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In 2012, researchers from Cornell University prepared a test for 200 children aged 8 to 11 years. They were asked to choose a cookie or an apple during lunch breaks. Most children chose the cookie.
The researchers then proceeded to a second trial. They offered the same cookie or apple, but this time, Apple affixed a sticker with Elmo from Sesame Street .
Children in the first group chose apples at a rate of 20%. Children seeing an apple with the sticker were picking it at a rate of 40%. The simple presence of Elmo has encouraged children to choose the option of a healthier diet at a rate twice that of unglued fruit.
It is clear that Elmo – the Muppet with the red fur, hyper-curious – strikes the children. Young people tend to stop what they do when it appears on the screen, caught in a kind of hypnosis. Tickle Me Elmo has been one of the biggest successes of the toy industry. She caused long tails when she made her debut in 1996. Her appeal has not lost its appeal to adults. See a segment dedicated to holiday gifts.
But for children under 4, working for Elmo is far more beneficial than just being cute. In many ways, it has been designed to resonate with this target audience, and children's behavior experts think they know why.
Elmo visually presents a very unusual presence in front of the camera. He is practically the only red Muppet in the series, which is relevant because young children tend to see bright colors as red younger than muted colors. (Brown, for example, tends to have babies.)
Once captured, Elmo manages to restrain him by speaking with a single cadence that some psychologists have called "kinship," a gentle vocal rhythm that children badociate with to the authority, warmth and soothing effect of their guardians. By speaking in the third person ("Elmo loves you!"), The character becomes also communicable: young children tend to conceptualize themselves in this way as they learn to become familiar with the language.
"His style of speech is" maternal ". Said Dr. Lauren Gardner, Executive Director of the Johns Hopkins Children's Hospital Autism Center, at CafeMom in 2018. "The high-pitched voice, the trailing vowels and the exaggerated inflection are the words that speak to most helping children in our culture.
Originally, Elmo did not have much to say. When the character made his first appearance on Sesame Street in 1985, he was not the sneering and slightly mischievous Muppet that was fleshed out later. At first, Sesame Workshop producers simply knew that he would share many of the same traits as toddlers who watched him on television. He would be open minded, curious about the world around him and generally optimistic. By imitating many of their attributes, he would captivate their attention.
"[Elmo is] just like toddlers who are in an exploratory phase of their lives," said Dr. Tovah Klein, director of Barnard College's Center for Toddler Development. Slate in 2013. The kids and Elmo are "like little scientists trying and exploring their surroundings, while having fun".
For some children, Elmo speaks to them, for others, he speaks for them. it is far more likely to keep the attention of a child than most children's series characters, that it is possible to understand in almost every way. With the exception of fur.
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