Desensitisation, Disinhibition and Cognitive Priming

• What is Desensitisation?

  • We experience arousal associated with our sympathetic nervous system when we witness aggression
  • However if children repeatedly view aggression on TV or play violent videogames they become habituated and the psychological effects are reduced
  • Repeated exposure to violent media promotes a belief that using aggression as a method of resolving conflict is socially acceptable
• Research into desensitisation:

  • Weisz and Earls
  • Showed Ps graphic rape scene
  • Male viewers showed greater acceptance of rape myths after watching a mock rape trial compared with male viewers of a non-violent film
  • They also showed less sympathy to the victim and less likely to find defendant guilty
  • No similar effect for females
• Disinhibition - Exposure to violent media changes usual restraints:

  • Violence and aggression are antisocial, therefore there are powerful social and psychological restraints against using aggression to resolve interpersonal conflicts
  • Violent media gives aggressive behaviour social approval especially when effects on victims are minimised and appear justified
  • Usual restraints on individuals are disinhibited after exposure to violent media
• Disinhibition is enhanced if aggression is rewarded:

  • Video games often show violence being rewarded and its consequences minimised or ignored
  • This creates new social norms in the viewer which are then strengthened
• What is cognitive priming?

  • Repeated exposure to aggressive media can provide us with a violent 'script' about how to behave to aggressive cues and how violent situations might play out
  • Huesmann says this script is stored in the memory so we become primed to be aggressive
  • This is an automatic process
  • The script is triggered when we encounter cues in a situation what we see as aggressive
• Research into cognitive priming:

  • Fischer and Greitemeyer
  • Investigated song lyrics as a form of media violence
  • Male Ps listened to songs featuring aggressively derogatory lyrics about women
  • Compared with when they listened to neutral lyrics, Ps later recalled more negative qualities about women and behaved more aggressively towards a female confederate
  • Similar results were found with female Ps and 'men-hating' lyrics
• Research support for Desensitisation:

  • Krahe et al
  • Showed Ps violent and non-violent film clips while measuring physiological arousal (Skin conductance)
  • Habitual viewers of violent media showed lower level arousal when watching violent film clips
  • Also reported lower levels of pleasant arousal and lower levels of anxious arousal
  • Lower arousal was correlated with unprovoked proactive aggression in a noise blast test
• Alternative Explanation for Desensitisation:

  • Krahe et al failed to find a link between media viewing, lower arousal and reactive aggression
  • More valid explanation = Catharsis
  • Viewing violent media acts as a safety valve mechanism allowing people to release aggressive impulses without the need to behave aggressively
• Research Support for Disinhibition:

  • Berkowitz and Alioto
  • Lab experiment - found that Ps who saw a film depicting aggression as vengeance gave more (fake) electric shocks of longer duration to confederate
  • Media violence may disinhibit aggressive behaviour when it is justified
  • This is because vengeance is a powerful justification for violence and justified violence is more likely to be seen as socially acceptable
  • Increases Validity
• Strength of Disinhibition - Explains Cartoon Violence

  • According to SLT aggression carried out by media models is partially influential because it suggests that it is socially normative especially when it goes unpunished
  • Kirsh argued this can explain aggressive responses to cartoon violence
  • Children do not learn specific behaviours from cartoon models
  • What they do learn is that aggression is rewarding and achieves goals in a socially acceptable way