EFFECTS OF COMPUTER GAMES Flashcards
WHAT METHODOLOGIES DO MEDIA PSYCHOLOGISTS USE?
- Experimental studies which are usually lab-based and look at short-term effects.
- Correlational studies which can investigate real-life variables and may be short-term or may be longitudianal studies.
- A meta-analysis brings together the three types to give an overall judgement of the size of the effect of violent media on aggressive behaviour.
WHAT IS AN EXAMPLE OF AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY INTO MEDIA AGGRESSION?
Bartholow and Anderson carried out a lab-based study whereby students played either a violent video game (Mortal Kombat) or a non-violent game (PGA Tournament Golf) for ten minutes. They all then carried out the TAYLOR COMPETITIVE REACTION TIME TASK (a standard laboratory measure of aggression where students delivered blasts of white noise at chosen volumes to punish a (non-existant) opponent.
WHAT WAS THE FINDINGS OF BARTHOLOW AND ANDERSON’S EXPERIMENT?
Those who played Mortal Kombat selected significantly higher noise levels compared with the non-violent players (means of 5.97 and 4.60 decibels).
AO3: EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES
STRENGTH: They allow for us to establish a causal link between media aggression and aggressive behaviour.
WEAKNESS: Measures of aggression in lab situations are often accused of being artificial and unrealistic, such as the TAYLOR COMPETITIVE REACTION TIME TASK, which measures how much loud noise is selected. It would be unethical to allow realistic forms of aggression ie physical aggression such as hitting each other so they have no choice but to be creative in devising ways of measuring aggression. Lab experiments also do not involve any fear of retaliation. Unlike in real life, the ppts had implied permission to be ‘safely’ aggressive.
WHAT IS AN EXAMPLE OF CORRELATIONAL RESEARCH INTO MEDIA AGGRESSION?
DeLisi et al studied 227 juvenile offenders, all with histories of serious aggressive behaviours such as hitting a teacher or parent or gang fighting. Using structured interviews, they gathered data on several measures of aggression and violent computer game-playing.
WHAT WAS THE FINDINGS OF THE CORRELATIONAL RESEARCH?
They found that the offenders’ aggressive behaviour was significantly correlated with how often often they played violent video games and how much they enjoyed them.
WHAT DOES THE CORRELATIONAL RESEARCH BY DELISI ARGUE?
The researchers argued that the link is so well established that aggression should be considered a public health issue, like HIV/AIDS, and computer game violence a significant risk factor, like condom non-use.
AO3: CORRELATIONAL RESEARCH
STRENGTH: allow us to investigate realistic forms of aggression including violent crimes.
WEAKNESS: the inability to draw cause-and-effect conclusions. No variables are manipulated or controlled, and there is no random allocation of ppts to violent or non-violent media conditions. For example, the outcome of a positive correlation between viewing or playing violent media and aggression does not help us choose between two hypotheses of media effects.
WHAT ARE THE TWO HYPOTHESES OF MEDIA EFFECTS?
- Socialisation hypothesis - which states that aggressive media causes people to become more aggressive.
- Selection hypothesis - which claims that people who are already aggressive select aggressive media. The direction of causality cannot be settled by correlational studies.
WHAT IS AN EXAMPLE OF A LONGITUDINAL STUDY INTO MEDIA AGGRESSION?
Robertson et al wanted to see if there was a link between what they called ‘excessive’ tv viewing in childhood and aggressive behaviour in adulthood. The studied 1037 people born in New Zealand in 1972 and 1973, and measured their tv viewing hours at regular intervals up to the age of 26 years old.
WHAT WAS THE FINDINGS OF ROBERTSON’S LONGITUDINAL STUDY?
They found that the time spent watching tv was a reliable predictor of aggressive behaviour in adulthood, measured in terms of convictions for aggressive and violent crimes. Those who watched the most tv were more likely to be diagnosed with anti-social personality disorder and to have aggressive personality traits. It appears that the most important media-related factor in influencing aggressive behaviour may be the amount of tv watched opposed to whether it has violent content or not.
AO3: LONGITUDINAL STUDIES
STRENGTH: researchers use this methodology to investigate changes in aggressive behaviour over time. So the dynamic nature of media influences in the long term can be studied. This approach also views people as active consumers opposed to passive recipients, which is a much more realistic view of how people interact with media.
WEAKNESS: studying change over time leaves longitudinal studies vulnerable to the effects of confounding variables. Many other factors interact with media influences over time such as role models in the form of friends and family. It becomes difficult to seperate them all and assess their contributions to aggressive behaviour.
WHO INVESTIGATED MEDIA EFFECTS USING A META-ANALYSIS? DESCRIBE AND EXPLAIN THE STUDY.
Anderson et al performed a meta-analysis of 136 studies which included all of the 3 types of methodology outlined above. They found that exposure to violent computer games was associated with increases in aggressive behaviours, thoughts and feelings. This finding was true for both males and females in individulistic and collectivist cultures. The higher quality studies in the analysis showed an even greater significant effect.
WHAT DO THE META-ANALYSIS RESEARCHERS CLAIM?
They claim that the effect of violent-game playing on aggressive behaviour is greater than the effect of second-hand smoke on cancer. The analysis also showed no indication that publication bias influenced the results.
AO3: PUBLICATION BIAS
There is a well known tendency in scientific research towards only publishing findings that are statistically significant (sometimes called the file drawer problem because non-significant results get left in the filing cabinet). There is a problem for meta-analyses, because they generally only included published studies.
