Psyc 102
The three programs I observed are:
SpongeBob Square Pants for a cartoon program @ 2:30pm on 02/22/16
PAW Patrol for a teaching program @ 9:30am on 02/22/16
Criminal Minds for an adult program @ 11:00am on 02/22/16
Cartoon Program Sponge Square Pants @ 2:30pm 02/22/16 Aggressive ProsocialI I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 13 x 3=39
33 x 3= 99 Teaching Program PAW Patrol @ 9:30am 02/22/16 Aggressive ProsocialI I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 2 x 3 = 6 I I I I 24 x 3 = 72
Adult Program Criminal Minds @ 11:00am 02/22/16 Aggressive Prosocial I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 16 x 3 = 48 14 x 3 = 42
The level of aggression in SpongeBob Square Pants did not surprise me, but how many aggressive acts this program showed (99) did. This is 2 ½ times the amount of prosocial acts (39) for this program’s aggressive acts. While observing Criminal Minds, the aggressive (48) and prosocial (42) acts were not far off from each other, that surprised me because I never noticed this program showed that amount of aggression and only 6 acts seperateing the two with the aggressive act being more. PAW Patrol is as I suspected with the prosocial acts (72) outweighing the aggressive acts (6) by 6 times. SpongeBob Square Pants doubled the aggressive acts; however, SpongeBob Square Pants and Criminal Minds prosocial acts of the two are comperable. SpongeBob Square Pants outweighed aggressive acts by double a program that is about violent criminals that I would have thought it would have been the other way around. Tallying up the numbers I was shocked at how many aggressive acts are on television cartoons today. It is interesting how the number of aggressive acts equaled the prosocial acts when the programs are combined (153). (160 Word Count)
I learned that parents really have to monitor their child’s television programs because they could be watching Criminal Minds or SpongeBob Square Pants during the day. Depending on the age of the child, these programs can influence negative attention. Although I knew SpongeBob Square Pants was an aggressive program, I had no idea how aggressive it really is. Paw Patrol and how many prosocial acts this program really does not surprise me and children should be watching this type of learning program during daytime hours rather than watching an aggressive program like SpongeBob Square Pants. I do not think a program such as SpongeBob Square Pants should be on at all due to the aggressiveness, but all the children seem to enjoy it. Even though this program is loved by so many children and many of the aggressive acts are funny and not something a child could mimic, they can still get ideas. SpongeBob Square Pants should be rated a PG 13 or higher and at least put on later in the evening so the younger audience is not subjected to it. Observing Criminal Minds made me think about how easy it is to get such aggressive ideas and no wonder there are so much violence in the world today. It never dawned on me how many programs are on during the day that children can easily watch and then we wonder why all these shootings are happening. Parents need to put children blocks on a lot of the adult channels and only keep the children programs for each child’s appropriate age. (263 Word Count)
I learned how to collect data and how difficult it could be at times. At times I got caught up in the storyline and had to catch myself getting back to counting the acts. It was difficult finding the prosocial acts on SpongeBob Square Pants because of all the aggressive acts. I also observed how difficult it is to tally more than one thing at a time, especially being opposites because I found myself erasing some tallies from one group that belonged in the other group. Collecting data is not an easy job and takes time and commitment to get final analyses which in this case is that SpongeBob Square Pants is extremely aggressive. (115 Word Count)
