Request for help - illustrations research

Hello to everybody!

I am a third year student at the Auckland Institute of Technology, working
my way through a Bachelor of Graphic Design course. This year I have to
write a dissertation, and the topic that I chose is: "Ways and means of
influencing child's psychology through illustrations in the media".
I would very much appreciate if any of you who had studied related issues
before or only even bothered to carefully watch his/her own child's
reactions could do me a big favour by answering (some of) the questions
below.
Although I have already done a significant amount of reading, I would also
welcome advice about books / papers that might provide me with more
opinions on the matter.
Reply on private address OK.

Do children learn anything useful out of the "fantastic" solutions to
realistic conflicts that movies or cartoons mostly provide them with?
Why do children try and ape certain characters out of any medium?
What do you think that cartoons creators try to instil into children's
minds?
What do children prefer to read?
Are there any kind of illustrations that children definitely dislike?
Are there any kind of illustrations that children generally don't seem to
be able to understand?
What kind of pictures attract child's interest (from the point of view of
subjects, image types ie. full or partly coloured, b&w)?
What kind of drawings do children prefer: flat or volumetric?
At what age do children begin to think logically?
What is children's reaction to photographical illustrations?
How do you make children like something that they initially dislike (not
necessarily books or illustrations)?
How do children respond to camera angle or depth cues?
What kind of preferences do boys generally display, as opposed to girls?

With many thanks,
Manuela Costache
m.c...@irl.cri.nz