Aggression: Explanations of media influences Flashcards
What are the 3 media explanations of aggression?
- Desensitisation
- Disinhibition
- Cognitive priming
What is desensitisation?
Explanations based on desensitisation assume that under normal conditions, anxiety about using violence inhibits its use. Media violence may lead to aggressive behaviour to reduce this anxiety.
Outline the desensitisation explanation.
- Explanations based on desensitisation assume that under normal conditions, anxiety about violence inhibits its use.
- However, media violence may lead to aggressive behaviour by removing this anxiety concerning the use of violence.
- The more televised violence a child watches, the more acceptable aggressive behaviour becomes for the child.
- Frequent viewing of television violence may cause children to be less anxious about violence.
- Someone who becomes desensitised to violence may therefore perceive it as more normal and be more likely to engage in violence themselves.
- Desensitisation to media violence typically takes a long time and is the result of numerous repeated exposures to violent films or computer games.
Research support for the desensitisation explanation.
Linz et al (1989) argue that one indication that desensitisation has occurred is a reduction in physiological arousal (such as heart rate and skin conductance response) when individuals are exposed to real violence after having been repeatedly exposed to media violence. Other indications are a change in the cognitive and affective reactions that would otherwise have occurred in the absence of desensitisation. For example, desensitised individuals are less likely to notice violence in real life, they feel less sympathy for the victims of violence and they have less negative attitudes towards violence — all of which would increase the likelihood of aggressive responses in real life.
What is disinhibition?
Exposure to violent media legitimises the use of violence in real life because it undermines the social sanctions that usually inhibit such behaviour.
Outline the disinhibition explanation.
- Our ideas of the acceptability of harming others are primarily acquired through social transmission, including exposure to moral messages on television and in other media.
- Therefore, the justification of violence in the media is one of the ways in which children can infer standards of acceptable behaviour.
- According to the disinhibition explanation, watching or playing violent media may change these standards or what is considered acceptable behaviour.
- Exposure to violent media can legitimise the use of violence by the individual in their own lives because it undermines the social sanctions that usually inhibit such behaviour.
Research support for the disinhibition explanation.
- Disinhibition may have both an immediate effect and a long-term effect.
- SHORT TERM — violence on TV or in a computer game triggers physiological arousal, which leads to a greater probability of behaving aggressively.
- In this aroused state, inhibitions are temporarily suppressed by the drive to act.
- LONG TERM — prolonged exposure to media violence gives the message that violence is a normal part of everyday life.
- When violence is justified or left unpunished on television, the viewer’s guilt or concern about the consequences of violence is also reduced.
- The child then feels less inhibited about being aggressive again.
What is cognitive priming?
Refers to a temporary increase in the accessibility of thoughts and ideas. For example, violent media activates thoughts or ideas about violence which then activate other aggressive thoughts through their association in memory pathways.
Outline the cognitive priming explanation.
- Berkowitz (1984) proposed the idea of cognitive priming to explain the short-term effects of media violence.
- The term priming refers to a temporary increase in the accessibility of thoughts and ideas.
- He proposed that when people are constantly exposed to violent media, this activates thoughts or ideas about violence which in turn activate and prime other aggressive thoughts through their association in memory pathways.
- For example, playing a computer game in which the player kills other characters may prime thoughts of physical fighting which may then lead to feelings of anger and motivation to harm others.
- According to this explanation, a violent film can temporarily lower the threshold for the activation of these thoughts, making them accessible for a short time.
Cognitive priming
the more accessible a thought or idea….
- The more accessible a thought or idea, the more likely it is to be used to interpret social information
- Frequent activation through prolonged exposure to violent media may result in a lower activation threshold for these aggressive thoughts
- This allows them to be accessed more readily and so be used to process and interpret information
- Zelli et al (1995) found that priming by aggressive stimuli influenced individuals to make hostile attributions about the behaviour of other people — these hostile attributions, in turn, increase the likelihood of aggressive behaviour
Evaluation for desensitisation:
+ Research support for desensitisation
+ Positives and negatives of desensitisation
A03 For desensitisation: Research support for desensitisation
Carnagey et al (2007) tested the claim that playing violent computer games produces physiological desensitisation. In other words, a person will show less physiological arousal to violence in the real world after exposure to computer game violence. Participants played either a violent or non-violent video game for 20 minutes and then watched a 10-minute film clip containing scenes of real-life violence. Their heart rate and skin conductance response (both measures of physiological arousal) were monitored. They found that participants who had previously played the violent computer game had a lower heart rate and skin conductance response while viewing the real-life violence. This demonstrates a physiological desensitisation to violence, as predicted by the desensitisation explanation of media influences.
A03 For desensitisation: Positives and negatives of desensitisation
Desensitisation can be adaptive for individuals. For example, for troops, desensitisation to the horrors of combat makes these individuals more effective in their role and able to carry out their tasks more efficiently. However, desensitisation to violent stimuli may also be detrimental for both the individual and society. Bushman and Anderson (2009) suggest that there are worrying consequences when individuals are desensitised to violence after exposure to violent media. They found that violent media exposure can reduce helping behaviour that might otherwise be offered to others in distress. They claim that people exposed to media violence become ‘comfortably numb’ to the pain and suffering of others and are consequently less helpful.
A03 For disinhibition:
- The disinhibition effect depends on other factors
+ Research support for disinhibition
A03 For disinhibition: The disinhibition effect depends on other factors
The likelihood of disinhibition taking place is determined by a number of factors, some of which relate to the viewers themselves and some to the context in which media is viewed. For example, younger children are more likely to be affected because they are more likely to be drawn into high-action violent episodes without considering the motives or consequences of the violence. Children growing up in households with strong norms against violence are unlikely to experience sufficient disinhibition for them to exhibit aggressive behaviour. Whereas the disinhibition effect is stronger in families where children experience physical punishment from their parents and where they identify more with violent heroes. This demonstrates that the relationship between media violence and disinhibition is not a straightforward one and is mediated by a number of individual and social characteristics. This suggests that the disinhibition explanation of media influence may be rather simplistic as it does not consider these factors and should be viewed with caution.
