Media influences: Desensitisation, disinhibition and cognitive priming

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Desensitisation: Usually, when we see something violent, we experience physiological arousal associated with our sympathetic nervous system e.g. increased heart rate. But when a child repeatedly views aggression, they become habituated to its effects. The stimulus has a diminishing impact. Desensitisation is psychological too as repeated viewings can promote the belief that aggression is an socially accpetable method to resolve conflict. Funk states that negative attitudes towards violence weaken and they have less empathy for victim. In Earl and Wiesz's lab study when participants were either shown the graphic **** scene from Straw Dogs and then a re-enactment of a **** trial, or a non-violent film, the first group showed greater acceptance of **** myths and sexual aggression and had less sympathy towards the **** victim. However, this was not true for female participants.

Disinhibition: There are social and psychological inhibitions against using aggression to resolve interpersonal conflicts. These are learned through SLT concepts. But after viewing violence, these restraints loosen. In the media, aggression appears to be normative and socially sanctioned, especially if it involves limited impact on the victim and justifies the aggression. Video games also tend to reward violence which creates new social norms in the viewer.

Cognitive priming: Repeated viewing provides us with script of how violence plays out. Huesmann states that the script is stored in our memory so we are primed to be aggressive. The process is sometimes automatic as it can direct our behaviour without us being aware, and…