Media Affecting Children's Perceptions Of Gender Stereotypes

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1. Introduction 1.1 Learning Characteristics of Preschool Children According to Jean Piaget, a well-known psychologist and philosopher, assimilation and accommodation are two crucial processes in a child’s study (Cited by NSW Office of Child Care, 2002). This means children establish a cognitive foundation by absorbing information from the environment around them; then they imitate, study the information and turn these experiences into their own knowledge and behaviors. As two to seven years-old children in the pre-operational stage, they are eager to know everything; however, they still lack logical abilities and cannot understand how to manipulate information, so they are easily affected by the environment (Kipp, 2009). 1.2 Influence of Media In the age of technology, child are exposed to the overwhelming media cultures. Kirkorian, Wartella and Anderson (2008) wrote that media gives children more chances to know this world and to help them learn faster and more; on the other …show more content…

Tonn added that Disney, as a major contributor to the children’s media, affect children’s perceptions of gender roles, values and ideals. There is no doubt that Disney animated movies has provided some inappropriate role models for children, and has different negative effects on young boys and girls (Maio, 1999; Catillo, 2006; Tonn, 2008; Cartelli, 2012). Stokes (2012) observed that the male character in Disney animated movies is either a thief like in “Tangled” or a liar as in “Frozen” or a car, plane or a puffy animal; there is no role model for young boys to gain manhood. Kritselis (2014) summarized “7 Problematic Lessons” that Disney movies taught boys, for example, most fathers are scary and men must rescue