Social Influence on the Formation of Attitudes toward Political Personalities in Children

Authors

  • Malkhaz Makashvili Ilia University

Keywords:

children, attitude, society, political personalities, free association test

Abstract

Authors aimed to study the influence of TV and parents on the  formation of attitudes towards political personalities in children. Experiment was conducted in 2003 and 2006 (E series A and B respectively) in Georgia. Year of 2003 was distinguished by the widespread social-political protest against the government with mass media and general community openly supporting and propagating opposition leaders, while the year of 2006 was a period of relatively stable political situation.  In both, A as well as B, third graders of elementary schools of both sexes, mean age 7.5, served as an experimental subjects.  Photo of the flower (aster)  was presented to each subject with a request to give a name to the flower that first comes to the mind. Experimental subjects were not familiar with the botanical name of the flower. Majority of subjects named the flower sample by the name of opposition leaders in the A. No names of political leaders have been registered in the B. Association of the flower with the name of a particular person reflects the mental connection of two emotionally positive stimuli – flower and person, which is nice to the subject. According to parents witness, adult household used to watch TV political broadcasts as well as to discuss political events in the presence of experimental subjects in 2003. Children in primary school age, not capable of understanding complicated social events, rely on the social environment bringing interpretation of political events and persons. Presumably results obtained demonstrate the strong TV and parental influence on the formation of positive attitudes of children towards political personalities.

 

Author Biography

Malkhaz Makashvili, Ilia University

Institute of Applied Psychology

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Published

2014-02-15

How to Cite

Makashvili, M. (2014). Social Influence on the Formation of Attitudes toward Political Personalities in Children. Asian Journal of Humanities and Social Studies, 2(1). Retrieved from https://ajouronline.com/index.php/AJHSS/article/view/890