Media influences: Desensitisation, disinhibition & cognitive priming Flashcards
1
Q
What three factors may explain the research into the effects of computer games?
A
- desensitisation
- disinhibition
- cognitive priming
2
Q
What is desensitisation?
A
- This is reduced sensitivity to a stimulus
- this may be psychological (less emotional response) or physiological (lowered heart rate) to excessive media
3
Q
How does desensitisation occur and what does this lead to to?
A
- consequence of repeated exposure to violent or aggressive acts particularly in the media
- this causes individuals to be
1) less empathetic towards victims
2) their injuries are minimised & dismissed
3) they increasingly accept aggression as a social norm (Funk et al) - also have reduced physiological responses from the sympathetic nervous system
4
Q
What study highlighted the effect of desensitisation?
A
-
Weisz & Earls > found in their lab study that men who had watched the film Straw dogs (included a prolonged & graphic rape scene)
1) were more accepting of rape myths & sexual aggressions
2) and less likely to find the defendant guilty when watching a rape trial re-enactment - no effect of film type on female p’s
5
Q
What is a strength of the desensitisation explanation?
A
- research support
- Krahe et al> showed p’s violent (and non-violent) films while measure physiological arousal using skin conductance
- p’s who were habitual viewers of violent media:
1) showed lower levels of arousal as they watched the violent film clip
2) also gave louder burst of white noise to a confederate without being provoked (proactive) - lower arousal in violent media users reflects desensitisation to the effects of violence which is linked to greater willingness to be aggressive
- increasing reliability
6
Q
What is a limitation of the desensitisation explanation?
A
- it cannot explain some aggression
- study by Krahe et al failed to link media viewing, lower arousal and provoked (reactive) aggression
- a more valid explanation for this might be catharsis
- This psychodynamic theory suggest that viewing violent media is a safety valve allowing people to release aggressive impulses without further violent behaviour
- not all aggression is the result of desensitisation & alternative explanations are more valid
7
Q
What is disinhibition?
A
- refers to a lack of restraint (no longer being inhibited) towards violence & aggression
- may be due to an environmental trigger or overexposure to a stimulus resulting in socially unacceptable behaviors becoming acceptable & therefore more likely
8
Q
How are inhibitions learnt and how does the media loosen this inhibition according to the disinhibition explanation?
A
- inhibitions are learnt through social learning processes but these usual restraints are loosened after exposure to violent media
- this is because aggressive behaviour is made to appear normative & justified:
1) by rewarding aggressive behaviour
2) & minimizing the negative effects on victims - results in new social norms & attitudes towards aggression being developed
9
Q
What is a strength of the disinhibition explanation?
A
- research support
- Berkowitz & Alioto > found p’s who saw a film depicting aggression as vengeance> gave more electric shocks of longer duration to a confederate
- shows that media violence may disinhibit aggressive behaviour if it is presented a justified & socially acceptable > as in the case of vengeance
- demonstrates link between removal of social constraints & subsequent aggressive behaviour
10
Q
What is another strength of disinhibition?
A
- it can explain the effects of cartoon violence
- children do not learn specific aggressive behaviors from cartoon models > instead they learn that aggression in general is acceptable (socially normative)
- this is especially the case if the cartoon model is not punished which disinhibits aggressive behaviour
- explains how cartoon aggression can lead to aggression in those who observe it
11
Q
What is cognitive priming?
A
- states that the way a person thinks is triggered by cues or scripts which make us ready (primed) to respond in specific ways
12
Q
How does cognitive priming link to media?
A
- According to Huesmann> exposure to a repeated number of aggressive media/ acts that are rewarded/ vicariously reinforced
1) leads us to develop a script (schema) about how aggression will play out in the real world
2) this script is stored in memory and is triggered when we encounter aggressive cues
3) so we become primed to be aggressive - process is mostly automatic (directs behaviour without being aware)
13
Q
Who demonstrated the priming of aggressive scripts and explain findings?
A
-
Fischer & Greitereyer > found that male p’s who listened to aggressive songs featuring derogatory lyrics about women
1) behaved more aggressively towards a female confederate
2) recalled more negative qualities about women - compared to group who heard gender neutral lyrics
- media may cognitively prime audiences to develop increased tolerance & disinhibition to violence
14
Q
What is a strength of cognitive priming?
A
- real world applications
- whether real world situations become violent depend on how people interpret environmental cues> this depends on the cognitive scripts they have stored in memory
-
Bushman & Anderson > argue that someone who habitually watches violent media
1) accesses stored aggressive scripts more readily
2) they are more likely to interpret cues as aggressive
3) & thus resort to a violent solution without considering alternatives - interventions could potentially reduce aggressive behaviour by challenging hostile cognitive biases e.g. through CBT
15
Q
What is a limitation of cognitive priming?
A
- CV’s in research
- violent games tend to be more complex in their gameplay than non-violent games and this complexity is a CV > could be the complexity that causes the priming effect not the violence
- Zendle et al> found that when complexity was controlled, the priming effects of violent video games disappeared
- supportive findings of studies into priming may be partly due to CV’s
