Aggression: Media influences on aggression Flashcards
What are the two media influences on aggression?
Violent films/TV
Violent computer games
Describe consistent procedures and findings of lab and field studies into film/TV influences on aggression.
Randomly assign Ps
experimental condition: view violent film scenes
control condition: non-violent scenes.
Observed how they interact with people after.
Found (lab and field) that experimental condition display more aggressive behaviour, thoughts and emotions.
Give an example of a lab or field experiment into film/TV influence on aggression.
Bjorkqvist (1985)
Finish 5-6 year olds exposed to violent or non-violent films. Violent film category rated much higher on measures of physical aggression.
Describe a longitudinal study into film/TV influence on aggression.
Huesmann et al. (2003)
Studied 557 children ages 6-10 in Chicago, and 329 of these 15 years later. Early exposure to TV violence was predictive of adult aggression later in life. Persisted with gender, socioeconomic status, IQ, different parent styles.
Describe a meta-analysis into film/TV influence on aggression.
Bushman and Huesmann (2006)
431 studies including 68,000 Ps: TV, video games, comic books. Moderate but significant correlation between media violence and aggression levels. Short-term effects greater for adults than children. Long-term effects greater for children.
Describe, with a name, experimental research into computer games’ influence on aggression.
Anderson and Dill.
Participants blasted opponents with white noise for longer and self-rated more aggressive after playing violent FPS games compared to puzzle games. Shows short-term psychological arousal and hostile feelings.
Describe with a name, longitudinal research into computer games’ impact of aggression.
Anderson et al.
43 children (7-9) surveyed at 2 points in year. Children with high exposure to violent video games became more verbally and physically aggressive.
AO3: Media influences on aggression
+Positive real world application
+/-Advantages + disadvantages of using meta-analyses
-Weakness of research
-Confounding variables
-Issues with experimental method
(+AO3) Describe a positive real world application of research into the media’s influence.
Development of media literacy programs to counter effects.
Teaches children how to interpret media forms - stereotypes, unrealistic content, violent content. Causes individuals to be mindful of the effect of the media and to seek a range of media content. Creates healthy media environment and counters aggressive effects of media.
(+/-AO3) Describe advantages and disadvantages of using meta-analyses to measure the effect size of violent TV/film on aggression.
Advantages: very reliable due to big sample. Increases population validity.
Disadvantages: no control over variable conditions and impacts of different extraneous variable, reducing internal validity.
(-AO3) What is a weakness of the media’s influence on aggression as a whole?
Research fails to account for other variables: trait aggression (dispositional), family violence, mental health. One meta-analysis showed the effect of violent media on aggression disappears when these factors are considered. Shows other factors may be primary causes of aggression.
(-AO3) What is a confounding variable in research into violent video-games’ influence on aggression?
Aggression seen may be a result of frustration rather than violent content. Both violent and non-violent produces aggression due to content that is difficult to master.
Frustration Aggression hypothesis. Therefore research is oversimplified and impacted by confounding variables.
(-AO3) Describe issues with the experimental method in both lab and longitudinal studies into computer games and aggression.
Lab: uses unrealistic measures of aggression such as white noise blasting. Low in mundane realism and ecological validity - causal relationship difficult to establish.
Longitudinal: many extraneous variables such as exposure to other forms of media, reducing internal validity.
