Media Influences for Pro social behaviour

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Media - Pro - social influence

Discuss One or more explanations of media influence on pro social behaviour - Essay Plan

A01 = 4 marks

One explanation = Bandura's Social Learning Theory

Explain = This suggests children learn from observing behaviour, then later imitating it if the expectation of a rewarad is greater than the expectation of a punishment.

The process of social learning works in the same way for pro social behaviour as it does for anti social behaviour except pro social behaviour is usually likely to be in accordance with social norms.

If the 'social norms' have been internalized by the viewer then the actions are more likely to be associated with the expectation of social reinforcement.

Therefore the child is motivated to repeat these pro - social acts in their own life.

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Media - Pro - social influence

Discuss one or More explanations of media influence on pro - social behaviour - Essay Plan

A02 = 6 marks

Evaluation = One weakness to social learning theory is that children tend to learn better off real life models comapred to film models.

Prosocial programming has been seen to have an effect on childrens pro social behaviour, however any effect there has been seems to be short lived  and may not be generalized to new settings.

However, Eisenberg (1983) found that although filmed models may have less influence on prosocial behaviour than live models, it is likely that prolonged viewing of prosocial programmes could result in substancial and enduring increases in childrens behaviour.

Additionally, a number of studies have found that the pro - social messages in programmes are getting through to children and are influencing their values and behaviour.

Evidence from meta analysis' carried out by Mares and Hearold add testimony to this claim.

Finally, it has been found that pro social messgaing in the media have a greater effect on young children compared to adolescents. 

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