Frightening Media
What are some explanations for the Appeal of Fright?
Catharsis: Exposure to violent media purges or rids people of their own violent tendencies or inclinations.
People are able to enjoy taboo experiences in a vicarious manner
People enjoy horror because it encourages a belief in a superior spiritual being capable of destroying evil forces
By watching movies you can purge your own negative emotions If you believe this, it could explain why you’re attracted to frightening
programs
Research evidence doesn’t support this theory
You can see and witness things on TV that you can’t in the real world Supernatural
How is fright measured? Define/Provide Examples Self-report measures
o Subjects are shown frightening content, then are asked to describe their reactions to the content.
o Subjects recall frightening shows Physiological responses
o Heart rate o Blood pressure
o Skin conductance
o Evidence that skin conductance is the most useful for measuring fear (sweat)
What are some short-term effects of frightening media? Intense fear
Crying, clinging, trembling
Stomach problems (stomach aches, nausea, vomiting)
What are some long-term effects of frightening media? Difficulty sleeping
Nightmares
Insistence on sleeping with parents Dependence on unusual bedtime rituals
o Rituals (checking under bed and in closet)
Refusal to be alone or to be in certain areas of the house (e.g., basement) Refusal to engage in normal activities
Concern about being hurt or killed
Unnecessary or unreasonable intense fears
Anxiety in specific situations (e.g., swimming)
What is scary for kids of different ages?
2-7 years old:
Visual images (real or fantasy) that are naturally scary; vicious animals; monsters; grotesque, mutilated, or deformed characters
Physical transformation of characters, especially from normal to grotesque. Stories involving death of a parent
Stories involving vivid natural disasters
Pediatricians argue before age 2 should not use media
Kids under age 7 do not know the difference between reality or fantasy When something goes from normal to abnormal and grotesque is very scary
for kids
Highly dependent on parents - scary to think of loosing them
7-12 years old:
More realistic threats and dangers that can happen, especially things that can happen to the child
Violence or the threat of violence Stories involving child victims
Start to distinguish reality from fantasy
A random national survey found that 62% of parents said that their child had been scared that something they saw in the media might happen to them Children who had saw a deadly house fire were less likely to want to build a
fire in a fireplace than children who did not
13 or older:
Realistic physical harm or threats of intent harm. Molestation or sexual assault
Threats from alien or occult forces
What are some ideas for coping with fear and helping frightened children?
Resource for parents and kids
Books – Teddy’s TV Troubles and “Mommy, I’m Scared” Joanne Cantor
Parents guide for protecting children from the frightening effect of the media Based on a foundation of scientific research
Political Effects
How has political communication evolved in the past three centuries? 19th Century : Weekly communication, usually four to five pages. Fairly
20th Century : Number of newspapers grew. Diversity resulted in varying balance and fairness.
21th Century : Newspaper circulation falls as electronic media grows in importance.
What is Hard News?
“the report of an event that happened or was disclosed within the previous 24 hours and treats an issue of ongoing concern”
What is Crisis News?
“natural or man-made events that pose an immediate and serious threat to the lives and property or to the peace of mind of many”
o News diffusion
o Media function
o Rally effects
Define News Diffusion:
Diffusion is rapid for crisis events.
47% had heard the news about Kennedy’s assassination within 15 minutes. 90% had heard the news within 1 hour.
What is the function of the media during crisis events?
Extended coverage of the event regardless of whether they have important or new information to relate.
Solidarity building during times of crisis.
Sometimes coverage is intended to comfort audiences who are grieving.
Define rally effects:
In times of crisis when the president must take action, people usually set aside their differences, rally behind him, and give him higher approval ratings.
Media are the vehicle through which information reaches the public.
During times of crisis, the media is often less critical of government leaders and policies.
Rally effect with bush – started to approve of him after 9/11
What is Soft News?
Human interest stories and news stories that are not considered fast breaking or immediate in nature.
Not crisis stories - no immediacy involved
How might news affect foreign policy?
Media sometimes even participate in foreign policy by serving as a direct channel of communication between those involved
o Interview segments in news programs
o Use of the media by world leaders
o Use of the media by terrorist groups Photogenic issues are often covered
Media is always there, hardly anything is done in secret anymore
Explain the Knowledge Gap Hypothesis: Gap in knowledge about current events.
Rich people gain news information fast because they are more likely to have computers, fast Internet connections, cable TV or satellite, etc.
The information rich keep getting richer, and the information poor never catch up.
Describe how the media can affect the following:
What people think about:
There are far too many news items to consider each day. The media decide what items are newsworthy.
News agenda set by lead story or headline
We look to the news media to decide what issues are important Politicians tend to react to agenda items
Media don’t tell us what to think, they tell us what to think about Triadic Model of Agenda Effects
o Media agenda Policy agenda Public agenda Media agenda
Agenda-Setting Theory
o For an issue to acquire public recognition its supporters must have
either access to the mass media or the resources to reach people
o Agenda setting is the idea that the news media determine the issues the public thinks about and talks about.
o Agenda setting predicts a cause-effect relationship between media content and public opinion.
o The theory rises or falls on its ability to show a match between the media’s agenda and the public’s agenda later on.
o Have to either have a ton of money or access to media or no one will hear your story
o In 1968, Enoch Powell spoke to a small audience in a church hall
about “the dangers of immigration.” The media focused a lot of attention on the speech because nothing else important was going on.
o Before the speech, only 6% the public thought the issue was
important. After the speech, 27% thought it was important, and 70% thought the government should take a “harder line” on it.
Who Sets the Agenda? Gatekeepers!
o Control exercised by media professionals over the flow of news information.
o About 75% of the stories that come across a news desk are never printed or broadcast.
o These key decision makers are not a cross-section of U.S. citizens. The media elite are middle-aged white males who attend the same
conferences, banquets, and parties as the politicians do.
What people think about those events:
News can change public opinion by up to 4 percentage points !
Journalists often attempt to expose all of the bad tendencies of politicians, called a game schema
Journalists often prime audiences to focus attention on specific issues Journalists can frame (also called “spin”) the same news event in different
ways
How people feel about the events:
TV encourages public to distance itself
The media give a perception of intimacy without involvement Public feels informed and involved
Real participation unnecessary Game schema fuels public cynicism
Sex
Sex in the Media is Different Today Higher production values More accessible
o Internet, DVDs, inexpensive magazines
o More explicit more available o Less explicit is ubiquitous Mainstream more explicit
Earliest porn: drawings. Then grainy photographs. Silent movies. Think of what the zoom lens and digital editing can do for realism of depiction
Real revolution is in accessibility. Used to have to know somebody or live in big city. Stag films in the back of the Elks’ lodge or at the Nickelodeon at the world’s fair.
done in 94 and 97 found dramatic increase in content and explicitness of porn available for free.
Less explicit content is everywhere, though frequency in music, movies is understudied
What is erotica and how is it different from pornography?
Sexually explicit content without the connotation of degradation of women. Equality between partners.
Mutual consenting sex No power differential Pornography
o Taken from “pornos” prostitution or female captives
o Inequality between partners
o Sexual content that includes violence or actions that degrade and demean women
o Sexual content that includes children
o $57 billion global industry $12 billion in the USA
o 4.2 million porn web sites with $2.5 billion revenue (e.g.,
Clublove.com gets about 1 million visitors daily Music downloads — $1 billion revenue
o 11,000 new titles annually
o 400 new titles from Hollywood annually
o Some porn companies are listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange. o Huge industry
o Widely accessable
Define obscenity: Legal term
Sexual content that is not protected by the First Amendment Obscenity Test (Miller vs. California, 1973)
o the average person applying contemporary community standards would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest (shameful, unhealthy, etc.)
o the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law; and
o the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value
What did content analyses reveal about sexual contact in the media? Talking about sex is more common on TV than Sexual Behavior
Teen shows have a higher percentage of Sex on TV than All shows and Prime time shows
People who watch TV one hour on weekday evenings and two hours on weekend evenings will be exposed to about 1,400 sexual acts per year (Greenberg, 1994)
THIRD PERSON EFFECT
o TV sex influences other teens a lot or somewhat 72%
o TV sex influences ME a lot of somewhat 22% Extent of Sexual Content in Media
o Music videos : A content analysis of over 300 segments shown on MTV
found that 93% depicted implicit or explicit sex; 31% portrayed aggressive sex.1
o X-rated videos : A content analysis of 45 videos found about 450
sexually explicit scenes.2 The number of hard-core "adult" videos in the U.S. retail market increased by 600% between 1990 and 1998.3
o R-rated videos : A content analysis of 16 R-rated films found that each
contained an average of 17.5 sexual acts.1
o Top grossing films : About 40% of the 50 top grossing films in 1996
contained at least one sex scene; 17% were rape scenes.1
o Soap operas : Sexual content increased by 35% between 1985 and
1994.2 Myspace
o A 2007 study of 16 and 17-year-old’s MySpace web profiles showed… o 21% describe sexual activity
o 97% contained personally identifiable information
How is classical conditioning related to sex in the media?
Unconditioned stimulus (attractive nude woman) Unconditioned response (sexual arousal)
Neutral stimulus (violence against women) (no sexual arousal
Conditioned stimulus (violence against women Conditioned Response (sexual arousal)
o When the Unconditioned stimulus is paired with the Neutral stimulus,
a conditioned response occurs
What are some ways to measure arousal? Measures used:
o Self-reported sexual arousal
o Physiological arousal (heart rate, blood pressure, skin conductance)
o Physiological sexual arousal (vaginal photoplethysmograph — pulse amplitude, penile tumescence)
Sexual material can induce physiological and sexual arousal.
Classic conditioning studies show that sexual arousal can be learned. Convicted rapists are aroused by viewing both rape and consensual sex. Non-rapists are aroused by women who appear to get pleasure from rape.
GENDER DIFFERENCES IN AROUSAL
o A meta-analysis of 46 studies found that males reported significantly higher levels of arousal than did females (d = 0.31).
among studies that used erotica (i.e., not depicting force, violence, or unequal power; d = 0.28)
among studies that used pornography (i.e., depicting force, violence, or unequal power; d = 0.41)
How can sexually explicit media affect attitudes and values?
Exposure to nonviolent sexually explicit material changes values and attitudes:
o Less satisfaction with real-life partners
o More accepting of premarital sex and extramarital sex
o Less desire for marriage, monogamy, and children.
Exposure to violent sexually explicit material changes values and attitudes:
o More accepting of rape (e.g., give lighter sentences to rapist)
o More belief in rape myths (e.g., believing “No” really means “Yes”)
o Less empathy for rape victims (e.g., more likely to blame rape victims)
What is the “rape myth”?
Women enjoy being raped
How can sexually explicit media affect behavior?
Exposed people become less inhibited about performing the sexual behaviors they have observed.
Exposed people are more aggressive when others provoke them.
Repeated exposure to slasher films desensitizes men — they find such films to be less degrading to women, more enjoyable, less offensive, and less violent.
Explain the evidence that links pornography and aggression
Positive correlation between adult magazine circulation rates and rape rates DONNERSTEIN (1980) STUDY
o Independent variable:
Neutral film Erotic film Violent film Violent erotic film
o Dependent variable:
Shock level
Graph of results showed shock increasing in this order: Neutral, Erotic, Violent, Violent Erotica
Densensitization Studies
They were shown new scenes of violence against women
In comparison to men who saw control films, those who saw slasher films:
o were less physiologically aroused
o thought the scenes were less degrading
o thought the scenes were less violent Meta-Analysis
Based on 33 studies involving 2,040 subjects.
Pornography increases aggression in males and females viewers. Effects are greater for angered subjects than for nonangered subjects. Pornography increases aggression against male and female targets.
Violence
What are factors that increase violence? Provocations and frustrations Poverty
o Poorer people may be more willing to engage in crime that may involve violence because they have fewer opportunities; Ex. Bullworth Gangster
Easy access to guns
o Americans have the easiest access to guns of any modern industrial nation Most other countries think we are crazy; We have more deaths and injury related to domestic firearms than any other industrialized nation; Ex. Japanese massacre with knives - people say happy he had no gun..
Substance use (e.g., alcohol, drugs)
o Alcohol gets rid of your inhibitions and you are more likely to engage in violence; Ex. My ride-along; Ex. Domestic abuse commercial in which drunk man beats his wife
Gang involvement
o Gang culture encourages the use of violence. Gang initiation may involve assault or murder; Gangs are involved with drug distribution and rivalries that encourage violence; Ex. “The Corner” and recent PBS special on drugs; Ex. The movie “traffic” and organized crime - Daily opinion piece about drug regulation
Abusive parents Violent media???
How do American opinions compare to opinions of other countries? 82%: Movies are too violent
72%: TV is too violent
80%: Media violence is harmful to society
50-70%: Media violence desensitizes people to real violence 50%: Support governmental intervention to limit TV violence What Other Countries Think
o Canada – 16% Too much Sex, 45% Too much violence
o France – 8% Too much sex, 49% Too much violence
o Germany – 19% Too much sex, 58% Too much violence
o Italy - 15% Too much sex, 47% Too much violence
o Mexico – 46% Too much sex, 45% Too much violence
o Spain – 11% Too much sex, 51% Too much violence
o UK – 12% Too much sex, 38% Too much violence
o Concerned mostly about too much violence than too much sex “Violence is defined as any overt depiction of a credible threat of physical
force or the actual use of such force intended to physically harm an animate being or group of beings.”
BE FAMILIAR WITH THE NATIONAL TELEVISION VIOLENCE STUDY October 1994 to June 1997
7 days; 6 AM – 11 PM
Nearly 10,000 hours of TV programming 23 network and cable channels
“Violence is defined as any overt depiction of a credible threat of physical force or the actual use of such force intended to physically harm an animate being or group of beings.”
graph showed that as years progressed, programs with violence increased a little (they’re around 60%)
graph showed that as the years progressed, repeated acts of violence increased a little (about 69%)
graph showed that as years progressed lethal violence increased a little (about 55%)
graph showed that as years progressed, gun used are about 25%
graph showed that as years progressed, anti-violence theme is about 5% also includes: attractive perpetrators, “bad” characters unpunished,
humorous violence, no remorse shown, unrealistically low levels of harm, no pain shown, blood shown, long-term consequences shown
Smoking Analogy
Not all smokers get lung cancer, and not all people with lung cancer are smokers
o Not everyone who watches violent media becomes aggressive, and not every aggressive person watches violent media
Smoking isn’t the only factor that causes lung cancer, but it is an important factor
The first cigarette can make a person sick. Repeated exposure reduces these effects and leaves the person craving more
o The first exposure to violent media can make a person sick. Repeated exposure reduces these effects and leaves the person craving more One cigarette probably won’t cause lung cancer, but repeated exposure
greatly increases the risk
o Watching one violent show probably won’t make a person more aggressive, but repeated exposure greatly increases the risk.
For years the tobacco industry denied the harmful effects of smoking, even after the 1964 U.S. Surgeon General warning
o For years the entertainment industry has denied the harmful effects of violent media, even after the 1972 U.S. Surgeon General warning.
Surgeon General Warning
“It is clear to me that the causal relationship between televised violence and antisocial behavior is sufficient to warrant appropriate and immediate remedial action… There comes a time when the data are sufficient to justify action. That time has come.”
— Jesse Steinfeld, Surgeon General of the United States, March 1972
What are the myths of violent media?
The level of violence in the mass media simply mirrors the level of violence in the real world.
One cannot know whether violent media cause aggression. Violent media decrease aggression.
Violent media have a trivial effect on aggression.
Decreasing violent crime rates prove that media violence does not increase societal violence.
MEDIA VIOLENCE AND OTHER HEALTH RISKS media violence and aggression
condom use and reduced risk of HIV second hand smoke and lung cancer exposure to lead and reduced IQ asbestos and cancer
OTHER FACTORS RELATED TO CRIME – why crime is decreasing
Baby boomers are getting older. Older people rarely commit violent crimes. People are being imprisoned at record rates. Many violent people are locked
up.
Teen pregnancy rates are going down. (Teens aren’t the best parents.) Due to increased medical technology, doctors now save many “murder”
victims.
Aggressor effect — the more you consume, the more aggressive you become Victim effect — the more you consume, the more you fear
Appetite effect — the more you consume, the more you want Bystander effect — the more you consume, the less you care
Excitation Transfer Theory:
Physiological arousal dissipates slowly. If two arousing events are separated by a short amount of time, some of the arousal caused by the first event may transfer (or be misattributed to) the second event.
Why would arousal increase aggression? excessive arousal may be aversive.
arousal enhances whatever response is dominant Why Do Violent Media Increase Aggression?
Explaining short-term effects:
o priming
o excitation o imitation
Explaining long-term effects:
o observational learning
Attention : To learn through observation, you must pay attention to another person's behavior and its consequences. Retention : In order for an observed behavior to be used again,
you must be store it in memory (through rehearsal). Reproduction : To imitate a model, you must have physical
abilities
Motivation : You are unlikely to reproduce an observed response unless you are motivated to do so. Your motivation depends on whether you get benefits from responding that action.
o desensitization
Diminished responsiveness to a stimulus after repeated exposure to it.
Social Facilitation Theory Two Premises:
o The presence of others increases arousal.
o Arousal enhances whatever response is dominant
On easy or well learned tasks, the dominant response is correct.
On difficult or unfamiliar tasks, the dominant response is incorrect.
correct? Increased performance incorrect? Decreased performance
Catharsis Theory: WHO CAME UP WITH THIS Dates back to Aristotle
Term comes from the Greek katharsis, which means to cleanse or purge Posits that acting aggressively or even viewing aggression purges angry
feelings and aggressive impulses.
There is virtually no scientific data to support the catharsis theory.
Physically aggressive actions can reduce tension in people who have been frustrated, but so can nonaggressive physical actions.
Watching violent acts does not reduce tension or aggressive tendencies. Most studies show that violence viewing and aggression are positively
related, which contradicts catharsis theory.
when audience members witness graphic violence on the screen or read about it in books, they purge or rid themselves of their own violent tendencies or inclinations.
Feshbach and Singer (1971) Study
The one field study cited as showing a catharsis effect has methodological flaws that the authors have recognized.
Setting: Home for troubled boys.
By the flip of a coin, half watch violent shows, half watch non-violent shows. Boys who saw the violent shows were less aggressive.
Boys liked the violent shows better! Boys who had to watch the non-violent shows were pissed off!
Research shows that fantasizing about aggression also increases aggression. "It is time to put a bullet, once and for all, through heart of the catharsis hypothesis. The belief that observing violence (or venting it) gets rid of hostilities has virtually never been supported by research."
— Carol Tavris
Describe desensitization
Diminished responsiveness to a stimulus
o people who live near busy streets, railroad tracks, or airports eventually become desensitized to the noise
o surgeons and soldiers eventually become desensitized to blood and gore
Desensitization is generally adaptive, but it can be maladaptive
Who is most affected by media violence?
o children are more likely to identify with violent TV characters and imitate them than older children and adults
o children have difficulty distinguishing reality from fantasy Children from lower social classes watch more TV in general and more
violent TV in particular than other children
Children from lower social classes are also more at risk for behaving aggressively
Longitudinal studies have shown that TV violence increases aggression within every social strata.
There is a reciprocal relation between TV violence and aggression Watching violent TV makes aggressive kids feel better about their own
aggression (everybody is doing it!)
Aggressive children are more unpopular, and unpopular children watch more TV, which may add to the process.
Both low and high aggressive children are affected by TV violence
Television violence?
In the past, males were more affected by violent media than females. However, the gap has steadily decreased over time.
o Now there are more aggressive female models in the media
o Now it is more socially acceptable for females to behave aggressively Children with lower IQ watch more TV in general and more violent TV in
particular
Children with low IQ are also more at risk for behaving aggressively
Longitudinal studies show that TV violence increases aggression in children with high and low intellectual ability.
Are violent video games more harmful than violent television/movies? Video game playing is highly active
o if you want to learn something, you need to be actively engaged Violent video games require the player to identify with a violent character
o have no choice to identify with violent character – you are linked to the character
Violent video games reward aggression
o direct rewarding, get points for killing people
The amount of violence in video games is almost continuous
ex) Devin Moore – young boy who purchased Grand Theft Auto as a minor and shot police and stole cars because “Life is like a video game. Everyone has to die sometime.”
General Aggression ModelInputs Person Situation
Routes
Outcomes
Thoughtful action
Impulsive action Present internal state:
Affect
Arousal Cognition
Appraisal & decision processes
There’s two types of inputs
o person you are and situation you’re in
o influences what’s inside you (how you feel or think and how you’re affected)
o what’s happening inside you influences decisions you make to seek kinds of behavior
Yellow part can explain why video games might make people aggressive
o if highly aroused, thinking aggressive thoughts, and pissed off
o compared to someone not feeling angry, has no aggressive thoughts, and calm
How do violent video game players differ from non-violent video game players?
Pre-frontal cortex: thinking, reasoning, emotional control Amygdala: fight/flight reactions
Brain wave study
o male college students participants half were violent game players
o brain waves measures while participants saw neutral, negative, and
violent images
o P300 measures how surprised or shocked you are at what you see (does it grab your attention or is it no big deal)
o show neutral, negative, and violent images
o violent images contained guns and knifes, just like video games do
o no one responds to neutral images, like mushrooms
o everyone is shocked to see the negative images (huge p300)
o violent game players don’t respond as much as nonviolent game players, both surprised, just not as much
o paying attention to negative, but nonviolent images become desensitized to violent images Major Concepts from Dill
You should go over the pages recommended by Dr. Bushman in the syllabus, some are mentioned below.
see smart, successful people offering analysis and interpretation-opinions-and we are swayed by those opinions. The media literacy knowledge needed to make the best decisions about all this political coverage really is quite high Petty and Caccioppo’s Elaboration Likelihood Model of persuasion
o we can be persuaded either substantively or peripherally
more likely to believe an attractive, well dressed, and charming speaker reguardless of the argument
in regards to the media, there is “look good,” “feel good” elements the more media literate you are, the better chances that your vote will
represent what you really value as opposed to representing the hype Political Coverage
can shape how you think and about issues and candidates
social cues – you know not to shout out at a party, “Recycling bin, why bother?” because if you read the headlines, you hear so much about going green
other social cues we respond to in the media – POLLS
o if a candidate is ahead in polls, that carries momentum because it puts
consensus behind the candidate who is leading, inviting other voters to jump on the winning bandwagon.
another example involves the social cues we receive from watching pundits discuss and debate in the media
o news commentators often talk among themselves, and their reaction each commentator and each position provokes from the panel gives us social information
suggests whether we’ll be rewarded or punished socially for holding similar views
pages 215-219
modern mass media versions of political comedy – literary satirists Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal – greatest examples of political satire
o poverty problem in Ireland by mocking decision making The Daily Show and The Colbert Report
o parody of news interviews while trying to make a point
o Colbert says the opposite of what he means
identifying legitimate points of concern through exaggeration
Political cartoons are still around, though they have much more competition today with political comedy
cartoon of McCain and Palin without words but it is very clear
o “McCain is too old. Palin is too daft”
o get away with more in a drawing than with words o much harder to question pictures
o SNL spoofs
whether leaders should be just like us or smarter than the average citizen audience role is different due to availability of new forms of media
blogs new form of popular media viral videos – spread like viruses
political campaigns taking advantage of (especially younger) constituents’ habit of text messaging
o obama informed through text message
Sexism and the Media (102-105)
Ambivalent Sexism Theory – notion that men are dominant in our culture but with the awareness that there are in fact mixed feelings (ambivalent) about both men and women that society recognizes
stereotypes – men are “bad but bold” and women are “wonderful but weak” (men are sexual predators)
stereotypes about men take two forms
o hostility toward men (men are sexual predators)
o benevolence toward men (men are more willing to put themselves in dangerous situations for others)
stereotypes about women take two forms
o hostile sexism (negative feelings toward women who challenge men,
such as feminists)
o benevolent sexism (kind of paternalistic care for the “weaker sex” System Justification Theory – the idea that there is a general motive to
support the social hierarchy, the status quo
inequality included women’s representation in high-status jobs and other measures such as life expectancy, literacy rates, educational attainment, and standard of living
Hyper-masculine men think aggression is “manly” and have hardened attitudes toward sexuality
Hyper-feminine women are submissive to and dependent upon men and display emphasized (hetero)sexuality
glamorizing violence is far from universally beneficial to its male viewers more aggressive, less intelligent
in magazines males outnumbered females three to one and males were depicted as muscular and females as sexy
Media Violence and the Brain (17, 81-84)
Bartholow, Bushman, and Sestir did a study with heavy or light players of violent video games and investigated whether there were differences in how these men’s brains reacted to violence
o brains of violent video game players worked differently
o showed reduced sensitivity when looking at real violence
(desensitization) – those with this response are less sensitive to the suffering of others
o more aggressive when given a chance to attack someone in the lab
o not due to the men’s having a prior aggressive personality o game content accounted for the differences in both aggressive
behavior and in desensitization
when we play video games, the brain releases a pleasure chemical called dopamine
kids and teens are still the biggest group of avid gamers (8-17 year olds) study funded by the Mind Science Foundation investigated how children’s
brains respond when the kids are watching violent versus nonviolent TV though children were consciously aware that the TV violence they watched
was not “real,” their brains reacted as if it were real
