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REPRESENTATIONS OF PSYCHOLOGY STUDENTS ABOUT INFLUENCE OF FOREIGN AND RUSSIAN CARTOONS ON CHILD PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT

G. Kozhukhar, T. Lobodina

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to identify the specifics of the representations of psychology students on how the viewing of cartoons of foreign and national production affects the development of junior schoolchildren. The study involved psychology students in the number of 70 people, aged 19 to 46. Among them there are 19 psychology students (age 19-27) and 51 people who are psychology students of different age that undergo professional retraining (age 22 to 46). 85% of the respondents were women. At the first stage of the study, we studied the content of the representations of psychology students about a typical foreign and typical national cartoon (Soviet and Russian cartoons were understood as "national" cartoons) using the method of free associations. At the second stage of the study, the representations of psychology students about the influence of national and foreign cartoons on the development of the personality traits of junior schoolchildren were compared. With that in mind, we used the personal semantic differential method (Osgood) with a modified instruction: the subjects were asked to assess how a typical cartoon can influence the development of the stated personality traits of junior schoolchildren. Statistical methods that were used: descriptive, frequency analysis and Wilcoxon test. A typical foreign cartoon was associated with such concepts as bright, colorful, funny, cheerful, stupid/unfunny, musical, interesting, kind. The following characteristics prevailed in the representations of a typical national cartoon: kind and patronizing, funny, pale, positive, educational, interesting, cheerful. Significant differences were found in the assessment of such characteristics of cartoons as talkativeness/taciturnity; irresponsibility/trustworthiness, stubbornness and compliance, kindness and selfishness, ungratefulness/kind-heartedness, fairness/unfairness, relaxation and tension, fussiness/calmness, hostility/friendliness, honesty/insincerity, irritability/tranquility. The focus on the development in children of such qualities as talkativeness, irresponsibility, stubbornness, selfishness, ungratefulness, unfairness, hostility is attributed to foreign cartoons. While the national cartoons, according to students, influence the development of trustworthiness, compliance, kindness, kind-heartedness, fairness, relaxation, honesty, tranquility. So, in the representations of psychology students, a typical foreign cartoon was understood as performing primarily an emotional-entertaining function and attracting attention with external attributes, while a typical national cartoon was considered to have a moral focus, accentuation of the role of interpersonal relations and personality traits manifested in these relations. The results of the study are expected to be used in classes as part of the professional development of psychologists working in the education system.

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