Psychology - Aggression media

• violent films and TV

  Lab and field experiment:

  participants randomly assigned to condition where they are exposed to violent film and control condition where there is no violent film.

  they are then observed to see how they interact with others after viewing

  consistent findings suggest that those who watch more violence are more likely to behave aggressively
• violent films

  lab experiment: BJORKQVIST

  P: exposed 5 and 6 year old finnish children to violent or non-violent films

  F: those exposed to violent films rated higher for physical aggression
• violent TV:

  longitudinal studies

  • involve tracking participants over time
  • able to assess impact of early experiences on later life

  HUESMANN:

  P: studied 557 children between 6-10 in 1977. followed up on 329 of them in 1992.

  F: regular viewing of violent TV in early years predictive of adult aggression in later life. applied to both boys and girls.

  also the case when controlling for socioeconomic and parenting factors
• violent TV

  meta analysis:

  • allows researcher to bring together findings of different studies on the effects of media violence

  PAIK and COMSTOCK:

  P: conducted meta analysis of 200 studies

  F: significant positive correlation between TV violence and antisocial behaviour.

  but TV violence only accounted for 1-10% variance in childrens aggression.

  C: implies minor role of TV
• violent video games:

  correlational studies:

  • measure how strong the relationship between 2 or more variables

  DeLisi et al

  worked with juvenile offenders

  several measures of aggression positively correlated with time spent playing video games
• violent video games:

  longitudinal studies:

  Anderson et al

  surveyed 430 children 7-9 years old at 2 point in the school year

  children with high exposure to violent video games became more verbally and physically aggressive
• violent video games

  lab experiments:

  GENTILE and STONE

  found short term increase in levels of physiological arousal hostility and aggression after playing violent video games compared to non violent video games
• AO3: findings explained using SLT.

  ANderson et al sees SLT as a convincing theoretical framework shown by bandura bobo doll study.

  accepted that exposure to violence by models at home is damaging to children so makes sense to assume TV are other sources of social learning.

  suggests research into influence of media on aggression shares common explanation with findings of SLT
• AO3: oversimplified link

  aggressive behaviour may be linked to players experiences of failure and frustration in game rather than content.

  gamers lack of mastery leads to frustration and then aggression and this is the case for non violent games also.

  oversimplified link between aggression and video games
• AO3: methodology:

  many studies fail to consider other causal variables to explain why some people display aggressive behaviours and why those people chose to play violent games.

  Ferguson et al

  conducted meta analysis showed that effects of violent media on aggression disappears when other influences such as trait aggression are taken into consideration.

  shows it is the other risk factor studies fail to account for that cause aggression