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Chapter 4 - I Am Your Child

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2023

Ross A. Thompson
Affiliation:
University of California, Davis
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Summary

The I Am Your Child campaign in 1997 introduced the public to early brain development and shaped public understanding of the developing brain. In its design and impact, it illustrates “campaign journalism” that mobilizes public engagement through a large-scale communications strategy that weds science and advocacy and creates media momentum. This approach bypasses traditional science journalism and foreshadowed the current era of advocacy through viral social media messaging. This chapter documents the events leading up to the campaign, its planning and central themes, the events, its impact on parents, and the reactions of commentators. The chapter profiles how developmental scientists responded both critically and constructively, and describes the report of a federal blue-ribbon committee formed in response, From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development. In assessing the campaign and its impact, the chapter shows how the messaging integrated neuroimaging studies with research on children’s behavioral development in ways that were both helpful and misleading to public understanding; how cultural frames shaped how the messaging was received and accepted; and the problems deriving from the selectivity of the campaign’s messaging, including insufficient attention to prenatal development, brain growth after early childhood, and the effects of poverty.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Brain Development Revolution
Science, the Media, and Public Policy
, pp. 104 - 137
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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  • I Am Your Child
  • Ross A. Thompson, University of California, Davis
  • Book: The Brain Development Revolution
  • Online publication: 24 August 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009304276.005
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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • I Am Your Child
  • Ross A. Thompson, University of California, Davis
  • Book: The Brain Development Revolution
  • Online publication: 24 August 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009304276.005
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • I Am Your Child
  • Ross A. Thompson, University of California, Davis
  • Book: The Brain Development Revolution
  • Online publication: 24 August 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009304276.005
Available formats
×