Avoiding Mental Health Stigmatizations & Encouraging Help Seeking Through Entertainment Media

Mass media have the power to shape our perceptions, attitudes and beliefs toward certain groups, issues and individuals. For better or worse, most forms of media, including entertainment media, serve as primary sources of information for many viewers, influencing our understanding of those around us and in turn, our future behaviors and actions.

Unfortunately, for those struggling with mental illness, the depictions of characters with mental health issues often focus on negative and extreme stereotypical traits that portray these individuals as a danger to society and themselves. These depictions are not only inaccurate and unrepresentative of the millions of people worldwide who face mental health challenges, but they also reinforce preconceived stigmatizations which can lead to diminished self-esteem and social exclusion. 

Mental health professionals are often portrayed as odd, unhelpful, unrelatable and/or unavailable, which can have major consequences on those affected by mental illness. These negative portrayals can interfere with help seeking behaviors and prevent individuals from receiving treatment due to factors such as fear, shame, embarrassment and discrimination. A startling two-thirds of individuals with a mental health disorder never seek professional help.

Too often, entertainment programs portray mental illness as something that destroys lives and fail to show viewers that mental illness is common and treatable. By depicting treatment and recovery, the media can help normalize mental health issues, fight stigma, offer hope, and connect viewers with resources for themselves or loved ones.

In a survey commissioned by the mental health organization Mind, based in the UK, findings showed that after seeing a news report or drama involving a character with mental health challenges, more than half of the respondents expressed that it had improved their understanding of mental health issues and a quarter said it had inspired them to start a conversation about mental health. Furthermore, out of the respondents affected by mental health issues, one third were encouraged to seek professional help and get assistance. 

Several other studies have highlighted the power of the media to reduce stigma, increase understanding of mental health and increase help-seeking behaviors. For example, one study found that participants who watched a film depicting an accurate portrayal of an individual with schizophrenia, were less likely to endorse stigmatizing attitudes toward individuals with the illness compared to participants who saw an inaccurate portrayal of schizophrenia. Another study found that having a strong relationship to the main character of a television series who had obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) was associated with lower OCD stereotypes and greater willingness to seek and disclose mental health treatment specifically among participants with a mental illness. 

It is clear that the media have the power to influence our perceptions, attitudes and beliefs about individuals living with mental illness and also to help those affected. Therefore, it is in the best interest of millions of viewers and their loved ones for content creators to portray characters with a mental illness accurately and positively.

Here are some actionable insights for storytellers: 

1. Avoid perpetuating stereotypes about mental illness that may be stigmatizing and harmful. 

2. Avoid including stigmatizing language in scripts, such as “crazy,” “psycho,” “looney,” “wacko,” etc.

3. Avoid making mental illness the defining feature of a character’s personality. 

4. Introduce likeable and relatable characters who also might happen to encounter mental health challenges. 

5. Portray doctors and therapists as helpful and supportive rather than incompetent or unavailable.  

6. Model help-seeking behaviors such as talking to therapists, talking to trusted friends/adults and calling/texting helplines. 

7. Model help-seeking behaviors not only for serious or diagnosable problems but also for common challenges such as stress, divorce and death. 

8. Show supporting cast characters modeling supportive behaviors and describing options for seeking help. 

9. Insert message of mental health treatment, hope and recovery. 

Vicki Harrison, MSW

Program Director, Center for Youth Mental Health and Wellbeing

Stanford Psychiatry Center for Youth Mental Health & Wellbeing

Adrianna Ruggiero

Senior Research Coordinator for CSS

How the Pandemic Can Teach Kids About Compassion

What if this crisis became an opportunity for children to deepen their sense of care?

As a homebound parent with a preschooler, I’ve felt an array of emotions over the past few months during the coronavirus pandemic. I’ve felt sadness and worry about how many people are becoming ill, while being confounded by trying to juggle homeschooling and my own work responsibilities.

But I’ve also felt a great deal of gratitude for the kindnesses that have punctuated so many of my days lately, like when a neighbor left herbs from her garden at my gate or when a faraway friend whom I haven’t heard from in years sent text messages of love.

These positive experiences have affirmed to me that when times are difficult, our common human response is not to show reckless disregard of others but to show compassion.

We often assume that emergencies automatically lead to panic, but research consistently shows that people tend to act in solidarity and turn toward each other with a sense of togetherness. They volunteer, donate supplies, and spread goodwill, strengthening social bonds and helping everyone be resilient together.

“Affiliative, supportive, prosocial behaviors are more common, where widespread sickness and debility evoke acts of mutual aid among members of a community in crisis,” explains Steven Taylor, professor and clinical psychologist at the University of British Columbia, in his book The Psychology of Pandemics.

Compassion—noticing others suffering and being motivated to provide relief to them—grows early on in life. Five-month-old babies prefer helpers over hinderers. When babies between eight and 10 months old see people bump their knees or hurt their fingers, they already show the seeds of empathy with facial expressions, vocalizations, and gestures that reflect concern and a desire to understand others’ distress. By 14 months old, toddlers help others by handing them objects out of reach.

How can parents help their children realize their instinctual capacity for compassion during the coronavirus pandemic? Scientists have suggested three ways that children develop compassion that are relevant to these times.

1. Show compassion to kids so they experience receiving it

During the pandemic, many of our children are feeling uncertainty and upheaval, just like us parents. They miss school, their friends, and playing sports like they did before. For young children who don’t have the breadth of words to express their worries and fears, or older children who don’t have the emotional agility to get through tough moments, it can be overwhelming.

As a result, our kids may be irritable or have more meltdowns and tantrums than usual. But rather than seeing children as uncooperative, parents can consider whether their behavior is simply an indication that they might be suffering, too.

If we offer children warmth and tenderness when their routines are turned upside down, we can soothe them in their own time of need. Parents can extend compassion by making space to help their children become better aware of and process their feelings. Acknowledging and being sensitive to our children’s emotions can act as a salve and help them to see that this moment of hardship will eventually pass.

Parents can also frequently talk to their children about all the members of their extended family and broader community who have cared for them both recently and in the past. For example, parents can tell and retell their children stories of neighbors who brought gift baskets after their pet died or dropped off dinners when a grandparent was in the hospital. These conversations serve to remind children that they are connected to a network of people who are a generous source of compassion from which they can draw strength during times of suffering.

Receiving compassion offers kids a firsthand experience of what it feels like. 

2. Teach kids to practice self-compassion

In turn, just as children receive compassion from parents, they can also learn to offer it to themselves.

When children are having a hard time during the pandemic, parents can encourage them to listen and respond to their bodies and minds with greater awareness, acceptance, and kindness. For example, parents of older children can teach them to take self-compassion breaks to handle stressful moments.

For younger children, this might mean guiding them to first pause and notice their tense muscles, rapid heartbeats, and racing thoughts. Ask them to recognize that they’re having a moment of hardship and children all over the world are having these kinds of moments, too. Teach them to breathe deeply from their bellies and offer themselves words of tenderness like “May I feel calm.”

Parents can also encourage their younger children to cultivate self-compassion by planning enjoyable activities to look forward to after a hard day of homeschooling or after realizing summer vacation plans are cancelled.

Self-compassion allows children to process and cope with difficult emotions. Eventually, it can help them see their common humanity—that everyone suffers sometimes—and know that it’s all right to feel bad.

Tending to their intense emotions helps children be restored and renewed, which in turn prepares them to serve others. Overwhelming personal distress can make children singularly self-focused and less able to attend to others’ suffering. Self-compassion practices can help them be more able to orient toward others and extend compassion to them—which is the last step.

3. Encourage kids to extend compassion to others

During the coronavirus pandemic, even though children are inclined to help, it can be hard for them to know exactly what they can do.

Children can start with small acts of compassion as a family—sending kind thoughts to essential workers, regularly FaceTiming with isolated older or immunocompromised family members, or helping gather canned goods for the local food bank. Parents can also review these other ideas from Youth Service America to help inspire children toward compassionate acts.

Research suggests that small differences in language matter when we’re encouraging our kids to help. Parents can nurture young children’s motivation by inviting them to “be a helper,” which can instill in them a compassionate self-identity. But there’s a catch: When tasks are too difficult and children experience a setback, those who were asked to “be a helper” are less likely to try to help again compared to children who were simply asked “to help.” So, in circumstances when children might not succeed at helping with something, it’s better to just ask them “to help.”

Even young children have undoubtedly picked up on their radar that life right now is quite a bit different than it used to be. What if this pandemic became an opportunity for them to learn that being human during hard times involves transformation and resilience, and that compassion helps us all to thrive?

Maryam Abdullah, Ph.D.

This article originally appeared on Greater Good, the online magazine of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley.

Five Ways to Reduce Racial Bias in Your Children

How do we combat racial prejudice? New research reveals how parents influence the formation of bias in children.

Children notice difference across racial lines. Even from a very young age, babies scan a face differently if it belongs to someone of a different race, suggesting that racial bias may be hardwired.

But noticing difference is not the same as having negative or positive beliefs around difference. Those types of judgments develop over time and are influenced by many things, including the social climate children grow up in and the experiences they have that confirm or disprove their biases.

This is where parenting comes in. Though it’s clear that parents are not solely responsible for biasing their kids one way or the other, science suggests that they do play a role—and an important one. In fact, their influence may extend well beyond a child’s early years and into adolescence.

Though how this works is not totally clear, recent research has shown that the process starts early and involves both explicit (deliberate) and implicit (unconscious) messages that parents send to their children. This is the good news: Parents can be a positive force in combating prejudice in their children. But the “bad news” is that kids can easily pick up prejudice from society at large unless parents do something about it.

Here are some of the ways that parents can help reduce negative bias in their children.

1. Expose kids to more positive images of other racial groups

Kids are immersed in negative stereotypes perpetuated by the media and culture, just as adults are. To counteract that, parents can expose kids through stories, books, and films to more positive, counter-stereotypical images of people from different racial and ethnic groups—including moral exemplars like Martin Luther King Jr. or Dolores Huerta. In studies with adults, this type of intervention has been shown over and over to be one of the most effective ways of decreasing bias.

Though less is known about how this might impact children specifically, at least one study suggests that they benefit, too. Researchers presented white and Asian children ages 5-12 with four positive vignettes involving admirable black people (such as firefighters or doctors), admirable white people, or flowers and then measured the kids’ implicit biases towards black people. Being exposed to the positive vignettes significantly reduced implicit bias in children nine years of age and older—though not in the younger children.

According to lead author Antonya Gonzalez, this study suggests that showing older kids positive images of black people may counteract negative stereotypes in society.

“Hearing these stories, the kids are internalizing an association between the group they’re hearing about and positivity, and that counteracts the stereotypical associations that they may already have,” she says.

However, just because younger children were not moved by the stories in her experiment doesn’t mean we shouldn’t expose younger kids to positive images, as well, Gonzalez believes.

“If there were more exposure and more exemplars, there’s a chance that might be enough to change associations” in younger kids, too, she says.

2. Help your kids develop cross-group friendships

Research suggests that cross-race friendships are an important factor in decreasing prejudice, probably because they help decrease stress and fears of rejection that may occur in cross-group situations. Having a friend from another group may also remove barriers to empathy and caring, which in turn decreases prejudice.

Research shows that having contact with different racial or social groups—especially when that contact is warm and positive—helps to decrease prejudice and to encourage more cross-group friendships. In a study with school kids of various ages, students who had higher levels of cross-race contact—including cross-race friendships—were more likely to see the way race plays a role in social exclusion and to view that behavior negatively.

In a longitudinal study with adolescents, those who had cross-group friendships were less likely to develop biases against immigrants in their community, even if their parents or peers were biased. These studies suggest that cross-group friendships might help mitigate biases that could otherwise form.

In one study, German teens who established a cross-group friendship during a three-year period demonstrated lower prejudice toward immigrants at the end of the study than those who hadn’t. In addition, the teens were more likely to develop cross-group friendships when there were more kids from different groups and more positive social norms concerning cross-group friendships in their community. This suggests that opportunity—meaning, living in diverse neighborhoods or going to integrated schools—is important.

Psychologist Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton encourages parents to take an active role in supporting cross-race friendships in their kids by organizing play-dates, inviting kids over to their houses, offering rides to sporting events, and creating other opportunities for their kids’ cross-group friendships to form.

“The default is to do these things with people with whom you already have an affinity,” he says. “You need to help scaffold these social experiences for your kids and be more intentional if you want to be sure that cross-group friendships happen.”

3. Cultivate cross-group friendships yourself

Parents can help normalize cross-group friendships by role-modeling them for their kids. This may seem superfluous, but research has shown that children’s racial attitudes are less tied to parents’ explicit messages around race than to the racial makeup of the parents’ social network.

Why does having cross-race friendships have such a strong impact on bias? Mendoza-Denton says that when you develop a cross-race friendship, you incorporate your friend’s struggles, motivations, and thoughts into your own self-concept—not in a way that’s confusing, but more expansive. For example, he says, you start to feel what they feel and empathize with them: maybe sweating when they give a talk or suffering when they experience heartbreak. And that experience of “inclusion of the other in the self” decreases bias against that person’s social group.

“It’s so much more organic to reduce bias by developing intergroup friendships, because it changes your attitudes through a very human mechanism, which is the interpersonal,” says Mendoza-Denton.

Though adding people to your social group based simply on race is probably unwise, it’s possible to search for common interests with people of different backgrounds, making it more likely that a friendship will happen naturally. Once friendship grows, empathy develops organically, says Mendoza-Denton.

4. Talk explicitly about race and the effects of racism

Many black parents give explicit instructions to their kids about the importance of race in society and what they can do to mitigate any bias they encounter. But well-meaning white parents are less likely to bring up race with their children, perhaps fearing that doing so would mean they don’t value egalitarianism or believe in a “post-race” society. The problem with that approach is that not talking about race can create a vacuum of information, which leads children to absorb biases around them—often in ways that are counter to parents’ own held values.

In one study, researchers had white parents read books depicting racial issues to their preschool-aged children (under the guise of studying the effects of literature on learning) while being videotaped. Racial attitudes were measured and compared afterwards in both parents and their children.

Later analyses of the videos showed that many parents avoided mention of race—even if their children asked about it—and used “colorblind” approaches to the issues raised in the book. For example, they might say, “It’s important to be nice to everyone” rather than something about race. Though the parents assumed their kids would absorb their colorblind ideals and hold favorable views of African-Americans, the children’s views weren’t in line with these expectations, suggesting that a colorblind approach does not decrease biased attitudes in kids.

In fact, research suggests that parents need to be much more explicit about racism and its effects. When white parents were asked to have race-related discussions with their kids—either with or without watching educational videos about race—their children showed more favorable attitudes toward racial outgroup members only if their parents discussed race directly. Interestingly, though, the researchers had trouble getting the parents to have these discussions—even when instructed to do so as part of the study. Apparently, there are psychological barriers to discussing race among many Caucasian parents.

How can parents overcome these? It’s not easy, says Mendoza-Denton, because if you aren’t comfortable, you will avoid the topic. He suggests that parents need to increase their own comfort first by developing connections to people from other racial groups. That will make it easier for parents to have these conversations without resorting to fear and avoidance.

If you can overcome your own discomfort, there are many children’s books that expose kids to the values and experiences of different groups and could be conversation starters. Or you may want to follow Allison Briscoe-Smith’s advice on how to use the movie Zootopia to talk to your children about racial prejudice.

5. Work to combat biases in yourself

Research clearly shows that the impact of parent bias on kids shouldn’t be underestimated. Although explicit biases have negative effects on kids, implicit bias can also impact children.

In one study, researchers found that very young children exhibited more explicit negative bias if their mothers held implicit biases—regardless of their explicit messaging. There can be a mismatch between what parents say and their unconscious reactions toward minority groups—and children seem to pick up on this.

Though implicit biases may seem an impossible thing to control—after all, they are supposed to be unconscious—they are quite changeable with conscious effort. Research suggests that automatic biases can be countered by deliberate attempts to counter them, exposure to moral exemplars, or positive cross-race interactions. In other words, much of what influences children may also influence you.

Becoming more aware of subtle prejudices may be the first step, and you can always take an implicit bias test if you want to learn about yourself. But Mendoza-Denton believes that this information is most useful in parents who are truly willing to attend to their biases; otherwise, learning about their implicit biases could possibly backfire, making them feel exposed and defensive and increasing their avoidance of the issue.

In addition to developing cross-race friendships, he advises parents to read books, watch films, and consume media not aimed at them. For example, to understand the viewpoints and experiences of blacks, a white parent might read Ta-Nehisi Coates’s book Between the World and Me, or see the movie I Am Not Your Negro. Doing so may counter bias by enriching understanding of another’s point of view, especially if they are motivated to foster that understanding.

Parents may think that there is very little they can do to influence their children’s biases or feel that prejudice-reduction is a daunting task. But if we are to impact bias in the long-term, we must come to grips with how bias is transmitted early in life and fed by a system of segregation and negative societal views. Parents, it turns out, can make an important contribution.

Jill Suttie, Psy.D

This article originally appeared on Greater Good, the online magazine of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley.

Foster or Otherwise, Parenting is Parenting: Love, care, and try your best

Media content has the power to shape perceptions and views on a mass scale. Unfortunately, media portrayals of youth in foster care are often negative and perpetuate unhelpful stereotypes. In this special blog series, The Center for Scholars and Storytellers is exploring this topic from multiple perspectives to inform and inspire the creation of accurate, empowering, and socially responsible media portrayals of foster care. 

Marianne Guilfoyle, Chief Innovations Officer at LA-based Allies for Every Child and a key foster care advisor to the Center for Scholars and Storytellers, often remarks: “If I had a nickel for every person who said they had considered being foster parents…” And she is right. It’s not that people haven’t considered fostering, it’s that they’ve never seriously considered it. And far too often, their reason is that they don’t think they could do it. Indeed, multi-racial, same-sex couple Ching-chu Hu and Jim Van-Reeth, who have adopted four children through the foster care system, say they constantly hear comments such as “Oh, I could never do that” or “You’re stronger than me!” Their thoughts on this? “We believe most people on the planet naturally have the necessary tools to be foster parents -- to love and nurture a child.”  Positive media portrayal of fostering can play a large role in empowering people to see that they can indeed foster. We need to see more of these stories.

Another honest response they get from people interested in adoption are fears that adopting from the system is too “dangerous”, and international adoption will get you “safer” children with “less issues.” To this, Hu and Van-Reeth remark; “Children are amazingly resilient, and the issues we all face as parents are strikingly similar, whether a child is from the foster care system, international adoption, or is a biological child. The primary difference is that we came into it expecting challenges, whereas those with biological children may be caught off guard by difficulties if they arise.” Rich Valenza, founder of Raise a Child and himself a father of two children he adopted through the foster care system, echoed this sentiment, reflecting on how the conversations with other parents at school drop-off were often quite therapeutic. He noticed, “Whether raising your birth children or children through foster care, the parenting problems you face are pretty similar! You have expectations of what raising a child will be like, but the reality quickly sinks in for both scenarios that it’s often not the way you planned. You’ll never be fully prepared. You likely won’t hear “thank you for giving me an amazing life” from your foster children as you tuck them into bed, but it’s a safe bet that you won’t hear that from your birth children either.” Content creators should strive to show the parenting commonalities in raising children, from the struggles to the joys, regardless of how their children entered their lives. 

But this is not to dismiss the trauma that foster children experience in leaving their home, and whatever difficult life they may have endured previous to entering foster care (or within foster care). And this needs to be appropriately reflected in media, too. Valenza is a proud proponent of family therapy and removing all associated stigma, “Whether you have birth or foster children, all families can benefit from therapy-- it needs to be seen as a bonus to your life, an education into yourself.” In addition to recruiting foster parents, Raise a Child makes an effort to continually support parents throughout the foster/adoption process. They are currently partnered with LA-based Allies for Every Child on a pilot program that provides extra support and training to remind parents, for instance, that when problems arise, “this is not about me, this is about the needs of the child.” Portraying counseling as normative in fictional media could go a long way in reducing the stigma of seeking professional help, both for parents and children. 

One of the biggest lessons that Hu and Van-Reeth encountered over the years was learning, accepting, and supporting the perspectives of the foster children’s previous lives, and not judging the biological parents (who often grew up in similar situations). They explain, “No matter how horrific we may find their previous life, it was still their home, their reality, their “comfortable” environment. It is the lives they were used to, and anything different, no matter how safe, how loving, how supportive, is still different, unusual, and unfamiliar to their world. And it takes a lot of time and nurturing for them to trust a safe and loving environment.”

Worrying that a foster child you hope to adopt might be reunified with their birth family is another fear that can lead people to pursue private or international adoption instead. Indeed, Hu and Van-Reeth went through this in the most heart-wrenching way; “Losing our 18 month old son-who we had had since day one- to his birth parents who we knew were falling back into drugs, was the hardest moment in our fostering journey. Especially the fact that as foster parents we felt we had no voice, no “seat” at the judicial table. Those scars left indelible memories.” Ultimately, their son did end up returning back to their home, and is now adopted by the Hu and Van-Reeth. Those interested in fostering and adoption and those creating media about foster care should understand that there are different paths to take, depending on the long-term option desired, and the amount of potential heartbreak you are willing to risk. Media content can help by portraying all types of fostering, including: 

1. A foster parent that just fosters with no intention of adopting (roles which are very much needed since reunification with the birth family is the primary goal for children entering into the foster care system.)

2. A foster/adoptive parent who takes in foster children who might become available for adoption (and therefore would adopt the child if it was a good fit), but the child could instead be reunified with their birth family. 

3. An adoptive-only parent who will only take a child into their home if they are already classified as “adoptive,” meaning the birth parents have terminated their parental rights. 

Finally, another reason people are hesitant to become foster parents is because they’re afraid they won’t be good enough, or they will mess up as a parent. But ultimately, as Velenza correctly puts it, “Worrying about being good enough parent is exactly what will make someone a good foster parent. This shows that they are conscious of their role, and it shows they care. And ultimately, that is what it takes.” 

For foster parents, there are countless instances along the way that remind you you’re doing a great job. For Valenza, as his children get older he finds he gets immeasurable pride from seeing them thrive, and even beginning to realize and appreciate the work he does for the foster care community. As Hu and Van-Reeth reflect; “It’s the small things: it’s seeing them come out of their shells, adjusting, being nurtured, opening up, and giving a hug. It’s seeing them bring their defenses down, grow, and become stronger and more comfortable with the world around them. It’s giving them first-time experiences, whether that’s flying on a plane, going to a park, or even, shockingly, giving them breakfast.”  

Actionable Insights  

• Write and cast realistic, everyday people as foster parents who aren’t perfect people, but care and are doing their best. 

  - Media that gets it right: Instant Family - the couple is refreshingly honest in their uncertainty and process to fostering, making them extremely relatable. 

• Show the similar joys and struggles that parents face, regardless of whether their children are biological, adopted internationally/privately, or from the foster care system. 

• Normalize seeking counseling and therapy, show how it is beneficial and healthy for the entire family. 

Colleen Russo Johnson, PhD

Senior Fellow of the Center for Scholars & Storytellers

This blog series is supported in part by the UCLA Pritzker Center for Strengthening Children and Families.

The Fun of Empowering Girls

For over 20 years, I worked in public broadcasting making shows for young people. We made television and digital content and even hosted events in communities across the country. As a public broadcaster, I was keenly aware of what we needed to work hard on, particularly gender stereotypes and gender roles — and, less overt gender bias — in Hollywood movies and TV. We needed to empower children — especially girls. We knew from research that if girls saw positive girl characters and women characters in television and film, it could have an incredible impact. But no matter how hard we worked, we couldn’t control what happened after they saw a program. We knew that the impact would be higher if the ideas in the shows were talked about at home. And even higher if a parent watched with them.

As a parent, I want great role models too. Like most parents,  I feel a lot of pressure to try to make all the right choices. We’re fighting gender stereotypes in the media and gender bias in the culture. It can be a lot. So, I think it’s time to make a switch and take the pressure off.

I say let’s have fun empowering the girls (and boys!) in our lives. Instead of trying to find all the right everything to introduce them to, let’s make it an adventure together.

With your own kids, try to think outside of the box to find amazing female characters in your own movie and TV watching — and women and girls in your own neighbourhood or town, too! Make it a quest. A Mission. Make a chart. Or just do it for fun. Find what works with your family dynamic but make the goal finding awesome women near where you live. Here are some suggestions:

1. Make it a challenge to see who can find the coolest girl character in a TV show. And then watch it together. Why is she cool? How does she conform to gender roles?

2. Go to the library and see if any women authors are speaking. Or reading from their picture or chapter books.

3. Check out cool women running for office where you live and go and hear them speak. Even if your kids are too young to understand the issues, all the clapping and sign waiving will make it fun. A great way to combat gender bias is to see women being supported by other women and men.

4. In your play- whether it’s with stuffed animals, dolls or action characters- make the role-playing about inventing or leading (hey let’s find a way to invent a colour changing t-shirt or create a cardboard starship to fly us to the stars!). Remember that young kids’ imaginations are way better than ours as adults, so let them run with it.

5. Celebrate the women in your extended family who have interesting jobs- in science, architecture, a small startup- and have them tell your kids about it

6. Go old school. Kids still love to play board games. Print off pictures of powerful women- from politicians to pilots- that you can glue to cardboard and use as pieces in any of your favourite family games instead of the regular pieces.

And remember moms, research shows that this isn’t just about our kids. A study in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology found that working women who viewed images of powerful women succeeded in stressful leadership tasks. So have fun with it!

Kim Wilson

Media Advisor & Consultant of The Center for Scholars & Storytellers

Disclosure: This blog post was written independently and reflects the author’s own views. It was written in support of the Dream Gap project and was paid for by Barbie.

Dreams of a Six Year Old Girl

Have you ever spoken to a six year old girl? Seemingly the epitome of confidence,the world is her oyster, and she believes she can be anything:

• An astronaut;

• A ballet dancer;

• The President;

• All at the SAME TIME.

Moreover, young girls frequently do better than boys in elementary school, where their abilities to sit still and follow rules often makes their teachers give them plenty of gold stars.

The traditional thinking is that young girls’ confidence doesn’t drop until they hit puberty. But something else is happening during the ages of five to seven, as children develop cognitively, becoming aware that others are evaluating their behavior.

As a well designed experiment found, at five years of age, girls say that both genders are smart, but by six years old, they classify boys as belonging to the “really really smart” category at a higher rate. Thus, what children see and hear during this developmental stage shapes thinking in ways that adults may not always see or recognize.

In fact, even at younger ages, children quickly absorb the stereotypes we communicate about activities and skills associated with each gender. Children learn in the context of their social and cultural milieu and the messages they are given (from parents, media, teachers and other socialization agents) promote gender identities, sometimes with stereotypes attached to them.

The good news is that in the US, things may be starting to change.  One study found that when asked to draw a scientist, kids in the United States increasingly draw women. Back in the sixties and seventies, when asked the same question, less than one percent of children drew a female scientist. Today the average is twenty eight percent. But still, as kids get older, they begin to draw more men in this role. At five or six girls draw the same number of men and women, but by seven and eight they begin to draw more men.

So there is still plenty of work to do. Luckily research has helped us become more aware of these biases. Moreover, companies who create media and product for kids are helping change entrenched patterns. Many companies are focusing on creating strong female characters, and their audience is responding – even boys!  

What can you do to help encourage your child to dream big and help your girl recognize that boys and girls are equally “really really smart?  One answer: Play! Play helps girls understand the possibilities because this is when children practice the gendered behaviors they see from role models. And young kids like to play with the objects that will teach them the most.

Here are a few ways caregivers can support their children so they start to internalize gender equality:

1. Choose media that highlight strong female role models.

Why? Because research shows that representation shapes the way we think.

2. Highlight real life female role models, including yourself if you are a woman.

Why? Because connecting to the real world helps make children understand what’s truly possible. And young girls focus on what their female caregiver is doing.

3. Encourage boys to diversify their play patterns. Support their play with dolls, and help them recognize that women are equally brilliant to men.

Why? Because until we recognize that boys can enjoy more “feminine” pursuits, masculine stereotypes of strength and brilliance will persist and undermine progress for women.

Yalda T. Uhls, Ph.D.

Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Scholars & Storytellers

Disclosure: This blog post was written independently and reflects the author’s own views. It was written in support of the Dream Gap project and was paid for by Barbie.

The Importance of Authentic Asian American Representation in Hollywood

The Importance of Authentic Asian American Representation in Hollywood

Ages 5-10 were my Full-House-obsessed years. I considered myself an honorary Tanner. Then it was what my parents referred to as “The Inappropriate Show,” also known as Saturday Night Live. They thought it was too mature for my little sister and me, but we loved it. The Office got me through stressful high school times and now I quote it without thinking. However, amidst the joy these shows brought me, as a Korean-American I have been continually let down by the lack of representation of Asians in Hollywood. It makes me angry -- shattering the meek, silent-in- the-midst-of-unfairness, and the rarely impassioned portrait that the media has painted of people like me. Despite attempts at diversity in Hollywood movies and TV, Asian characters have often been portrayed as weak, nerdy, exotic, incompetent, powerless, and are seldom in the spotlight as leads, just like black television and film characters.

Notable progress has been made, however, in the past few years with the successes of Crazy Rich Asians, ABC sitcom Fresh Off the Boat, and Netflix’s Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj. Asians in Hollywood are portraying the Asian American community in a more authentic light than before; but while progress is exciting, there is still more to do when it comes to true representation of Asian TV characters and Asian movie characters on-screen and behind the scenes. What we view on-screen reaches far beyond entertainment; diversity in film and TV also impacts mental health, identity, and race relations as they pertain to Asian Americans. Content creators and industry decision-makers must change how Asians are portrayed in the media, as they have an opportunity and a duty to yield this powerfully influential medium in a more responsible manner. Avoiding racism, gender stereotypes of girl and boy characters, and other negative images are key.

Effect on Children

Personal identity is heavily influenced by the media, starting from a young age. Film and television have become avenues for imprinting stories in history. When it comes to authentic Asian movie and TV characters, the absence is noteworthy. The pride I felt watching Crazy Rich Asians’ all-Asian cast surprised me as if the sudden surge in representation alerted me to its prior absence in Hollywood. Asian children will subconsciously internalize an omission of Asian faces in the content they watch as an indication of their perceived invisibility or the box they are subjected to in the workplace and the world. Research shows that people exhibit feelings like shame and anxiety when viewing stereotypical representations of their racial group, even those framed as exaggeration or parody, and Asian stereotypes in movies and TV have been far too visible for far too long. While Hollywood has since moved away from the glaring racism of characters such as Long Duk Dong, the foreign exchange student in 16 Candles, Asian actors continue to be typecast and are still underrepresented in major film roles.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Personal identity is heavily influenced by the media, starting from a young age

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• Content creators and industry decision-makers must change how Asians are portrayed in the media

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Model Minority Myth

In today’s society, Asian characters in movies and TV are often stereotyped as over-achievers who obtain financial and educational stability: the 4.0 students, doctors, and Tiger-parents. Asian-Americans have been framed as the “model minority” within American culture -- the minority group that worked its way to success. This myth implies that other minority groups are lesser-than or do not work as hard, and also negates the ever-present discrimination that Asians and other minority groups experience. Such Asian stereotypes in film and TV shows also suggest that Asians belong to one homogenous group that shares the same attributes, when in fact, there are many subsections of the Asian community - composed of individuals each with their own stories and struggles. The effects of this perpetuated stereotype in the media, depicted by Asian actors but often driven by white writers and directors, jump from the screen into reality. Racial bias, even nonverbal, can be imprinted on people through the screen. It is perplexing how Asians are viewed as diligent and hardworking, yet rarely with strong leadership qualities or charisma. The scarcity of positions of power among Asian film and TV characters is reflected in many aspects of life. In fact, according to Harvard Business Review, Asians are the least likely group to be promoted to management in the United States. While this can also be attributed to different cultural values and other factors, a lack of diverse representation in media is influential in reinforcing these attitudes and perceptions.

Tokenism Behind the Scenes

What we see on-screen should not be the only aspect of representation examined. The majority of successful endeavors featuring Asian actors and stories were backed by Asians in Hollywood behind the scenes. More Asian studio heads, casting directors, producers, writers, showrunners, and filmmakers means more advocacy and support for Asian stories and Asian TV and film characters. Great strides have been made and writers’ room representation has significantly improved; however, discrimination still exists here. To promote more diverse representation in media, large networks host diversity training programs in which writers of color have the opportunity to be staffed on television shows. The networks and studios subsidize writers’ salaries, incentivizing shows to employ these essentially free “diversity hires.” It is common for showrunners to let these writers go after their wages are no longer paid for, communicating that Asian writers are only hirable when free. Diversity in numbers is insufficient as long as Asians in Hollywood are not receiving the same opportunities to succeed in this industry. 

On YouTube, people produce their own content with virtually zero gatekeeping. It is no coincidence that Asian content creators have become some of the most popular and prevalent faces on the platform, with millions of subscribers and views. From beauty guru Michelle Phan to comedy YouTuber NigaHiga, there is tangible proof that when given a fair opportunity, the Asian community thrives and reaches incredibly far. 

Financial Benefits

If the moral facet of equal Asian representation in Hollywood is not enough to motivate content creators and gatekeepers, there is data that supports financial incentives for more Asian TV characters and Asian movie characters. Asians are the fastest-growing racial group in the country with a buying power of $1 trillion in 2018. They lead the nation in internet connectivity, enabling them to consume Asian stories on TV (and Asian movies via home video) via broadband and subscription video on demand faster than any other group nationwide. An average Asian household will watch about 23 hours of television per week, and the percentage with subscriptions to services such as Netflix and Hulu surpasses that of the remaining population. It is clear that Asians possess considerable buying power in the US and make up a large, expanding segment of media audiences.

Hearing Bowen Yang, SNL’s first Asian cast member after 45 seasons, refer to himself as the “Lizzo of China” while playing a government official on Weekend Update, filled me with pride. It was not until I saw myself on-screen that I realized I had been missing this feeling my whole life, and I needed to see, hear and read about more Asians in Hollywood. There is more work to do, more stories to tell, always. There’s great power in representation. My Asian-Americanness is of value, and I expect the country in which I live to reflect the same. 

Actionable Insights

1. Write Asian movie and TV characters that defy stereotypes, even if stereotypes are seemingly “positive.”

2. Portray more Asian diversity — all groups that are part of the Asian community are unique with distinct stories, cultures, and struggles. This includes groups like the Bhutanese and Burmese that suffer from a poverty rate that is twice as high as the national average, yet experience the repercussions of the model minority myth. 

3. Feature more Asian TV and movie characters in positions of power and leadership on-screen. 

4. Hire more Asians in behind-the-scenes positions: writers, directors, studio executives, casting directors, producers, showrunners, filmmakers. Rich and authentic stories come from those who can speak from experience and incorporate essential nuances to the characters and their interactions with the world around them. 

5. Avoid framing content created by and featuring Asians solely as “Asian films.” While still taking their cultures into account, remember that Asians are normal people who have more to offer than just the fact that they are Asian. 

Nicole Park

CSS Intern

Why it’s so important for kids to see diverse TV and movie characters

This article originally appeared on The Conversation.

The hype surrounding “Black Panther” has been as hyperbolic as any feat its characters might perform, with the film being praised for its layered story and what’s been described as its “Afrofuturist” cast. And “Black Panther” will be joined by “A Wrinkle in Time,” another film with blockbuster potential and an interracial cast.

But no matter how much money or how many awards films like “Black Panther” and “A Wrinkle in Time” amass, our research strongly suggests another reason they’re important: Children need a diverse universe of media images. And for the most part, they haven’t had one.

Some progress, but …

In the 1970s, Boston University communications professor F. Earle Barcus began publishing the results of content analyses he had conducted on children’s television. His findings showed large disparities between the numbers of male and female characters and between the numbers of white and non-white characters. In a 1983 study, Barcus analyzed over 1,100 characters in 20 children’s television programs and found that only 42 were black. Just 47 others belonged to some group other than white.

Since then, researchers have consistently found that the animated worlds children see on television are out of sync with their real environments.

Over the past seven years, we’ve continued studying this topic at the Children’s Television Project (CTV) at Tufts University, documenting images of different races, gender and ethnicities in the most popular children’s animated series. We’ve also taken steps to try to understand why stereotyped portrayals still exist well into the 21st century. Finally, we’re starting to develop ways to study and collect data about how children process the images they’re exposed to on TV.

In order to categorize the images children see, we’ve developed a system for coding the race, ethnic identity, gender and age of primary and secondary characters in children’s animated television shows. We’ve also included a sociolinguistic component to the analysis, because we know that children are absorbing both sights and sounds as they process media.

The good news is that the world of children’s animated television is more diverse than it used to be. For example, we’ve found that female characters account for just under one-third of all characters. Discouraging as this may appear, it’s a significant improvement from the 1:6 ratio that F. Earle Barcus had previously found, and better than the 1:4 ratio that communications professors Teresa Thompson and Eugenia Zerbinos found in the 1990s.

There’s more racial and ethnic diversity, too. Black characters account for 5.6 percent of our total sample of over 1,500 characters. (A study conducted in 1972 by researchers Gilbert Mendelson and Morissa Young for Action for Children’s Television found that over 60 percent of the TV shows in their sample had no racial minority characters at all.) There are many more Asian or Asian-American characters (11.6 percent), though this likely due to the prevalence of a few popular cartoons featuring mostly Asian characters such as “Legend of Korra.”

The bad news is that there’s still a ways to go. African-Americans represent an estimated 13.3 percent of the U.S. population. Meanwhile, Hispanic or Latinos make up 17.8 percent of the population, but we’ve found Latino characters only made up 1.4 percent of our sample.

Furthermore, stereotypes persist in both how characters are drawn and how they talk, with “bad guys” using non-American accents and dialects. We see this in characters like Dr. Doofenshmirtz from “Phineas and Ferb” or Nightmare Moon on “My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.”

To try to understand why stereotyping persists, we’ve interviewed some of the people who write, direct, cast and provide vocal talent for children’s animated programming. While we haven’t completed this part of the study, it seems that economic pressures compel the creators of children’s animated programming to rely on stereotyping as a kind of shorthand.

For example, one director of a popular children’s animated show told us, “If something’s worked before, you tend to just use it again,” even if that “something” is stereotyped. An African-American voice actor reported being in auditions where he was told to make something sound “urban,” a code word for a more stereotyped African-American dialect.

Kids, quick to judge

But the real question is why this all matters.

Studies from many fields have shown that it’s important for children to see characters who not only look like themselves and their families, but also sound like them.

There’s a relationship between low self-esteem and negative media portrayals of racial groups, in addition to an association between poor self-esteem and the paucity of portrayals of a particular group. Others have found that media misrepresentations of ethnic groups can cause confusion about aspects of their identity among children of these groups.

In our study of how children process the sights and sounds of animated worlds, we developed a method in which we show children images of diverse animated faces and play voices that use different dialects. We then ask kids to tell us if the person is a good person, a bad person, or if they can’t tell. We follow this up by asking them why they think what they do.

Though we’re not far enough along yet in our research to provide definitive answers to our questions, we do have some preliminary findings.

First and foremost, kids notice differences.

We’ve found that first- and second-grade children, when presented with a variety of drawn cartoon character faces they haven’t seen before, have no problem sorting them into “good” and “bad” characters.

In fact, many children have clearly developed ideas and are able to tell us lengthy stories about why they think a particular character might be a hero or villain with minimal information. Sometimes this seems to be based on their belief that a character looks like another media character they’ve seen. They’ll then make the assumption that a face they’re shown looks like “a princess” or “someone who goes to jail.” With the lack of diversity in the world of children’s television, it’s not surprising that kids would make associations with so little information. But it’s also a bit alarming – given what we know about the prevalence of stereotyping – that children seem so quick to make attributions of who’s good and who’s evil.

It’s important that children not only have a diverse universe of characters but also that these characters have diverse characteristics. It’s okay for characters to have non-American accents, but good guys – not just bad guys – should have them too. The heroes can be male and female, and non-white characters don’t have to be relegated to the role of sidekick: They can assume leading roles.

This brings us back to why these new films are so groundbreaking. Yes, “Black Panther” is demonstrating that a film about a black superhero can shatter box- office records. Yes, “A Wrinkle in Time” is the first $100 million movie directed by a woman of color.

But beyond all that, these films break the mold by showing the complexity and variety of black male and female experiences.

If more movies, TV shows and animated series follow suit, perhaps we will finally move beyond the underdeveloped and stereotyped characters that children have been exposed to for far too long.

Actionable Insights

1. Children internalize stereotypes featured in programming they consume, influencing the way they judge and interact with others. Children should not easily be able to identify the “good guys” and the “bad guys” in your story through a reliance on biases.

2. When featuring characters with non-American accents, avoid falling into the trope of these individuals serving solely as the villains. Instead, show that both “good” and “bad” characters can speak with a non-American accent or dialect. A character’s cultural background does not determine their morality.

3. Showcase more diverse characters in leading roles, particularly non-white characters often relegated to acting as side-kicks. Tokenism can be especially harmful to children of color, causing identity confusion and poor self-esteem. All children benefit from seeing that anyone, regardless of their identity, can be the lead character in a story.

4. Heroes should not exclusively be male characters. Feature more women and female-identifying characters in heroic roles that thoughtfully showcase their strengths, weaknesses, and struggles.

5. Remember that featuring diverse characters is not enough. Attention must also be paid to featuring varied characteristics and more vivid backstories.

Julie Dobrow

Senior lecturer, Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development, Tufts University

Editor and General Manager, The Conversation

Calvin Gidney

Associate Professor, Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Study and Human Development, Tufts University

Jennifer Burton

Professor of the Practice, Department of Drama and Dance, Tufts University

This article originally appeared on The Conversation.

Kids and COVID-19: The New Coronavirus Lexicon

Talking about coronavirus with children through media can be a difficult task. It may be tougher for them to understand what is going on in the world, given the new vocabulary that is now regularly used. Recent research has found that children (ages 9-13) who knew fewer facts about COVID-19 were more likely to report being very worried about the virus than those who were more informed (Götz et al., 2020). Young children would therefore benefit from receiving more age-appropriate information from both parents and media. In fact, 65% of children around the world reported wanting to learn more about the virus through children’s television (Götz et al., 2020).

It’s important to explain what’s going on in simple, accurate terms. To help you tackle this in your programming, here are some child-friendly definitions of widely used words related to COVID-19:

Click here to download this list as a handout for your writer’s room

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Virus: A type of tiny germ that can make you sick if it gets inside your body through your nose, mouth, or eyes. 

Coronavirus: A group of viruses that can make people sick. COVID-19 is the newest coronavirus that is making people sick.

A pandemic happens when a sickness spreads quickly between many people all around the world.

Wearing a mask helps stop germs from entering your body and making you sick. Doctors and nurses wear them because they work with lots of sick patients and it keeps them healthy. When you wear a mask, you are being a hero by keeping yourself and your friends safe from germs.

Social distancing: Also called physical distancing.  Putting space in between you and others, because germs can spread between people if they are very close. Sometimes you can’t tell if other people are sick, so it’s important to stay far apart (6 feet) from people that you don’t live with, so that you don’t share germs or get sick.

• You can social distance by standing farther apart from others, and by staying home from school.

• Adults need to practice social distancing too, unless they work somewhere where they have to help people up close. Then, they need to keep as much distance as possible and wear a mask. 

Quarantine is staying at home to help you and your family stay healthy. Stay home as much as you can to keep yourself and others healthy. If someone you know gets sick with COVID-19, they quarantine by staying at home and away from others. 

Essential workers are people who need to work during the pandemic because their jobs help the world run. For example, we still need doctors and nurses, scientists, grocery store workers, people who make and serve food, police officers, and firefighters to do their jobs during this time.  

Symptomatic, Asymptomatic: Someone who is symptomatic shows symptoms, or signs of, sickness (e.g., coughing, sneezing, having a hard time breathing). Someone who is asymptomatic does not show symptoms - even though you can’t tell that they are sick, they can still spread germs and make others sick.

Being immunocompromised means that someone’s body has a harder time fighting sicknesses when germs enter their body. They need to be extra careful so that they don’t get sick.

“Flattening the curve” means slowing down how fast the sickness spreads to other people. If the virus takes longer to spread to other people, hospitals will have more time and resources to help the people who get sick. 

• Think of taking turns to get help in class or to use a video game, because there are only so many teachers, controllers, etc. Or, only one family member getting the flu at a time, so that there is always a doctor to take care of the person who is sick (instead of everyone getting sick all at once and not having enough doctors to help them all).

CDC: Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC is a large group of people that work to stop diseases from spreading in the United States. The CDC works with scientists and doctors to help keep everyone healthy (e.g., by sending information and updates about COVID-19, like wearing masks and washing hands).

WHO: World Health Organization. The WHO is a large group of people that works to stop diseases from spreading around the world.

Definitions derived from usage in widespread pandemic coverage and adapted for children’s understanding.

Page Spencer and Jane Lurie

CSS Interns

How to move beyond tokenism in kids TV

With kids watching more content than ever, the industry should consider how it can create a more diverse on-screen landscape, writes Kevin Clark.

In April 1968, Harriett Glickman, a mother and former school teacher, wrote Charles Schulz to encourage the addition of a Black character to his “Peanuts” comic strip. The story of Glickman’s interactions with Schulz were recounted upon her death in March of this year. Schulz liked the idea but had reservations. He worried how a Black character would be received.

This was not the first time Schulz had considered questions concerning racial diversity in comic strips.  A few years prior, he had discussed the issue with African American cartoonist Morrie Turner, whom Schulz had mentored. Schulz encouraged Turner to create a comic strip with diverse characters. Turner’s first attempt, Dinky Fellas, featured all-Black characters. Unfortunately, only one daily newspaper published it. In 1965, Turner changed the strip’s name to Wee Pals and added white characters. It became the first American syndicated comic strip featuring diverse characters.

Ultimately, Schulz took the step in July 1968 to add a Black character, Franklin Armstrong, to the already popular Peanuts gang. Schulz got some pushback, but also cheers.

What Glickman, Turner and Schulz did meant a lot to Black people. I applaud their vision and courage. More than 50 years later, we need the same level of courage to move media forward for all children, beyond what was done in 1968.

When my kids were growing up, it was challenging finding content for my daughter with authentic, high-quality images of Black girls. I was also frustrated seeing my young son with such a limited menu of children’s television shows which portrayed someone like himself as the main character.

With schools closed because of COVID-19, some children are spending a lot of time watching television at home. Think about what they are seeing.

There are still not enough authentic, multi-dimensional characters representing diverse perspectives in children’s media. I want children who are rich and poor, of all hues, of all faiths to see themselves in the media they consume. I want the media that children consume to help them understand others who don’t look or sound like them, who have different cultures, religions or economic status. Every child should internalize the idea that all things are possible for everyone, before broader societal narratives lead them to a different and intractable conclusion. To make this happen the aperture of the various media groups must be widened.

These aren’t new ideas. Indeed, many of the ways in which we need to widen the media groups have been oft discussed. But they bear repeating as movement is still lacking.

Move away from tokenism and embrace the culture. Too often a group of characters are put together simply to show diversity. It leads to flat characters. Giving a character an ethnic name, mentioning she celebrates Ramadan, or coloring her tan does not lead to a relatable experience for children. The characters must have accurately portrayed issues, customs, dialogue, and emotions that lead the viewer, no matter who they are, to a visceral connection. An example of this is the Oscar Award-winning animated short film, Hair Love, which is beautifully conceived and resonates with multiple audiences.

Believe that with quality work, the audience will come. There is a pervasive fear in the industry that there will not be enough viewership, nationally and, many argue, internationally, for work that features ethnically diverse characters or issues. The national and international demographics suggest the viewers are there. Generation Z, makes up 32% of the world’s population, and is the most ethnically diverse in history. According to PEW research, nearly half (48%) of Gen Z identifies as racially or ethnically diverse. And they have an estimated purchasing power of US$44 billion annually, according to the National Retail Federation. What’s more, shows that feature authentically diverse characters are not only for people who belong to that particular group, but are for all people—if the work is well done.

Enlist a diversity of writers, producers, animators, voice talent, and creative execs to develop and green-light, authentic shows that enrich everyone. In addition to inclusive writer’s rooms, crews, and characters, inclusion needs to exist at all levels of production and decision making. Creative executives are heavily involved in decisions that may lead to shows being greenlit and/or receiving the resources needed to be successful.

Currently, there are no statistics on the ethnic diversity of behind-the-scenes staff and executives in children’s media. However, we do know that only 13% of Hollywood writers are people of color. In kids television in the United States, men make up 71% of creators, 53% of writers, 80% of directors and 64% of producers, while in Canada, men make up 62% of creators, 63% of writers, 82% of directors and 57% of producers. Bottom line, it’s difficult to write or make decisions about things with which you are unfamiliar.

Examine the entire slate of offerings in light of the world’s changing demographics. Make sure the suite of media offerings represents the demographic realities of what children, their families, and communities really need and care about in a global context. To that end, children’s media should provide opportunities for children to see themselves and their communities, while also being exposed to and learn about the lives, customs, and perspectives of others.

Let’s thank Harriett Glickman, Morrie Turner, Charles Schulz, and Franklin for a great start. Now let’s move beyond Franklin. I think they’d all be proud to be the initiators of a bigger legacy.

Kevin Clark, Ph.D.

Professor of Learning Technologies and Director of the Center for Digital Media Innovation and Diversity at George Mason University and a children’s media consultant.

This post originally appeared on KidScreen

https://kidscreen.com/2020/05/25/how-to-move-beyond-tokenism-in-kids-tv/

[c] Brunico Communications Ltd. Reprinted with permission.

Camila - 14

Media Consumption: Day: 5-6 hours, Week: 35-42 hours

Favorite Media/Technology: TikTok/iPhone

How do you and your family interact with media/technology?

My family and I use TikTok all the time together. They always want to make funny videos with me, and it honestly makes me laugh a lot. Sometimes we will make funny videos on what parents usually say to kids or how they have their own ways of parenting us. I also call and text my parents especially when I’m at school if I have to stay longer or anything like that. I enjoy sending my sister TikTok videos while she’s at college and text her more than I usually text my parents. We also make TikTok videos with my cousins and we show it to the rest of our family too.

How do you and your peers interact with media/technology?

My friends and I are always texting each other throughout the day when we don’t see each other at school. During lunch time, we’re always making TikTok videos and posting them. We all come together to be in the videos, and it brings us closer as friends. Without TikTok I wonder what we would do since we make one at least once a day just to keep up with other people and to have fun with everyone too.

What do you use media for?

To stay in contact with my parents, family, and friends and also be able to talk with my friends when we need help with our assignments or homework for school. I also use it to make content and post new videos. I enjoy viewing videos and that’s how I get inspiration to make new content and see what is currently trending too.

What is your favorite/least favorite thing about media/technology?

I think one bad thing about using media is that sometimes we get so caught up into it that all we do is focus on that and not even do other things. Sometimes I do get tired of all my friends looking at their phones when we are together, and I wish we could just talk more. My favorite thing about media though is that it helps me to learn new things and help me with certain subjects I don’t fully understand. It can also entertain me whenever I feel bored or feel like talking to someone.

Interviewed by: Joselyn Paz, UCLA 3rd Year Student

Smart Empathy: Why More is Not Always Better When it Comes to Using Tech to Increase Empathy

Smart Empathy:

Why More is Not Always Better When it Comes to Using Tech to Increase Empathy

 In 2006, when then Senator Barack Obama proclaimed that “we have an empathy deficit” he believed that empathy was essential for promoting caring behaviors and societal well-being. And there is plenty of evidence to support this idea. Researchers have found that people who are more empathic are more likely to help strangers through volunteering or donating to charity and are also more likely to help the people they love in times of difficulty. However, some types of empathy can leave us distressed and overwhelmed by the suffering of others, so much so that we are left less able to help. How can we encourage the benefits, but not the potential harms of empathy? 

As with many human traits, empathy is more complex than it first appears. One definition of empathy involves care and compassion for others. Compassion is focused on others peoples’ needs irrelevant of our own thoughts or feelings. Yet other definitions of empathy involve reflecting the other person in ourselves. This mirroring can be achieved by feeling echoes of other persons’ emotions or imagining another person’s situation from their perspective. The first type—feeling others’ emotions—is called emotion contagion and is not a problem when others are feeling positive but it easily becomes overwhelming when others are in severe distress. The second type - involving perspective-taking – is called cognitive empathy and can also be draining because it requires a lot of mental effort. So much effort in fact that research finds that people often actively avoid perspective-taking if given the choice. But effort in this case may pay off, since  working harder can motivate increased care and compassion.

Not all empathy is created equal, and storytellers should think carefully about which they intend to evoke.

Consider, for example, seeing a story about a refugee child on the news. She is far from home and scared for her future. Some viewers may watch this story and use their head to reflect on how difficult being a refugee would be for a young child. As they sit and imagine how the girl feels and what she needs, these viewers are activating their perspective-taking skills. Research has found that this type of perspective-taking is likely to inspire warm feelings of compassion and motivate people to help. Many people choose to act when they learn of such suffering, for example, by calling their political representative or donating their time or money to charity. However, while seeing this story, other viewers may be overwhelmed because they viscerally feel the child’s fear and hopelessness. To avoid the pain of emotional contagion, people may change the channel or leave the room. Once they do so, that strong empathic feeling they had will fade almost as rapidly as it was elicited, leaving little motivation to help.

The transitory nature of this type of emotional empathy warrants a healthy dose of skepticism towards any claim of a quick-fix empathy solution, such as virtual reality (VR). However, there has been a proliferation of such attempts in the tech world since the viral 2015 TED talk in which entrepreneur Chris Milk claimed that VR was “the ultimate empathy machine.” Chris may have been speaking in hyperbole, but since then charities, governments, and non-profit organizations have invested heavily in telling stories of human suffering through immersive VR technology.  For example placing people in refugee camps, homeless shelters or suffering from racial discrimination. The power of VR is assumed to lie in its ability to remove the burden of empathizing. VR automatically generates a rush of emotions without the user having to use their own imagination. However, because VR leaves so little to the imagination it is unlikely to lead to improvements in long-lasting perspective-taking skills. We recently confirmed this limitation by combining the results from 43 different research studies. We found that virtual reality only creates emotional empathy responses in viewers, but it does not improve perspective-taking.  

That’s not to say that transitory emotions have no use for social good. Fundraising campaigns may find that VR or other highly emotional storytelling is more than sufficient for their purposes, assuming they can capitalize on the rush of emotion with a well-placed donation bucket or web-link. However, those interested in creating longer lasting improvements in empathy may want to consider telling stories in such a way that they challenge people to use their perspective-taking skills. 

Here are some actionable insights storytellers and content creators can use to encourage perspective taking in their audiences: 

• Tell stories about people, places and events (both real and fictional) that are different from readers’ own experiences.

• Create complex and well-rounded characters that do not always adhere to social stereotypes or literary tropes and who challenge the audience to adjust their perspective. 

• Give listeners an opportunity to read between the lines and pick up on subtle indicators of how people are thinking and feeling.  

• Allow viewers the space to build their own understanding of the situation by leaving some ambiguity.

• Create enticing stories that encourage people to take the perspectives of others even though it is effortful.

Today we are bombarded with intense, graphic content that rapidly arouses our emotions automatically and does not require perspective-taking. Long gone are the days of imagining the suffering of people in a far-off land. That suffering is brought into our homes on our TV screens, and taken with us on our commute via our smartphones. Given this new world, we are much more likely to experience empathy with our hearts and not our heads, which can result in emotional burnout. 

In order to create a more compassionate society overall, we don’t need to empathize more, we need to empathize smarter. 

Alison Jane Martingano, M.A., M.Phil. 

Teaching Fellow, The New School for Social Research

Sara Konrath, M.S., Ph.D. 

Associate Professor, Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy

Visiting Professor, The New School for Social Research

Collaborator of the Center for Scholars & Storytellers 

Now Playing: The Real Risks of Teen Vaping

Now Playing: The Real Risks of Teen Vaping

People are more likely to start using drugs in their teen years and young adulthood (18–25) than at any other age. Some of the physical, emotional, and social changes that teens experience can make them especially vulnerable to engaging in risky behaviors, including drug use. 

Scientific research has repeatedly found that using drugs presents serious health risks for teens—risks that can have lifelong consequences. Yet teens often underestimate the health risks involved in using drugs. As one example, let’s look at a form of drug use that has become increasingly popular with teens: vaping (using e-cigarettes).

How many teens vape?

Every year since 1975, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has funded a nationwide survey--Monitoring the Future (MTF)—to  measure drug and alcohol use among 8th, 10th, and 12th graders. In 2019, more than 42,000 students from almost 400 schools across the United States answered confidential questionnaires for MTF.

MTF found that vaping has increased dramatically among teens in recent years. Teens’ vaping of nicotine—the addictive ingredient in tobacco—rose in 2019, and there was a rapid rise in vaping of marijuana: About a fifth of 12th graders and 10th graders reported vaping marijuana in the past year. 

In fact, from 2018 to 2019, the percentage of high school seniors who reported that they had vaped marijuana in the past 30 days increased from 7.5 percent to 14 percent—the second-largest one-year increase in any drug use that MTF has recorded in its 45-year history.

Why do teens vape?

Some vaping devices, like the e-cigarette Juul, have a sleek design—similar to a flash drive—that may look “cool” to some teens. That design can also help teens conceal their use of vaping devices at school. 

In the 2019 MTF survey, respondents gave several other reasons for vaping. More than 40 percent said they tried vaping for the flavors. Others said they tried it just to experiment, or to have a good time with friends, or simply because they were bored. However, more than 8 percent said they vaped because they’re “hooked.” 

What are the risks of vaping for teens’ health?

Vaping can have serious effects on a teen’s health, now and in the future: 

• Continued e-cigarette use can lead to nicotine addiction. Although taking drugs at any age can lead to addiction, research shows that the earlier people begin to use drugs, the more likely they are to progress to more serious use. 

• Similarly, research has shown an association between nicotine vaping and progression to smoking tobacco cigarettes.

• When people vape, they inhale several poisonous chemicals.

Storytellers can make a difference in teens’ understanding of the risks of vaping—and of using other drugs as well. For example, the U.S. Surgeon General reports that youth who are exposed to images of smoking in movies are more likely to smoke and those who get the most exposure to onscreen smoking are about twice as likely to begin smoking as those with the least exposure. Yet onscreen depictions of smoking have significantly increased in recent years, in both on-demand shows aimed at viewers age 15 to 24, and broadcast TV shows.

Here are some actionable insights for storytellers:

• Portray the consequences of drug use on teen health and well-being. 

• Avoid showing characters who vape, smoke, or use other drugs as “cool.”

• Mention the risks of drug use to the developing teen brain.

• Address the risks of vaping marijuana and nicotine: for example, inhaling harmful chemicals,  addiction, and progressing from nicotine vaping to smoking tobacco cigarettes.

• Avoid any imagery depicting a drug that is ready for use (i.e., a lit cigarette), as this can be a trigger for those who are addicted to drugs.

• Acknowledge that most teens don’t use drugs. While the most common form of drug use among teens, vaping, has increased dramatically of late, teens’ use of other drugs has either stayed relatively stable (marijuana) or declined (alcohol, cigarettes, inhalants, etc.) in recent years. Storytellers can help deflate the myth that most teens use drugs; this, in turn, can reduce teens’ perception that “everyone else is doing it.”

Barrett Whitener, M.F.A., M.A.

Senior Health Communications Manager, IQ Solutions, Inc., Rockville, MD, For the National Institute on Drug Abuse

Related Resources

Monitoring the Future 2019 Survey Results: Vaping

Monitoring the Future: Trends and Statistics

2019 Monitoring the Future Survey Raises Worries About Teen Marijuana Vaping

 NIDA for Teens Drug Facts: Tobacco, Nicotine, and Vaping (E-Cigarettes)

NIDA for Teens Drug Facts: Brain and Addiction

NIDA for Teens Drugs & Health Blog: E-Cigarettes: Inhaling More Than You Bargained For

Principles of Adolescent Substance Use Disorder Treatment: A Research-Based Guide


Recommended Content on Teen/Tween Vaping for Consideration in Storytelling

Image attribution: Vaping 360

Technology in Tandem: Designing for Joint Media Engagement

Technology in Tandem: Designing for Joint Media Engagement

“Daddy, what’s that?”

“Oh, that’s a walker – it helps people walk when they are a little unsteady. You remember when Grandma was in the hospital after her surgery? She used a walker to help her get around until her leg was feeling better. It looks like the beaver in the show is using a walker while he gets better too!” 

 There’s a common saying that kids are like sponges, soaking up everything around them. And it’s not wrong – kids can pick up a lot. But study after study shows that when it comes to media, like TV, apps, and ebooks, children can absorb the most when an adult uses the media with them. For example, one study conducted at the University of Delaware in the Child’s Play Learning and Development Lab, found that 4- and 5-year-olds understood an e-book’s story better after they read it with a parent than after “reading” it alone using the audio narration. Interactions like the one above probably explain why. Audio narration can read the story to the child, but only an adult can stop to define an advanced word, describe a picture, or relate the story to their child’s life.  

But how much do children and parents use media together?

Despite everything we know about how “joint media engagement” can help children learn, the data show that most of children’s media use happens alone. Only about a third of parents say that they watch TV with their children all or most of the time and only one in five parents say that they use tablets with their child that often. Similarly, only a third of parents report watching online videos with their child most of the time, and less than one in five report playing video games with their child that often. Perhaps not surprisingly, these statistics differ by age: Joint media engagement is highest with younger children and drops off drastically as children get older, especially for tablets and smartphones. 

The role of the media itself

 Very few media properties encourage adults to use media with children.  Although media creators are quite good at making shows and movies that are appealing to children, whatever makes media irresistable for a 4-year-old is not likely to make most adults swoon with delight. Think about parents in the 1990’s complaining about the songs from Barney or those in the 2000’s who couldn’t stand Caillou’s constant whining.  There are, of course, exceptions to this rule. The beloved PBS show Sesame Street features celebrity appearances and humor that is likely to go way over kids’ heads but is targeted right at the parents who might be sitting on the couch with them. Even if they don’t intend to watch with their children, seeing, for example, Tiffany Haddish or John Legend might entice parents away from preparing lunch or scrolling through their email to check out what their child is watching. 

Tablets and smartphones however, may be used even less with children because these devices are not geared towards two people using them together. It feels natural to sit on the couch next to your child to watch a TV show together, but when was the last time you jointly used an iPad? Research has shown that when children use a tablet they place it in their laps or in front of their face, making it more difficult to share.  When children use media on a big screen in the living room, parents can walk by and easily see what their child is watching. Likewise, computers are oriented vertically and have a screen large enough to view over the child’s shoulder. Today’s devices are convenient for use on-the-go, but their smaller screens and handheld nature mean that parents may struggle to see what their children are watching. That makes it doubly difficult to engage casually and jointly with your child and the screen.  

Rethinking media design for joint engagement

Here are some tips about how media creators can craft content that requires joint media engagement:

• When a child opens an app, it could default into a two-player mode, prompting them to go find a parent to collaboratively reach a goal in the game. 

• Activities in apps could allow for multiple screen touches simultaneously, so that parents and children can both be engaging at the same time. 

• Create apps that allow children and parents to play together on multiple screens; for example, a child playing on a tablet in the kitchen could send a digital invitation to their parent’s smartphone in the living room. 

• Consider both children and parents in designing their content. 

In the end, we all know that media is often used as an activity for children when parents need to complete other tasks, as a “babysitter.” But media can have many uses, and children gain much from the kinds of casual interactions around media described in the story of grandma’s walker above.  Media creators should think creatively about how they can engage multiple generations so that both parents and children can have fun and learn from using media together. 

Rebecca Dore

Senior research associate at the Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy at The Ohio State University.

Collaborator of the Center for Scholars and Storytellers

Roberta Golinkoff

Professor of Education at the School of Education at the University of Delaware.

Collaborator of the Center for Scholars and Storytellers

You’ve got a friend in me - The Benefits of Parasocial Relationships

You’ve got a friend in me - The Benefits of Parasocial Relationships

Have you ever wondered why Dora, from Dora the Explorer, takes a deliberately long pause after directing a question to young viewers? This type of interaction invites participation and maintains children’s attention. This seemingly social exchange that occurs through the screen can facilitate relationship-building akin to a face-to-face interaction, such that over time children will form relationships with their favourite media characters. These one-sided, emotionally charged relationships between a person and a media character are called parasocial relationships.

What makes a parasocial relationship?

Parasocial relationships in early childhood (0-8 years old)  typically involve three factors: 1) attachment and friendship, 2) human-like needs (personification), and 3) social realism.

1. Attachment to media characters occurs when children seek proximity to them for comfort and security, as with attachment to a real person. Perceived friendship also strengthens this bond. For instance, preschoolers were more likely to transfer a problem solving solution to a similar, real-life scenario if they had greater trust in the character demonstrating the problem. In addition, school-age children prefer and are more strongly attached to characters of their same gender.

2. Personification refers to children attributing person-like qualities to media characters, including humanlike needs such as hunger. Children’s nurturing behaviors (e.g., putting to bed) towards a physical character toy are positively related to learning from that same character via video.

3. Social realism is the likelihood a media character could exist in the real world. The more realistic a child’s favorite character appears and acts, the greater the strength of the parasocial relationship.  

Can children learn from media characters?

The answer to this question varies and can be largely dependent on the age of the child. For example, young children have trouble applying what they learn from two-dimensional (2D) sources, such as television, to the physical world, which is termed the transfer deficit. This effect can be mitigated when the 2D content is socially relevant to children (e.g., familiarity). For example, toddlers were more likely to learn an early math skill from watching a video of a familiar character, Elmo, than an unfamiliar character from Taiwan, DoDo. Additionally, children did even better on this task if they exhibited nurturing behaviors toward a physical toy of the familiar character (e.g., feeding it, rocking it like a baby).

However, it should be noted that familiarity alone isn’t always enough to promote learning through media. In another study, 18-month-olds were given a toy for three months that was either personalized to them or not personalized at all. The personalized toy said the child’s name and shared similar interests (e.g., same favorite food), whereas the impersonalized toy called the children ‘Pal’, had the opposite gender, and had randomly selected interests. After three months, children in both groups (i.e., those with personalized vs. impersonalized) watched a video demonstration of their toy’s character complete a math task and were then given the opportunity to try the task themselves. Their performance was compared to children who didn’t have the toy for three months and didn’t watch the video demonstration (control group). The children who played with the personalized toy (but not the impersonal toy), outperformed the control group on the math task. Again, more nurturing behaviors during toy play were related to improved performance. The authors concluded that the emotional bond children had with the personalized character was the reason for their improvement, rather than simply being familiar with the character.

Here are some actionable insights into how you might foster these parasocial relationships through media:

• Attachment – create characters that make children feel safe and comfortable. In addition, show diverse characters so children are able to relate to them and build stronger attachments and relationships with them.

• Personification – create characters that children can perceive as friends with thoughts and emotions, wants and needs.

• Social realism – the extent of a character’s social realism becomes increasingly important with a child’s age. Imaginative play and treating characters as real during play begins in toddlerhood and peaks when children are about 4 years old. As children get older, their ability to distinguish between fantasy and reality improves, so it’s important to consider social realism during this developmental transition and beyond.

• Personalization – children learn better when the information presented on-screen is socially relevant to them. For example, providing the option to program a child’s name and interests to a toy/app can be beneficial to learning from that character.

• Take advantage of the multimedia landscape – provide a variety of platforms in which children can engage and interact with their favorite media characters (i.e., toys, apps, websites, shows, etc.).

• Encourage parent participation – design content that invites the parent to participate, such as an eBook that encourages dialogic questioning. Parents can facilitate the parasocial relationship by encouraging their child to interact with the character on and offscreen (toy).  

• Social Contingency – newer media affords the design of intelligent characters that can provide timely, personalized responses to a child’s input, making the interaction more like a face to face conversation. For instance, preschoolers were more likely to respond to an onscreen character when the character seemed to wait for their response or repeated unanswered questions in comparison to when the character waited for a typical 2-second delay. 

Brittany Huber, PhD

Collaborator of the Center for Scholars & Storytellers

Challenging Racism on the Screen

Challenging Racism on the Screen

When one hears the term “white supremacist,” it might call to mind vivid film depictions like Edward Norton’s vicious neo-Nazi skinhead in American History X or the ineffectual Ku Klux Klansmen that Quentin Tarantino used for a laugh in Django Unchained. But modern white supremacists are just as apt to hide behind anonymous online hate manifestos before enacting solitary attacks as they are to rally in public with swastika flags and white hoods; and narrow representations of visual villains in film and television don’t adequately prepare us for the insidious realities of everyday extremism.

Moreover, when film and television reflect images of “bad racists” as those who wear symbols of prejudice with pride while verbally and physically assaulting people of color, this extreme imagery leads to the false comfort that as long as we’re not acting out with explicit bias, we are not engaged in racism.  This good/bad binary limits our understanding of what racism is and how white people participate in it.

Studies done by the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity have shown that everyone possesses implicit racial biases, even if they “do not necessarily align with our declared beliefs or even reflect the stances we would explicitly endorse.”  So what shapes these implicit biases from an early age? One of many factors is the narrative content we consume in film and television. You don’t have to look far to find racist stereotypes perpetuated on the screen; but some of the most problematic narratives actually emerge out of films that purport to be on the racially progressive “good” side of the spectrum.

For example, the recent Oscar-winning film Green Book was widely criticized for perpetuating the “magical negro” stereotype, offering a buddy comedy in which the one-dimensional wise black character merely serves to help the white man grow in his fully-fleshed-out journey.

Another stereotypical narrative is the “white savior,” as exemplified in The Blind Side: the story of a middle-class white woman who “rescues” a young black man from a world where every black person is rendered impoverished and/or criminal. And she does so by guiding him towards an arena where whites can accept a black man’s success: sports.

While some filmmakers might defend their work by claiming it’s “historically accurate” or “based on a true story,” these defenses shut down the larger conversation about the creative choices storytellers often make to either glorify or simplify human characters along racial lines.

These well-intentioned but ultimately misguided films demonstrate why it is crucial to change the way we dramatize racism in film and television to encompass both the nuanced offenses as well as some guiding light solutions.

In order to effectively challenge racism on screen, here are some actionable story insights for writers.

1. When portraying white supremacist characters, avoid caricatures that allow the audience to distance themselves without self-reflection. Instead, shine a light on the sinister reality of everyday racists and extremists who might not wear their prejudice on their sleeves.

2. When depicting characters engaged in racist behavior, show the subtler ways in which racism operates (e.g. using coded “us” vs.“them” terminology, as when talking about “safe” vs. “sketchy” neighborhoods as a veiled commentary on how many people of color live in these areas) – and have this racism identified and called out by another white character.

3. Write a story arc for a white character who is openly coming to terms with their own white fragility and privilege; and then growing to consciously engage with racism and challenge white supremacy.

4. Portray people of color as fully realized characters with rich inner and outer lives, rather than stunted stereotypes in service of a white character’s journey.

While these story-focused insights are a great jumping off point, I would encourage every writer to do the work not just within their creative writing, but also within themselves. In order to undo centuries of racial conditioning, we need to engage with and internalize more inclusive perspectives. Although the film and television industry is starting to have more active conversations about diversity and inclusion, the 2019 UCLA Hollywood Diversity Report shows that only 12.6% of writers and 7.8% of directors are people of color.

For this reason, I offer a few more actionable insights that entail putting down the pen to do some larger work.

1. Accept that racism is an issue for white people to actively engage with and educate yourself with books like White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, and The New Jim Crow.

2. Proactively foster both creative and personal relationships across the racial divide.

3. Advocate for more diversity and representation for people of color behind the camera and on the screen.

4. If you witness racism on set or in a writers’ room, speak up and make yourself an ally.

Brian McAuley, MFA

WGA Screenwriter

Adjunct Assistant Professor, Columbia University School of the Arts

Collaborator of the Center for Scholars and Storytellers

Disclaimer: The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this blog belong solely to the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Center for Scholars & Storytellers.

Scoring Points with Athletic Characters

Scoring Points with Athletic Characters 

Tough. Driven. Focused. Determined. Winner. 

Dumb jock. Butch. One-dimensional. Bully. 

All of the above describe athletic characters we commonly see on TV and in movies. While we have started to move past so many stereotypes in the media it seems the role of the ‘athlete’ hasn’t caught up. Unfortunately, I’m sure we have all seen the far too common scene where a ‘jock’ pushes a ‘nerd’ into the lockers many times.  

Some of the most common stereotypes seen onscreen portray athletes as self-absorbed, bullies, ‘dumb jocks’, one-dimensional and selfish. However, in reality, athletes are incredibly diverse and have the potential to display a number of positive traits. For example, research has found that student athletes have better leadership skills than non-athletes and kids and teens who partake in team sports develop important social skills including empathy and leadership.  Furthermore, one study found that compared to non-athletes, student athletes had higher school attendance, graduation rates, and lower dropout rates. These findings should not be simplified to “athletes are smarter or better than non-athletes”, but rather athletes are not simply ‘dumb jocks’ who are only good at one thing, sports. Within sport, they learn specific skills and develop certain qualities such as motivation, discipline, determination, and time management that help them succeed not only in sports, but in school and other domains as well.  

One other very common misconception in the media is that most athletes onscreen are boys. Girls are often are portrayed as 1) being bad at sports, 2) simply not athletic at all or 3) participating in only stereotypical ‘feminine’ sports (i.e., cheerleading, dance), which is very problematic. Young girls are constantly being bombarded with characters and messages that suggest they will be viewed as butch, unattractive and masculine if they participate in sports. In fact, research has found that children (8-10-years-old) are aware of gender stereotypes that are prevalent in sport. This awareness actually affects their behavior and participation in certain sports such that girls avoid more masculine sports to fit the social norms related to gender.  

As creators of characters that kids love to watch (and emulate), you have the power to create characters and settings that go beyond the common stereotypes we still see onscreen. You have the power to not only entertain kids, but to inspire them as well.

Here are some actionable insights to help you do this!

• Expand your repertoire. There are so many unique physical activities that aren’t necessarily competitive sports but are quite common such as hiking, yoga, dance, bowling, paddling, skiing and frisbee. By showing children a range of physical activities and sports, you are not only introducing them to activities they are likely not exposed to, but you are also showing them that there is a sport for everyone!

• Show being sporty or active as attainable. An athlete does not always have to be extremely talented or super strong to participate in sports or physical activities. Thus, showing a range of diverse characters participating in sports and having fun may help encourage children to participate in activities they may think they ‘aren’t good enough for’

• Break out of old gender stereotypes. Firstly, not all female athletes have to be portrayed as butch or masculine. You can show girls being tough, focused, and successful and still show them being girly and fashionable (Or not!). Secondly, not all male athletes have to be portrayed as strong or aggressive. You can show boys who are more fragile and not aggressive and enjoy participating in more stereotypical ‘feminine’ sports such as skating (Or not!). Having complex characters with a range of athletic abilities and interests is imperative to help children see that participating in sports is not only for certain types of people with only certain qualities and talents.

• Cut the scenes where athletes (and all kids) hide how smart they are. In real life, kids who excel in school are often respected and admired and kids should not be observing characters being ashamed of their intelligence or ‘good grades’. Athletes should not be portrayed as one-dimensional such that they do not only have to be good at sports, but they can also be good at school as well.

• Show the other sides to athletes. A lot of athletes are high achievers, leaders, extremely well spoken, and outgoing. They can also be very creative, musical, and involved in the community. Showing all aspects of a character is very important.

• Show kids being active. A lot of characters on screen are either an ‘athlete’, or they do nothing. Show your characters partaking in a range of physical activities or sports and explain how important and fun exercising can be!

Athletic scenes are full of potential for conflict, drama, and comedy, without falling back on a narrow view of athletes. Moving beyond athletic stereotypes will not only give you tons of material to work with but you’ll have an inspired and devoted audience!

Sue Comeau, B.Sc. (Kin), M.A., CSEP-CEP

Writes on fitness and healthy lifestyle, and is the author of The F.I.T. Files, for kids. 

Let Love Define Family: Portraying a Modern Generation of Foster Parents

Let Love Define Family: 

Portraying a Modern Generation of Foster Parents

Media content has the power to shape perceptions and views on a mass scale. Unfortunately, media portrayals of youth in foster care are often negative and perpetuate unhelpful stereotypes. In this special blog series, The Center for Scholars and Storytellers is exploring this topic from multiple perspectives to inform and inspire the creation of accurate, empowering, and socially responsible media portrayals of foster care. 

Just as there are many destructive stereotypes about youth in foster care, there are countless misperceptions of the type of people who become foster parents and their underlying motivations. From the perfect, savior, do-good foster couple, to the careless, mean foster parent who is only in it for the money, these unhelpful stereotypes prevent everyday people from seeing themselves as a foster parent, thus reducing the options for children waiting for a family. This is particularly problematic when it comes to media portrayals, as it helps to “see it to be it.” Indeed, in the previous post in this special foster care series, a foster parent noted how they are typically portrayed as either “perfect people” or “system milkers.” 

Why is this critical? From talking to countless foster care professionals in the United States and Canada, it’s clear that their number one problem is a shortage of foster parents, particularly from minority groups. Therefore, we flagged this as one of the most important topics to communicate to content creators. Because media has immense power to influence behaviors, portraying foster parents and the motivations behind fostering in a relatable, positive, and realistic way could inspire viewers to consider being foster parents themselves. As Marianne Guilfoyle, Chief Innovations Officer at LA-based Allies for Every Child states, “Media has the ability to drive home the notion-- if not you, then who will answer the call to meet the need of the children in your community?”

More specifically, we need to reach and mobilize a new generation of foster parents. This is the mission behind the LA-based non-profit organization Raise a Child, where they are urging people to “reimagine foster parents.” I spoke with the organization’s founder, Rich Valenza, to learn more about his personal path to fostering and adoption, the goals of the organization, and the message he has for content creators. (Click here to see Valenza and his family featured as the first LGBTQ+ family featured on the annual CBS special, A Home for the Holidays.)

“At Raise a Child, our motto is, Let Love Define Family,” says Valenza. “There are no accidents or sudden decisions in fostering and adopting. You are planning a family and you chose those children. It’s truly a thing of love and acceptance, and it needs to be portrayed that way.”

Valenza suggests we need to “rebrand” what it means and looks like to be a foster parent. Indeed, today, more than ever before, there are countless new drivers for people to become foster parents and adopt through foster parenting. It is more than just heterosexuals couples who can’t conceive biologically who foster, and media content should reflect these modern realities. Foster parents range from  same-sex couples wanting to build a family, to single men and women who don’t want to wait for a partner to start a family, to those who are environmentally conscious looking for a way to raise children without increasing their carbon footprint, to people driven by social justice who want to help elevate kids out of a repressive cycle to make a positive impact on thier community. As Ching-chu Hu and Jim Van-Reeth, multi-racial, well-educated, same-sex couple from Ohio who have adopted four children through the foster care system point out, “There is no more effective way to positively impact children and ultimately society as a whole.”

Speaking further to social justice, there are countless horrible circumstances for children around the world, and even in our own country, that often leave people feeling helpless. “People are justifiably outraged,” explain Hu and Van-Reeth. “Perhaps we can’t do anything about these things, but we can at least help out local children in the foster care system who are from broken homes and give them a fresh start. Helping out locally does positively affect the world.”

The system is also more progressive than some may think. For instance, Hu and Van-Reeth assumed that because they lived in a small, conservative town, they would have to adopt internationally. But during the adoption certification program, they noticed that representatives from the local county foster agency kept approaching them to chat. Being used to prejudice in other areas of their lives, they at first thought they were being further checked out to see if their motives to adopt were pure. It wasn’t until about halfway through the courses that they realized these agency workers were trying to convince them to work with the local foster care agency rather than adopt internationally. As they put it, “The foster care workers didn't see color or sexuality - they were simply evaluating based on capabilities.”

Similarly, going into the foster process Valenza expected to face some discrimnation as a single, gay man. Instead, leadership within LA County Foster Care quickly realized what an incredible foster father and advocate he was, and recruited him to help them encourage more people from the LGBTQ+ community to become foster parents -- the genesis of Raise a Child.

Actionable insights for content creators: 

• Depict relatable foster parents from a variety of backgrounds (e.g. race, culture, LGBTQ+) and family structure. 

  - Media that gets it right: A lesbian couple in The Fosters, An African-American couple in This is Us.

• Include modern motivations for fostering. Examples include: single parents, same-sex parents, people driven by social justice and/or environmental reasons. 

Colleen Russo Johnson, PhD

Senior Fellow of the Center for Scholars and Storytellers

This blog series is supported in part by the UCLA Pritzker Center for Strengthening Children and Families.

Multimedia Design with an Eye toward Emotions: Why Emotional Design is Central to Creating Better Learning Environments

Are you ever aware of your emotions while learning new information? Have you ever noticed or wondered why it seems easier to learn new information when you’re in a good mood compared to when you’re in a bad mood?

Emotions are thought to be important for learning in any context, but particularly in the context of multimedia environments. In fact, emotional design of multimedia environments aim to evoke emotions for better learning by tapping into emotional and motivational processes. Specifically, individuals who are highly engaged and motivated to complete an educational activity are also more likely to learn from it. This suggests that that the joy learners experience from interacting with a digital learning environment, likely influences a learner’s feelings about the experience, even outside of the digital environment. Thus, highly emotional contexts may be better support for learning. 

One type of learning context that is highly engaging and motivating is game-based learning environments. The research team at the CREATE Lab of New York University examined emotions in game-based digital learning environments. They examined how color, shape, expression, and dimensionality of game characters could be used to induce emotions in a digital game-based learning environment among adolescent learners. After being shown a pair of game characters, participants reported their emotions by selecting the character that best matched the target emotion word (e.g., happy or sad). It was found that the game character’s facial expression (e.g., smiling, neutral, frowning) affected participants’ choices the most. By contrast, dimensionality (e.g., 2D or 3D visual appearance) appeared to affect participants' the most in immersive virtual reality settings. The color of the character (e.g., warm or grayscale pigments) and the shape of the character (e.g., round or square)  influenced decisions to a lesser extent. These findings demonstrate how visual features of a game character could influence how a user feels. More importantly, the findings may suggest that in order to make users feel positively and to promote their learning, designers only need to change a very specific and simple aspect of the digital game environment: character expressions.

In another study, researchers at the CREATE Lab examined whether playing a version of  game-based training with emotional design was associated with improvements in cognitive flexibility. Cognitive flexibility is defined as the ability to flexibly shift between different mental sets and is often measured by how well an individual can learn a new rule for sorting objects by the object’s shape, color, etc. The results indicated that older adolescents improved most on mental set shifting when they played the emotionally designed version (e.g., expressive game characters, warm colors, responsive features) of the game compared with those who played a neutral-looking version (e.g., non-expressive game characters, neutral and grayscale pigments, non-responsive features) of the same game. Taken together, these findings highlight the possibilities for educators and developers to consciously and strategically integrate foundations of emotional design into digital environments to improve learning outcomes. 

There are many possibilities for incorporating elements of emotional design into digital learning environments. While research in this area points to fruitful opportunities, there is evidence that emotional design is associated with increased enjoyment, engagement, and performance. By better applying principles of emotional design to multimedia, we can improve learning outcomes. Both developers and consumers could benefit from understanding emotional design, and how it can be used to sustain engagement for optimal learning through moderate use in digital learning environments that possess educational rigor.

Actionable insights for content creators: 

• Begin with the user in mind. What appeals to the target audience? Considering what personalization, choice, themes, etc. might appeal to the idealized user is important. Particularly for children and adolescents, consciously designing such that the product is not only attractive but also developmentally appropriate is crucial. 

• Align emotional design choices with the goals of learning. To understand this recommendation, it may be helpful to understand the distinction between game mechanics and learning mechanics. Game mechanics refer to the methods employed by users that invoke interaction within a game state. Learning mechanics, by contrast, refer to the methods users engage in while performing a learning task within the game. Incorporating emotional design that is not connected with task-specific learning objectives may confuse the user and detract from the effectiveness of task engagement. Ultimately, if integrated properly, emotional design can serve to bypass this confusion and improve associated outcomes.

• Test, evaluate, and design. In the course of designing or evaluating a multimedia learning environment, it is important to understand the users’ actual experience with it. Sometimes “idealized users” (i.e., those imagined by game designers or researchers) don’t reflect the interests and needs of the real users or the target population. Thus, determining how a real life user would interact within the learning environment and using this information to re-design and adjust the environment accordingly can help enhance the users’ learning. 

• Check your emotions when evaluating “educational” learning environments. Not all multimedia digital learning environments are designed for learning, even the ones carrying the label “educational.” These labels are often not applied with any clear or rigorous standards for accountability. A recent developmental science policy report indicated children are spending a considerable amount of time immersed in digital media, and the long-term consequences for development are still not entirely understood. While we may not fully understand the developmental consequences, it should be recognized that emotional design can also lead users down a garden path of intense engagement without substantive learning, even though it contains so many positive applications.

Teresa M. Ober & Maya C. Rose

The Graduate Center CUNY

There’s More to the Picture: What the adults of Foster Care want content creators to know

“There’s More to the Picture”:

What the adults of Foster Care want content creators to know

Media content has the power to shape perceptions and views on a mass scale. Unfortunately, media portrayals of youth in foster care are often negative and perpetuate unhelpful stereotypes. In this special blog series, The Center for Scholars and Storytellers is exploring this topic from multiple perspectives to inform and inspire the creation of accurate, empowering, and socially responsible media portrayals of youth in foster care. 

“I think most people don't really understand why someone would want to be a foster parent. They don't understand the positive effects a foster parent can have on a child and their birth family, and what they get back (emotionally) in return.” 

When we think of foster care, we immediately picture children and teens. But for every youth in care, there are many adults directly attached, including birth parents, foster parents, and  social care workers. So when we look at foster care portrayals in fictional media, it is critical to take a holistic look that includes how the adults within the system are depicted. To do so, we sought feedback from two foster parents (one male, one female) and two foster care professionals (both females in leadership roles at foster care agencies). 

Can fictional media persuade (or dissuade) adults from becoming foster parents?

According to all four respondents, the answer is a resounding yes. But, it does go in both directions. One respondent stated that they believe the negative images in the media have contributed to the difficulty of recruiting foster parents, whereas the foster Dad said it was actually a positive portrayal of foster care in fictional media that initially inspired him to become a foster parent (he specifically noted the CBC special “A Home for the Holidays” and ABC’s “The Fosters”.)

It is difficult for people not involved with the foster care system to understand the motivations for becoming a foster parent. As one respondent stated, “There are some that think foster parents are doing it just for the money. I think most people don't really understand why someone would want to be a foster parent. They don't understand the positive effects a foster parent can have on a child and their birth family, and what they get back (emotionally) in return.” 

The two men featured in our previous blog who were formerly in foster care noted additional motivations they perceived for adults wanting to become foster parents, including: feeling bad about the large number of children in care, wanting to help nurture a child while in retirement, a desire for children but an inability to have biological kids, or because they themselves were in foster care. To that point, one of the former foster youth said he would absolutely consider being a foster parent one day, saying “I was blessed to have been adopted to a loving family and I know the feeling of lost hope. Returning the favor or more importantly having the power to change someone’s life for the better is the ultimate dream”. 

Unfortunately, misunderstandings regarding the type of people who become foster parents seep into media content, and can dissuade people from wanting to explore fostering.  Indeed, another respondent noted how foster care parents are often represented as either “perfect people” or “system milkers”, which just further drives inaccurate stereotypes and prevents viewers from seeing themselves in those roles. Instead, foster care parents want to be “portrayed as multidimensional, from varied backgrounds and economic classes, motivated by caring for kids in care”, and “regular people who desire to help a child in need”. 

When media gets it right. The movie “Instant Family” does a terrific job of showcasing “regular people” who decide to foster for a variety of reasons. The film honestly depicts the rollercoaster of emotions, including realistic doubt in their decision to foster. By portraying a relatable, imperfect, but well-intentioned couple, viewers are more likely to see themselves in that situation and consider becoming foster parents. 

Overcoming the “evil child snatcher” trope of social workers            

Social care workers have one of the most difficult jobs. One respondent mentioned how they are unfortunately part of an overall “failed system”, making their job seemingly impossible at times. Indeed, they are working within a confusing system, in rapidly changing and high-intensity situations. But our respondents noted that the general public really lacks an understanding of what foster care social workers actually do, other than “remove children from their homes”, and simply classify it as a “very difficult job that they themselves would not want to do”. This does not encourage people to enter the job, and media portrayals certainly do not help. Social care workers are often depicted as evil child snatchers or overly do-gooders that few can relate to. The reality is that they are well-intentioned, trained professionals who care about the well-being of children. It’s important that content creators capture this difficulty while still portraying social workers that have a good relationship with the foster youth in their care. 

When media gets it right. The social care worker depicted in season three of the television drama “This Is Us” impressively captures the highs and lows of the job, and showcases the benefit of trust built between a worker and child in care. 

Working towards a more compassionate lens on birth parents 

Media portrayals of birth parents rarely stray from the stereotypes of, as one respondent explained, “bad people who have done horrible things to their children and don’t deserve the chance to make things right or parent their children ever again”, or simply put by another respondent, “awful people”. 

The truth is, more often or not, these are people who have had a hard life and a spout of bad luck. Many people live paycheck to paycheck and could also easily fall into a difficult situation. Furthermore, the disease of addiction can become so overpowering that it consumes them and prevents them from being the parent they want to be at that time. They are flawed people, just like everyone. 

Our respondents all expressed a desire to see birth parents shown in a more compassionate light. One respondent noted wanting to see them as less pathologized and caricatured. Another said “birth parents are often people with mental health issues, substance abuse problems, who come from their own dysfunctional families, and did not set out to hurt their children. They may not be able to parent them, but they do love them. And it is possible for people to change.” Another mentioned that “most birth parents do not intend to hurt or neglect their children, they over discipline for a myriad of reasons, they are addicted to drugs or homeless because they were barely making it to begin with and had an event that tipped the scales.” 

When media gets it right. Season three of “This Is Us” depicts this nuanced role of a birth mother perfectly, showing the desire to be the mom both she (and her daughter) wanted her to be, but doomed by many factors including her own rough upbringing, addictions, and bad partners. Through it all, however, you could see that the love and admiration she had for her daughter was genuine. 

Actionable insights for content creators: 

• Foster parent portrayal: Show relatable characters from a variety of backgrounds (including race, economic, sexual orientation, and cultural). Don’t shy away from them asking taboo questions that potential foster parents might have. Show a realistic experience of the foster parent experience-- the ups and the downs-- but strive for an overall positive outlook. 

• Social worker portrayal: Make an effort to show individuals who truly care about the child’s well being, and are doing their absolute best working in an extremely complex and sometimes failed system. 

• Birth parent portrayal: Avoid falling into stereotypes. Give the character the depth and compassion deserved that explains why he or she ended up in this position. 

Colleen Russo Johnson, PhD

Senior Fellow of the Center for Scholars and Storytellers

This blog series is supported in part by the UCLA Pritzker Center for Strengthening Children and Families.

Upcoming foster care blog posts in this special series to explore:

• Foster parent perspective, and how to encourage more

• Features on media that “gets it right”