CULTURE
Every hour, somewhere in America, child mourns the loss of her Pokemon collection to a bully. The obsession with Pokemon trading cards--and the violent lengths to which kids will go to get them--is puzzling. Some overwhelmed school officials have banned the cards altogether.
In response, psychologists are trying to unravel the mysteries of this Japanese-born frenzy and are beginning to recognize its appeal. It's all in the numbers, says child psychologist Christine Wekerle, Ph.D., referring to the way kids memorize the names, spellings and shared characteristics of the 151 characters. "This is where kids are at--they like ordering, computing and categorizing, so the whole Pokemon fantasy is cognitively appealing."
It's also developmentally appealing. Yuka Nakajima, C.S.W., a New York-based children's social worker who uses Pokemon cards and lingo to communicate with her small clients, says Nintendo's Game Boy Pokemon video game--which inspired the card-trading mania--plays on human instincts. "After kids come up with a strategy to catch a Pokemon, they then have to train and nurture it as it evolves," she says. There are few video games which exploit this profound, emotional aspect of human psychology., experts say.
