Media Influences Flashcards
How does desensitisation reduce physiological responses?
Normally when we witness aggression we experience arousal associated with the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) (increased heart rate, blood pressure, sweat activity etc.). But when children repeatedly view aggression on TV or play violent computer games they become habituated and the physiological effects are reduced (desensitisation) - i.e. A stimulus that is usually aversive has a lesser impact.
How does desensitisation reduce a psychological response?
Repeated exposure to violent media promotes a belief that aggression as a method of resolving conflict is socially acceptable. Therefore negative attitudes towards violence weaken, less empathy is felt for victims, etc.
How does disinhibition change usual restraints?
Most people believe violence and aggression are antisocial -so there are powerful social and psychological restraints against using aggression to resolve interpersonal conflicts. Violent media gives aggressive behaviour social approval, especially where effects on victims are minimised and appear justified. The effect is that the usual restraints on individuals are loosened (disinhibition) after exposure to violent media.
Why is disinhibition enhanced if aggression is rewarded?
It is not unusual for computer games to show violence being rewarded at the same time as its consequences are minimised or ignored. Such rewards strengthen the new social norms in the viewer.
What is cognitive priming?
This is a ‘script’ learned about how to behave to aggressive cues repeated experience of aggressive media can provide us with a ‘script’ about how violent situations may ‘play out’. This script is stored in memory so we become ‘ready’ (primed) to be aggressive. This is an automatic process because a script can direct our behaviour without us being aware of it. The script is triggered when we encounter cues in a situation that we perceive as aggressive.
What has been found about the link between aggression and songs with aggressive lyrics?
When male participants listened to songs featuring aggressively derogatory lyrics about women, they later recalled more negative qualities about women and behaved more aggressively towards a female confederate.
Strength of desensitisation: research support.
Krahé et al showed participants violent (and non-violent) film clips while measuring physiological arousal using skin conductance. Viewers of violent media showed lower arousal when watching violent film clips. Arousal was negatively correlated with unprovoked aggression in a ‘noise blast’ task. This demonstrates lower arousal in violent media users reflecting desensitisation to the effects of violence leading to a greater willingness to be aggressive.
Limitation of desensitisation: catharsis may be a better explanation.
Krahé et al failed to find a link between media viewing, lower arousal and reactive aggression. This may be because catharsis occurred - viewing violent media acts as a safety valve, allowing participants to release aggressive impulses without behaving violently. Desensitisation cannot explain this, which is not the outcome of desensitisation. Therefore catharsis may be the more valid explanation.
Strength of disinhibition: research support.
Berkowitz and Alioto showed a film depicting aggression as vengeance. Participants gave more (fake) electric shocks of longer duration to a confederate. Media violence may disinhibit aggressiveness when it is justified -vengeance is a powerful justification for violence which is then seen as more socially acceptable. This adds validity to the disinhibition concept, because it demonstrates the link between removal of social constraints and subsequent aggressive behaviour.
Strength of disinhibition: it can explain the effect of cartoon violence.
It has been argued that children do not learn specific behaviours from cartoon models (e.g. It is not possible to punch someone so their head spins round 360 degrees) children learn social norms instead - the aggression carried out by cartoon models is socially normative, especially when it goes unpunished. This supports the disinhibition hypothesis because children learn from cartoons that aggression is rewarding and achieves goals in a socially acceptable way.
Strength of cognitive priming: it has useful practical applications.
Understanding how cognitive priming influences aggression can potentially save lives- whether situations break into violence depends on how individuals interpret cues which depends on scripts stored in memory. It has been claimed that someone who habitually watches violent media accesses stored aggressive scripts more readily - so they are more likely to interpret cues as aggressive and resort to a violent solution. This raises the possibility that effective interventions could reduce aggressive behaviour by challenging hostile cognitive scripts and encouraging habitual violent media users to consider alternatives (e.g. Humour or negotiation).
