who
employ this argument see film and TV characters as models from which children learn
behavior which may be imitated in everyday life. Unless they had seen the film The Deer
Hunter the American teenagers who killed themselves with randomly loaded revolvers
15

(as in the film's grisly game of Russian roulette) might not have done so. In such cases,
simple imitation of media violence is widely cited as the reason for violent behavior.

2. Symbolic Modeling: It is a variation on this process, whereby watching violent programs
may be a factor in encouraging violent behavior which is not directly imitated but which
has been generalized from the specific behavior demonstrated in the media.

3. Identification: In another modified version of the imitation theory, it is argued that
viewers tend to adopt the aggressive behavior of characters only if they identify with
them and if the character's behavior is seen to be justified. Obviously people are more
likely to imitate the behavior of an attractive model than a less attractive one, and
empathy is likely to heighten this tendency.
4. Vicarious Reinforcement: If violence is 'reinforced' by being seen to 'pay off' for the
aggressor this may promote its acceptability to the viewer compared with violence which
is punished or unproductive. We have already referred to one such example in one of the
Bandura studies. Both vicarious reinforcement and identification may mean that
aggression by 'goodies' can be more of a problem with children than that of 'baddies'.
Criticism of aggressive acts either within the program itself or by co-viewers tends to
reduce imitation by children.

5. Perceived Reality: Another variation of modeling which lacks an agreed label is
imitation subject to the degree of perceived reality. Some studies have shown cartoon
violence to have less negative influence on children's behavior than more realistic
violence.

6. Instigation/Arousal:
According to this variation on modeling, those who are already in a state of high emotional or
physiological arousal (which may itself have been influenced by TV) are more likely to engage
in aggressive behavior in response to watching a violent incident on TV than are others. Leonard
Berkowitz found that if viewers of a violent film were made angry or frustrated before they
watched it, they expressed more aggression than those who were not already angry or frustrated.
We may also note that heavy viewers tend to be less emotionally aroused by violent TV itself
than do light viewers.
Related to the influence of arousal, some commentators refer to 'reinforcement' in a general
sense, meaning that TV violence has relatively little independent influence on behavior, but
tends to reinforce any aggressive attitudes and behavior which may already exist. Some also
refer to this as 'pre-observation reinforcement'. The more general argument of reinforcement is
that the more aggressive tendencies are reinforced in this way, the more likely it will be that they
will produce aggressive behavior.

7. Sensitization:
16

Sensitization is a sort of reverse modeling, whereby viewers react so strongly to some extreme
example of realistic violence that they are less likely to imitate it. Ethical considerations mean
that it's not much studied. Where viewing of violence is 'light' sensitization may be more likely
than desensitization.

8. Catharsis:
Seymour Feshbach has argued (rather differently from all the varieties of modeling theory) that
fantasy violence can have a cathartic effect on viewers, defusing latent aggression, and reducing
the possibility of aggressive behavior. People often report feeling better after watching a really
scary film. Note that this theory, which suggests that aggressive behavior television may not
have harmful effects, is often singled out for attack, as in the case of the study already referred to
by Feshbach and Singer. A serious objection, though, is that the content of TV programs may be
partly responsible for any pent-up aggression or anxieties in the first place! Certainly there's no
doubt that TV characters enter into children's dreams, and TV-inspired fantasies may not only
inspire nightmares, but may also perform a valuable role in developing defenses against real or
imagined vulnerability. Another version of catharsis theory is that watching violent programs
decreases levels of arousal, leaving viewers less prone to aggressive behavior.

Longer Term Influences:
Desensitization:
The notion of desensitization involves the argument that heavy viewing of violent TV over time
conditions viewers gradually to accept violence as normal, dulling their sensitivity to aggressive
behavior in everyday life. The conditions of ordinary TV viewing may encourage us to relax and
enjoy violent images. Arousal declines as the viewing of violence becomes reutilized. Drabman
& Thomas (1984) found that children of 8 to 10 shown a video of aggressive behavior took
longer to intervene in apparently real life violence between two younger children they were left
in charge of than children who had not seen the video. However, such studies are still artificially
lab-based and do not explore children's own thoughts and feelings. The origin of such theories is
again in the behaviorist tradition of 'behavior modification'. Observations suggesting
desensitization may in fact have been observing the development of children's defenses against
anxiety.
TV viewing may influence not only behavior but also attitudes and beliefs...
1. Value Reinforcement: Whilst this doesn't have a technical label, this refers to the theory
that TV programs may reinforce certain values about the use of violence (rather than
directly influencing behavior). Programs where violence is used frequently to settle
disputes reinforce the value that aggressive behavior is acceptable.

2. Cultivation Theory: George Gerbner and his colleagues in the USA argue that the most
significant effects of TV violence are ideological rather than behavioral. Gerbner sees TV
as a modern 'opiate of the people', serving as a tranquilizer which legitimates the current
social order. He has shown that there is a correlation between TV viewing and viewers'
estimations of the frequency of violence in the everyday world. 'Heavy viewers' are more
likely to mistrust other people and to experience fear and insecurity, and therefore to
17

support stronger forms of policing and social control. However, Gerbner makes no
allowance for the variety of individual interpretations or for the kind of programs
involved. It may be that more fearful people are drawn to watching more TV. And other
social and personality factors may counter such cultivation.
*(http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Modules/TF33120/tv-violence_and_kids.html)

A study on the effects of Barbie was made in which the attitudes of people towards Barbie are
discussed

*4. Barbie's Effects on American Suburban Culture:
Barbie portrays the doll that could do anything. Her world is open for her. She reflects the time
period during the beginning of suburbia where middle class families felt that they had the world
open to them because of their new positions in suburbs. Barbie's many accessories represented
the high consumption lifestyle of these new suburbanites. She had her dream house, completely
furnished, a racy sports car, and a wardrobe that expanded almost every day. The economy was
booming and consumerism was on the rise and this was shown in the objects and "necessities"
that Barbie possessed. This shows that the majority of consumers of Barbie and her accessories
were of the suburban middle class. This also holds true for the materialism in today's society.
Individuals are constantly striving to own more and more. As Michelle Sit points out, the amount
of accessories that children owned of Barbie could be tied in with their social class. The more
accessories, the more money the family had to buy their children toys. Some children may have
felt left out in this scenario. The ideals of Barbie are portrayed through this ideal of suburbia that
material things are very important.
Although Barbie sold that "I can do it all" attitude, there were still limitations on her. A large
emphasis, when Barbie came out, was on her beauty and clothes. This reflected the suburban
ideal of a woman staying at home, waiting to look gorgeous and be "perfect" for her husband
when he came home from work. Many women wanted to achieve the ideal body that Barbie
flaunted. She also slowly became a symbol of the body younger girls wished to have when they
grew older. Ironically, the dimensions that Barbie would not even be anatomically possible on
humans. Women with her dimensions of 36-18-38 would not be able to live. The perfection
Barbie portrays has influenced many women attain Barbie's body by having operations to make
themselves "look like" Barbie. Cindy Jackson, founder of the Cosmetic Surgery Network, is a
famous Barbie Doll human. She had more than twenty operations and dispensed more than
$55,000 in her attempts to look like Barbie. Barbie's image of being able to do it all may have
put pressure on many women. In today's society, there is pressure on women to work, have a
marriage, make money, take care of the kids, and still try to look beautiful. Barbie's attitude
idealizes the hardships women must go through to try and be "perfect".
Barbie was created during a time when suburbia was beginning and the family ideal was very
important. However, she had no nuclear family, having no parents or offspring. This is the
reason that three years after Barbie was created Ken, her boyfriend, was marketed. This need for
Ken truly portrays one of the expectations for women at the time of the 1950's. Women were
failures without male companionship, and because Barbie followed her times, it was necessary to
create Ken. Barbie and Ken's relationship showed the high value placed on relationships. Women
18

were seen as more stable if involved in a relationship. Barbie portrayed an alternative life that
was different from the norm of a nuclear family, but never discarded traditional values.
Even though suburbia was booming and lives seemed to be simple and easy, this does not mean
that this era was a utopia. Many women were very unhappy with their domestic lives away from
the cities and alone in the house all day. Barbie presented the popular image of independence
that perhaps many women of that time would have liked to have. She also showed a sexiness that
helped children to dream of the fashionable clothes and statements that they could make when
they grew up. Barbie represented the female gender of her times by having what many females
wanted, but also by not straying far from the tradition of males in her life.
Barbie not only represented the suburban ideas in gender roles, but also in the exclusion
by suburbia by different races. The typical image of the Barbie Doll has been engraved into
America's mind set. Most picture the typical Barbie Doll white with blond hair and blue eyes.
The black Barbie is in the main stream of markets, but does not sell nearly as many dolls as
white Barbie. At the same time, the other ethnic dolls are mainly collectors items. They are
dressed in the traditional clothing of their countries. They still do not fully represent those
countries, being that the portrayals are highly Americanized and have very "Barbie-like" faces.
Their ethnic clothes are from past times and instead of portraying them as American. Maps of the
world are given as backgrounds in the boxes, giving them a feeling of separation. Children of
other nationalities may not feel a tie or relation to the ethnic Barbie Dolls. If they are American,
they probably do not feel a relation to a doll form their "native" country, especially if these
ethnic Barbies do not represent the culture.
The reasons that Barbies of different races have not done well could stem from a variety of
places. At the release of the first black Barbie, it was during a time of massive segregation, only
at the very beginning of civil rights protests. Many parents and white suburbanites may not have
been accepting or ready to change their image of what type of doll their children should have. In
addition, if every white child of suburbia owned white Barbie dolls and that was the only kind of
Barbie massively advertised, this would lead children of other nationalities to possibly feel
uncomfortable with the ethnic versions of Barbie. To conform to the norm and accept Barbie
would be easier for them.
Jennifer Reid, program coordinator and clinical social worker at the Atlanta Center for Eating
Disorders (ACE) believes that little girls are not mature enough to want to emulate Barbie, but
they begin to perceive how everyone wants a Barbie. It cements the idea that everybody wants
her, Reid says.
Barbie certainly does represent an unrealistic body type because if she were full-size, the
dimensions would be impossible for a human to attain, says Alice Bender, nutrition services
coordinator at the University of Georgias University Health Center. This is a plastic,
manufactured image, and as most manufactured images, they are unrealistic. She believes
Barbie is another distorted picture of contemporary societys emphasis on thinness, and
especially affects those who are already genetically prone to develop eating disorders and other
manifestations of low self-esteem. Dolls are toys, Bender says, but toys do have an impact on
how children thinkplay is a childs work.


*(http://otal.umd.edu/~vg/mssp96/ms07/cult.htm)

19

HYPOTHESIS:

In my research there are two hypotheses:
1. Fantasy in animated cartoons has a negative effect on the imagination of the children
2. Heavy viewing of animated cartoons can cause problems in differentiating between real
and fantasy world.
VARIABLES:

VARIABLES OF FIRST HYPOTHESIS:
Independent variable:
Fantasy
Dependent variable:
Effect on imagination
VARIABLES OF SECOND HYPOTHESIS:
Independent variable:
Heavy viewing
Dependent variable:
Problem in differentiating
METHODOLOGY:
SURVEY METHOD

Sample:
Sampling was random and subjects were 30 mothers of Pakistan, who have children between 5
to 12 years old (both male and female).
Data:
Both qualitative and quantitative data.
20

Procedure:
First of all I did some interviews before making my questionnaire. I came to know that mostly
mothers were talking about fantasy and imitation of cartoons after watching them. Then I made a
survey questionnaire on the basis of my pre-testing. I located 30 mothers who have children
between the ages of 5 to 12. After getting the filled surveys, I calculated the results.

RESULT:

The first hypothesis is proved that the fantasy in animated cartoons has a negative effect on the
imagination of the children.
The second hypothesis is proved that heavy viewing of animated cartoons can cause problems in
differentiating between real and fantasy world.















21

DISCUSSION:
Storytelling, cartoons, talking about utopia or fantasy world are the basic things in the lives of
children. In our society, mostly grandmothers or grand fathers are the storytellers. Children are
fond of imaginary world and that is why they want to hear stories from their mothers and
grandparents before going to bed. These stories are helpful in learning basic things, manners and
behavior. Through these stories children can get entertainment as well as it is useful for
personality development. After starting the trend of animated movies, storytelling decreases to
some extent and now children are more interested in watching the imaginary world because they
think that it is reality. For example, a four years old girl was hearing a story of a bird from her
grandmother; suddenly she turned to her mother and said: jhoot bol rai hain
2
. So the children
who now live in the world of animated movies cannot believe in stories because they cannot see
those things from their eyes.
Now I will discuss the results which are as follows:
The Survey questionnaire included 10 Quantitative and two Qualitative questions. The responses
for the quantitative questions were clearly observed, however, the qualitative questions showed
different views of the respondents. The following data includes the majority inclinations
extracted from the survey: (Please refer to attached graphs).
According to the quantitative data, 100% children watch animated cartoons as this is the best
thing to pass their time.
Out of 30 respondents, 17 mothers said that their children watched these cartoons for at least 1
to 2 hours, 6 watched them for only half hour, 4 watched them for 2 to 3 hours and 3 watched
them for more than 3 hours. This shows that mostly children spend 2 hours.
Then I gave them a list of popular cartoons and from that list I found out that mostly children
watch Tom and Jerry, Ben10, Barbie series, Cinderella and Scooby-doo.
On asking about the most favorite cartoon of children, they replied that Tom and Jerry, Barbie,
Spiderman, Dora the explorer and Scooby-doo are the favorite cartoons. (Dora wasnt included
in the list but I gave them the option of others)
Out of 30, 8 mothers encourage their children to watch these cartoons, 6 mothers dont
encourage their children and 16 mothers sometimes encourage their children to watch cartoons.

Glossary:
2. She is telling a lie.
22

30 out of 10 mothers told that their children copied/imitated the characters, 8 said that their
children never copied after watching cartoons and 12 said that their children sometimes imitated
the cartoon characters.
Out of 30 respondents, 17 mothers said that their children liked to talk about fantasy world
whereas 13 said that their children never talked about fantasy world.
19 mothers told that their children never thought that what they are watching is not real and 11
mothers told that their children knew about it.
10 mothers said that these cartoons have a positive impact on their children, 12 mothers said that
these have negative impacts and 8 mothers claimed that these have no impact on their children. I
also asked them the reason which I will include in the qualitative data results.
11 mothers dont force their children to watch these cartoons for their relaxation but 19 mothers
forced their children to watch cartoons so they can relax for some time.
According to the qualitative data results:
On asking about the reason of negative, positive and no impact, mothers who were in favor of
these cartoons said that children learn so many things from these cartoons. They learn how to
behave with elders. One mother said that after watching Cinderella her daughter learned how to
manage her clothes. From baby Looney tones children learn how to sit, how to talk, how to
cross road, traffic rules and so many other things which help them in personality development.
Whereas, the mothers who think that cartoons have a bad impact said that children become
violent after watching these cartoons. They talk about these cartoons too much and started
comparing themselves with the cartoon characters. Mostly mothers said that Tom and Jerry is
very violent which is not good for the children. Especially one mother said that her daughter
loves to talk like the cartoon characters and even do dangerous stunts like them. Another mother
said that her son imagines himself like Spiderman and Superman. And one mother considered it
a waste of time.
The mothers who think that these cartoons have no impact on their children said that their
children know that it is not real. One mother said that her son knows that bad guy always loses in
the end so it has no impact on him.
On asking about the reaction of children while watching these cartoons mostly mothers said that
their children become serious and indulge in their own world while watching cartoons and reacts
according to the situation (it can be sad or happy). They take the fight between characters very
seriously.
Whereas some mothers said that their children become happy and excited while watching
cartoons and mostly they copy the stunts and dialogues.
23

On asking about the impact on the imagination of children, 70% respondents said that it has a
negative impact on their imagination. The reason behind it is that they imitate the characters and
started thinking about what is happening in the cartoons. Girls force their mothers to bring the
clothes like Cinderella, Snow white and Barbie. Whereas the boys imagine themselves doing
stunts like Spiderman. One mother said that her son sometimes thinks that he is on a sea shore or
on the stars or he can fly like Iron man. Another mother said that most Disney cartoons are
based on love stories which teach kids to be attracted towards the opposite gender where as
cartoons like tom n jerry, roadrunner and similar cartoons are based on violence, in this way they
bully other children.
The responses of the mothers were very good when I told about my topic before giving survey
form. They explained their answers in qualitative questions with examples which is very helping
to understand the intensity of each child that how much he/she is involved or indulged in his/her
imagination or not.
From the above results, it is clear that cartoons have some negative effects on the imagination of
the children because they think that everything is possible. The research of Bandura
[7]
was on
Bobo doll in which he discussed modeling/imitation behavior of children. The cartoon
characters are models for children and the promotional items of characters like clothes, bags,
books, pictures, stickers, hats, shoes, bookmarks etc attract children a lot and they want to be like
them. Dora the explorer is a very popular cartoon and that is why children got crazy about Dora
things. One mother said that her 4 years old son was asking her to bring Dora shoes for him.
When the mother told her that Dora is a girl and you couldnt wear Dora shoes, he started crying.
As a result she brought the night shoes of Dora for her son.
The concept of superheroes is very strong among children. A mother of 5 years old child was
giving bath to him, suddenly he asked: mama hamari body se web ku nai nikata?
3
. She had no
answer of this question. Children think that if Spiderman, Superman and Batman are climbing on
walls very easily, flying in the air and saving people so they can also do the same. They like to
do the dangerous stunts which they watch on TV.
Nadia Khan, the host of Nadia Khan Show was telling about her daughter one day. Her daughter
found her tooth broken and she placed it under her pillow because she thought that tooth fairy
would come and would give her a gift. She wrote a letter to the tooth fairy which is:
What is your name?
What is the color of your hairs?

Glossary:
3. Why not our body contains web?
24


Can you play with me for some time?
What will you give me in gift?
So this the height of her imagination in which she cant differentiate between real and fantasy
world. It also depends on the time span because if a child is watching cartoons for two hours or
more than two hours continuously then it would be possible that he cant decide that what is real
and what is not? The reason behind it is that so many things are on his head and he continuously
thinks about those things and he must ask questions about them to his parents.
The abstract of a study on demonizing in children's television cartoons and Disney animated
films is also about the ratio of evilness in cartoons. It is as follows:
The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of demonizing in the two major media
that young children use (television and movies). Two content analyses were conducted using the
animated feature films (n = 34) of the Walt Disney Company and after-school cartoons (n = 41).
Each was coded for the modeling of the use of evil words when referring to a person, e.g.,
monster, devil, demon, wicked. Seventy-four percent of the Disney films contained evil
references, with an average of 5.6 references per film. Forty-four percent of the after-school
cartoons contained evil references, with an average of one per cartoon. The results are
discussed within the context of childrens repeated exposure to popular animated movies and
cartoons and their learning to demonize people who engage in perceived bad behaviors.*

Some mothers also told that children learn language from these cartoons which is sometimes
bad. For example in Simpsons, sometimes they use language which is not appropriate for
children. From Tom and Jerry, children are learning aggressiveness, fighting and the most
important thing taking revenge if something wrong happens. It is not good because in this
cartoon all the time tom and jerry are involved in a fight and always ready to take revenge from
each other and if a child is watching it continuously for two hours, he must do an aggressive act
after it.
According to the results, mostly children are indulged in their thoughts while watching cartoons.
They are fully absorbed in it and that is why they have so many confusions about the things they
watched. And mostly mothers said that their children asked a lot of questions. The reason is that
they want to solve the confusions which they have in their small minds. The need is to explain
them that it cant happen in reality because this is a work of imagination.
The study on Barbie cartoons which I have mentioned in the literature review tells us about how
much girls are obsessed with it. Girls want to be like her. These things are distorting their
imagination because it is not a healthy imagination if they are thinking about to be as slim as
Barbie. The reason is that everybody has its own body type in which it is difficult to be like
Barbie because it is a sign of perfection which a real man cant be. And if they want the clothes
and other accessories which Barbie used in cartoons then this is imitation in which they cant
have their own personality because they are copying each and everything like Barbie and other
similar cartoons.
*(http://www.qsensei.com/content/12rwxh)
25

What I feel is that it is necessary to create a sense in children that they should have their own
personality, not the personality of those who even dont exist in this world. Cartoons characters
are not their real heroes, they can learn the basic manners from them but not their attitude,
language and style.



CONCLUSION:

This study explains the attitudes and behaviors of children towards fantasy and imagination
which is due to their cartoon watching habits. These cartoons with high quality thoughts give rise
to the childrens imagination which is somehow not positive because he/she thinks that he can be
a Superman or Cinderella or he can fly or a prince charming will come for her and will save her.
The study clearly tells that mothers observed negative impacts on these things and heavy viewers
were those who couldnt draw a line between reality and fantasy.



















26



SUGGESTIONS:

Face to face communication is a lot better than survey forms in this research because a
mother can explain each and every expression of her children.
The qualitative questions can explain the whole scenario very clearly but due to one fear
factor that maybe a mother cant explain openly in English, I added more quantitative
questions. It should have more qualitative questions.
























27

GRAPHS:
Here are the graphs of 9 quantitative questions which show the statistics of the options chose by
the respondents. Question no 4 is not included as it was about the most favorite cartoon of
children so I mentioned it in the discussion part.


*100% children watched the animated movies.
30
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Does your child watch animated
movies?
Yes
No
Question:1
Does your child watch animated
movies?
Yes
No
28



*56% children spend one to two hours on cartoons, 20 % spend half hour, 13% spend two to 3
hours and 11% spend more than 3 hours.

6
17
4
3
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
What is the duration of watching these cartoons?
half hour
1 to 2 hours
2 to 3 hours
more than 3 hours
Question:2
29



*56% children watch Tom and Jerry, 36% watch Barbie series, 36% watch Ben 10 and 30%
watch Scooby-doo, Cinderella and Popeye.
11
1
8
1
5
8
9
4
2
8
2
17
6
4
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
Which animated cartoons your child prefers to
watch?
barbie series
mulan
scooby-doo
toonami
snow white
cinderalla
ben 10
stuart little
shrek
popeye
casper
tom and jerry
spider man
looney tones
Question:3
30




*54% mothers sometimes encourage their children to watch these cartoons whereas 26% mothers
always encourage their children and 20% mothers dont encourage their children.

8
6
16
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
Do you encourage your child to watch these
cartoons?
Yes
No
Sometimes
Question:5
31




*41% children imitate characters after watching them, 33% sometimes imitate them and 26%
children dont imitate them.
12
8
10
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Does your child copy or imitate anything after
watching animated characters?
Yes
No
Sometimes
Question:6
32




*56% children like to talk about the fantasy world and 44% dont like to talk about it.
17
13
0 5 10 15 20
Does your child like or talk about the fantasy
world?
Yes
No
Question:7
33




*64% children know that what they are watching is true but 36% dont know about it.
11
19
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Does he/she ever think that what he/she is
watching is true or related to the real world?
Yes
No
Question:8
34




*41% children are facing negative impacts of cartoons whereas cartoons have a positive impact
on 33% children, but 26% said that cartoons have no impact on the children.
10
12
8
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Do these cartoons have a positive impact on your
child?
Yes
No
No impact
Question:9
35




*64% mothers dont force their children to watch cartoons for their relaxation but 36% force
their children.
11
19
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Do you force your child to watch these cartoons so
you can relax for sometime?
Yes
No
Question:10
36




REFERENCES:


BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Eysenck Michael, Psychology an integrated approach, New York: Addison Wesley, Longman
Limited, 1998.


WEBLIOGRAPHY:

http://csmt.uchicago.edu/glossary2004/imagination.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animated_cartoon
http://www.girl.com.au/effectoftvonchildren.htm
http://www.wholefamily.com/aboutyourkids/imagination/childhood_2.html
http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Modules/TF33120/tv-violence_and_kids.html
http://otal.umd.edu/~vg/mssp96/ms07/cult.htm
http://www.qsensei.com/content/12rwxh










37