Desensitisation, disinhibition, and cognitive priming

what is desensitisation theory?

• when we see aggression, we experience the f/f resp

• this physiolog arousal was adaptive for our ancestors + helped keep them alive

• h, w repeated exposure to aggr, such as on TV/playing viol vid games, effect becomes less & our physiolog resp decrease each time

• our physiolog resp also decrease, we increasingly believe aggr is socially acceptable, less empathy felt for victims, we will be more likely to resp violently + aggr when presented w the opport to do so

• we become desensitised to the aggr

what is the disinhibition theory?

• we learn in childh thru SLT that aggr beh goes against social norms, and this restrains our beh

• h, w continued exposure to aggr such as on TV/playing viol vid games, our normal restraints are reduced

• this happens esp bc of anonymity of gaming

• aggr rolem such as superheroes seen as successful & this beh is observed + imitated 

• aggr beh becomes a ‘normal’ resp + socially acceptable esp if aggr seen as justified

• this creates new social norms in the person and usual social restraints on our aggr beh are reduced - we become disinhibited 

• this proc of disinhib more powerful if viol is rewarded such as in many computer games

what is cognitive priming?

the way in which viol images prov us w ready-made scripts ab aggr which stored in memory + triggered when we perceive aggr cues in a situation

how does cognitive priming work?

• repeated exposure to aggr + viol in media act as priming stimuli & prov us w a script/schema to act aggr

• exposure to these cues in a sim context in real world can trigger memory script/schema leading to reprod of the aggr beh

• we have been ‘cog primed’ to think + beh in partic way e.g. watching viol films prov us w a ‘script’ ab how to act when we perceive threat & makes aggr more likely

• this effect may be specific (reprod of specific aggr acts) or more general (tendency to beh in generally aggr way)

what do violent video games increase?

• incr the likelihood of aggressive schema

• child may play computer game where aggr rewarded + when they find themselves in potentially aggr sit irl, child will have an internal script (schema) or readiness that the way to ‘win’ is thru aggr resp

• therefore, viol in comp games has the effect of ‘priming’ an individ to beh aggr