Media Influence on Pro-Social Behaviour

Question 1

What did Greenberg find after carrying out a content analysis on US children’s programmes?

Answer 1

An equivalent number of prosocial and antisocial behaviours on TV.

Question 2

Who is C and what does he argue about the counting of prosocial and antisocial acts?

Answer 2

Cumberbatch - antisocial acts are more obvious and easier to count, whereas prosocial acts are more subtle and which leads to the undercounting of prosocial acts.

Question 3

What are the 2 explanations of how the media can influence prosocial behaviour?

Answer 3

1. Social learning

2. Parental mediation

Question 4

What is social learning?

Answer 4

The social learning theory suggests that behaviour may be learnt through observational learning and vicarious reinforcement. We imitate what w see and then repetition will be based on the feedback we receive from these behaviours.

Question 5

What are prosocial acts likely to reinforce and why?

Answer 5

Likely to reinforce established social norms as children are more likely to be positively reinforced when they copy prosocial acts.

Question 6

What study did Poulos carry out that supported the social learning theory?

Answer 6

Independent group design study and showed children an ep of Lassie.
Found - those who saw the child help a dog were more likely to help puppies in distress compared to those who saw the child playing with a dog.

Question 7

What are 2 criticsms of Poulos’ study?

Answer 7

1. Children - can’t generalise to adults - low ext validity.
2. IDG - individual differences - low int validity.

Question 8

What has been noted about children imitating behaviour?

Answer 8

Children are most likely to imitate when they can cope the concrete steps, and as children don’t acquire abstract thoughts until they’re older, effects may be more prominent when behaviours can be copied exactly.

Question 9

What are 2 criticsms of the social learning theory?

Answer 9

1. Research shows that the media has less of an effect than exposure to real life models - studies therefore lack external validity.
2. Lack of research on different age groups - most is on children - can’t generalise to adults who have more developed levels of intelligence and experiences that may influence the outcomes - lowers external validity.

Question 10

How does parental mediation influence prosocial behaviour?

Answer 10

Prosocial behaviours are more likely to be imitated when the parent discusses why the behaviours and attitudes and sometimes the moral messages are important. They can help the child understand ambiguous messages more, and reinforce the prosocial acts displayed.

Question 11

What did Johnson and Ettema find about parental mediation and prosocial messages? (Method, findings and 1 criticism)

Answer 11

Large scale study of 9-12 y/o’s, showed them tv show that was designed to reduce sex-role stereotypes.
Found - overall, they behaved less stereotypically - especially when they took part in teacher led discussions after viewing.
1. Children - can’t be gen to adults - low ext val.

Question 12

What study did Rubenstein and Sprafkin carry out, that contradicted parental mediation increasing prosocial acts?

Answer 12

Studied adolescents who had been hospitalised due to psychiatric problems.
Found - after post-viewing discussions, they were likely to be less altruistic - may be because adolescents try to assert their independence.
1. Adolescents - can’t gen to other age groups - low ext val.
2. Biased sample - psychiatric problems - low ext val.

Question 13

What is one TV show that was designed with prosocial aims and is thought to reinforce prosocial messages, and what is the one specific group that benefited from it the most, and what may this be due to and who found this?

Answer 13

Sesame Street - children from higher socioeconomic backgrounds benefited the most - may be due to parental mediation, as those from lower socioeconomic background tend to have working families who may not have the time to sit down and carry out parental mediation often (Rice).

Question 14

How did Austin say to provide effective parental mediation?

Answer 14

Effective mediation involves the parent discussing the messages and explaining the ambiguous material.

Question 15

What did Valkenburg argue about co-viewing?

Answer 15

Co-viewing is only successful when there is instructive mediation, where the parent discusses and explains the content post-viewing.

Question 16

Why, relating to developmental factors, may younger children be less affected by prosocial portrayals in the media?

Answer 16

Research suggests that the skills needed for the acquisition of prosocial behaviour, such as empathy, compassion etc., develop throughout childhood, so younger children won’t have these skills and therefore won’t be as affected as older children.

Question 17

What did Mares’ meta analysis find on what age groups are most affected by prosocial viewing?

Answer 17

Primary school children were most likely to be affected by prosocial viewing and adolescents the least likely.
Younger children may be more likely to be affected by home exposure than media exposure.

Question 18

From his meta-analysis, what are 3 effects of prosocial viewing found by Mares?

Answer 18

1. Altruism
2. Self control
3. Positive interaction with others

Question 19

What did Mares find, relating to altruism, and what is the name of someone who also found supporting evidence for this?

Answer 19

Children who saw prosocial content behaved more altruistically.
As did Poulos in his Lassie study.

Question 20

What did Mares find, relating to self-control and what did Frederick and Stein find that supported this and what are 2 criticisms of their study?

Answer 20

When exposed to a good TV model with good self control, children also exhibited the same behaviour.

Frederick and Stein - 4 y/o’s who watched Mister Rogers’ Neighbourhood showed more task perseverance and obedience to rules than those who watched aggressive shows such as Batman.

1. Children - can’t gen to adults - low ext val.
2. IDG - individual differences - low in val.

Question 21

What did Frederick and Steins study find about positive interaction, and what are 2 criticsms of this study?

Answer 21

When watching children at play, those who had watched Mister Rogers’ Neighbourhood behaved more positively towards others than those who watched agg shows.

1. Children - can’t gen to adults - low ext val.
2. IDG - individual differences - low in val.

Question 22

What did Mares find about children imitating prosocial acts and imitating antisocial acts, and what does this mean about the effectiveness of prosocial behaviour?

Answer 22

Children were more likely to imitate prosocial acts exactly as they had seen them, but were more likely to generalise antisocial acts after watching agg. behaviour.
Lack of generalisation - effectiveness of prosocial behaviour is limited.

Question 23

What are 3 criticisms of media influences on prosocial behaviour?

Answer 23

1. Studies are often artificial situations - artificial resu;ts - low int val.
2. Studies are often observations - demand characteristics - low int val.
3. Prosocial/antisocial acts are subjective.