Discuss what psychological research has told us about some of the media influences on anti-social behaviour and educational choices.
Raminta Petrauskaite
Discuss what psychological research has told us about some of the media influences on anti-social behaviour. (5 marks + 6 marks)
Research suggests that children observe the actions of media models and may later imitate these behaviours, especially when the child admires and identifies with the model. Also the consequences of the models actions depend on whether the child will chose to do the same or not. If the consequence is rewarding, it is more likely to be imitated, whereas if the consequence is a punishment, it is more likely to be avoided. The more ‘real’ the children perceive violent televised scenes to be, and the more they believe the more they identify with the characters, the more likely they will be to try out the behaviour they have learnt. Philips (1983) examined crime statistics for the 10-day period following televised heavyweight boxing contest, and found a significant rise in the number of murders during that period. (There was no such rise after American football was on.) Bandura’s Social Learning Theory supports the view that children learn specific acts of aggression and also learn increased aggressiveness through imitating models, even when the models are not real people.