Desensitisation & Disinhibition
Psychology: AQA A Level, topic 15.2.16
Media and Desensitisation
The are three main explanations of how media aggression might influence real-world aggressive behaviour: desensitisation, disinhibition and cognitive priming. It is likely that they all interact.
Anderson (2011)
- Anderson’s (2011) general aggression model indicates that no single factor can explain all of the research.
- Desensitisation, disinhibition and cognitive priming operate together, along with other influences.
Desensitisation
- Normally when we witness violent actions we experience physiological arousal associated with the sympathetic nervous system:
- E.g. increased heart rate, high blood pressure, greater sweat activity, etc.
Physiological impact
- But when children (in particular) repeatedly view aggression on TV or play violent computer games, they become habituated to its effects.
- The stimulus that is usually aversive has diminishing impact.
- This results in a reduction of anxiety and physiological arousal on repeated viewing or playing.
- This is known as desensitisation.
Psychological impacts
- Desensitisation is psychological as well as physical, in that repeated exposure to violent media promotes a belief that the use of aggression to resolve conflict is socially acceptable.
- Negative attitudes towards violence weaken, less empathy is felt for victims, and their injuries are minimised and dismissed.
Weisz and Earls (1995)
- Weisz and Earls (1995) carried out a laboratory study to highlight these desensitisation effects.
- Participants were first shown the film Straw Dogs, which contains a prolonged and graphic rape scene.
- They were then shown a re-enactment of a rape trial.
Weisz and Earls (1995) findings
- Weisz and Earls found that those participants who viewed Straw Dogs prior to the re-enactment showed greater acceptance of rape myths and sexual aggression.
- They also expressed less sympathy towards the victim in the trial and were less likely to find the defendant guilty.
- This is compared to the group who watched a non-sexually violent film.
- However they found no effect of film type on female participants.
Desensitisation Study
Krahé et al. (2011) showed participants violent and non-violent film clips to study the effects of violent media on aggression and desensitisation.
Krahé et al. (2011)
- Krahé et al. (2011) showed participants violent and non-violent film clips while measuring physiological arousal using skin conductance.
Findings
- They discovered that participants who were habitual viewers of violent media showed lower levels of arousal while watching the violent film clips.
- They also reported higher levels of pleasant arousal and lower levels of anxious arousal.
- Lower arousal was then correlated with unprovoked aggression in a noisy blast test.
Conclusion
- These findings confirm the hypotheses based on desensitisation.
- The lower arousal in violent media users reflects the desensitisation to the effects of violence, and a greater willingness to be aggressive.
Evaluation
- Krahé et al.’s study failed to find a link between media viewing, low arousal and provoked aggression.
- This suggests that desensitisation may not explain the impact of violent media exposure on all forms of aggressive behaviour.
Explanation
- A more valid explanation might be catharsis:
- The psychodynamic theory that viewing violent media acts as a safety valve mechanism, allowing people to release aggressive impulses without the need to behave violently.
Media and Disinhibition
Disinhibition relates to the phenomena whereby normal social constraints against certain behaviours are weakened by environmental triggers.
Social learning theory
- Most people generally hold the view that violence and aggression are antisocial and harmful.
- Consequently there are powerful social and psychological inhibitions against using aggression to resolve interpersonal conflicts.
- These are learned, directly and indirectly, by processes explained by social learning theory.
Social norms
- According to the disinhibition explanation, these usual constraints are loosened after exposure to violence.
- For example, aggressive behaviour is often made to appear normative and socially sanctioned in media.
- This is especially true when portrayals minimise the effects of violence on its victims, thus suggesting that it is justified.
Violence and video games
- It is not unusual for video games:
- To show violence being rewarded.
- To minimise or ignore the consequences of the violence.
- This creates new social norms in the viewer.
Berkowitz and Alioto (1973)
- Berkowitz and Alioto (1973) found that participants who saw a film depicting aggression as vengeance gave more fake electric shocks and of longer durations to a confederate.
- This suggests that media violence may disinhibit aggressive behaviour when it is presented as justified.
Validity
- This is because vengeance is a powerful justification for violence, and justified violence is more likely to be seen as socially acceptable.
- This adds the validity to the disinhibition concept because it demonstrates the link between removal of social constraints and subsequent aggressive behaviour, at least in the case of justified aggression.
Test yourself on Desensitisation & Disinhibition
Who claimed that desensitisation, disinhibition and cognitive priming operate together, along with other influences?
What is NOT a normal physiological experience after witnessing violent actions?
Which of the following is NOT true of the participants who were show the film 'Straw Dogs' before the rape trial reenactment in the study by Weisz and Earls (1995) ?
Weisz and Earls (1995) compared the group who watched the film 'Straw Dogs' with which control group?
Which psychological approach believes viewing violent media acts as a form of catharsis?