Media - desensitisation, disinhibition and cognitive priming

Question 1

What is desensitisation?

Answer 1

• Repeated viewing of aggressive media leads to a reduction in anxiety and physiological arousal (lower HR and BP).
• Desensitisation can also be psychological as aggression comes to be seen as acceptable and less empathy is felt for victims
• Media promotes a belief that using aggression as a method of resolving conflict is social acceptable.

Question 2

What is disinhibition?

Answer 2

• Normal restraints against using aggression are weakened after viewing violent media, especially if aggression is portrayed as justified.
• Aggressive behaviour is often made to appear normative and socially sanctioned.

Question 3

What is cognitive priming?

Answer 3

• viewing aggressive media gives us a ‘script’ for how violent situations begin and develop.
• This is stored in a memo and make us more ‘ready’ to be aggressive..

Question 4

Who did a study into cognitive priming?

Answer 4

Fischer and Greitemeyer

Question 5

What did Fischer and Greitemeyer find?

Answer 5

That listening to negative song lyrics about the opposite sex was linked with greater aggression towards an opposite sex confederate.

Question 6

State 3 positives of desensitisation, disinhibition and cognitive priming.

Answer 6

Research support for desensitisation:
- ps shown violent and nonviolent film clips while measuring physiological arousal using skin conductance
- ps who were habitual viewers of violent media showed lower levels of arousal as they watched violent film clips
Research support for disinhibition:
- Berkowitz and Alioto found that ps who saw a film depicting aggression as vengeance gave more (fake) electric shocks of longer duration to a confederate
Practical application for cognitive priming: