Explanations of media influences Flashcards
Desensitisation
Anxiety about violence inhibits its use. Media violence may lead to aggressive behaviour by removing this anxiety. The more violence a cild watches, the more they precieve it as ‘normal’, and the more linekly they are to engage in it.
> Densensitised individuals feels less symptahy for the victims of violence and they have fewer negative attitudes towards violence, both of which would increase the likelihood of aggressive resposes in real life.
Disinhibition
Exposure to violent media can legitimise the use of violence by the individual in their own lives because it undermines the social sanctions that usually inhibit such behaviour.
Cognitive priming
When people are constantly exposed to violent media, this activates thiughts about violence. Which then activate other aggressive thoughts through their assoictation in memory pathways.
> Frequent activation through prolonged exposure to violent media may result in a lowered activate threshild for aggressive thoughts, allowing them to be accessed more readily and so used proess and interpret information.
Research to support desensistation
Carnagey et al (2007) provided evidence for the claim that playing violent computer games produces physiological desensitisation
E: P’s played a violent or non-violen video games and watched a 10 mintues film clip with scenes of real-life violence. Those who had played the violent video game had a lower heart ate while viwing the real-life violence
E: This demonstrated a physiological desensistation to violence, as predicted by this explanation.
The god and bad of desensitisation
P: Desensitation can be adaptive for some individuals e.g making troops more effective in combat
E: However, desensitisation to violence may be also be detrimental for society. Bushman and Anderson (2009) suggest that it reduces helping others in distress.
E: This suggets that people exposed to media violence becoe ‘comfortably numb’ to the suffering of others and consequently less helpful.
The disinhibtion effect depends on other factors
P: The likelihood of disinhibtion occuring is detemined by different factors, some relating to the viewers, and some to the context media is viewed.
E: Younger children are more liely to be affected as they are drawn into violent episodes without considering the consequences (Collins, 1989). The disinhibtion effects is stronger if children are punished by parents.
E: This demonstrates that the relationship that the relationship between media violence and disinhibtion mediated by individual and social characteristics.
Research support for cognitive priming
Bushman (1998)
Bushman (1998) Provided support for the cognitive priming explanation in a study of psychology students.
E: P’s who watched a violent film had quicker reaction times to aggressive words than those who watched a non-violent film. Video content did not influence reaction times to nonaggressive words
E: This supports the cognitive priming explanation. Violence in the media primes aggressive thoughts in memory, making them more accessible to viewers.
