Aggression- Media influences

Question 1

Define media

Answer 1

The main means of mass communication that allow information to be passed to lots of people at once

Question 2

What are computer games?

Answer 2

Programs that enable a player to interact with a ritual game environment for entertainment and fun

Question 3

What was the procedure of Greitemeyer and Mugger (2014)?

Answer 3

-Meta analysis of 27000 participants
-Testing the effects of violent video games (aim to harm another character ) = prosocial games

Question 4

What were the findings of Greitemeyer and Mugger?

Answer 4

-Found an effect across all research (aggressive and prosocial)
-Effects evident regardless of study type
-Small average affect size
-Prosocial games reduced aggression as much as violent games increased it

Question 5

Give some evaluation of Greitemeyer and Mugger

Answer 5

-Most research shows and effect but it is small, correlation not causation
-Lab experiment- extraneous variables are controlled
-Meta analysis so findings are reliable

Question 6

Give an examples of a case study that involved media influencing aggression

Answer 6

-Columbine high school massacre (school shooting and attempted bombing)
-April 20 1999
-12 th gad student murdered 12 students and 1 teacher
-Started debates + moral panic over guns and gun laws, high school cliques, subcultures and school bullying, use of the internet, violence in video games and movies
-However there may have been other factors that contribute to this, not just the ones named

Question 7

What are the 3 ways the media influences on aggression are studied?

Answer 7

-Experimental studies
-Longitudinal studies
-Meta analysis studies

Question 8

Give an example of an experimental study

Answer 8

-Gentile and stone
-Lab experiment
-Found short term increases in levels of physiological arousal,hostile feelings and aggressive behaviour
-Followed after playing a violent video game

Question 9

Give an advantage and disadvantage of experimental studies

Answer 9

-Highly controlled- extraneous variables are controlled so cause and effect can be identified
-Lacks ecological validity and mundane realism

Question 10

Give an example of longitudinal studies

Answer 10

-Anderson et al
-Surveyed 430 children between 7 and 9 at 2 points in the school year
-Children wo had high exposure to violent video games became more verbally and physically aggressive

Question 11

Give an advantage and disadvantage of longitudinal studies

Answer 11

-patterns can be observed over a long period of time
-More expensive as research is being carried out over a long period of time
-Cause and effect cannot be established

Question 12

Give an example of a meta analysis study

Answer 12

-Bushman and Hussmann
-Meta analysis of 431 studies
-Most studies look at the impact violent TV but some looked at video games, combic books and music
-Found that there was an effect
-Short term effects were greater in adults, long term effects were greater in children

Question 13

What are the advantages and disadvantages of meta-analysis studies?

Answer 13

-Reliable- findings have been consistent across many studies
-Expensive
-How do you measure aggression in the same way every time?

Question 14

What is mean world syndrome?

Answer 14

Cognitive bias where people may perceive the world to be more dangerous than it actually is

Question 15

What is mean world syndrome caused by?

Answer 15

Long term, moderate to heavy exposure to violence related content in mass media

Question 16

Who came up with the concept of mean world syndrome?

Answer 16

Gerbner

Question 17

Give an evaluation point (Research support)

Answer 17

-Greitmeyer and Mugger
-Conducted a meta analysis study of 37000 participants across 98 studies
-Found an effect across all research (agressive or prosocial)
-Effects were evident regardless of the study type
-The effect was small (small average effect size)
-Prosocial games reduced aggression as much as violent games increased it
-Tested the effect of violent video games (aim to harm another charcter) + prosocial games
-Meta analysis so increased reliabilty

Question 18

Give an evaluation point (confounding variables in longitudinal studies)

Answer 18

-Over long period of time many sources of aggression interact with media influences such as role models therefore it is difficult to separate them and asses contributions to aggressive behaviour
-Impossible to conclude that violent media rather than confounding variables have affected aggression

Question 19

Give an evaluation point (correlation does not mean causation)

Answer 19

-Columbine High School shooting and attempted bombing
-April 20 1999
-Sparked debate and moral panic over guns and gun laws, high school cliques, subcultures and school bullying
-Use of the internet + violent video games and movies
-Other factors may contribute

Question 20

What did dewall and anderson suggest?

Answer 20

-General aggression model
-Suggests that there is no single factor to explain all research

Question 21

Define desensitisation

Answer 21

Reduced physiological response (SNS arousal)- when we watch aggression repeatdley we become used to it and the physiological effects are reduced

AND

Reduced psychological response- repeated exposure means that aggression is seen as socially acceptable so negative attitudes towards violence weakens, less empathy is felt for victims

Question 22

A 2014 study shows that overall violence in movies has doubled since 1.______ and gun violence has 2.____ since 1985, movies that were given a 3.___ rating in the 80s would probably receive a PG-13 now

Answer 22

1. 1950
2. Tripled
3. R

Question 23

What is disinhibition?

Answer 23

Exposure to violent media changes usual restraints- violent media gives aggressive behaviours social approval especially where effects on victims
are minimised and appear justified

Enhanced if aggression is rewarded- not unusual for video games to show violence being rewarded at the same time as its consequences being minimised/ reduced

Question 24

Give some real-life examples of disinhibition and desensitization

Answer 24

-James bulger
-Slender man case- 2014

Question 25

What is cognitive priming?

Answer 25

a script learned about how to behave to aggressive cues, automatic process (unconscious), script is triggered when we encounter a situation that we perceive as aggressive (links to fixed action patterns

Question 26

Evaluation for desensitisation (research support)

Answer 26

-Desensitization can be adaptoive for individuals
-Army troops
-Densensitisation to the horrors of combat, makes the individuals more effective in their role
-Howver desensitisation to violent stimuli may also be detremantal to the individual and society
-Bushman and anderson suggest that there are worrying consequences when individuals are desensitized to violence after exposure to violent media
-Violent media exposure can reduce helping behabiour that might otherwise be offered to others in distress
-suggests people exposed to media violence become comfortably numb to the pain and suffering of otjers and are therefore less helpful

Question 27

Give an evaluation point for disinhibition

Answer 27

-The liklihood for disinhibition depends on other factors, the liklihood of disinhibition occuring is dtermined by a number of factors, some of which relate to 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/consequences of the violence (colins 1989)
-Children growing up in households with strong norms against violence are unlikely to experince sufficent disinhibition for them to exhibbit aggressive behaviour
-whereas the disinhibition for them to experince physical punishmement from there parents, they identify more with violence
-Demonstrates the relationship between media violence and disinhibiton is not a straightforward one and is mediated by a number of individual and social charcteritics

Question 28

Give an evalauation point for cognitive priming

Answer 28

-Bushman (1998)- study of 200 male and female psychology undergraduate studnets
-Particpants watched either a 15 minute segment of violent film set or non violent film
-Participants who watched the violent film subsequently had a quicker reaction time to aggressive words than those who had seen the non aggressive film
-However video content did not influence reaction times to non aggressive words
-These findings provide support for cognitive priming