Exposure to Prosocial Disney Content and Children’s Helping Behavior: An Experimental Study

• In Event: Learning From Media (Part 2): How & When Media Influence Children & Teens' Social Behaviors

Abstract

The current study is the first to examine whether prosocial behavior in Disney movies affects children’s prosocial behavior. In this study, 113 children (M = 9.03; SD = .738) and their friends participated. Children in the experimental condition were exposed to a Disney fragment in which the main character helped a friend high of cost, while children in the control condition were exposed to a neutral fragment from the same movie. Afterwards, children’s helping behavior towards their friends was assessed during a puzzle assignment. Regression analysis demonstrated that, while controlling for children’s sex and initial levels of prosocial behavior, children exposed to a prosocial Disney fragment were found to help more often and were found to spend more time on helping compared to children who did not watch a prosocial Disney fragment. Although replication is needed, findings indicate that watching Disney can encourage children to help each other.

Authors

• Rebecca de Leeuw, Behavioural Science Institute, Dept. of Communication

• Christa van der Laan, Radboud U Nijmegen