DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

Family relationships

Walt Disney World might be one of the best places to observe families navigating a wide variety of challenges such as intense emotional experiences, balancing differing desires, and even practical considerations such as height restrictions on rides. We observed several elements of the family process in action at the parks.

Parenting

Walt Disney World is a great place to watch parenting happening in action. In laboratory studies of parenting, researchers often introduce stressful experiences such as asking parents and children to solve a puzzle that is missing a critical piece to elicit parenting behavior. A trip to Disney World can be a stressful experience for families who are juggling the needs and desires of multiple family members while walking more than usual in an extremely hot and humid climate. Not to mention the fact that many families may choose to skip naptime to maximize time in the parks!

We noticed that some parents were struggling to manage multiple children who were hot, tired, and overstimulated. Some parents attempted to mitigate these challenges by finding slower or quieter rides, such as Peter Pan's Flight around typical naptimes. We also saw parents making use of the facilities that Disney offers to support families with small children in having the best time possible. Read about those facilities below!

Infastructure for Families

Disney takes its commitment to family seriously, which is evidenced by their inclusion of family care stations at every park. These provide amenities including free air conditioning, multiple family bathrooms, private areas for nursing and/or pumping, emergency baby supplies such as formula, diapers, and onesies, and a TV area for older children to entertain themselves while they wait. These centers also serve as a hub for children who are separated from their families. If a child is lost, a cast member will escort them to a baby care center where they will be supervised until they can be reunited with their family.

Nostaliga

Disney plays on guests' nostalgia in a variety of ways that enhance family connection, including interactions with characters that are meaningful across generations, drawing on settings that feel familiar (e.g., Main Street), and integrating all of your senses to create an experience of joy and comfort that brings back happy memories for the whole family. There's research demonstrating that shared memories such as these enhance family connections and create a stronger sense of belonging for children.

Nothing makes Disney magic feel more real than character interactions. While everyone enjoys meeting their favorite characters, these experiences are especially meaningful for the many multigenerational families that visit Walt Disney World. Parents and grandparents get to watch their children come alive when their favorite movie characters come to life, and parents get to share the magic of their own favorite characters with their children.

Here's a testimony from one of our contributors:

"Princess Belle will forever have a special place in my heart. Beauty and the Beast was the first movie I ever watched with my mom and it was a staple in my childhood. I continued that tradition started by my mom when I had my daughter so when I went to Enchanted Tales with Belle for the first time, even though my daughter was only 18 months old... I cried. A lot. When Belle took my daughter's hand, I was overcome with emotions. We went to Enchanted Tales again when she was six and I felt the same familiar pull on my heartstrings. That experience was also wonderful for my daughter who now lists Belle in her top three favorite princesses, and Enchanted Tales as her second favorite attraction because of how connected we feel when we interact with Belle."

Temperament

Temperament is defined as stable and biologically-based individual differences in behavior, particularly reactions to novelty. For example, some people tend to be more avoidant, reserved, and hesitant when it comes to new experiences or situations. Others are quicker to adapt, explore, and engage with the environment and those around them. Some temperaments particularly enjoy intense experiences.

Thrill Rides

One place to see temperament in action at Disney World is on thrill rides. When observing different guests' reactions, it is clear whether guests find these intense experiences exhilarating or overwhelming. For example, in the ride photos you can see some guests cowering or appearing afraid, while others are smiling or laughing. For example, compare the man in red in the front row of this Tower of Terror picture to the woman sitting next to him. These reactions may be a signal about each guest's temperamental tendency to enjoy intense sensations.

Character Interactions

Temperament can also be examined in the ways that

children or younger guests interact with characters

throughout the park. Through observing these interactions, it was obvious that children have different reactions to meeting their favorite characters in real life. Some younger children were shy or scared of meeting characters, hiding behind their parents or backing up when characters got close, and in some cases crying. Others had lower levels of reactivity and were more willing to run up to the characters giving them hugs or high fives.

Characters did their best to interact with children and meet them where they were, getting down on eye level and being more cautious and respectful with those that were hesitant. This is one way that Disney works to make magical experiences for all children, regardless of their comfort with new experiences.

Learning

Observational Learning

Observational learning is learning that occurs by watching others (called models) and imitating their behavior. Albert Bandura emphasized that this type of learning is a social experience that requires multiple elements working together including attention (i.e., focus on the behavior), retention (i.e., recalling what was observed), motivation (i.e., desire to replicate the behavior), and reproduction (i.e., replicating the behavior).

While waiting in line for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, we noticed children engaging in observational learning. The queue for the ride includes a small play area, a touch screen honey wall, and large interactive story books.

Many children of different ages were playing in the play area, and we observed some of the younger children watching older children or looking to their parents for guidance on whether or how to play with the toys.

The honey wall was especially interesting. This is a touch screen wall (see video) that allows you to manipulate falling "honey," moving it around and eventually revealing Pooh. We watched one little girl trying to play with the honey by touching the screen with her finger, but it wasn't working for her. She then watched another child touch the screen with her whole hand and the honey moved. The little girl replicated this behavior and was successful in making the honey move.

In these two cases, parents and older children served as the models from which the children were able to learn.

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse