Aggression 5 | Media influences on aggression

Question 1

AO1 What is desensitisation in the context of media influences on aggression

Answer 1

Desensitisation refers to the reduction in emotional responsiveness to violence due to repeated exposure to violent media making individuals less sensitive to its effects and more accepting of aggressive behaviour.

Question 2

AO1 What is disinhibition in the context of media influences on aggression

Answer 2

Disinhibition refers to the removal of social constraints against aggressive behaviour after exposure to media that portrays aggression as justified or rewarded leading individuals to feel aggression is socially acceptable.

Question 3

AO1 What is cognitive priming in the context of media influences on aggression

Answer 3

Cognitive priming refers to the activation of aggressive thoughts or schemas after exposure to violent media making individuals more likely to interpret social cues as aggressive and behave aggressively.

Question 4

AO1 What was the aim and method of Paik and Comstock 1994 study

Answer 4

Paik and Comstock conducted a meta analysis of over 200 studies to examine the link between media violence and aggression.

Question 5

AO1 What did Paik and Comstock 1994 find

Answer 5

Paik and Comstock found a positive correlation between exposure to violent television and aggressive behaviour especially in children.

Question 6

AO1 What conclusion did Paik and Comstock 1994 draw from their findings

Answer 6

They concluded that violent media has a moderate but reliable effect on increasing aggressive behaviour particularly in younger audiences.

Question 7

AO3 How can Paik and Comstock 1994 be evaluated

Answer 7

A strength of Paik and Comstock is the use of a large meta analysis increasing generalisability but a limitation is that many included studies were correlational so causation cannot be established.

Question 8

AO3 What research evidence supports desensitisation as an explanation for aggression

Answer 8

Carnagey et al found that participants who played a violent video game showed reduced physiological arousal when later viewing real violence suggesting repeated media violence reduces emotional response.

Question 9

AO3 How does desensitisation help explain increased aggression

Answer 9

Desensitisation makes individuals less shocked by violence so they are more likely to accept and engage in aggressive behaviour as it becomes normalised.

Question 10

AO3 What strength does disinhibition offer in explaining aggression

Answer 10

Disinhibition explains extreme or uncharacteristic aggression by showing how violent media can remove social restraints especially when aggression is portrayed as justified.

Question 11

AO3 How can real-world cases support the disinhibition explanation

Answer 11

The case of the Manhunt video game being linked to a real murder illustrates how violent media might contribute to aggression when disinhibition lowers social norms against violence.

Question 12

AO3 What is a strength and limitation of cognitive priming

Answer 12

Cognitive priming explains short-term increases in aggression due to activated aggressive thoughts but may oversimplify complex behaviour and ignore long-term influences like personality.

Question 13

AO3 How is cognitive priming supported by research

Answer 13

Experimental studies show that participants primed with violent media interpret ambiguous situations more aggressively supporting the idea that media activates aggressive schemas.