Media Influences On Aggression

• Cognitive priming:The presentation of cues previously associated with aggressive behaviour can cause someone to behave aggressively. 

  • The repeated viewing of aggressive media can provide us with a ‘script’ about how violent situations should ‘play out’. This ‘script’ is then used to guide how to behave if similar situations arise. 
  • This can be an unconscious process.
• P: Fisher and Greitemeyer (cognitive priming)

  E: Male participants listened to songs featuring aggressively derogatory lyrics about women and then recalled more negative qualities about women and acted more aggressively towards a female confederate than a control group. 

  E: Supports cognitive priming

  L: Replicated with female participants
• P: Josephson (cognitive priming)

  E: Hockey players were deliberately frustrated and then shown violent or non-violent films where an actor held a walkie-talkie. In a subsequent game, the boys who saw the violent films and had a referee holding the walkie-talkie behaved the most aggressively.

  E: Walkie talkie was a cue for aggressive behaviour

  L: Cannot standardise hockey games
• P: Murray (cognitive priming)

  E: Used fMRI to compare brain areas of 8 children when watching both violent and non-violent programmes. When watching the violent programmes, a part of the right hemisphere was activated that is responsible for storing episodic memories.

  E: Violence is being stored as scripts for later use

  L: Small sample
• Desensitisation: Repeated exposure to violence in media reduced the impact of the violence (physiological arousal).

  • People become less anxious about violent behaviour and so therefore may engage in more of it.
  • The desensitisation is also psychological; it encourages the belief that using aggression to solve conflict is socially acceptable. 
• P: Belson (desensitisation)

  E: Conducted a study with 1500 boys and found no evidence that high exposure to TV violence would desensitise them into becoming more violent.

  E: Opposes the theory

  L: Large sample
• P: Krahe (desensitisation)

  E: Used galvanic skin response to measure physiological arousal when watching violent and non-violent film clips. Those who regularly watched violent media showed lower levels of arousal and verbally reported lower ratings of anxious arousal.

  E: Supports theory
• P: Being exposed to violent media does not necessarily mean the individual will display this behaviour in real life.  (desensitisation)

  E: It may make individuals more ‘frightened’ rather than more ‘frightening’

  E: It could be that ‘desensitised’ individuals are less aroused by violence and so are not so easily provoked by real life violence.
• Disinhibition: Uncharacteristic behaviour for the individual is demonstrated when exposed to media aggression. 

  • This may incite violence in a passive person in everyday behaviour.
  • Violence is rewarded in video games and becomes the new social norm.
• P: Berkowitz and Alioto (disinhibition)

  E: Participants who saw a film depicting aggression as vengeance gave more (fake) electric shocks of a longer duration to a confederate

  E: Media violence disinhibits aggressive behaviour when it is presented as justified. 

  L: Demonstrates the link between removal of social constraints and subsequent aggression.
• P: Goranson (disinhibition)

  E: Showed a film of a boxing match with two alternate endings. One ended with no consequences but the other ended in the loser being beaten to death. Those who had viewed the first film displayed more aggressive behaviour.

  E: Aggressive behaviour is more likely when negative consequences are unknown
• Aggression is determinist (general criticism)
• Physical Effects

  A research report suggested that computer games can have short-term effects on the functioning of different areas of the brain. Participants either played a violent video game (Medal of Honor) or a non-violent video game (Need for Speed) for 30 minutes. An fMRI was used to measure brain activity during this; those who played the violent game showed increased activity in the amygdala (stimulates decreased activity in the prefrontal lobe, which regulates inhibition). These responses were not seen in the non-violent game. 
• Desensitisation

  Carnagey et al examined the effect of playing violent computer games on later responses to real life violence. Participants had to play a violent game for 20 minutes and the control condition played a non-violent computer game. Then, both groups watched a film with graphic violence whilst their physiological response, e.g galvanic skin response, heart rate, was being measured. Those who had played the violent game had a reduced physiological response.
• Social effects

  Sheese and Graziano studied the relationship between playing violent video games and later cooperative behaviour. Participants played the game ‘Doom’ as either a violent version or a doctored version  and had the option of cooperating or exploiting each other or withdrawing from the game. May undermine prosocial behaviour.
• P: Causation problem (the effect of computer games)

  E: Do young people exhibit more negative behaviour as a result of playing these violent games or do aggressive individuals play these games as they appeal to their inherent nature?

  E: Individual differences, so undermines the validity of research on computer games
• P: Effects of long-term exposure (the effect of computer games)

  E: Limited research of long-term effects 

  E: Limited use
• P: Beneficial effects (the effect of computer games)

  E: Kestenbaum and Weinstein found that the use of computer games helped release aggression and feel calmer

  E: Provides an outlet for stress and anger