Effects of TV and Computer Games

Question 1

what are the factors involved in effects of TV and computer games?

Answer 1

• excessive TV viewing
• violent film content
• TV/film effects not strong
• computer games

Question 2

what is excessive TV viewing?

Answer 2

• excessive amounts of TV has been linked to aggressive behaviour (violent or not)

Question 3

who are the researchers involved in excessive TV viewing?

Answer 3

Robertson et al

Question 4

what did Robertson et al do?

Answer 4

• measured TV viewing hours in over 1000 New Zealanders at regular intervals up to the age of 26 years

Question 5

What did Robertson et al find?

Answer 5

• time spent watching TV in childhood and adolescence was a reliable predictor of aggressive behaviour in early adulthood (convictions of aggressive and violent crimes)

Question 6

what did Roberston et al say excessive TV viewing was linked to?

Answer 6

• associated with reduced social interaction and poorer educational achievement
• so the link between excessive viewing and aggression may be indirect, due to reduced social intercation

Question 7

what has the most significant influence on aggressive behaviour?

Answer 7

viewing violent content

Question 8

who is the researcher involved in violent film content?

Answer 8

Bandura et al

Question 9

what did Bandura et al do?

Answer 9

• looked at the effects of aggression viewed on a screen
• replicated their earlier study, children watched a film of the Boho doll being beaten by an adult model
• children imitate aggressive behaviour of the model(and cartoon version)
• social learning processes identified by Bandura operate through media as well as face to face

Question 10

who are the researchers that found that TV/ film effect are not strong?

Answer 10

• Paik and Comstock

Question 11

what did Paik and Comstock do?

Answer 11

• carried out a meta-analysis of around 200 studies
• found a significant positive correlation between viewing TV/film violence and antisocial behaviour

Question 12

what are the findings from Paik and Comstock?

Answer 12

• estimated that TV/film violence only accounted for between 1% and 10% of the variance in children’s aggressive behaviour
• implies a relatively a minor role of TV and film compared with other sources of aggression

Question 13

what effect does computer games have on aggression? and why?

Answer 13

• computer games may have a more powerful effect than traditional media
• player takes a more active role than a relatively passive viewer
• game-playing is more directly rewarding for the player (operant conditioning)

Question 14

explain lab experiments in effects of computer games.

Answer 14

• have an advantage in demonstrating cause and effect
• ethical disadvantage as you are deliberately exposing ppts to violence to encourage aggressive behaviour

Question 15

what is other method for measuring aggression?

Answer 15

• standard lab measure
• Taylor competitive reaction time task(TCRTT)
• ppts deliver blasts of white noise at chosen volumes to punish a (non-existent) opponent

Question 16

who are the researchers involved in lab experiments on computer games?

Answer 16

• Bartholow and Anderson

Question 17

what did Bartholow and Anderson?

Answer 17

• found that students who played a violent computer game for ten minutes (Mortal Kombat) selected significantly higher volumes of white noise than students who played a non-violent golfing game (PGA tour)

Question 18

what are the correlational studies in computer games?

Answer 18

• a common finding is that several measure of aggression are positively correlated with time spent playing violent games

Question 19

who are researchers involved in correlational studies?

Answer 19

DeLisi et al

Question 20

what did DeLisi et al do?

Answer 20

• argue that is so well-established that aggression should be considered a public health issue and computer game violence as a significant risk factor