Effects of media

Question 1

What are media influences?

Answer 1

Changes in behaviour that are attributed to exposure to media such as TV or computer games

Question 2

What are the four types of methodologies research into media and aggression has used?

Answer 2

1. Experiments
2. Correlations
3. Longitudinal
4. Meta-analyses

Question 3

What are two studies which have investigated the link between TV and aggression?

Answer 3

1. Huesmann et al. (2003) – longitudinal study on children in Chicago
2. Bjorkqvist (1985) – experiment on Finnish children using violent vs. non-violent film

Question 4

What are two studies which have investigated the link between computer games and aggression?

Answer 4

1. Bartholow and Anderson (2002) – experiment using blasts of white noise
2. Anderson et al. (2010) – meta-analysis

Question 5

What is the Huessemann et al. (2003) study for the role of tv violence on aggression?

Answer 5

Huessemann et al. (2003):
Conducted a Longitudinal study of 557 children aged between 6 and 10 years old growing up in chicago in 1977.
329 of these children were subsequently studied 15 years later in 1992.
It was found that habitual early exposure to tv violence was predictive of adult aggression later in life – this applied to both boys and girls.
This persisted even when the possible effects of socioeconomic status, intelligence and any differences in parenting styles were controlled.

Question 6

What is the Bjorkqvist (1985) study for the role of tv violence on aggression?

Answer 6

Bjorkqvist (1985):
Conducted an experiment in which 5- 6 year-old Finish children were exposed to either violent or non-violent films.
Those who had watched the violent films were rated far higher on measures of physical aggression (e.g. hitting other children), compared with the children who had viewed the non-violent films.

Question 7

What was Bartholomew and Anderson et al. (2002) study for the effects of violent computer games on aggression?

Answer 7

Bartholow and Anderson (2002):
Participants in the study played a computer game for 10 minutes in one of two conditions:
* Condition one – played violent game (Mortal combat)
* Condition two – played non-violent game (PGA tournament golf)
Participants then completed the Taylor Competitive Reaction Time Task (TCRTT), a lab measure of aggression in which participants delivered blasts of white noise at chosen volumes to punish a non-existent opponent.
It was found that those who played the violent game delivered significantly higher white noise blasts compared with non-violent players.

Question 8

What was Anderson et al. (2010) study for the effects of violent computer games on aggression?

Answer 8

Anderson et al. (2010):
Conducted a meta-analysis of 136 studies using experiments, correlations and longitudinal studies.
The analyses found that exposure to violent computer games was associated with an increase in aggressive behaviours, thoughts and feelings.
This was true for both males and females and across collectivist and individualist cultures.
Researchers claimed that the effect of violent game-playing on aggressive behaviours is greater than the effect of second-hand smoke on cancer.

Question 9

What are the two strengths of media influences on aggression?

Answer 9

Experimental studies establish causal link
Experimental studies have established a causal link between media aggression and aggressive behaviour – they have high internal validity due to control of variables, thus enhancing the credibility of the findings.
Counter-argument: measures of aggression in labs (Taylor Competitive Reaction Time Task) are artificial and unrealistic. Researchers have no choice to use these methods as it would be unethical to allow realistic forms of aggression in an experiment, but this means that the portrayal of aggression in labs are unrealistic and do not reflect aggression in real-life.

Longitudinal studies provide long-term effects
Undertaking longitudinal studies allows researchers to investigate changes in aggressive behaviour over time. Studies have investigated the dynamic nature of media influences in the long term and views people as active consumers rather than as passive recipients – posits a more realistic view of how people interact with media.
Counter-argument: studying change over time increases likelihood of confounding variables having an influence. Many other sources of aggression interact with media influences over a period of time, such as role models (friends and family members) – it then becomes difficult to separate these influences and assess their contributions to aggressive behaviour.

Question 10

What are the two limitations of media influences on aggression?

Answer 10

Game difficulty rather than content
It could be that aggressive behaviour may be linked to a player’s experience of failure and frustration during a game rather than the game’s violent storyline.
Przybylski et al. (2014) found it was not the storyline or imagery, but the lack of mastery and difficulty players had in completing the game, which led to frustration and aggression. This was evident across both violent and non-violent games. Even non-violent games can leave players feeling aggressive if they are poorly designed or too difficult.

Publication bias
The file drawer problem – a well-known tendency in scientific research towards publishing only findings that are statistically significant and the non-significant results get left in the filing cabinet.
This is a particular issue for meta-analyses as they only analyse the findings of published studies and so are not getting an accurate picture, leading them to conclude there is a significant finding when there might not be.