The role of desensitisation, disinhibition and cognitive priming

Define desensitisation

Repeated viewing of aggressive media leads to a reduction in anxiety and physiological arousal

Describe the role of desensitisation in aggression

• Physiological response to aggression are based on the fight or flight response

  • When someone witnesses violent actions, their sympathetic nervous system (raising heart rate and blood pressure etc.)

  • The more often people sew exposed to aggression, the less sensitively their nervous system reacts to it and less physiological arousal they show

    • Repeated exposure also promotes the belief that aggression is socially acceptable and should be used as a method of resolving conflict

Describe Welz and Earls (1995) study in desensitisation

• Showed participants a film called ‘Straw Dogs’

  • The film shows a prolonged scene of someone being taken advantage of sexually

  • Ps then watched a reenactment of the trial

    • Male viewers showed greater acceptance of rape myths and sexual aggression and they also expressed less sympathy

There is supporting evidence for the role of desensitisation. Describe how this is a strength

• Krahé et al (2007): found that Ps who reported regularly viewing violent media (violent films computer games) showed lower levels of arousal when shown film clips than non-regular viewers

  • Lower arousal was correlated with unprovoked aggression in a ‘noise blast’ task

• This is a strength since regular exposure to media aggression serves to desensitise the viewer and this is linked to higher levels of unprovoked aggression

Aggression has positive and negative real-life consequences. Describe how this is a weakness

• On the positive side: army troops can become desensitised to the horrors of combat which makes them more effective soldiers

  • One practical application may therefore be to used violent media (e.g., computer games) to desensitise soldiers as a part of their conflict training

• On the negative side: Bushman et al (2009) suggested that exposure to violent media can reduce helping behaviour which may otherwise be offered

  • They become ‘comfortably numb’ to the pain and suffering others and become less helpful

• This is a weakness since it shows the awareness of the role of desensitisation in people’s behaviour in a range of situations

Define disinhibition

Normal restraints against using aggression are weakened after viewing violent media, especially is aggression is viewed as justified

Describe the role of disinhibition in aggression

• The normal belief is that aggression is harmful and unacceptable in a society - children are taught that aggressive behaviour will receive punishments

  • Directly through operamt conditioning

  • Indirectly through social learning theory

• If children continue to interact with violent media (especially if they perceive that aggression is rewarded or not punished) them their usual moral restraints become looser

  • They minimise the effects of it and justify its use meaning they may act aggressively themselves - creating new social norms in the viewer

There is supporting evidence for disinhibition. Describe how this is a strength

• Berkowitz et al (1973): Pa that watched a film depicting aggression as vengeance gave more (fake) electric shocks of longer duration to to a confederate

• This is strength since media violence may disinhibit aggressive behaviour when is presented as vengeance - vengeance is seen as a strong justification for violence and therefore more socially acceptable

The chances of disinhibition occurring may depend on other factors. Describe how this is a weakness

• Heath et al (1989) found that children growing up in household with strong norms against violence are unlikely to experience sufficient disinhibition for them to show aggressive behaviour

  • Disinhibition effect is stronger in families where children experience physical punishment from their parents and where they identify with violent heroes

• This is a weakness since it suggests there may be practical applications such as encouraging parents to prevent their children from feeling the effects of disinhibition by establishing clear households norms

Define cognitive priming

• Viewing aggressive media gives us a ‘script’ for how violent situations begin and develop

Describe the role of cognitive priming in aggression

• Huesmann (1988): our life experiences help to write our schema or ‘script’ about violent situations

  • This is stored in our memory and ready to ‘play out’ when we encounter such situations in the future

    • E.g., people who have large amounts of exposure to violent media show more readiness to act aggressively

    • They are primed for aggression which means their schema may be ‘triggered’ by cues that they perceived to be more aggressive than others

Describe Fischer & Greitemeyer (2006) study into cognitive priming

• Studied the priming of aggressive scripts in memory by investigating a neglected form of media violence - song lyrics

  • Male Ps listened to songs featuring aggressively derogatory lyrics about women

  • Compared with when they listened to neutral lyrics, Ps recalled more negative qualities about women and behaved more aggressive towards female confederates

There is supporting evidence for the role of cognitive priming in aggression. Describe how this is a strength

• Bushman (1998): when undergraduates watched a 15 minute segment of a violent film, they had faster reactions times to aggressive words than those who watched a non-violent film

• Anderson and Dill (2000) found that Ps who played violence computer games had more cognitively accessible thoughts than those who played non-violent computer games

• This is a strength as the studies suggest exposure to violent media does increase ‘accessibility’ of violent thoughts and ideas

Blaming aggression on the influence of the media may ignore the role played by biological factors. Describe how this is a weakness

• Brunner (1993) discovered that a defective MAOA gene in a Dutch Family with a history of male violence

• Testosterone has been shown to play an important role in determining some aggressive behaviour

• This is a weakness since it suggests media influences explanation of aggression may be limited in the amount of aggressive behaviours if can successfully explain