Quoted: Marie-Louise Mares, an assistant professor of communication at the University of Wisconsin. Mares is the co-author of a recent study, to be published in the journal Media Psychology, of kindergarteners who watched a 10-minute episode of “Clifford the Big Red Dog,” a popular PBS show, in which Clifford and his friends interact with a three-legged dog. At first the characters fear the dog, worry that they might get sick from being around him and treat him as if he’s different. But after the dog tells them that he just wants to be friends, everyone becomes pals.
Also quoted: Joanne Cantor, author of “Mommy, I’m Scared,” a book about the effects of fear-inducing media, says that young children aren’t likely to get the broader lessons of those movies, nor even the storylines.