Media influences- effects of computer games

Question 1

Outline what is meant by media

Answer 1

Media is the main means of mass communication, where information can be communicated to lots of people at once

Question 2

list the research you should use in an essay on effects of videogames on aggression

Answer 2

1. Greitemeyer and Mugge
2. James Bulger case study
3. Longitudinal study- 550ppts ages 6-10 studied for a year- then studied 15 years later
4. George Gerber- ‘mean world syndrome’

Question 3

Name the key research support for media influences on aggression

Answer 3

Greitemeyer and Mugge

Question 4

What is the procedure and findings of Greitemeyer and Mugge- key researcher for medias influence on aggression

Answer 4

Procedure: meta analysis of 37,000 ppts over 98 studies- did prosocial and antisocial behaviour
Findings: Found an effect across all research but it had a small average affect size- proscocial games reduced aggression and violent games increased it

Question 5

Explain James Bulger’s case study has real life application
- what strengths and weakness does this case study has

Answer 5

P- James Bulger’s case study has real life application- showing effects of media- leading to 2 children being murdered- found to having correlating actions with a movie
Strengths: high validity- real life application but lacks reliability due to establishing cause and effect

Question 6

name the 3 methods of research to find the effects of aggression

Answer 6

1. experimental studies
2. Longitudinal studies
3. Meta analysis

Question 7

AO3 Does media and computer games cause aggression
RS Greitemeyer and Mugge

Answer 7

P- RS - that games cause aggression
E- Greitemeyer and Mugge- -meta analysis 37,000 ppts - investigate effect of violent games in contrast to prosocial games - how it influences behaviour
E- Research shows link- nut smal average effect size
L- Therefore, eventhough there is RS- reduced validity due to effect size being small

Question 8

AO3 Does media and computer games cause aggression
Other causal variables are not considered

Answer 8

P- However, other causal variables are not considered
E- eg. ferguson claims no EV were controlled- which have shown ro influence aggression
E- This means that the research lacks validity due to other factors not being considered such as MAOA gene
L- Therefore, research is reductionist due to other causal factors- that disturb the correlation between violent games and increased aggression

Question 9

AO3 Does media and computer games cause aggression
Weakness- use of lab experiments as R evidence

Answer 9

P- Weakness- use of lab experiments as R evidence
E- research can’t measure real life aggression- only discover short term effects because the research lacks mundane realism
E- However, alternative is using longitudinal studies- increased validity as it is realistically measuring aggression
L- But, weakness is it lacks ecological validity because there’s uncertainty that aggression was due to the effect of videogames

Question 10

AO3 Does media and computer games cause aggression
Another weakness - methodological flaws-game difficulty over content

Answer 10

P- Another weakness - methodological flaws-game difficulty is suggested to be what causes aggression, instead of violent action content
E- E.g. aggression- due to failing a game and getting frustrated about it
E- This suggests that the aggression occurs in prosocial and antisocial games- after being frustrated about experiencing failure
L- This demonstrates methodological flaws- recent research finding failure produces more phone agg than any violent content