Do You Like Heroes or Villains? The Association between Preference for Media Characters and Behavioural Characteristics in Preschoolers

ABSTRACT

Exposure to heroes and villains via media may influence individuals’ behavioural characteristics, but little is known about its effects on the developmental process. Especially, it is unclear whether preferences for heroes or villains are associated with behavioural characteristics in preschoolers, when exposure to TV rapidly increases. We categorised children aged 3–6 years (N = 200) into three groups—hero preference, villain preference, and equal preference– based on their preference for popular Japanese media characters. We compared the groups’ persistence, prosociality, and empathy through a cross-sectional study, which revealed that children in the hero group exhibited higher levels of persistence and prosociality than children in the villain group. Furthermore, children in the villain group displayed greater total difficulties and lower persistence than children in the hero and equal groups. This suggests that preschoolers’ behavioural characteristics differ depending on their preferences. Children who liked justice heroes tended to exhibit behavioural traits that were considered socially good. In contrast, children who liked villains tended to exhibit behavioural traits that were considered socially bad. The possible influence of media characters on children’s behavioural characteristics is discussed from the perspective of behavioural modelling.

KEYWORDS:

• Media
• heroes
• villains
• persistence
• prosocial behaviour
• preschoolers

Data availability

All data analysed during this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by a JSPS [Japan Society for the Promotion of Science] Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (no. JP19K14392, JP23K12883) and Musashino University Research grant (2020) awarded to M. I., and a JSPS [Japan Society for the Promotion of Science] Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) (no. JP20H04495) and a JST [Japan Science and Technology Agency] (MiraiProgram, no. JPMJMI22J3) awarded to Y. K.

Notes on contributors

Masahiro Imafuku

Masahiro Imafuku is an associate professor at the Faculty of Education, Musashino University.

Mizuho Kusakabe

Mizuho Kusakabe was a student at Musashino University at the time of her research, and now she is a teacher at a daycare.

Yasuhiro Kanakogi

Yasuhiro Kanakogi is a full professor at the Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University.