Large scale study Essay Example

Large scale study Essay Example Large scale study Essay Large scale study Essay They conducted a large scale study involving several thousand children (between the ages of 9-12) who watched a television programme, which was aimed to reduce sex-role stereotypes. They watched this once a week for thirteen weeks. They found substantial reductions in the stereotypical attitudes and beliefs about gender roles after exposure to these programmes. Greenfield (1984) supports this view, who found that Sesame Streets use of ethnic and disabled minorities helped children from minority groups to have a greater sense of cultural pride.Futhermore Mares (1996) examined research into anti-stereotyping and overall found that there was a moderate positive effect that children become less stereotyped in their attitudes and beliefs. However, one problem with the idea of anti-stereotyping is that it assumes there is some better stereotype. People may not agree about desirable stereotypes, but the use of stereotypes presumes that someone can and should make this decision. A further question in relation to anti-stereotypes is whether they work. Pingree (1978) challenged the idea of anti-stereotypes.He found that adolescent boys showed stronger stereotypes after they were shown commercials with women in non-traditional roles. Stimulation Hypothesis This explanation claims that media can have enormous potential for education. This maybe in terms of providing suitable models for children to imitate but may be most effective when individuals are placed in everyday situations and methods of resolution are provided. For example, an individual is shown behaving ant-socially and the television character deals with the situation in a pro-social manner.This explanation has been criticised because there is a danger that children will imitate the anti-social behaviour and disregard the resolution. However, Lovelace and Huston (1983) claimed that the most effective way of communicating a pro-social message may be to present the pro-social message without an anti-social behaviour. But, it has been argued that the conflict resolution strategy can effectively convey pro-social behaviour if there are a variety of models showing pro-social actions, if the pro-social resolution is given enough time and attention and if viewing conditions are sufficient.Further Research Evidence Friedrich and Stein (1973) studied pre-school children who watched episodes of a pro-social television programme. They found that the children remembered much of the pro-social behaviour information contained within the programme, and they behaved in a more helpful way than children who watched neutral or aggressive television. A further finding was that the children became even more helpful if they role-played pro-social events from the programmes.Baran (1979) studied children older children (between 8-10 years old). The children watched an episode of The Waltons, in which there was much emphasis on helping behaviour. The children were found to behave in a more pro-social way than other children who had not seen the programme. This confirms the link between pro-social media and aggression. Research focuses almost exclusively on the effects of television. Mares and Woodard (2001) considered how other media could have important pro-social effects.They claimed that childrens books have traditionally carried pro-social messages (e. g. Snow White who looked after Dwarves and triumphed over evil stepmother) which young children are especially fond of reading over and over again, reinforcing the message. Evaluation Hearold (1986) found that pro-social behaviour has been found to be on average twice as great the adverse effects of television violence on aggressive behaviour. This may be because programme makers try to get across pro-social messages, which is not the case for anti-social behaviours.However, research has been criticised in that a pro-social behaviour is measured immediately after viewing programmes, and there therefore may not be any real, long term effects. This has been shown by Sagotsky et al (1981). He showed children (6 and 8 years old) co-operative behaviour being modelled. He found that children of both ages showed an immediate increase in co-operative behaviour, however only the 8 year olds continued to show an increased co-operation seven weeks later. This suggests that pro-social television programmes has relatively short-term effects on some childrens pro-social behaviour.On the other hand Eisenberg (1983) argued that pro-longed viewing of pro-social programmes can result in substantial increases in childrens pro-social reasoning. Moreover, the link between pro-social media and behaviour has been criticised in that exposure to filmed models has less effect than exposure to real models. Overall, research on pro-social media is somewhat disappointing in terms of the moderate findings and the lack of interest from researchers, particularly when contrasted with the vast number of studies related to the anti-social effects of media on behaviour.Psychologists ought to give pro-social media affects more attention. Media Influences on anti-social behaviour Much emphasis has been put on the role of media in influencing anti-social behaviour. Explanations as to how the media can exert an anti-social influence upon an individuals behaviour have been proposed. Cognitive Priming One reason why media violence may play a part in producing aggressive behaviour is due to Cognitive Priming. The basic idea is that aggressive ideas in violent media activate aggressive thoughts and feelings in the viewers because they are associated in memory.After watching a violent film, the viewer is primed to act violently because a network of memories associated with violence has been activated. Research Evidence Evidence for the importance of cognitive priming has been reported by Josephson (1987). In Condition 1, Canadian boys were shown a television programme involving violence in the form of a gun battle, in which the snipers communicated with each other by the means of walkie-talkies. In Condition 2, the boys watched a non-violent programme about a motocross team.After the boys had watched the television programmes, they all played floor hockey. Before the game started, the referee gave the boys instructions either by a walkie-talkie or a tape recorder. The findings showed that the boys who watched the violent programme and received the instructions by a walkie-talkie were more aggressive during the hockey game than the boys who watched the same programme but received instructions by tape recording. This suggests that the walkie-talkie acted as a cue to aggression. Huesmaan (2001) also supported the cognitive priming explanation of aggression.He stated that the concept is useful in explaining why the observation of aggression in the media is often followed aggressive acts that differ from the original behaviour. Desensitisation Desensitisation provides another explanation of the relationship between anti-social media and aggression. This explanation suggests that frequent viewing of television violence causes viewers to be less anxious and responsive about actual violence, seeing it as normal. In the absence of this anxiety, violence is no longer inhibited and aggressive behaviour portrayed on television may be imitated.Research Evidence The explanation has received research support from Cline et al (1973) who found that boys who watched a steady diet of violent television showed less physiological arousal to new scenes of violence than participants in the control group did. This is supported by Thomas et al (1977) who showed two groups of children a videotape of young children behaving aggressively and recorded their physiological reactions. He found the same results in relation to Cline et als (1973) study.These studies therefore imply that reduced responsiveness may be associated with an increased acceptance of violent behaviour. However, this explanation has been challenged by Cumberbatch (2001) who argued that people might get used to screen violence but this does not mean that they will get used to violence in the real world. He claimed violence is more likely to make children frightened. Social Learning theory An alternative explanation that explains the effect of media on anti-social behaviour is Banduras (1986) Social Learning theory.Bandura argued that television can teach skills that may be useful in committing acts of violence. He suggested that children learn forms of behaviour through observational learning or modelling and this behaviour may be imitated subsequently. This is especially likely if the specific behaviour is reinforced because it increases the likelihood of the child imitating the behaviour. Imitation is also more likely if the observer identifies with the character on television e. g. same age. Research Evidence Banduras Bobo experiment (1961) supports his explanation.He carried out a study where Nursery children watched a film where an adult behaved aggressively or non-aggressively towards a Bobo doll. He found that children in the aggressive condition reproduced the physical and verbal behaviours modelled by the adult. However, children in the non-aggressive condition showed very little aggression towards the dolls. This supports the view that children learn specific acts of aggression and also learn increased aggressiveness through imitating models even when such models are not real.There have also been anecdotal claims of copycat acts of violence. For example the two boys who murdered James Bulgar were said to have been inspired by the video Childs Play. However, there is no real evidence for this and Cumberbatch (2001) reports that no link was ever found. Furthermore, Hearold (1986) provided evidence that pro-social behaviours can also be learned from observing positive role models on television, especially if the models are rewarded for their behaviour.He also stated that it seems that the influence of television on pro-social behaviour is stronger than antisocial behaviour. All of the above explanations provide evidence that media can have an anti-social effect on behaviour. Further Research Evidence Research studies also support the view that media can have an anti-social effect on behaviour. For example Parke et al (1977) showed that aggression in delinquent boys rose if they watched violent films at home. In contrast, no change in aggressive behaviour was observed if they view non-violent films.However, it is hard to evaluate research conducted into the effects of media on anti-social behaviour because many of the studies are limited in scope, focusing only on the short term effects on behaviour of exposure to a single violent pr ogramme. Criticisms of research into the effect of media on anti-social behaviour Researchers have suggested that the media has no effect on aggression. Howitt and Cumberbatch (1974) conducted an analysis of 300 studies, which led to the conclusion that television violence does not influence childrens behaviour.A further criticism of explanations and research into the effect of media on anti-social behaviour is that there may be important individual differences which have to be taken into account. For example, people who are more aggressive may choose to watch anti-social programmes and are more influenced by them. Overall Evaluation Overall, evidence shows that media influences can have anti-social effects on behaviour. However, evidence has also been provided which claims it can also have pro-social effects. This suggests media may have both, depending on the context contained within the programme.