Resource Database

Daniel R. Anderson, Ph.D.

Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts

Description

From the website: Children and television. It’s a hot topic across the nation. How does television affect children? Is it bad? Is it good? How do programming, amount of viewing time, surround sound and other technological “advances” affect behavior, play, parent-child interactions, and attention span? In the UMass Amherst College of Social and Behavioral Sciences’ psychology department, Daniel R. Anderson has made it his life’s work to answer such questions as they relate to infants, toddlers and pre-schoolers. “My research,” he says, “focuses particularly on the cognitive and educational aspects of children and television. My past research focused on older preschool children and guided my advice on a generation of television programs on PBS, Nickelodeon and Disney. These days, besides studying toddler understanding of television, I also am looking at the effects of adult background television on infant and toddler behavior, brain activation during TV viewing, and the relationship between watching television and diet.” Widely published, Anderson receives significant grants from government research agencies, private foundations, and industry every year. In 2005 alone he received $300,000 from the National Science Foundation for the impact of television on very young children and $88,000 from the Sesame Workshop for the impact of baby videos on parent-child interactions. Anderson frequently consults on the development of children’s television programs and other electronic media, including videos and websites, offering expertise on program design, research and strategic planning. His cutting edge investigations bring to the fore information that impacts households across America.

Topic(s): Cognitive Development & Learning, Educational Media

User Type(s): Academic, Journalist, Policymaker, Producer

Address

Department of Psychology- Tobin Hall
University of Massachusetts Amherst
150 Hicks Way
Amherst, Massachusetts 01003

Contact Information

Phone(s): 413-545-2069
E-mail(s): (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
URL(s): http://www.umass.edu/sbs/faculty/profiles/anderson.htm

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