Popular TV Shows Teach Children Fame Is Most Important Value, Psychologists Report; Being Kind to Others Fell Dramatically in Importance Over 10 Years

Popular TV Shows Teach Children Fame Is Most Important Value, Psychologists Report; Being Kind to Others Fell Dramatically in Importance Over 10 Years
Jesse Bluma at Pointe Viven. All rights reserved.

This is a fascinating topic regarding adolescents, pop culture, and family life.  The concern is for how much influence celebrities, television, music, and social media has on children.  Research and experience reveals a change in the values, what young people care about, over time.  Fame or infamy have come to be more important to many young people than community and kindness. 

"Fame is the No. 1 value emphasized by television shows popular with 9- to 11-year-olds, a dramatic change over the past 10 years, UCLA psychologists report in a new study.  On a list of 16 values, fame jumped from the 15th spot...to the first spot... benevolence (being kind and helping others) fell from second to 13th, and tradition dropped from fourth to 15th.

'I was shocked, especially by the dramatic changes in the last 10 years,' said Yalda T. Uhls, a UCLA doctoral student in developmental psychology and the lead author of the study.  'I thought fame would be important but did not expect this drastic an increase or such a dramatic decrease in other values, such as community feeling.  If you believe that television reflects the culture, as I do, then American culture has changed drastically.'

'The rise of fame in preteen television may be one influence in the documented rise of narcissism in our culture,' said the study's senior author, Patricia M. Greenfield, a UCLA distinguished professor of psychology and director of the Children's Digital Media Center at Los Angeles.  'Popular television shows are part of the environment that causes the increased narcissism, but they also reflect the culture.  

The study is published in the July issue of Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, a peer-reviewed journal featuring psychosocial research on the impact of the Internet on people and society.  Parents should talk with their children about the shows they watch, Greenfield and Uhls advise, 'but it's impossible for most parents to consume the amount of media their children consume,' Uhls said."

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Credit:  https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110712094237.htm