Aggression: Media influences - De, Di + Cog. pri. Flashcards
Desensitisation
Normally when we witness violent actions we experience physiological arousal associated with the SNS (increased heart rate, higher blood pressure, increased sweat). When children in particular repeatedly view aggression on TV or play violent computer games, they become habituated to its effects. A stimulus that is usually aversive has a diminishing impact, resulting in a reduction of anxiety + physiological arousal on repeated viewing or playing.
De. is psychological too - repeated exposure to violent media promotes a belief that using aggression as a method of resolving conflict is socially acceptable. Negative attitudes towards violence weaken, less empathy is felt for victims + injuries are minimised + dismissed.
Weisz + Earls - lab study highlighted de. effects - showed participants feature film Straw Dogs, which contains a prolonged + graphic rape scene. Participants then watched a re-enactment of a rape trial. Compared with those who watched a non-sexually violent film, male viewers of Straw Dogs showed greater acceptance of rape myths + sexual aggression. They expressed less sympathy towards rape victim in trial, less likely to find the defendant guilty. There was no similar effect of film type on female participants.
AO3 - Research support for desensitisation
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Krahe et al - showed participants violent (+ non-violent) film clips while measuring physiological arousal using skin conductance. Participants who were habitual viewers of violent media showed lower levels of arousal as they watched the violent clips. They also reported higher levels of pleasant arousal + lower levels of anxious arousal. Lower arousal was correlated with unprovoked (proactive) aggression in a ‘noise blast’ task.
The findings confirm hypotheses based on desensitisation. Lower arousal in violent media users reflects desensitisation to the effects of violence, + a greater willingness to be aggressive.
Disinhibition
Most people generally hold the view that violence + aggression are antisocial + harmful + there are powerful social + psychological inhibitions against using aggression to resolve interpersonal conflicts. They are learned directly + indirectly by processes explained by SLT. According to the disinhibition explanation, these usual restraints are loosened after exposure to violent media. Aggressive behaviour is often made to appear normative + socially sanctioned in such media, especially if portrayals minimise the effects of violence on its victims + suggest that it is justified. It isn’t unusual for video games to show violence being rewarded at the same time as its consequences are minimised or ignored. This creates new social norms in the viewer.
AO3 - Research support for disinhibition
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Berkowitz + Alioto - found that participants who saw a film depicting aggression as vengeance gave more (fake) electric shocks of longer duration to a confederate. This suggests that media violence may disinhibit aggressive behaviour when it is presented as justified. This is because vengeance is a powerful justification for violence + justified violence is more likely to be seen as socially acceptable.
This adds validity to the disinhibition concept as it demonstrates the link between removal of social constraints + subsequent aggressive behaviour, at least in the case of justified aggression.
Cognitive priming
Repeated viewing of aggressive media (game playing) can provide us with a ‘script’ about how violent situations may ‘play out’.
Huesmann - this ‘script’ is stored in memory so we become ‘ready’ or primed to be aggressive. The process is mostly automatic; it can direct our behaviour without us even being aware of it. Script is triggered when we encounter cues in a situation that we perceive as aggressive.
Fischer + Greitemeyer - study that illustrates priming of aggressive scripts in memory - investigated a neglected form of media violence - song lyrics. Male participants listened to songs featuring aggressively derogatory lyrics about women. Compared with when they listened to neutral lyrics, participant recalled more negative qualities about women + behaved more aggressively towards a female confederate. The procedure was replicated with female participants, using ‘men-hating’ song lyrics, with similar results.
AO3 - Practical application for cognitive priming
Strength - Practical application:
Potentially life-saving benefits in understanding how cognitive priming influences aggression in real-life situations. Whether such situations break out into violence often depends on how the participants interpret environmental cues. This in turn depends on the cognitive scripts they have stored in memory.
Bushman + Anderson - someone who habitually watches violent media accesses stored aggressive scripts more readily. This means they are more likely to interpret cues as aggressive, resort to a violent situation + fail to consider the alternatives.
This explanation provides a possible means by which violent media could trigger aggressive behaviour through the priming of cognitive scripts. Effective interventions could potentially reduce aggressive behaviour by challenging hostile cognitive biases + encouraging habitual violent media users to consider alternatives to aggression, such as humour or negotiation.
