Lea's Communication (Paperback)

This popular text presents a current and complete summary and synthesis of what is known about the media's role in and impact on children's cognitive, social, and emotional development. This third edition reflects the current state of research into the relationship between children's television viewing and their emotional development. It also confirms certain insights and adds many new ones. Author Judith Van Evra aims to help her readers discern the complex and significant interplay between forces in children's lives and their use of various media. Relying on information from communication literature, as well as child development and other psychological domains, the book seeks to integrate these diverse sources into a coherent conceptualization of the major variables operating in children's media experience. This revised edition retains the basic structure of the previous text, but reflects significant changes both in content areas and in chapter organization. It updates research findings and changing trends in television content and viewing patterns, and includes greatly expanded sections on new technologies and their impact. New chapters have been added, covering research methodology; cultural diversity and stereotypes; health-related matters and lifestyle choices; media's impact on various social-emotional aspects of a child's development; and technology use for information and for entertainment. An entire chapter is devoted to intervention possibilities and parent strategies and education. Summaries and discussion questions are included at the end of each chapter. This edition begins with a review of the major theoretical perspectives from psychology and communication that have been used to predict and explain many of the research findings. Part II is devoted to looking at the cognitive aspects of children's media experience, followed by a section that deals with media's impact on various areas of children's and adolescents' social and emotional development and behavior. Part IV is devoted to the role of specific technologies in the lives of children and adolescents and their impact on the development of beliefs, knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. Part V includes a chapter review of intervention strategies, as well as an overview of the findings and trends of research to date, discussing the many questions that remain for future research to address. By examining how and to what extent television and other media actually affect children and what role other variables may play in mediating their impact, students in media studies, mass communication, child development, and related areas will be able to understand how technology's potential for enriching children's cognitive, social, and emotional development can be maximized, while at the same time minimizing negative influence.