Desensitisation, disinhibition and cognitive priming Flashcards
What is desensitisation?
Repeated exposure to violence decreases sensitivity to stimuli, reducing physiological and psychological arousal associated with anxiety making behaviour such as aggression more likely.
Causes individuals to feel less empathetic towards victims and increasingly accept aggression as the social norm.
What is disinhibition?
Occurs when the social sanctions which normally inhibit aggressive behaviour are undermined due to exposure to violent media which portrays aggression as justified and socially acceptable. This makes aggression more likely as one’s restraints are loosened.
What is cognitive priming?
The way a person thinks in triggered by “scripts” which makes us ready to respond in certain ways. Aggressive media acts as priming stimuli or cues for a schema for an aggressive behaviour. Thus exposure to these cues in a similar environment can trigger the memory, leading to the reproduction of aggression.
Outline research support for desensitisation
Weisz and Earls (1995) showed male and female university students one of 4 films depicting various types of aggression: (a) sexual aggression against a male (Deliverance); (b) sexual aggression against a female (Straw Dogs); (c) physical aggression (Die Hard 2); or (d) a control film containing no explicit aggression (Days of Thunder).
After viewing the film, all subjects were asked to complete a questionnaire measuring the acceptance of interpersonal violence, acceptance of rape myths, attraction to aggression and levels of empathy. Participants then viewed a re-enactment of a rape trial and completed a 23-item rape trial questionnaire.
Results showed males were more accepting of interpersonal violence and rape myths, more attracted to aggression, less sympathetic toward the rape trial victim, and less likely to judge the defendant as guilty of rape.
Outline research support for disinhibition?
Berkowitz and Alioto (1973) found that participants who saw a film depicting aggression as vengeance gave more (fake) electric shocks of longer duration to a confederate.
This suggests media violence may disinhibit aggressive behaviour when it’s presented as justified. Violence as vengeance is seen as justified and therefore makes aggressive behaviour more socially acceptable.
Outline research support for cognitive priming?
Fischer and Greitemeyer (2006) sought to investigate the impact of misogynous and men-hating song lyrics on aggressive behaviour.
In study one, male and female participants were exposed to either misogynist or neutral song lyrics. Afterward, in a seemingly unrelated second marketing study, they were asked to add hot sauce to a sandwich prepared for either a female or male confederate. They found that male participants who listened to misogynous music administered more hot chili sauce to the female confederate than did female participants and male participants overall administered more hot chili sauce to women than to men.
In study two, female and male participants listened to two different misogynous, men-hating, or neutral songs. In a secondary task, participants were asked to assign the time for two subsequent participants to keep their hand in ice water on a sheet with a male and female name.
They found that male participants who listened to misogynist song lyrics assigned longer times of ice water treatment to the female target person. Female participants who listened to men-hating music assigned longer times of ice water treatment to the male target person than did women who listened to neutral and misogynous music.
Outline 1 Strength and 1 Limitation of desensitisation
Additional research support:
Krahé et al. (2011) showed participants either a violent or non-violent film whilst measuring physiological arousal using skin conductance. Participants who were habitual viewers of violent media showed lower levels of arousal when watching violent film clips. They also reported lower levels of anxious arousal and more pleasure when watching the films. This behaviour correlated with an unprovoked (proactive aggression) display of aggression in a ‘white noise’ blast task whereby they directed louder blasts to a confederate.
Thus, lower arousal in violent media users reflects desensitisation to the effects of violence and is also linked to greater willingness to behave aggressively.
Counter-evidence:
Instead of decreasing emotional responsiveness to violence, Anderson and Dill (2000) found that after exposure to violent media, there was an increase in aggressive and hostile thoughts
Outline 1 Strength and 1 Limitation of disinhibition
Supported by cartoon violence
Children do not learn specific aggressive behaviours from cartoon models as animated depictions of aggression and violence are largely comedic and unrealistic (e.g. punching someone so hard that their head spins round 360 degrees). Instead, they learn that aggression in general is acceptable and socially normative. This notion is especially true if the cartoon model is not punished which therefore disinhibits aggressive behaviour in the observer.
Therefore, disinhibition theory can explain why observation of cartoon aggression increases one’s inclination to behave aggressively in real life, enhancing the theory’s validity.
Other factors important:
Depends on other factors
The likelihood of disinhibition taking place is determined by several factors many of which depend on the viewer themselves as well as the context in which the media is viewed. Collins (1989) For children growing up in homes where strong norms exist against violence, they are unlikely to experience sufficient disinhibition for them to display aggressive behaviours. This is further true if adults discussed issues from the film with the child. This suggests that the relationship between media violence and disinhibition is not clear cut, and a number of factors mediate such as individual and social characteristics
Outline 1 Strength and 1 Limitation of cognitive priming.
Real-world application
Whether real-world situations become violent often depends on how people interpret environmental cues. This in turn depends on the cognitive scripts they have stored in memory. Bushman and Anderson (2002) argue that someone who habitually watches violent media accesses stored aggressive scripts more readily. They are therefore are more likely to interpret cues as aggressive and resort to a violent solution without considering the alternatives.
This suggests that interventions could potentially reduce aggressive behaviour by challenging hostile cognitive biases.
Confounding variables
The issue is that violent games tend to be much more complex in their gameplay than non-violent games and this complexity is a confounding variable. Zendle et al. (2018) found that when complexity was controlled, the priming effects of violent video games disappeared. Complex games make players more engaged or stressed, influencing their reaction.
Therefore, the supportive findings of studies into priming may be at least partly due to confounding variables, and such the reliability of cognitive priming as an indicator and explanation of aggression is significantly reduced.
