desensitisation, disinhibition and cognitive priming

• desensitisation leads to reduced physiological response as normally when we witness aggression we experience arousal associated with the sympathetics nervous system. But when children repeatedly view aggression on TV or play violent computer games the physiological effects are reduced (desensitisation)
• desensitisation leads to reduced psychological responses like less empathy for victim as repeated exposure to violent media promotes a belief that aggression to resolve conflict is socially acceptable. So negative attitudes towards violence weaken and less empathy is felt for victims. Researchers showed participants the film Straw Dogs and males showed greater acceptance of rape myths after watching mock rape trial compared with male viewers of a non-violent film. They also showed less sympathy to victim and were less likely to find defemdant guilty
• disinhibition means exposure to violent media changes usual restraints. Most people believe violence and aggression are antisocial so there are strong social an sociological restraints against using aggression to resolve conflicts. Violent media gives aggressive behaviour social approval, especially where effects on victims are minimised. The usual restraints on individuals are loosened (disinhibited) after exposure to violent media
• disinhibition is enhanced if aggression is rewarded. Computer games after show violence braking rewarded at the same time as its consequences are minimised or justified. Such rewards strengthen new social norms in the viewer
• cognitive priming is a script learned about how to behave to aggressive cues. Repeated experience of aggressive media can provide us with a script about how violent situations may play out. A researchers argues that this script is stored in memory so we become primed to be aggressive. This is an automatic process because a script can direct our behaviour without us being aware of it. This script is triggered when we encounter cues in a situation that we perceive as aggressive
• songs with aggressive lyrics may trigger violent behaviour. Researcher’s male participants heard songs featuring aggressively derogatory lyrics about omen. compared with when they listened to neutral lyrics, participants later recalled more negative qualities about women and behaved more aggressively towards a female confederate. Similar results with female participants and men hating lyrics
• One strength of desensitisation is research support. Researchers showed violent and non violent films which measured physiological arousal. Habitual views of violet media showed lower arousal and have louder bursts of white noise to a confederate without being provoked. This lower arousal in violent media users reflects desensitisation to the effects of violence and it was also linked to greater willingness to be aggressive
• One limitation of desensitisation is that it cannot explain some aggression. Researchers study didn’t link media viewing and arousal with provoked aggression. Catharsis may explain this as viewing violent media is a safety value, releasing aggressive impulses without violence. Therefore, not all aggression is the result of desensitisation and alternative explanations may be more valid
• One strength of disinhibition is research support. Researchers found people who saw a film showing aggression as vengeance gave more shocks to a confederate. Media violence may disinhibition aggression if presented as justified/socially acceptable. This demonstrates the link between removal of social constraints and subsequent aggressive behaviour
• One strength of desensitisation is it can explain cartoon violence. Children don't learn specific aggressive behaviours from cartoon models. They learn that aggression is acceptable, especially if it goes unpunished. Therefore disinhibition explains how cartoon aggression can lead to aggression in those who observe it
• One strength of cognitive priming is that it has real world application. Real world violent situations depend on interpretation of environmental cues, which depends on cognitive scripts stored in memory. Researchers claim someone who watches violent media stores aggressive scripts more readily so they interpret cues as aggressive. This suggests that interventions could potentially reduce aggressive behaviour by challenging hostile cognitive biases
• One limitation of cognitive priming is confounding variables. Violent video games tend to be more complex in gameplay than non violent games, so complexity is a confounding variable. Researchers found that when complexity was controlled, the priming effects of violent video dames disappeared. Therefore, the supportive findings of studies into priming may be partly due to confounding variables