Aqa Psychology: Media

Front 1

Anti-Social/Pro-Social Behaviour

Back 1

• Cognitive Priming:
- Behavioural ideas or "cues" are presented in the media and people memorise the anti/pro-social behaviour for later behaviour. When they are in comparable scenarios, this "triggers" these scripts and they repeat what they have seen before. However, it is not exactly like they saw (SLT), just general anti/pro-social behaviour.
• Social Learning Theory:
- Indirect reinforcement - Attention, Retention, Production, Motivation.
- Individuals are attracted to the reward (Vicarious reinforcement).
- More likely to imitate similar models.
• Desensitisation:
- Reduction/elimination of cognitive, emotional and behavioural responses to a stimulus.
- Repeated exposure reduces impact.
- People become habituated (used) to it.

Front 2

Anti-Social Behaviour AO2

Back 2

• Bandura et al Film Mediated Aggressive Models
• Josephson Walkie Talkies:
- Children watched violent programme involving communicating via walkie talkies and subsequently played ice hockey with instructions via walkie talkies. Children were more aggressive suggesting walkie talkies were cues for the aggression.
• Charlton et al

Front 3

Pro-Social Behaviour AO2

Back 3

• Noble: Australia Naturally:
- Suggests TV shows can be a source of education for younger viewers/ supports SLT
- Questioned 240 7-11 year olds about program.
- Asked factual knowledge questions.
- Children who had watched the program learned morals even further.
• Holloway et al: Good News:
- Participants "overheard" good news message in waiting room before study on bargaining.
- More cooperative in bargaining than those who hadn't "overheard".
- Supports cognitive priming.
• Sprafkin et al:
- Found children taking part in a competition after watching Lassie were trying to help puppies even if it meant they lost. Supports SLT.

Front 4

Positive/Negative Effects of Video Games/Computers

Back 4

• Positive:
- Encourage creativity, pro-social behaviour providing educational value.
- Help relieve stress and aggression in non-harmful manner.
- Develop higher self-esteem.
• Negative
- More common view.
- Addiction problems.
- Active roles promote aggression through rewards.
- May retard development such as desensitisation of emotional skills
- Waste of time with no personal gain.

Front 5

Positive Effects of Video Games AO2

Back 5

• Gee:
- Found games help to empower learners, develop problem solving and help understanding.
- Interactive games help to increase creativity.
- Some games offer an aspect of reflection which allows players to improve decision making and independence.
• Kestenbaum and Weinstein:
- Heavy gamers use gaming to manage conflict and discharge aggression through competition.
• Durking and Barber:
- 16 year old gamers were better generally at life skills, suggesting video games can influence healthy adolescence.

Front 6

Negative Effects of Video Games AO2

Back 6

• Ballard:
- 119 middle/upper-middle class male college students.
- Randomly assigned to 1/4 games of different violence levels.
- Used memory test with rewards and punishment to measure anti-social behaviour.
- Confederates would purposely get questions wrong to see how long participants would punish them by submerging hand in ice bath.
- Those who had played more violent games punished for longer than less violent games.
- Violent games gave less jelly beans as rewards for correct answers also.
• Matthews et al:
- Adolescents randomly assigned to play a violent video game had increased activity in the amygdala (emotions) and decreased activity in the prefrontal lobe (inhibition and self-control).
- Suggests violent games result in less control over aggression and supports desensitisation.

Front 7

The Hovland-Yale Model

Back 7

• The Communicator:
- Refers to whoever is conveying the message.
- Will come across as an expert to show scientific backing to the product.
- Viewers trust the expert even if they do not understand.
- Faster speaking suggests intelligence.
• The Message:
- Show a balanced argument to prevent inoculation against later conflicting arguments.
- Feel good techniques are used as well as a feeling of togetherness.
- Mere Exposure Effect: repetition provides familiarity to increase persuasion.
• The Channel:
- Face to face allows message to be tailored to the audience.
- Mass Media (TV) allows lots of people to view the advert.
- Printed media is more effective for complex messages as people can re-read messages.
• The Audience:
- Intelligence, personality and gender affect persuasiveness of message.
- Intelligence can increase understanding, but can also mean they find more faults.

Front 8

Hovland-Yale Model AO2

Back 8

• Hovland and Weiss:
- Participants read article by either expert or low-credibility source.
- More opinion change caused by expert article through questionnaire.
- Consistent after 4 weeks.
- Supports idea of the Communicator.
• McGuire and Papageorgis:
- Presented participants with article on brushing their teeth.
- Two sided argument was more persuasive and produced more resistance to conflicting views.
• Lippa:
- Found printed communication was more persuasive than visual media when conveying complex messages.

Front 9

Elaboration Likelihood Model

Back 9

- Persuasive messages are processed through central and peripheral routes.
- Attitude changes through cognitive evaluation.
- Persuasion dependent on the degree of elaboration.
• Central Route: (Active/Thoughtful)
- Grabs attention of viewer
- Messages are relevant.
- Easy to process
- Convincing argument.
• Peripheral Route: (Passive/Lazy)
- Consistent to preconceptions of the topic.
- Attractive sources
- Expertise in the field.
- Scarcity - limited time only.

Front 10

Elaboration Likelihood Model AO2

Back 10

• Chaiken:
- Participants were more likely to retain new attitudes achieved via persuasion if attitude changes were acquired via Central Route suggesting Central Route is stronger.
• Berscheid and Walster:
- Physically attractive sources like sports stars make messages more persuasive especially if messages concern less involving topics.
- Demonstrates importance of likability in peripheral messages.

Front 11

Social Explanations of "Attraction" of Celebrity

Back 11

- Celebrity: a person, who has a prominent profile and commands some degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media.
• Popularity Explanation:
- We want to live the same lifestyle as celebrities and so aspire to be like them.
- Before media, role models would be people we actually knew.
- Introduction of media means that relationships with celebrities are "parasocial" - outside of social network.
- Social Learning Theory can be used to suggest that we copy celebrities as we want to be like them.
- Mere Exposure Effect proposes that the more you are aware of them, the more you want to be them as we prefer the familiar.
• Outsider Theory of Celebrity:
- Suggests people feel isolated and rejected from own culture.
- Becoming a celebrity would mean they would be accepted.

Front 12

Social Explanations Of Celebrity AO2

Back 12

•De Backer et al:
- Celebrities are viewed as higher status members of society + so become models for exemplary behaviour.
- Audiences follw them via media in order to copy them.
- Motivation for imitation is that by copying them our own status will rise.
- Supports SLT
• Freedman et al:
- Challenges Mere Exposure Effect for those who have opposing views.
- Suggests that it is only applicable with agreeable stimuli + so repeated exposure only confirms attraction rather than forming it.
• Giles:
- Suggested that individual's background can affect the levels of attraction.
- High proportion of black pop stars and Jewish Nobel prize winners.
- Suggests a means of escape from impoverished backgrounds to gain inspiration, self-esteem and respect.

Front 13

Evolutionary Explanations of "Attraction" of Celebrity

Back 13

• Gossip Theory:
- Increases knowledge of events in group = better survival.
- Celebrities fill the gaps in larger social groups with less knowledge.
- Daily encounters in media - our minds are fooled into regarding celebrities as belonging to our circle of friends.
- Gossip creates bonds within social groups and serves a similar adaptive function to social grooming by imitating.
- Common interest to stay as a group
- Celebrities are seen as alpha males/females = attractive qualities important to survival and reproduction.
• Reproductive Strategies:
- Attractiveness = better reproduction opportunities = survival.
- Enhanced attractiveness relates to fame of celebrity.
- Female celebrities are associated with fertility.
- Male celebrities associated with wealth and resources.
- Females looking at males = looking/comparing mates.
- Females looking at females = comparing competition and learning attractiveness techniques from alpha female.
- Celebrities are "targets".

Front 14

Evolutionary Explanations of Celebrity AO2

Back 14

• Fieldman:
- Females find male celebrities attractive due to their qualities that indicate good genes and resources.
• De Backer:
- Survey 800 participants
- Found gossip is seen as useful for acquiring knowledge about social group members.
- Media exposure leads to misconception that celebrities are part of our social group, and therefore attraction to celebrities.

Front 15

Intense Fandom: Celebrity Worship

Back 15

- McCutcheon proposed the "Absorption Addiction": individuals start off as using celebrities as a means of socialising. When problems occur with relationships, this worship can be taken even further in that the individual must know everything about the celebrity and become "addicted".
- Younger age can spend more time looking at celebrities.
- Lower education levels = greater worship.
- Males = sport stars / females = entertainment.
- McCutcheon developed a one-dimensional Celebrity Attitude Scale based on research:
• Entertainment sub-scale: low level
• Intense personal sub-scale: medium level
• Borderline pathological: High level
- Revised later into a 3D scale.
- Maltby et al found three dimensions of fandom:
• Entertainment social
• Intense-personal
• Borderline pathological

Front 16

Celebrity Worship AO2

Back 16

• McCutcheon et al:
- Negative correlation of -0.4 between education and amount of celebrity worship supporting idea of less education have more interest.
• Gabriel:
- Self esteem questionnaire and then wrote essay on favourite celebrity.
- Low self-esteem = high interest in celebrity
• McCutcheon et al:
- High worship were significantly more likely to suffer from anxiety, depression and social dysfunction.
• Maltby:
- High categories of scale were prone to poor mental and physical health.

Front 17

Celebrity Stalking

Back 17

- Lies in the far end of the continuum of celebrity worship.
- Stalking is the willful, malicious, and repeated following or harassing of another person that threatens that person's safety.
- High incidence among stalkers of criminality, mental illness and drug use; however there is no single type of stalker.
• Meloy:
- Two types of stalker
- 1/5 develop a love obsession fixation with an individual with whom they have no personal relationship (parasocial)
- Unable to develop normal relationships so invent fantasy ones involving the celebrity + attempt to reenact these stories.
- 4/5 had previous personal relationship with victim.
- Maladaptive method of guarding techniques to stop loss of a potential partner.
• Bartholomew and Horowitz
- Stalking is based on attachment type.
- Individuals with preoccupied attachment have negative self-model and look up to others.
- They seek approval and personal validation.

Front 18

Celebrity Stalking AO2

Back 18

• Kamphuis and Emmelkamp:
- Found celebrities are not at risk of violence, and that 25% of other cases result in violence.
- Only certain types of stalking have mental issues.
• Tonin:
- Found relationship between attachment type and stalkers through self-report measures.
• Roberts:
- Supports concept of low self-esteem being related to celebrity stalking.