Lesson 12 - Desensitisation, Disinhibition And Cognitive Priming Flashcards
What is desensitisation theory
It proposes that with a continual exposure to a stimulus, our responses to that stimulus are decreased. Therefore if aggression is constantly presented to us on a daily basis, there is a reduction in our response to the aggression. In normal situations regarding aggression and violence, our fight or flight system is activate. This increases adrenaline and a desire for us to remove ourselves from the situation. This is adaptive.
However what else is adaptive
It was also adaptive for our ancestors to become accustomed to environmental stimuli and not activate fight or flight. For example some ancestors may have lived in the trees. This may be stressful and scary but tree dwellers would have become desensitised. This is the same concept in todays media saturated world - we view aggression and violence so much in the video games that we become desensitised to it and in the real world we may not respond to aggression with feelings like fear. This makes us more likely to accept the violence and aggression and may be more likely to to respond aggressively with the option to do so.
Evaluation desensitisation
One study to support the role of desensitisation in the media influences on aggression was carried out by Weisz and earls. 86 males and 106 females undergrads were shown either one of 4 films depicting different types of aggression. 1) sexual aggression against a male 2) sexual aggression against a female 3) physical aggression 4) neutral film. After finishing the film, they were asked to complete a 252 item questionnaire, measuring the acceptance of interpersonal violence, acceptance of rape myths, attraction to aggression and levels of empathy. Participants then Viewed a re-enactment of a rape trial and completed a 23 item rape trial questionnaire. Results found that males were more accepting of interpersonal violence and rape myths, more attracted to aggression and less empathy for victim and less likely to judge guilty of rape. Supports desensitisation and how media increases our acceptance of these behaviours
However it lacks ecological validity. Most research has been done in a lab and measured aggression based upon questionnaires. This raises the question whether these behaviours would occur in the real world, in a real scenario where this desensitisation of aggression could have a consequence of a prison sentence
What is disinhibition
Theory of disinhibition proposes that our normal restraints are loosened after exposure to media violence. Aggressive behaviour becomes normalised and aggressive behaviour is altered from non acceptance to acceptance and therefore aggression seen as a normal response to certain situations. One aspect of aggression that is particularly believed to become normal is aggressive response as a result of real or imagined wrongdoing. So if the viewed aggression is seen as a revenge response, this is deemed to be normal and thus justified.
What did bandura propose about aggression
We learn to behave through the observational learning of role such as parents and significant others. However as the child grows, the media also can be a powerful role model, for example superheros can provide an aggressive role model, and then these aggression levels are normalised in the child and therefore is more likely to be a response to a particular situation. Violence is more likely to be normalised as well if it is rewarded, which is something a lot of video games do.
Evaluation disinhibition
Study from berkowitz and alioto carried out a lab experiment where participants who saw a film depicting aggression and vengeance gave more fake electric shocks of longer durations to a confederate. Berkowitz and Alioto propose that aggression is more likely to occur if the viewed aggression is seen as an acceptable response and disinhibition is more likely to occur.
Another strength is that it has practical applications, it has lead to the US army using games as a recruiting tool. From the perspective of the armed forces, recruiting those with an interest in violence and aggression and a disinhibition response to aggression is beneficial for future soldiers. Aggression as a norm is advantageous in a war scenario as they are less likely to hesitate
What is cognitive priming
Cognitive priming states that aggressive media influences provide the children with a ‘script’ for their responses and behaviour when they perceive an environmental stimulus as aggressive. We are much more prepared to act on aggression based on these scripts from aggressive media
What may violent video games increase?
Aggression. A child may play a computer game where aggression is rewarded. When in an aggressive situation, rather than trying to ease up, they will have an internal script that the way to ‘win’ is though aggression. Video games have therefore ‘primed’ this response. This can eventually turn into automatic responses
Strengths cognitive priming
It has real world applications - the reason if situations in the real world become violent depends on the cognitive scripts that individuals have stored in memory. Bushman and Anderson argue that someone who watches hella violent media accesses stored scripts much more readily. So they are more likely to interpret cues as aggressive and resort to violence.
Another support is Fischer and Greitemeyer - found that males who had been exposed to aggressive song lyrics about women were more likely to give higher levels of hot chilli sauce to female confederates rather than male confederates who heard neutral lyrics. Fischer and Greitemeyer also found that misogynistic lyrics also resulted in the males recalling more negative attributes of women and reporting more negative attributes about women. This was replicated with females and male hating songs and achieved similar results. Demonstrating the effects of dog priming
Weakness cognitive priming
One weakness of cognitive priming investigated in research is that it ignores confounding variables. Research into the effects of video games has found that violent video games primes violent behaviour much more than non violent. The problem is that violent games tend to be much more complex in their gameplay than non violent and it is this complexity that causes the priming not the violence. Zendle et al found that when Complexity was controlled, the priming effect of violent video games disappeared - this suggests that findings that support cognitive priming and aggression may be due to confounding variables which then affects the validity concerning the research of priming
