Media influence on aggression

• Film/ TV:

  • Watching violence in films & on TV, even just as a passive viewer, is thought to increase aggressive thoughts, emotions & behaviours.
  • There's plenty of research evidence to back this up, including both laboratory & field as well as longitudinal & meta-analyses- suggesting a reliable theory.
• • Husemann (2003) studied 557 children between 6-10 years old living in Chicago in 1977 & then followed up with 329 of them 15 years later in 1992.
  • Their findings showed that habitual exposure to TV violence from an early age was a predictor of adult aggression in both genders.
  • This was true even when other variables, such as socioeconomic status was accounted for.
• Computer Games:

  • Research into this area= relatively new when compared to most psychological theories, but it's an important area, as unlike when watching violence on TV, a game player isn't merely a passive observer, but an active players who is rewarded for aggression, & violence is displayed as appropriate & effective.
• Computer Games:

  • Research conducted has shown that playing violent games increases physiological arousal, hostility & aggressive actions following play in comparison to non-violent games.
  • Anderson et al (2007) also conducted a longitudinal study on 430 children aged 7-9 over 2 separate points in the school year, finding that those who played violent games were more physically & verbally aggressive & less prosocial (rated by themselves, peers & teachers).
  • However, has been argued that this longitudinal effect can be explained by the competitive nature of the games rather than the violent content, as violent games tend to be more competitive than non-violent.
• • Husemann (2006) performed a meta-analysis of 431 studies involving over 68,000 PPs including children & adults.
  • These studies looked at a wide range of media as well as film & TV, such as games & comics.
  • They found a small but significant effect of media on aggression (behaviours, thoughts & feelings)
  • The short-term effects were greater for adults, whereas the long-term effects were greater for children.
• Evaluation of media influence on aggression- weakness:

  • Research is misleading, as although significant relationships have been found, they are usually very low effect sizes & the studies have not looked into person on person violence or criminal violence.
  • Studies that have looked at this have actually found media to have close to zero influence.
• Evaluation of media influence on aggression- weakness:

  • Evidence is gender & culturally biased.
  • As much of the research in this area has been done on young, American males, we cannot generalise the findings (especially not to women).
  • Different cultures have different media histories, & this makes it difficult to generate generalisable theories.
• Evaluation of media influence on aggression- weakness:

  • Is it cause or effect?
  • It appears that playing violent games/ watching violence on TV lead to violence in real life, but could it be that people who are predisposed are more likely to play these games & enjoy violent films?
• Evaluation of media influence on aggression- weakness:

  • We can question the validity of these studies, as it is not possible to ethically to measure 'real-life' aggression.
  • Studies tend to use measures such as noise blasts or administering hot chilli sauce as measures of aggression, but this is hardly comparable to punching someone in the face.