Media Psychology Flashcards
What is meant by pro-social behaviour?
Any behaviour that is carried out selflessly for the benefit of another person
What is meant by anti-social behaviour?
Any behaviour that involves harming another (usually violent behaviour
How is the social learning theory applied to media?
Anti-social behaviour
- Observes either an aggressive or pro-social act on TV
- Retains the act
- Imitates the act
- Continues to imitate the behaviour if positively reinforced or stops behaviour if negatively reinforced
How are the three factors of SLT linked to media?
Self Efficacy- We’ll only imitate acts we feel that we can carry out.
Similarity- Most likely to imitate characters on TV that we are similar to.
Vicarious reinforcement- More likely to imitate the act seen on screen if they are positively reinforced e.g. a villain gets away with murder.
How does the Bandura Bobo doll study link to an evaluation for ANTI-SOCIAL behaviour and SLT(Media)?
The children in groups 3-5 still carried out aggressive acts and copied the behaviour even though it was shown on a TV screen.
Also cartoon violence affected them the same way
What are the two debates involved in the evaluation of SLT?
Deterministic- implies that if we watch violent programmes we will imitate the actions
Nurture side- doesn’t consider biological factors that has shown that people are naturally aggressive
Which study evaluates SLT as an explanation for PRO-SOCIAL behaviour?
Sprafkin et al (1975) - Lassie study and 6 year old children
What were the 3 conditions in Sprakfin et al’s study (Lassie)?
Group 1 = watched an episode of Lassie where a boy risks his life to save a puppy (Pro-social)
Group 2 = watched an episode of Lassie where no help was involved
Group 3 = watched an episode of the Brady Bunch
All groups were then given the opportunity to help some distressed puppies but had to stop playing a game where they could win a big prize.
What were the findings of the Sprafkin et al (Lassie) study?
Children in group one spent on average over 90 seconds helping the puppies compared to under 50 seconds in groups two and three.
Shows that in group one they had observed the characters helping the puppies and therefore retained that and reproduced the behaviour.
What debate is linked to the Lassie study?
Takes the nurture side- children would have had other influences in their lives not just the video they watched
E.g the children in group one could’ve have been brought up more pro-social
What is desensitisation?
The result of reduced stress from exposure to observations or thoughts of violence
Empathy is lost for the victim of violence
E.g. watching graphic horror
What is sensitisation?
Involves feeling empathy for the victims and wanting to help
E.g. wanting to help an animal in pain on a documentary
How many studies evaluate desensitisation as an explanation for medias effects on ANTI-SOCIAL behaviour?
3
Describe Cline et al’s supporting study (1973) for evaluating desensitisation.
Exposed children and adults to mild scenes of violence and measured their arousal level.
Arousal levels declined every time a new scene of violence was shown - showed they had become desensitised
Describe Drabman and Thomas’ supporting study (1974) for evaluating desensitisation.
Showed children aged 8-10 years old a video and then placed them in a situation where they saw younger children fighting.
Those who had seen the violent video took longer to break up the fight. - became desensitised
Describe Mullin and Linz’s supporting study (1995) for evaluating desensitisation.
Looked at effect of violent pornography on adults.
Questioned adult males about their response to sexual and domestic violence and showed them violent pornography. 3 days later they were re-assessed and their empathy for the female victim had DECREASED meaning they had desensitised.
However, their attitudes returned to the same levels at the start of the study 2 days later.
How many studies are there to evaluate sensitisation as an explanation of media’s effects on PRO-SOCIAL behaviour?
2
Describe Sprakfin et al’s (1975) supporting study to evaluate sensitisation.
The children who had watched the pro-social Lassie episode may have been sensitised to the puppies’ distress in the episode so therefore felt empathy when presented with distressed puppies in real-life.
What is a limitation of sensitisation as an explanation of the effects of media on pro-social behaviour?
Lacks direct evidence of the media showing pro-social behaviour having a direct link with higher levels of empathy in children.
Describe Shelton and Rogers’ (2006) supporting study to evaluate sensitisation.
Showed adults footage of an industrial whaling video and an anti whaling video (pro-social). Found it increased the adult’s empathy to whales
This study doesn’t show whether the media can be used to develop long terms of pro-social behaviour in adults and children.
What leads us to believe that video games have a negative effect on behaviour?
It’s found that video games are overtly aggressive.
Evidence to show this from Hanner and Thompson (2004) they examined 80 computer games aimed at teenagers and found that 94% contained some kind of violence.
What is the main study that supports the negative effects of video games?
Konjin et al (2007)-Dutch study
112 Dutch boys aged 12-16 given 3 conditions
1. Violent video game
2. Violent fantasy game
3.Non Violent game
After 20 minutes told they were playing against an unseen partner and the winner could blast a noise on the scale of 1-10. There was no opponent but they were told they had won.
Aggression was measured by noise level and how much they identified with the character.
What were the findings of the Konjin et al (2007) study of negative effects of video games?
Found that boys taking part in the realistic violent video game averaged giving the highest level of noise and the boys in group 1 who’d identified most strongly with the character gave significantly higher levels of noise
Shows more aggression after playing game
What is the 2 evaluation points for Konjin et al’s study (negative effects of video games)?
- Low ecological validity as carried out in lab and is different to playing video games at home
- Unethical as immoral to put children in a position where they could be made to be more aggressive.