Media Influence On Antisocial Behaviour

Question 0

How does social learning theory explain media influence on anti social behaviour? (1)

Answer 0

Social learning theory suggests that we observe models and imitate their behaviour. This means that if we observe a model that is taking part in some form of anti social behaviour, we are likely to imitate this behaviour in the future.

Question 1

What are three theories that explain how media has an influence on antisocial behaviour? (3)

Answer 1

1. Social learning theory
2. Cognitive priming
3. Desensitisation

Question 2

What characteristics do models have to have to make them ‘good models’?

Answer 2

1. Seen as successful
2. Someone we admire
3. Someone who gets positively reinforced for their actions

Question 3

What are the two studies that support social learning theory’s reasons for media influence on anti social behaviour? (2)

Answer 3

1. Bandura’s Bobo Doll Study

2. Parke et al’s Young Offenders study

Question 4

What participants were used in Bandura’s Bobo Doll study? (Number, ages and where from?)

Answer 4

1. 36 boys and 36 girls
2. Aged between 3 and 6 years
3. From Stanford University Nursery

Question 5

Procedure of Bandura’s Bobo Doll Study? (3) (number of participants per group, what each group done and what each participant done after)

Answer 5

1. Participants were split up into three groups of 24
2. Group 1- shown violent model
   Group 2- shown non-violent model
   Group 3- control group (shown nothing)
3. Each participant was then filmed in a room with several toys including a bobo doll and observers recorded the child’s behaviour

Question 6

Findings/conclusion of Bandura’s Bobo Doll study (1)

Answer 6

1. Bandura’s research showed that specific anti social acts can be learned through observing models and can lead to an increase in aggressive tendencies.

Question 7

Evaluative points of Bandura’s Bobo Doll study (2 pro, 5 neg)

Answer 7

Pros:

1. Well executed
2. Lab experiment- high control- high internal validity

Cons:

1. Unrepresentative sample due to age and where the participants came from- lowers external validity
2. Unethical
3. Demand characteristics- lowers internal validity
4. Lab experiment- lacks mundane realism- lowers external validity
5. Aggression is innate?

Question 8

Participants in Parke et al’s Young offenders study? (2) (Who and where they live)

Answer 8

1. Young offenders

2. In an institution

Question 9

Procedure of Parke et al’s Young offenders study (3) (what happened and how was findings taken?)

Answer 9

1. Normal TV subscription was terminated
2. Participants in 1 of 2 groups: the violent TV group or the non- violent TV group
3. Institution staff observed and recorded the behaviour of the offenders

Question 10

Findings of Parke et al’s Young Offenders study (1)

Answer 10

1. Found that those who were exposed to the violent TV showed more aggressive tendencies than the other group

Question 11

Evaluative points of Parke et al’s Young Offenders study (1 pro 5 cons)

Answer 11

Pros:
1. Field experiment- higher ecological validity than a lab experiment

Cons:

1. Unrepresentative sample- lowers external validity
2. Demand characteristics- lowers internal validity
3. Unethical
4. Bias and subjective (use of institution staff)- lowers internal validity
5. Already in institution for antisocial behaviour- predisposed?

Question 12

What is the study that contradicts Social Learning Theory? (1)

Answer 12

1. St Helena study

Question 13

Procedure and findings of St Helena study. (2+1)

Answer 13

1. TV was first introduced in 1995
2. Teachers and peers were asked to rate levels of aggression
3. They found no increase in the levels of aggression after the introduction of TV, suggesting that media does not have influence anti social behaviour.

Question 14

Evaluative points of the St Helena study? (4 neg)

Answer 14

1. Culturally bias- lowers external validity
2. Subjective and bias- lowers internal validity
3. 1995- outdated- lowers external
4. Short term- may have had a different effect after long term exposure

Question 15

How does cognitive priming explain how media influences anti social behaviour? (1)

Answer 15

Cognitive priming theory suggests that when someone is exposed to violent TV they are then primed to act violently when in a similar situation to what they had seen on TV.

Question 16

Name the study that supports the cognitive priming theory (1)

Answer 16

Josephson’s Hockey Players Study

Question 17

Procedure to Josephson’s Hockey Players study (2)

Answer 17

1. Deliberately frustrated hockey player
2. Hockey players were then shown either a violent or non-violent tv programme where the actor was holding a walkie talkie

Question 18

Findings of Josephson’s Hockey Players study (1)

Answer 18

1. While layer a game of hockey he found that those who watched the violent TV programme acted more violently during the match when the referee held a walkie talkie

Question 19

Evaluation to Josephson’s Hockey Player study

Answer 19

1. Demand characteristics

2. Hockey players

Question 20

How does the theory of desensitisation suggest media influences anti social behaviour? (1)

Answer 20

This theory suggests that the more violence someone watches the more desensitised they become to the violence, and therefore are more likely to act in a violent way

Question 21

Name the study that contradicts the theory of desensitisation (1)

Answer 21

1. Belson’s 1500 teenage boys