Problem: How can I make notes with bullet points in this paragraph? To understand what they see on TV, children need to be able to distinguish between fantasy and reality. Displaying what has been called magic window thinking, very young children may believe that TV images are real (Bushman & Huesmann, 2012; Calvert, 2015). Three-year-olds walk to the TV screen to wave at their favorite characters or try to touch them (Valkenburg, 2004). Many young children think that Big Bird is real (Howard, 1998), that Sesame Street is a place where people actually live, that TV characters can see and hear them when they are watching them, and that everything on the screen actually exists inside the TV set (Nikken & Peeters, 1988; see Table 9.1). As children get older and their cognitive skills increase, their ability to distinguish fantasy from reality improves. Four-year-olds understand that the characters and objects they see on TV are not actually inside the TV set (Flavell et al., 1990). Older children understand that most shows are made up, scripted, and rehearsed (Wright et al., 1994).Children's developing cognitive skills also help them understand cause-and-effect relations in TV shows. The ability to connect an action with its consequence may protect children from some of the negative effects of viewing TV violence. A number of researchers have found that if a character in a TV show is punished for aggressive acts, children are less likely to imitate those acts (Bushman & Huesmann, 2012). Need Assignment Help?