Login | Register

Children's pretend play with television and film-scripted character toys

Title:

Children's pretend play with television and film-scripted character toys

Chang, Sandra (2003) Children's pretend play with television and film-scripted character toys. Masters thesis, Concordia University.

[thumbnail of MQ83793.pdf]
Preview
Text (application/pdf)
MQ83793.pdf
4MB

Abstract

Children's cultural environments have been inundated with television and film-based character toys: replica models of characters seen in children's popular television and film. This study examined whether "scripted" toys had a restrictive influence on children's imaginations, by investigating how children used play to emulate or transform the materials, identities, and narratives they were provided through these toys. The effects of toy type (scripted versus unscripted) and gender (boys versus girls) on the pretend play, roles, and themes engaged in by children were examined. Twenty-eight 5-year-olds (14 boys, 14 girls) were observed in play sessions under two conditions: (a) with a set of television or film-scripted toys, and (b) with a set of toys unrelated to mass media. The children's pretend play, roles, and themes were measured. Results revealed that scripted toys elicited pretend enactment with fictive roles and themes, whereas unscripted toys encouraged high-level negotiation (especially with girls) and archetypical or reality-based roles and themes. These findings tentatively suggest that television and film-scripted toys promote imitative pretend play, whereas unscripted toys encourage more creative pretense behavior in the children. The results also confirmed that the inclusion of an "archetypical" category was necessary to describe the children's pretend roles and themes. As well, girls were found to engage in more pretend negotiation behaviors than boys

Divisions:Concordia University > Faculty of Arts and Science > Education
Item Type:Thesis (Masters)
Authors:Chang, Sandra
Pagination:x, 105 leaves : charts (some col.), forms ; 29 cm.
Institution:Concordia University
Degree Name:M.A.
Program:Child Study
Date:2003
Thesis Supervisor(s):Howe, Nina
Identification Number:HQ 784 T4C43 2003
ID Code:2229
Deposited By: Concordia University Library
Deposited On:27 Aug 2009 17:26
Last Modified:13 Jul 2020 19:51
Related URLs:
All items in Spectrum are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved. The use of items is governed by Spectrum's terms of access.

Repository Staff Only: item control page

Downloads per month over past year

Research related to the current document (at the CORE website)
- Research related to the current document (at the CORE website)
Back to top Back to top