media influences on aggression

• In a typical experimental study, pt randomly put to either an experimental condition, where they view violent film scenes, or a control where they watch non violent. They are then observed to see how they interact with other people after. A consistent finding from lab and field is violent scene viewers subsequently display more aggressive behaviour and thoughts or emotions than those who don’t. A study exposed age 5-6 Finnish children to either violent or non-violent films. Compared with a control, those in violent condition were rated much higher on measures of physical aggression.
• . Longitudinal studies allow researchers to assess the impact of early experiences on behaviour later in life. For example, a study of 557 children between the ages of 6 and 10, growing up in Chicago and 329 of these 15 years later. They found early exposure to TV violence was predictive of adult aggression later in life both genders. This relationship persisted even when the  effects of socioeconomic status, intelligence and any differences in parenting styles were controlled.
• Meta-analyses allow researchers to aggregate the findings of many different individual studies of the effects of media violence. For example, a meta-analysis of 431 studies, involving over 68,000 participants. Of these, 264 studies involved children and 167 adults. Others also looked at the effect of video games, music etc. Overall, they found significant effect sizes for exposure to media violence on aggressive behaviours, thoughts and angry feelings. Short-term effects of violent media were greater for adults than children, long-term effects were greater for children than for adults.
• Porter and Starcevic suggest, interactive violence in video games has the potential to exert even more influence than TVs, (the viewer plays a more passive role). Also, during violent game play, aggression is rewarded and portrayed as appropriate and effective. Lab experiments found short-term increases in levels of physiological arousal, hostile feelings and aggressive behaviour compared to non-violent game play. Aggressive behaviour can’t be studied directly, due to ethics.
• Researchers found that pts blasted opponents with white noise for longer and rated themselves higher on the State Hostility Scale after playing a first person shooter game compared to playing a slow-paced puzzle game. Anderson surveyed 430 kids aged 7-9 at 2 points during the school year. Those who had exposure to violent video games became more verbally and physically aggressive and less prosocial (rated by themselves, their peers and their teachers). Researchers suggest the link between violent games and aggression may be due to competitive nature of the games, as they are more competitive.
• A weakness of lab experiments is that researchers can't measure 'real-life aggression’. So, they can only measure short term effects.

  These alternative 'measures' of aggressive behaviour include administering noise blasts or hot chilli sauce to another pt, neither of which have much to do with actual aggressive behaviour. Longitudinal studies can observe real life patterns of behaviour and document long term effects.

  But, in longitudinal studies, participants may be exposed to other forms of media violence during the study, so the effect from violent video game exposure is uncertain.
• A study suggests that aggressive behaviour may be linked to a player's experiences of failure and frustration during a game.

  They found that it was not the storyline, but lack of mastery and difficulty players had in completing the game, that led to frustration and aggression. This was evident across both violent and nonviolent games.

  The researchers suggest that we tend to have fairly simplistic views when it comes to the link between video games and aggression, as even non-violent games can leave players feeling aggressive if they are poorly designed or too difficult.
• Banduras Bobo doll study supports these findings. 

  Bandura found that children watching aggressive models, then imitated the same behaviours compared to the non-aggressive models where the children didn’t imitate aggressive behaviour. Children watching a violent film where a character may also not be punished for the aggressive behaviours can lead to imiation of these actions by the children. 

  This shows that the results are reliable as they are supported by other similar studies.
• Evidence was provided for the claim that violent computer games produces physiological desensitisation.

  Participants played either a violent or non violent video game for 20 minutes and then watched a 10 minute film clip containing scenes of real life violence while their heart rate and skin conductance response were monitored. Those participants who had previously played the violent computer game had a lower heart rate and skin conductance response while viewing the filmed real-life violence.

  This demonstrated a physiological desensitisation to violence, as predicted by this explanation.