Specification: Media influences on aggression, including the effects of computer games. The role of desensitisation, disinhibition and cognitive priming.

Media Influences 

Most of us live in a media saturated world. Television, radio, newspapers, books, magazines, the internet, and social media fill the daily lives of most individuals. 

Psychologists have been interested to investigate whether these media influences have an effect on our behaviour, particularly aggressive behaviour. Any form of communication can be defined as 'media; new media is apparent in the technological advances in gaming. Computer games can be defined as a game played on a screen, using a mouse, keyboard or handheld controller. Computer games such as those played on the Xbox and Play Station have become a chief source of entertainment for many individuals, especially those in younger age groups. Psychologists investigating the influences on behaviour of these computer games have produced three main theories.

Desensitisation 

Desensitisation theory proposes that with continual exposure to a stimulus our responses to that stimulus are decreased. Therefore, if aggression is presented to us on a daily basis, there is reduction in our response to the aggression. Under normal circumstances the sympathetic nervous system switches on in response to witnessing violence or aggression. Heart rate increases, adrenaline is released and this physiological stress response causes a desire to remove ourselves from the object. Viewing aggression will cause an initiation of this evolved 'fight or flight' response. This response was adaptive for our ancestors and helped keep them alive. 

However, it was also adaptive for our ancestors to become accustomed to environmental stimuli that were frequently encountered. For instance, some tribes have become tree dwellers for their own safety. On the face of it living high in the trees would seem a stressful and frightening experience, but these tree dwellers have become desensitised to the fear element of living in the treetops. Psychologists have proposed that desensitisation can therefore also provide an adaptive response to the environment. 

Today our environment consists of a media saturated world, and violence and aggression are often present in news reports. However, violence is also a feature of many computer games. Psychologists propose that desensitisation as a response to violence viewed in computer games can have a negative effect. Individuals may not respond to real aggression with any physiological arousal, such as that associated with fear. The result of this effect is that individuals may be more likely to accept violence and aggression and may be more likely to respond violently and aggressively when presented with the opportunity to do so 

Disinhibition 

A further theory to explain how the media can influence aggression is through a process of disinhibition. Disinhibition theory proposes that our normal restraints are loosened after exposure to media violence. Aggressive behaviour becomes normalised and the norms governing our behaviour become altered from non-acceptance to acceptance and therefore aggression is seen as a 'normal' response in certain circumstances. One aspect of aggression that is particularly believed to become normal and acceptable is an aggressive response as a result of a real or imagined wrongdoing. So if the viewed aggression is seen as a revenge response, this is deemed to be 'normal', and thus it is justified. This type of viewed aggression is believed to have a greater disinhibitory effect on consequential aggressive behaviour. 

Most people agree aggressive behaviour is harmful and antisocial. This is learnt through social learning. Bandura (1977) proposed that we learn how to behave from observational learning of role models,such as parents and significant others in our lives. However, as a child grows, the media becomes an increasingly powerful role model. Superheroes can provide an aggressive role model, albeit in the name of justice. Adult films can present such role models as James Bond which children may look up to and imitate. However, when aggression levels are normalised in these role models, the child can grow up with norms that aggression is socially acceptable as a response and therefore more likely. This process of disinhibition is more powerful if violence is rewarded. Many computer games reward the player for initiating violence and in this format any negative consequences from aggression are minimal. 

Cognitive Priming 

Children as young as ten may have been exposed to 8,000 murders and up to 100,000 other acts of violence on television alone (Huston et al, 1992). Cognitive priming is an explanation that proposes that the influence of aggression in the media and in computer games provides individuals with 'scripts' for their responses and behaviour when they perceive an environmental stimulus as aggressive. Cognitive priming maintains that there is a priming effect of media images on previously learnt behaviours or cognitive schema. This priming effect can activate memories and make aggression more likely. 

Violent computer games may increase the likelihood of aggression in players who have learned aggressive responses in the past and/or who hold aggressive schema. A child may play a computer game where aggression is rewarded; when they find themselves in a potentially aggressive situation, rather than trying to defuse the aggression the child will have an internal script (schema) that the way to 'win' is through an aggressive response. Therefore, the violence in computer games has the effect of 'priming' an individual to violence. Children from a very early age have a potential gamut of violent scripts to guide their behaviour. They select the script depending on the situation and then take part as an actor in the situation. This process can occur without conscious thought and become an automatic response to cues in the environment.

Evaluation  

Weisz and Earls (1995) showed 86 males and 106 female university students one of four films depicting various types of aggression: a) sexual aggression against a male (Deliverance); (b) sexual aggression against a female (Straw Dogs); (c) physical aggression (Die Hard 2); or (d) a neutral film containing no explicit scenes of physical or sexual aggression (Days of Thunder). After viewing the film, all subjects were asked to complete a 252-item questionnaire measuring the acceptance of interpersonal violence, acceptance of rape myths, attraction to aggression and levels of empathy. Participants then viewed a re-enactment of a rape trial and completed a 23-item rape trial questionnaire. Results showed males were more accepting of interpersonal violence and rape myths, more attracted to sexual aggression, less sympathetic toward the rape trial victim, and less likely to judge the defendant as guilty of rape. This supports desensitisation as an explanation for how the media can increase acceptance of aggressive behaviours.  

However, an issue with research carried out into the effects of the media on aggression (for example, Weisz and Earls, 1995) is that of ecological validity. Most research has been carried out in laboratory settings and has measured aggression levels on a questionnaire or with subsequent behaviour towards confederates. This raises issues of validity as to whether the measured violence would occur in a 'real world' setting. Norms governing behaviour and particularly aggressive behaviour in public may be far more likely to inhibit an aggressive response where the repercussions could be fines or a prison sentence.  

Berkowitz and Alioto (1973) carried out a laboratory experiment where participants who saw a film depicting aggression as vengeance (revenge) gave more (fake) electric shocks of longer duration to a confederate. Berkowitz and Alioto (1973) propose that aggression is more likely to occur if the viewed aggression is seen as an acceptable response and disinhibition is more likely to occur.  

A practical application of our understanding of the processes of disinhibition has led to the American Army using games as a recruiting tool. From the perspective of the armed forces, recruiting individuals with an interest in violence and aggression and a disinhibited response to aggression is beneficial for future soldiers. Soldiers in a war situation are likely to have to behave in an aggressive and violent way, so it is more beneficial for them to respond aggressively as the norm. If they didn’t automatically and quickly respond aggressively in a threat situation, this could have potential issues for their own survival and those of the people they are trying to protect.  

Fischer and Greitemeyer (2006) found that male participants who had been exposed to aggressive song lyrics about women were more likely to give higher levels of hot chilli sauce to female confederates rather than male confederates than those participants who had heard neutral lyrics. Fischer and Greitemeyer (200) also found that the misogynistic lyrics also resulted in the males recalling more negative attributes of women and reporting higher levels of aggression towards women. This procedure was replicated with female participants and ‘men hating’ song lyrics with similar results. This research demonstrates the cognitive priming that aggressive song lyrics can have on subsequent aggressive behaviour. 

Possible Exam Questions 

1. Briefly outline the possible role of cognitive priming in the effects of computer games on aggression. (2 marks) 

2. Outline and evaluate the role of disinhibition in the effects of computer games on aggression. (8 marks) 

3. Sumar is eight years old, but he likes to play on his elder brother’s Xbox. He is particularly fond of the games Halo and Gears of War. Sumar's mother is getting concerned that Sumar has responded aggressively when she has asked him to tidy his room. She is worried that playing his elder brother’s computer games is causing Sumar to become aggressive. Using your knowledge of disinhibition and cognitive priming explain why Sumar's mother may or may not have reasons to be concerned. Use research to support in your answer. (12 marks) 

4. Outline and evaluate two explanations for the effect of the media on aggression. (12 marks) 

5. Discuss psychological research that seeks to explain the influence of the media on aggression (16 marks)