desensitisation

• Usually, witnessing violent actions elicit physiological arousal associated with the Sympathetic nervous system such as increased heart rate, higher blood pressure etc. Desens is both physiological and psychological, our attitudes and bodily reactions weaken after repeated exposure to violence- making aggression more likely.
• Bushman (2009) found that pps who played violent video games for 20 mins took longer to respond to someone injured in a staged fight than those viewing non violent video games, suggesting desensitisation had taken place
• most studies into desensitisation effects have not used representatative samples, for example, male students tend to be used, these conclusions make over-generalisations about all viewers including women, beta bias