Media Flashcards
Evaluation of effects of computer games
1) correlations show a relationship but can’t show cause and effect. Research suggests that people with more aggressive personalities engage more in aggressive game playing but the same game can present different content to different players.
2) Another problem with experimental studies is that they usually only investigate short-term effects of video games. This means that we cannot be sure that the findings from these studies can be related to long-term effects on cognitive skills. This is a problem because the true extent of the effects of video games on behaviour is not being measured, and so we cannot assume from them that video games do strongly positively impact a person’s behaviour. Therefore the internal validity of the research is limited.
One explanation for the persuasiveness of television advertising
The Hovland-Yale Model outlines three important factors for a television advert to be persuasive. These are the souce, the message and the audience. Effective source factors are the attractiveness or the expertise of the communicator. For example, in a toothpaste advert it would be effective to use a dentist because they would seem more credible and trustworthy to sell a good toothpaste than a non-expert. Message factors include repitition, fear and whether or not we think the message is intended to persuade. Research has shown that low and high intelligence audiences are less easily persuaded, and younger people are more susceptible to persuasive messages than adults. Therefore it would be more effective for an advert to be aimed at a very young audience, who will trust the advert and ‘pester’ their parents to buy the product for them.
How would psychological research into intense fandom explain the different kinds of relationships with celebrities in the above scenario?
One area of intense fandom is celebrity stalking. Kienlan looked at the correlation between attachments and idol worship. He found that there is a positive correlation with idol worship and the insecure-resistant attachment type. This can be explained by Bowlby’s continuity hypothesis because those who had an insecure-resistant attachment (so received an inconsistent parenting style) were more likely to be extremely passionate and obsessive in later relationships. These characteristics are displayed by the fans who followed the band around the country.
Research by Cheung and Yue looked at a telephone survey of 833 Chinese teenagers. It was found that those who were likely to worship celebrities had lower self-esteem and less successful identity achievement. This research could explain why some fans were so obsessed. This obsession of visiting the fan website to discuss the latest Tweets could be because of their own low personal identity and they therefore absorb themselves into everything the band are saying.
The fact that it was only a small number who intensely followed the band can be supported by Maltby et al.’s research which used the Celebrity Attitude Scale on participants. They found that of 600 participants, 15% fell into entertainment social, 5% into intense personal and 2% into borderline pathological. This suggests that most fans were less obsessive due to the band’s entertainment-social value whereas a small percentage of them were much more intense.
2 positive effects of computer/video games
1) empower learners - (Gee 2003) believes some games can empower learners, develop problem solving and help understanding. Games offer a chance of control and mastery, and often reward non-linear thinking. Many games encourage the player to reflect on their choices and then learn from their mistakes. They encourage independent thinking, perseverance and commitment.
2) Some video games appear to have positive effects too. For example Green and Bavelier found that some games such as Tetris have been found to improve specific cognitive skills, hand eye co-ordination and some aspects of vision.
A strength of these findings is that they have been applied to real-life situations. Video games have been successfully used in the treatment of post-traumatic stress, for example researchers have discovered that playing the game Tetris minimises the mind’s tendency to flash back to memories of traumatic events. The research therefore has high ecological validity and relevance.
