Older Preschoolers Attitude to Cartoon Characters Depending on their Identification with Main Characters

Abstract

Background. In modern psychology, there is a lack of study exploring the perception of art by preschoolers. In particular, this is true for cartoon films as the currently most popular category of art targeted at small children. Objective. The current paper is aimed at determining the characteristics of the attitudes of 5–7 year old preschoolers towards cartoon characters. Study Participants. The study involved 60 children aged 5 to 7 years (from 60 months to 86 months; M = 72.3, SD = 7.63): 30 boys (from 60 months to 86 months; M = 73.3, SD = 7.94) and 30 girls (from 62 months to 86 months; M = 71.3, SD = 7.31), attending preschools. Methods. The study used a modified method of personal constructs by J. Kelly, which aims to explore similarities and differences between objects. A modification of this method consisted in the use of six cards, presenting five characters of the cartoon “Old Toy” (1971, timing: 9:42; script by V. Livanov, directed by V. Samsonov) and one “You” card, denoting a child. The distribution of the elections was analysed using the z-criterion for independent samples, the structural features of the use of subjective personality constructs in various identification groups were analysed by factor analysis (Principal component analysis with varimax rotation and Kaiser normalisation). Results. Differences in the use of subjective and objective personality constructs by children, as well as various variants of subjective personality constructs, in relation to the characteristics of children’s identification, were found. In addition, differences in the structure of the subjective personality constructs used by children from different identification groups were revealed. Conclusions. The results allow us to conclude that identification with a particular character significantly determines the personal attitude of the preschooler towards that character. The results emphasise the importance of special psychological and pedagogical work on the artistic development in preschool children and, in particular, the development of their viewer culture.

Keywords

• preschool age
• cartoon perception
• cartoon characters
• identification with the character
• j. kelly’s method of personal constructs