Desensitisation, Disinhibition and Cognitive Priming

Question 1

what is the role of desensitisation?

Answer 1

• normally when we witness violent actions, we experience physiological arousal associated with SNS
• when children repeatedly view aggression on TV or play violent computer games, they become used to the effects
• stimulus that is usually aversive has a lesser impact, so anxiety and arousal become lower on repeated viewing or playing

Question 2

what does Funk et al say?

Answer 2

• desensitisation is psychological as well as physiological
• 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 and their injuries are minimised and dismissed

Question 3

who are the researchers involved in the role of desensitation?

Answer 3

• Funk et al
• Weisz and Earls

Question 4

what did Weisz and Earl do?

Answer 4

• laboratory study
• showed participants the feature film Straw Dogs, which contains a prolonged and graphic scene of rape
• participants then watched a re-enactment of a rape trial
• researchers compared those who watched a non-sexually violent film to those to had

Question 5

what were the findings from Weisz and Earl?

Answer 5

• male viewers of Straw Dogs showed greater acceptance of rape myths and sexual aggression
• expressed less sympathy towards the rape victim in the trial, and less likely to find the defendant guilty
• there was no such effect of the film type on female participants

Question 6

what is the role of disinhibitons?

Answer 6

• most people hold the view that violence and aggression are antisocial and harmful = there are strong social and psychological inhibitions using aggression to resolve conflicts
  = learned by processes explained by SLT

Question 7

explain disinhibiton.

Answer 7

• these usual restraints are loosened after exposure to violent media
• aggressive behaviour is often made to appear normative and socially sanctioned in such media, especially if portrayals minimise the effects of violence on its victims and suggest that it is justified
• it is not 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

Question 8

what is the role of cognitive priming?

Answer 8

• repeated viewing of aggressive media , especially game playing, can provide us with a script about how violent situations may play out

Question 9

who are the researchers involved in cognitive priming?

Answer 9

• Huesmann
• Fischer and Greitemeyer

Question 10

what did Huesmann say?

Answer 10

• the script is stored in memory , and so we can become ready or primed to be aggressive
• this process is mostly automatic, directing our behaviour without us even being aware of it
• the script s triggered when we encounter cues in a situation that we perceive as aggressive

Question 11

what did Fischer and Greitemeyer do?

Answer 11

• investigated a neglected form of media violence (song lyrics)
• men listened to songs featuring aggressively derogatory lyrics about women
• compared this to when they listened to neutral lyrics, participants subsequently recalled more negative qualities about women and behaved more aggressively towards a confederate who was a woman
• this procedure was replicated with women as ppts, using ‘men-hating’ song lyrics and had similar results