Research Information System
WORLD CHILDREN CONFERENCE-III, Antalya, Turkey, 22 - 24 April 2022
This
study uses a progressive perspective to test and connect children's ability to
distinguish between commercial and non-commercial content on the internet,
their ability to attribute persuasive intent to online commercial content, and
the effects of exposure to internet advertising. It assist the progressive
model of children's cognitive processing of internet advertising by predicting
relationships between hypotheses, key developmental abilities, children's
cognitive defences against the internet advertising, and their consequences of
effects. Finally, the research questions explore the predictive value of key
cognitive and behavioural processing variables by age.
In the study, the conceptual
differentiation and perspective taking were measured for 60 primary school
students aged 6-8 and 9-10 years old. Participants were assigned a random title
pop-up or ad game state and exposed to commercial and non-commercial content on
a new website. The consequences of commercial/non-commercial discrimination, the
attribution of persuasive intent, and the effects are evaluated. All children
aged 6 to 10 have only a modest ability to distinguish between
commercial and non-commercial content online. Older children have no advantage
over younger children in identifying commercial content, but older children
perform significantly better at identifying non-commercial content. For both
age groups, ad games are significantly more difficult to identify than pop-up
or banner ads. Children's overall ability to the attribute persuasive intent to
an internet advertisement is low. Older children perform significantly better
than younger children, with no significant difference in the treatment
conditions. The conceptual differentiation and the prior internet exposure
predict commercial/non-commercial discrimination ability for the internet
advertising. The visual perspective taking and social perspective attractive
interact with commercial/non-commercial discrimination to predict the
attribution of persuasive intent to an internet advertisement. Age is a
stronger determinant of commercial/non-commercial discrimination than basic
developmental skills and correlating persuasive intent. The attribution of
persuasive intent and product memory does not make the results predictable as
expected. However, children in any treatment group are significantly more
likely to choose the advertised product than children in the starter group.
Overall, this study provides a detailed assessment of age-related differences
in children's understanding of key types of internet advertising. It also
provides partial support for the theoretical claims underlying the
developmental model of children's cognitive processing of internet advertising.
Keywords: Primary school
student, Internet advertisements, Cognitive
processing, Behavioral
responses