Effects of media Flashcards
What are media influences?
Changes in behaviour attributed to exposure to media such as TV, computer, or video games.
Why are computer and video games suggested to have more powerful effects than TV media?
There is an interactive element which means the individual is an active player rather than a passive observer.
Game playing often involves engaging in violent behaviour which is often directly rewarding for the player.
What is media?
Communication channels such as TV, film and books through which news, education and data are available.
Name and very briefly outline the two studies that investigated the link between TV and aggression
Robertson et al (2013) - New Zealand, excessive TV watching on children and adolescence
Bjorkqvist (1985) - Finish children’s aggressive behaviour using humorous or realistic depictions of violence in films.
Name and very briefly outline the two studies that investigated the link between computer games and aggression
Bartholomew and Anderson (2022) - aggressive provocation after playing violent or non-violent games.
Anderson et al. (2010) - meta-analysis investigating effects of violent video games in individualist and collectivist cultures.
Outline the Robertson et al. (2013) study for TV violence
Conducted a longitudinal study to investigate whether excessive television viewing through childhood and adolescence was associated with increased antisocial behaviour in early adulthood.
Over 1000 individuals born in New Zealand were studied at regular intervals from birth to 26 yrs.
They found that young adults who had spent more time watching television during childhood and adolescence were significantly more likely to have a criminal conviction, a diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder, and more aggressive personality traits compared with those who viewed less television.
The associations were statistically significant after controlling for sex IQ, socio-economic status, previous antisocial behaviour, and parental control.
Outline the Bjorkqist (1985) study for TV violence.
Conducted an experiment in which 20 5-6 year-old Finnish children were exposed to one of five films depicting either humorous/realistic violence in the form of a cartoon, or humorous/realistic violence in a film with live actors, or a non-violent control film
The children were placed in pairs and observed in a playroom before and after viewing the film.
It was found that those who had watched the violent films, irrespective of humorous or realistic features, showed an increase in aggressive behaviour. This includes physical aggression, verbal aggression and aggression towards objects.
Outline Bartholomew and Anderson (2002) for effects of violent video games
43 undergrads volunteered to participate in the experiment. Participants were randomly assigned to either violent (Mortal Kombat) or nonviolent video game (PGA Tournament golf) conditions and asked to play the game for 10 mins.
They then competed in a retaliation reaction time task in which they thought they were competing with a confederate. Participants would receive a punishment after each losing trial in the form of white noise blasts, a measure of aggressive provocation. The opponent (confederate) set the severity of the punishment in the first phase. Then, the roles were reversed; the participants set the duration and of punishment in the second phase.
It was found that participants who played the violent game set higher levels of noise punishment compared with those who played the nonviolent game.
Outline Anderson et al (2010) for effects of violent video games
Conducted a meta-analysis of 136 studies testing the effects of violent video on aggressive behaviour.
The analyses found that violent game exposure was associated with a significant increase in aggressive behaviour, cognition and emotions. Additionally, VGV exposure was related to desensitisation and lack of empathy and prosocial behaviour. This was true for both males and females and across collectivist and individualist cultures.
1 Strength of media influences on aggression
Broad range of research methodologies:
The use of varied research methodologies when examining media effects on aggression allows diverse, accurate, active interactions to be shown.
Experimental studies (Bjorkqvist, Bartholomew and Anderson) allow us to establish a causal relationship between media aggression and aggressive behaviour; they have high internal validity due to control of variables.
Longitudinal studies (Robertson) allow researchers to investigate changes in aggressive behaviour over time. This posits a more realistic view of how people interact with media, and how their interactions change over time
3 Limitations of media influences on aggression
Competency over content:
Although many studies assume violent games create feelings of aggression, it could be that aggressive behaviour may be linked to a player’s experience of failure and frustration (levels of competency) during a game rather than the game’s violent storyline.
Przybylski et al (2014 found it was the lack of mastery and game difficulty that caused aggression, and this was evident between violent and non-violent games.
Thus, the view that violent games cause aggression are clearly too simplistic.
Publication bias:
The file drawer problem – a well-known tendency in scientific research towards only publishing findings that are statistically significant and the non-significant results get left in the “filing cabinet”. Therefore, meaning we do not have access to all the non-statistically vital research that could tell us just as much.
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.
Varied measurements of aggression:
Research into media influences measures aggression is varied ways. Some studies use volume of white noise blasts, or the amount of hot sauce administered as indices of aggressive displays. Yet, these measures are simulated and differ substantially from measuring aggression based on overt displays of violent behaviour or one’s history of criminal convictions. Therefore, studies lack external validity as the unrealistic methodological setup of such an experiment makes it difficult to make inferences about real aggression through video gameplay.
