15.2.15

Evaluation of Studies on Media

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Evaluation of Research Methods

Psychologists have used a range of research methods to study the effects of media on aggression, such as correlation, longitudinal and meta-analysis. These all have strengths and limitations.

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Correlational evaluation

  • Correlational studies allow us to investigate realistic forms of aggression, including violent crime.
  • However a major limitation is the inability to draw cause and effect conclusions.
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Correlational studies

  • There are two main hypotheses when it comes to correlations of violent media and aggression:
    • The socialisation hypothesis
      • Aggressive media causes people to become more aggressive.
    • The selection hypothesis
      • People who are already aggressive select aggressive media.
  • The direction of causality, therefore, cannot be settled by correlational studies.
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Longitudinal studies strengths

  • Researchers use longitudinal studies to investigate changes in aggressive behaviour over time.
  • This allows the dynamic nature of media influences in the long-term to be studied.
  • This approach views people as active consumers rather than as passive recipients, which is a more realistic view of how people interact with media.
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Longitudinal studies limitations

  • Studying change over time make longitudinal studies vulnerable to the effects of confounding variables.
  • These are the many other sources of aggression interactive with media influences over a period of time,
    • E.g. role models in the form of friends and family members.
  • It is difficult to separate them all and assess their contributions to aggressive behaviour.
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Meta analyses

  • Meta analyses may fall victim to publication bias.
  • This is the tendency of scientific research to only publish findings that are statistically significant.
  • Studies that tend not to be published (sometimes called the file drawer problem because such studies are often left in the filing cabinet) are then generally not available to meta-studies.

Evaluation of Experiments

Psychologists have used a range of research methods to study the effects of media on aggression, one of these is the experimental method. This has strengths and limitations.

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Experimental studies

  • The greatest strength of experimental studies is that they allow us to establish a causal link between media and aggression and aggressive behaviour.
  • However laboratory studies lack realism because they don’t involve any fear of retaliation, unlike in the real world. Therefore the experiment gives the participant implied permission to be safely aggressive.
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Measures of aggression

  • A weakness of experimental studies is that measures of aggression in lab situations are often accused of being artificial and unrealistic,
    • e.g. the Taylor Competitive Reaction Time Test which measures how much loud noise is selected.
  • It would however, be unethical to allow realistic forms of aggression in an experiment, for example by letting people hit each other, so researchers have no choice but to be creative in devising ways of measuring aggression.
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Comparing games

  • Experimental studies often compare a group of participants playing a violent computer game with a group who are playing a nonviolent one.
  • However it is difficult to establish if one game is equivalent to another.
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Przbylski et al. (2014)

  • Przbylski et al. (2014) looked at two games:
    • Marathon 2
      • A violent first person shooter set in the complex three-dimensional environment.
      • Requires players to use the computer mouse as well as 20 keys.
    • Glider Pro 4
      • A two-dimensional game in which the player uses just two keys to fly paper aeroplane.
  • These games are different in many different ways, not just in terms of violent content.

Jump to other topics

1Social Influence

2Memory

3Attachment

4Psychopathology

5Approaches in Psychology

6Biopsychology

7Research Methods

8Issues & Debates in Psychology (A2 only)

9Option 1: Relationships (A2 only)

10Option 1: Gender (A2 only)

11Option 1: Cognition & Development (A2 only)

12Option 2: Schizophrenia (A2 only)

13Option 2: Eating Behaviour (A2 only)

14Option 2: Stress (A2 only)

15Option 3: Aggression (A2 only)

16Option 3: Forensic Psychology (A2 only)

17Option 3: Addiction (A2 only)

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