Author Question: What does social psychological research say about the impact of violent media on aggressive ... (Read 63 times)

melina_rosy · **on:** Jun 22, 2018

What does social psychological research say about the impact of violent media on aggressive behavior? Discuss all of the key conclusions from this research.

What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

Do social psychologists believe that people have free will? How important is perceived free will or autonomy to people? What happens when people believe that their freedom of choice has been revoked?

What will be an ideal response?

chinwesucks · **Reply #1 on:** Jun 22, 2018

Answer to Question 1

a) Violent media seem to lead to aggressive behavior. This does not seem to simply be a correlation, but actually a causal relationship.
b) Violent media seem to lead to violence both in the short term and in the long term.
c) They seem to lead to both minor acts of aggression and major, criminal acts of aggression.
d) They seem to increase aggressiveness among both males and females
e) Video games may be even more harmful than television media .

Answer to Question 2

a . Social psychologists are divided on this question.
b. However, self-determination theory suggests that people need to feel at least some degree of autonomy and internal motivation. In support of this theory, research has demonstrated that people who do not feel autonomous tend to sink into states of passivity and alienation. Furthermore, those who achieve goals based on intrinsic rather than extrinsic motivations tend to feel happier and healthier.
c. Along the same lines, people who find that their behaviors are ineffectual can fall into a state of learned helplessness.
d. Reactance theory also predicts (and research on reactance theory confirms) that when people's sense of autonomy is infringed upon they experience negative emotions and seek to restore autonomy.