16.2.14

Influence of Television

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Television and Aggression

The rise in our consumption of media has prompted psychologists to examine their effects on aggressive behaviours.

__Robertson et al. (2013)__

Robertson et al. (2013)

  • In a longitudinal study, Robertson et al. (2013) wanted to see if there was a link between what they called excessive television viewing in childhood and aggressive behaviour in adulthood.
  • They studied 1037 people born in New Zealand in 1972 and 1973, and measured their TV viewing hours at regular intervals up to the age of 26 years.
Findings

Findings

  • They found that time spent watching TV was a reliable predictor of aggressive behaviour in adulthood.
    • They measured this in terms of convictions for aggressive and violent crimes.
  • Those who watched the most TV were also more likely to be diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder and to have aggressive personality traits.
Conclusions

Conclusions

  • It would appear that the most important media related factor in influencing aggressive behaviour may be the amount of TV watched rather than whether it has violent content or not.
**Paik and Comstock (1994)**

Paik and Comstock (1994)

  • Aim: To investigate the impact of television violence on anti-social behaviour.
  • Procedure: A meta-analysis. Correlation between television violence and anti-social behaviour.
  • Results: Significant positive correlation between television violence and anti-social behaviour. Especially large effect found for erotica (porn).
  • Conclusion: There would appear to be a relationship between television violence and anti-social behaviour.
**Paik and Comstock (1994)** evaluation

Paik and Comstock (1994) evaluation

  • Strengths
    • Meta-analysis – large amount of data included.
  • Limitations
  • Cannot show cause – maybe people with anti-social tendencies choose to watch more violent TV.
    • Individual differences.
    • Social and cultural variations.

Charlton et al (2000)

Charlton et al (2000) investigated the effect of TV being introduced to St Helena on children’s behaviour.

Procedure

Procedure

  • Natural experiment.
  • The investigation began two years before TV was introduced. Children’s behaviour was investigated before and after the introduction of TV on St Helena.
  • Behavioural measures:
    • Self-report from parents and teachers.
    • Observations of children.
    • Content analysis of TV watched.
    • Discreet CCTV in playgrounds and classrooms.
Results & conclusions

Results & conclusions

  • Results
    • TV did not have a significant impact on the behaviour of the children.
  • Conclusion
    • TV did not impact the children’s behaviour, but this may be because of high levels of community and parental control and surveillance.
Evaluation

Evaluation

  • Strengths
    • Ecological validity.
    • Discreet cameras so children acted naturally.
  • Limitations
    • St Helena is a small, close knit community – high surveillance and control of children is not typical in the environment.
    • Parents and teachers might not report honestly – demand characteristic and social desirability.
    • TV programmes watched were less violent than those on the mainland.
Jump to other topics
1

Social Influence

2

Memory

3

Attachment

4

(2026 Exams) Psychopathology

5

(2027 Exams) Clinical Psychology & Mental Health

6

Approaches in Psychology

7

Biopsychology

8

Research Methods

8.1

Research Methods

8.2

Scientific Processes

8.3

Data Handling & Analysis

8.4

Inferential Testing

9

Issues & Debates in Psychology (A2 only)

10

Option 1: Relationships (A2 only)

10.1

Relationships: Sexual Relationships (A2 only)

10.2

Relationships: Romantic Relationships (A2 only)

10.3

(2026 Exams) Relationships: Virtual (A2 only)

10.4

(2027 Exams) Relationships: Online (A2 only)

11

Option 1: Gender (A2 only)

12

Option 1: Cognition & Development (A2 only)

13

Option 2: Schizophrenia (A2 only)

14

Option 2: Eating Behaviour (A2 only)

15

Option 2: Stress (A2 only)

16

Option 3: Aggression (A2 only)

17

Option 3: Forensic Psychology (A2 only)

18

Option 3: Addiction (A2 only)

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