Analysis of Dora the Explorer
Geared toward children of the preschool age (3 to 5 years old)
History:
Dora the Explorer was created by Chris Gifford, Valerie Walsh and Eric Weiner. It originally debuted in 1999. In 2000 it became a regular series.
The show airs on the Nickelodeon cable television network and it’s Nick Jr, channel. It was developed especially for preschool children. A number of supplementary video series have been created and make it possible for a child to take an adventure of exploration with Dora and her friends at any time.[1]
What is Dora the Explorer all about?
The main character, Dora Marquez, is an eight-year-old girl and in every episode of the series she takes a trip to find or help somebody or something. Viewer involvement is encouraged as Dora asks the audience to assist her to find new ways to get to particular places, with the help of ‘Map’. As well as teaching problem solving, negotiation skills and concern for others, Dora teaches her viewers short words and phrases from the Spanish language.[1]
Footnotes:
[1] Lim, C.(May 28,2012). A Short History of Dora the Explorer. Retrieved from http://www.yogee.com.au/blog/2012/05/28/a-short-history-of-dora-the-explorer/
Psychological Understanding
Theory of Mind:
Diego and Dora ask audience where things are in every episode. They repeatedly ask children to help them find something in their surrounding that they are not aware of. Sometimes Swiper the fox will come to try to steal Dora’s things and the child is expected to inform Dora (For example Dora asks audience why the animals around them look alarmed/scared) that he is present. Dora doesn’t know where Swiper is or that he is there. In order for children to understand what is being asked of them in the show children need to understand that Diego and Dora are not conscious or see everything that they can see. Since the show is geared toward children of the preschool age (3 to 5). It might not accurately reflect the capabilities of all of its audience members specifically children of three years of age. The show might not reflect a 3 year olds understands that some characters might not know everything that they know. Studies have shown that children younger than 4 years old have an underdeveloped understanding of the mental states of others or do not yet have a developed theory of mind. [1] Specifically they have trouble conceptualizing both the state of ignorance and or false belief of others.[2] They also fail at remembering their own previous false beliefs.[3]
However, studies also show that there are external factors that contribute to an earlier understanding of theory of mind such as mother’s talk about thoughts, wants and feelings.[4] Other factors to advanced understanding of theory of mind include having siblings, and engagement in pretend play.[5] Thus, being exposed to situations that encourage thinking about the mental states of others may contribute to an earlier understanding of theory of mind.
Watching Dora may encourage children younger than 4 to think about the different possible mental states of the characters contributing to children’s development of theory of mind.
Footnotes:
[1] Perner, J., Leekam, S. R., & Wimmer, H. (1987). Three‐year‐olds' difficulty with false belief: The case for a conceptual deficit. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 5(2), 125-137.
[2] Hogrefe, G. J., Wimmer, H., & Perner, J. (1986). Ignorance versus false belief: A developmental lag in attribution of epistemic states. Child development, 567-582.
[3] Gopnik, A., & Astington, J. W. (1988). Children's understanding of representational change and its relation to the understanding of false belief and the appearance-reality distinction. Child development, 26-37.
[4] Ruffman, T., Slade, L., & Crowe, E. (2002). The relation between children's and mothers’ mental state language and theory‐of‐mind understanding. Child development, 73(3), 734-751.
[5] Youngblade, L. M., & Dunn, J. (1995). Individual differences in young children's pretend play with mother and sibling: Links to relationships and understanding of other people's feelings and beliefs. Child Development, 66(5), 1472-1492.
Gifford, C. (Writer), Valerie, W.V. (Writer), Weiner, E. & Chialtas, G. S. (Director), Conrad, G.,Lanardin-Madden, H., Pollack, S.,Wong, A. (August 14, 2000 - January 26, 2015). Dora The Explorer [Television broadcast or Television series]. In C. Gifford (Producer). New York, New York: Nickelodeon Productions.
Geared toward children of the preschool age (3 to 5 years old)
History:
Dora the Explorer was created by Chris Gifford, Valerie Walsh and Eric Weiner. It originally debuted in 1999. In 2000 it became a regular series.
The show airs on the Nickelodeon cable television network and it’s Nick Jr, channel. It was developed especially for preschool children. A number of supplementary video series have been created and make it possible for a child to take an adventure of exploration with Dora and her friends at any time.[1]
What is Dora the Explorer all about?
The main character, Dora Marquez, is an eight-year-old girl and in every episode of the series she takes a trip to find or help somebody or something. Viewer involvement is encouraged as Dora asks the audience to assist her to find new ways to get to particular places, with the help of ‘Map’. As well as teaching problem solving, negotiation skills and concern for others, Dora teaches her viewers short words and phrases from the Spanish language.[1]
Footnotes:
[1] Lim, C.(May 28,2012). A Short History of Dora the Explorer. Retrieved from http://www.yogee.com.au/blog/2012/05/28/a-short-history-of-dora-the-explorer/
Psychological Understanding
Theory of Mind:
Diego and Dora ask audience where things are in every episode. They repeatedly ask children to help them find something in their surrounding that they are not aware of. Sometimes Swiper the fox will come to try to steal Dora’s things and the child is expected to inform Dora (For example Dora asks audience why the animals around them look alarmed/scared) that he is present. Dora doesn’t know where Swiper is or that he is there. In order for children to understand what is being asked of them in the show children need to understand that Diego and Dora are not conscious or see everything that they can see. Since the show is geared toward children of the preschool age (3 to 5). It might not accurately reflect the capabilities of all of its audience members specifically children of three years of age. The show might not reflect a 3 year olds understands that some characters might not know everything that they know. Studies have shown that children younger than 4 years old have an underdeveloped understanding of the mental states of others or do not yet have a developed theory of mind. [1] Specifically they have trouble conceptualizing both the state of ignorance and or false belief of others.[2] They also fail at remembering their own previous false beliefs.[3]
However, studies also show that there are external factors that contribute to an earlier understanding of theory of mind such as mother’s talk about thoughts, wants and feelings.[4] Other factors to advanced understanding of theory of mind include having siblings, and engagement in pretend play.[5] Thus, being exposed to situations that encourage thinking about the mental states of others may contribute to an earlier understanding of theory of mind.
Watching Dora may encourage children younger than 4 to think about the different possible mental states of the characters contributing to children’s development of theory of mind.
Footnotes:
[1] Perner, J., Leekam, S. R., & Wimmer, H. (1987). Three‐year‐olds' difficulty with false belief: The case for a conceptual deficit. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 5(2), 125-137.
[2] Hogrefe, G. J., Wimmer, H., & Perner, J. (1986). Ignorance versus false belief: A developmental lag in attribution of epistemic states. Child development, 567-582.
[3] Gopnik, A., & Astington, J. W. (1988). Children's understanding of representational change and its relation to the understanding of false belief and the appearance-reality distinction. Child development, 26-37.
[4] Ruffman, T., Slade, L., & Crowe, E. (2002). The relation between children's and mothers’ mental state language and theory‐of‐mind understanding. Child development, 73(3), 734-751.
[5] Youngblade, L. M., & Dunn, J. (1995). Individual differences in young children's pretend play with mother and sibling: Links to relationships and understanding of other people's feelings and beliefs. Child Development, 66(5), 1472-1492.
Gifford, C. (Writer), Valerie, W.V. (Writer), Weiner, E. & Chialtas, G. S. (Director), Conrad, G.,Lanardin-Madden, H., Pollack, S.,Wong, A. (August 14, 2000 - January 26, 2015). Dora The Explorer [Television broadcast or Television series]. In C. Gifford (Producer). New York, New York: Nickelodeon Productions.
Imitation:
Dora asks audience to imitate her movements in all the episodes. For example if she is dancing she will teach children the dance and ask audience to copy her. She will also ask viewers to copy behaviors such as pulling a rope to save someone from falling down a cliff. The imitation activities in the program may be very beneficial for preschoolers. Imitation is an important mechanism for social learning. Thus, through imitation children can learn new knowledge from others. [1] Also, through imitation children can develop an understanding of other people's mental states.
Imitation has been found to exist as early as two months of age. For example, infants of two to six month of age will imitate tongue protruding and mouth opening. [2]Specifically social imitation has been found as early as 9 months of age.[3]Thus, The show’s imitation requests are appropriate for the intended audience. Furthermore, there is evidence showing that children can learn novel actions from watching television. In a study by Meltzoff (1998) 14 month olds were able to imitate a specific set of actions shown on Tv.[4] The children were successful at imitating the actions shown on Tv even after a delay between the time they viewed Tv and when they were presented with the critical materials needed to reproduce the action.
The literature shows evidence that by watching Dora pull on a rope children of preschool age can reproduce those actions at a later time. However, studies need to be done to see how long preschoolers can remember those actions since the time interval between watching Dora pull on a rope and being presented with a rope in real life would be undefined. However, imitating actions seen on the show that do not require addition materials such as a dance move could potentially be easier for children since they can replicate those actions without the need of any materials.
Footnotes:
[1] Jones, S. S. (2009). The development of imitation in infancy. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 364(1528), 2325-2335.
[2] Fontaine, R. (1984). Imitative skills between birth and six months. Infant Behavior and Development, 7(3), 323-333.
[3] Meltzoff, A. N. (1988). Infant imitation after a 1-week delay: long-term memory for novel acts and multiple stimuli. Developmental Psychology, 24(4), 470.
[4] Meltzoff, A. N. (1988). Imitation of televised models by infants. Child development, 59(5), 1221.
Gifford, C. (Writer), Valerie, W.V. (Writer), Weiner, E. & Chialtas, G. S. (Director), Conrad, G.,Lanardin-Madden, H., Pollack, S.,Wong, A. (August 14, 2000 - January 26, 2015). Dora The Explorer [Television broadcast or Television series]. In C. Gifford (Producer). New York, New York: Nickelodeon Production.
Memory
The Phonological loop and the Visual-Spatial Sketchpad.
Each episode of Dora consists of an adventure or rescue mission. In each episode an animated map explains to the viewers the locations that need to be crossed in order to reach the destination. The map asks the viewers to remember the locations needing to be crossed and repeats all the locations four times. Dora then asks audience what locations she needs to look for in order to reach the intended destination. This activity assumes that preschool children are using the phonological loop to remember the locations.
The phonological loop consists of a phonological short-term store and subvocal rehearsal process.[1] When you say words aloud you rehearse and or code nonphonological inputs into a phonological form for short-term storage in working memory. Repeating words refreshes the information since the phonological code is subject to rapid decay. However, studies have found that children of preschool age do not rely as heavily as adults or older children on the phonological loop but may be using the visuospatial sketchpad to help them remember visual information. Thus, they do not tend to transform non-phonological information into a phonological form. The visuo-spatial sketchpad stores information in terms of its visual or spatial features.[2]
For example, in a study by Conrad (1971) found that its is not until about 5 years of age that children begin to use names in order to memorize pictures.[3] Until then, the fact that pictures with like sounding names appear to be no more difficult to remember than those with unlike sounding names implies that some other memory code is used. Hitch et al. (1988) found that younger children are more dependent than older children or adults on the visual-spatial sketchpad to help them remember visual material.[4] In the study 5 year olds performed worse on the visually similar objects and 10 year olds did worse on the longer sounding objects.
These studies provide support for the idea that younger children rely more on the visual-spatial sketchpad compared to older children.
Even though the show assumes its target audience is using the phonological loop to hold information in working memory they also provide visuals of the locations Dora needs to cross allowing for the child to possibly utilize the visual-spatial sketchpad.
Footnotes:
[1] Baddeley, A. (1986). Working memory, reading and dyslexia. Advances in psychology, 34, 141-152.
[2] Baddeley, A. D., & Lieberman, K. (1980). Spatial working memory. ln R. Nickerson. Attention and Performance, VIII. Hillsdale, N): Erlbaum.
[3] Conrad, R. (1971). The chronology of the development of covert speech in children. Developmental Psychology, 5(3), 398.
[4] Hitch, G. J., Halliday, S., Schaafstal, A. M., & Schraagen, J. M. C. (1988). Visual working memory in young children. Memory & Cognition, 16(2), 120-132.
Gifford, C. (Writer), Valerie, W.V. (Writer), Weiner, E. & Chialtas, G. S. (Director), Conrad, G.,Lanardin-Madden, H., Pollack, S.,Wong, A. (August 14, 2000 - January 26, 2015). Dora The Explorer [Television broadcast or Television series]. In C. Gifford (Producer). New York, New York: Nickelodeon Productions.
Physical World
The show assumes the its audience has some understanding of cause and effect in the physical world. For example in one episode (Save Diego) Dora saves Diego from falling down a cliff. The only thing preventing Diego from falling is that he is holding on to a rope. In order for the children to follow along with the story they need to understand that if Diego lets go of the rope he will fall and hurt himself.
Another example of a cause and effect scenario presented in the show is when Dora and Benny the cow need to go through an obstacle course with their go carts but need to avoid some orange traffic cones. Children need an understanding of why Dora needs to avoid the traffic cones so that they can understand the episode.
Fortunately, Children become sensitive to certain causal principles and mechanisms from an early age.[1] Even young infants have an understanding of cause and effect. For example, evidence shows that infants as young as six months of age have an understanding of how two solid objects interact. In a study by Baillargeon (1986), 6 months old infants were surprised when a toy car passed through a box showing that they understand that a car cannot roll through the space occupied by a box.[2] Other studies show evidence that children as young as 3 years of age have an understanding of gravity even if it is not as developed as adults or older children.[3] This understanding of gravity continues to develop as they reach middle childhood. Children’s level of understanding of the physical world is also dependent on experience.[4] Thus, the show is accurately reflecting the preschoolers understanding of the physical world and is at the same time strengthening their understanding by exposing them to more situations where objects can react to each other.
Thus, the show is accurately reflecting the preschoolers understanding of the physical world and is at the same time strengthening their understanding by exposing them to more situations where objects react to each other. Furthermore, being exposed to physics stimulate children's inquiry and problem-solving skills.Furthermore, being exposed to physics stimulates children's inquiry, problem-solving skills, and social and language skills.[5]
Footnotes:
[1] Shultz, T. R., & Kestenbaum, N. R. (1985). Causal reasoning in children. Annals of child development, 2, 195-249.
[2] Baillargeon, R. (1986). Representing the existence and the location of hidden objects: Object permanence in 6-and 8-month-old infants. Cognition, 23(1), 21-41.
[3] Hood, B. M. (1998). Gravity does rule for falling events. Developmental Science, 1(1), 59-63.
[4] Hood, B. M. (1998). Gravity does rule for falling events. Developmental Science, 1(1), 59-63.
[5] Gur, C. (2011). Physics in preschool. International Journal of Physical Sciences, 6(4), 939-943.
Gifford, C. (Writer), Valerie, W.V. (Writer), Weiner, E. & Chialtas, G. S. (Director), Conrad, G.,Lanardin-Madden, H., Pollack, S.,Wong, A. (August 14, 2000 - January 26, 2015). Dora The Explorer [Television broadcast or Television series]. In C. Gifford (Producer). New York, New York: Nickelodeon Productions.
Final Thoughts:
Dora is a very well rounded show. It covers important fields of development such as theory of mind, physics, math, imitation, and language. It also does a great job at requesting participation which will allow the child to be more engaged. Increased engagement may lead to better learning but there needs to be more research to indicate if asking for participation actually encourages the child to interact more with the show. It also introduces children to Spanish and English. Being able to understand two languages has been shown to beneficial for some task such as phoneme segmentation tasks.[1]
Footnotes
[1] Bialystok, E., Majumder, S., & Martin, M. M. (2003). Developing phonological awareness: Is there a bilingual advantage?. Applied Psycholinguistics, 24(01), 27-44.
Episodes of Dora can be found here for comparison!
http://www.nickjr.com/kids-videos/kids-dora-the-explorer-videos.html
References
Baddeley, A. (1986). Working memory, reading and dyslexia. Advances in psychology, 34, 141-152.
Baddeley, A. D., & Lieberman, K. (1980). Spatial working memory. ln R. Nickerson. Attention and Performance, VIII. Hillsdale, N):
Bialystok, E., Majumder, S., & Martin, M. M. (2003). Developing phonological awareness: Is there a bilingual advantage?. Applied Psycholinguistics, 24(01), 27-44.
Conrad, R. (1971). The chronology of the development of covert speech in children. Developmental Psychology, 5(3), 398.
Erlbaum.Baillargeon, R. (1986). Representing the existence and the location of hidden objects: Object permanence in 6-and 8-month-old infants. Cognition, 23(1), 21-41.
Fontaine, R. (1984). Imitative skills between birth and six months. Infant Behavior and Development, 7(3), 323-333.
Gifford, C. (Writer), Valerie, W.V. (Writer), Weiner, E. & Chialtas, G. S. (Director), Conrad, G.,Lanardin-Madden, H., Pollack, S.,Wong, A. (August 14, 2000 - January 26, 2015). Dora The Explorer [Television broadcast or Television series]. In C. Gifford (Producer). New York, New York: Nickelodeon Productions.
Gopnik, A., & Astington, J. W. (1988). Children's understanding of representational change and its relation to the understanding of false belief and the appearance-reality distinction. Child development, 26-37.
Gur, C. (2011). Physics in preschool. International Journal of Physical Sciences, 6(4), 939-943.
Hitch, G. J., Halliday, S., Schaafstal, A. M., & Schraagen, J. M. C. (1988). Visual working memory in young children. Memory & Cognition, 16(2), 120-132.
Hogrefe, G. J., Wimmer, H., & Perner, J. (1986). Ignorance versus false belief: A developmental lag in attribution of epistemic states. Child development, 567-582.
Hood, B. M. (1998). Gravity does rule for falling events. Developmental Science, 1(1), 59-63.
Jones, S. S. (2009). The development of imitation in infancy. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 364(1528), 2325-2335.
Lim, C.(May 28,2012). A Short History of Dora the Explorer. Retrieved from http://www.yogee.com.au/blog/2012/05/28/a-short-history-of-dora-the-explorer/
Meltzoff, A. N. (1988). Infant imitation after a 1-week delay: long-term memory for novel acts and multiple stimuli. Developmental Psychology, 24(4), 470.
Meltzoff, A. N. (1988). Imitation of televised models by infants. Child development, 59(5), 1221.
Gifford, C. (Writer), Valerie, W.V. (Writer), Weiner, E. & Chialtas, G. S. (Director), Conrad, G.,Lanardin-Madden, H., Pollack, S.,Wong, A. (August 14, 2000 - January 26, 2015). Dora The Explorer [Television broadcast or Television series]. In C. Gifford (Producer). New York, New York: Nickelodeon Production.
Perner, J., Leekam, S. R., & Wimmer, H. (1987). Three‐year‐olds' difficulty with false belief: The case for a conceptual deficit. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 5(2), 125-137.
Ruffman, T., Slade, L., & Crowe, E. (2002). The relation between children's and mothers’ mental state language and theory‐of‐mind understanding. Child development, 73(3), 734-751.
Shultz, T. R., & Kestenbaum, N. R. (1985). Causal reasoning in children. Annals of child development, 2, 195-249.
Youngblade, L. M., & Dunn, J. (1995). Individual differences in young children's pretend play with mother and sibling: Links to relationships and understanding of other people's feelings and beliefs. Child Development, 66(5), 1472-1492.
Gifford, C. (Writer), Valerie, W.V. (Writer), Weiner, E. & Chialtas, G. S. (Director), Conrad, G.,Lanardin-Madden, H., Pollack, S.,Wong, A. (August 14, 2000 - January 26, 2015). Dora The Explorer [Television broadcast or Television series]. In C. Gifford (Producer). New York, New York: Nickelodeon Productions.