Stimulation Hypothesis

This hypothesis holds that a subject who is exposed to a particular kind of message will accept and internalize the values expressed in that message and will become more likely to imitate the behavior that that message either expresses or seems to encourage. For instance, the hypothesis argues that a child who observes violent images on television is more likely to think, speak, and act violently and that a person exposed to pornography will be more inclined to approach sexuality in a socially unacceptable fashion. The stimulation hypothesis has been postulated in more than one form. One of these, the imitation hypothesis, argues that violent or sexual images educate viewers in forms of unacceptable behavior and incite them to engage in identical or closely comparable behaviors in real life. Another variant of the stimulation hypothesis, the disinhibition hypothesis, claims that these images lower people's social inhibitions, making them more generally inclined toward antisocial behavior. It can also be argued that violent or sexual images have the cumulative effect of producing more cultural acceptance of unacceptable behavior, creating a social environment in which aggressive or prurient impulses are less discouraged.

The stimulation hypothesis thoroughly contradicts the catharsis hypothesis, which contends that when the media present graphically violent or sexual images, it produces a release of tension in the viewer. The catharsis [Page 492]hypothesis maintains that viewers are satisfied with the vicarious experience of seeing forbidden behavior acted out for them and are thereafter less inclined to engage in the behavior directly. In hundreds of studies of the effects of television violence, only a handful have tended to confirm the catharsis hypothesis, whereas a great preponderance of data and clinical opinion support the stimulation hypothesis, that is, either the imitation hypothesis or the disinhibition hypothesis. For more information, see Severin(1988).