Media influence on anti-social behaviour

Explanations of media influence on anti- social behaviour

Observational learning and imitation

Children learn social behaviours by observing and imitating others, however they need to:

·         Observe the behaviour of the role model

·         Remember the behaviour

·         Have the opportunity to replicate it

·         And the motivation to do so- this can be vicariously reinforced

J Bandura’s Bobo doll study

                48 girls and boys aged 3-6 years old were put into four groups:

Ø  Control group= did not witness any aggression

Ø  Joined an adult= and watched them act aggressively

Ø  Watched a film of an aggressive adult

Ø  Watched a violent cartoon

The study found that those in the three experimental groups performed a higher number of aggressive acts against toys in a later activity to those in the control group who had not observed any aggression.

AO2

L Only measures and explains short-term aggression in an artificial environment so lacks ecological validity. This makes it difficult to generalise and apply to real life and long-term aggression.

Huesman- conducted a longitudinal study to observe child aggression over a longer period

Children were to name violent TV shows they had watched the most, and whether they identify with the violent characters and to whether they thought the violence was realistic.

The spouses and friends of the participants, now in their 20s were asked to rate the ppts level of aggression

There was a positive correlation between viewing…