violence

Question 1

What is violence?

Answer 1

Behavior intended to cause physical harm or pain to another individual
Examples – slapping, punching, kicking

Question 2

What is aggression?

Answer 2

o Internal motivation
o Underlies violent behavior
o Cant be observed directly

Question 3

Prevalence of media violence

Answer 3

o In majority of TV and movies
 U.S. TV – 60-70%
 U.S. movies – 90%

Question 4

How it compares to the real world

Answer 4

Violence is highly portrayed in media compared to in real life

Question 5

Effects of media violence

Answer 5

Not just behavior (modeling)
Emotional and attitudinal effects
 Fear
 Sensitization and desensitization
Research findings
 Almost everybody has a vivid memory of seeing scary movie as a child

Question 6

Fear - Young children (preschoolers)

Answer 6

 Distortions of national forms
 Monsters
 Mutants

Question 7

Young children response to fear

Answer 7

Physical disengagement
*Closing eyes

Question 8

Fear - Older (elementary school)

Answer 8

 Physical violence
 Natural disasters

Question 9

Fear - older

Answer 9

 Dystopian
 Terrorism
 Nuclear war

Question 10

Older response to fear

Answer 10

Cognitive responses
“that’s not real”

Question 11

Sensitization

Answer 11

Violent media behavior has traumatizing effect
Makes you less likely to imitate behavior

Question 12

Sensitization predictors

Answer 12

 First time seeing very extreme violence
 Graphic imagery
 Empathy

Question 13

Desensitization

Answer 13

Cause: regular consumption of violence in media
 Effect
* Less sensitive
* More jaded
* Less bothered
Physiology or attitude measures
Classical conditioning

Question 14

Consequences of desensitization

Answer 14

Attitudinal effects
* Less bothered
Behavioral effects
* Nonviolent condition  intervene in fight sooner
Physiological effects
* Decreased blood pressure, skin response, emotional brain response

Question 15

Modeling violent behavior

Answer 15

To learn a behavior, you need to be exposed to it
1. Attention
Exposure and attention to stimuli
 Watch horror movie
2. Retention
Retain and recall stimuli
Thought about violent act
3. Translation
Translate into behavior
Able to do violent act
4. Motivation
Be motivated to use behavior
Motivated due to internal desire/external circumstances

Question 16

Generalized vs. specific modeling

Answer 16

oSpecific modeling – reenact exact violent behavior
oGeneralized modeling – enact general violent behaviors, not solely the one exposed to

Question 17

• Disinhibition

Answer 17

o Premise: everyone has impulses
o Inhibition acts like a gate to prevent us from acting on them
o Exposure to media violence
 Removes filter
 Change in attitude about appropriateness of violence

Question 18

Longitudinal studies about violence

Answer 18

Predicted aggressive behavior as an adult

Question 19

Catharsis

Answer 19

Prediction
 Screen violence exposure should decrease violent behavior
Support
 Experiments and longitudinal studies

Question 20

Other influences on violent behavior

Answer 20

o Media is a relatively small contributor 5-20%
o Negative social conditions
o Negative family or peer role models

Question 21

General aggression model

Answer 21

 Personal factors and situational factors interact to produce aggression
 Personal = all individual differences
 Situational = all external or environmental variables

Question 22

Who is attracted to violent media?

Answer 22

Personality traits
 Sensation-seeking
* Risk taking
 Hostility
* Perceivers others’ actions as intending harm
 Low empathy

Question 23

Content-specific factors that make someone more likely to model behavior

Answer 23

o Attractive perpetrator, unattractive victim
o Violence is reinforced, justified, quick and painless

Question 24

Content-specific factors that make someone less likely to model behavior

Answer 24

o Unattractive perpetrator, attractive victim
o Violence is unjustified, has consequences for perp, slow and painful