Module 3

Applying social psychology to media and aggression

Consequence of Viewing media violence:-
fear ,agreesive thoughts
Effects of exposure to violent pornography
Reducing the harmful effects of exposure to
violent sexual material
Effects of media influence on our thoughts
Aggression
Theories of Aggression
• Lornez’s View:
• Observations of animals in their natural habitats led some
psychologists to view that aggressive drive has an innate,
biological or instinctive basis. In the opinion of Konrad Lorenz,
aggression which causes physical harm to others starts from a
fighting instinct that human beings share with other organisms.
The energy associated with this instinct is spontaneously
produced in individuals at a more or less constant rate.
• The probability of aggression increases as a function of the
amount of stored energy and the presence and strength of
aggression releasing stimuli. According to him aggression is
inevitable and at times spontaneous outbursts of powerful
feelings occur like volcanic irruption.
Role of biological factors in aggression
• Biological factors that influence aggressive behavior include
hormones, physiological illness, and temperament.
• Hormones play some indirect role in human aggression. Interaction
with external stimuli may affect the threshold of aggressive behavior.
Some researchers have concluded that high testosterone levels could
be a result of aggressive behavior. In women, premenstrual tension
syndrome is associated with a number of aggressive behaviors, such
as violent crime
• People with a serious physiological illness, such as cancer, may be
affected by negative mood states. These mood states may indirectly
affect the aggressive behavior of individuals.
• Temperament may be indirectly related to aggressive behavior.
People who are impulsive are more likely to be aggressive than
people who have a deliberate temperament.
Drive Theory
Modern theories of aggression
• Social learning perspective
• Genaral Aggression model (GAM)
The general Aggression model
• The General Aggression Model (GAM) is a comprehensive, integrative,
framework for understanding aggression. It considers the role of
social, cognitive, personality, developmental, and biological factors on
aggression. Proximate processes of GAM detail how person and
situation factors influence cognitions, feelings, and arousal, which in
turn affect appraisal and decision processes, which in turn influence
aggressive or nonaggressive behavioral outcomes. Each cycle of the
proximate processes serves as a learning trial that affects the
development and accessibility of aggressive knowledge structures.
• Distal processes of GAM detail how biological and persistent
environmental factors can influence personality through changes in
knowledge structures. GAM has been applied to understand
aggression in many contexts including media violence effects,
domestic violence, intergroup violence, temperature effects, pain
effects, and the effects of global climate change.
Determinants of Aggression
• Social
• Personal
• Situational
Situational Determinants
Personal Determinants

• History of drug or alcohol abuse

• Discovery of detailed plans to commit violence
• Making direct, veiled or conditional threats of violence
• History of controlling others
• Excessive need for attention or respect
• Feelings of low self-worth
• Early childhood abuse or neglect
• Witnessing violence at home, in the community or in the media
• History of being bullied
• Easy access to weapons
Media violence
• In a 2009 Policy Statement on Media Violence, the American
Academy of Pediatrics said, “Extensive research evidence
indicates that media violence can contribute
to aggressive behavior, desensitization to violence,
nightmares, and fear of being harmed
• The violence portrayed in the media can lead to child abuse,
domestic violence and other such things which can cause
immense destruction to the society so the movies ,serials and tv
shows that includes such contents should be strictly monitored
• Domestic violence refers to acts of violence that occur between
people who have, or have had, an intimate relationship in
domestic settings.These acts include physical, sexual, emotional
and psychological abuse.
Prevention and control of Aggression