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Violence, Desensitization Toward
Most people naturally have aversive reactions to the sight of blood and gore. Some people (e.g., soldiers, surgeons) must overcome these reactions to perform their duties effectively. Their ability to do so illustrates the process of desensitization, defined as diminished psychological responsiveness to a stimulus after repeated exposure to it. Desensitization can be adaptive because it enables people to ignore irrelevant information and focus instead on relevant information. For most people, however, becoming desensitized to blood and gore can have maladaptive social consequences, such as reducing inhibitions against behaving aggressively and limiting responsiveness to victims of violence.
Hundreds of studies have shown that exposure to media violence contributes to increased societal violence. Media violence is believed to increase aggression, at least in part, by desensitizing viewers to the effects of real violence. Media violence initially produces fear, disgust, anxiety, and other avoidance-related motivational states. Repeated exposure to media violence, however, reduces its psychological impact and eventually produces aggressive approach-related motivational states, leading to increased aggression.
Effects of Violent Media Exposure on Desensitization
Surprisingly few media violence studies have examined physiological-emotional indicators of desensitization. Despite the small number of studies, there does appear to be a consensus in the literature that exposure to violent television can cause short-term desensitization in viewers.
Thomas, Horton, Lippincott, and Drabman conducted two studies in the 1970s examining the desensitizing effects of violent television exposure. Children were brought into a lab and hooked up to a device that measures the amount of voltage in their skin. When people get anxious, they sweat, and voltage levels increase because the sweat conducts electricity. After a baseline measure of skin conductance levels, participants viewed either a violent or nonviolent film. Next, participants viewed a film that they believed to be a real-life live event in which two children start attacking one another. Those who had viewed the violent film earlier were significantly less aroused by the “real-life” violence film than were those who had viewed the nonviolent film. Apparently those who had watched the violent film became desensitized to real-world violence.
About the same time, Cline, Croft, and Courier examined the long-term effects of violent television exposure on children and adolescents. Participants (whose ages ranged from 7 to 14 years old) reported their weekly television exposure and were divided into high-exposure and low-exposure groups. After a baseline measure of skin conductance was taken, participants viewed nonviolent and violent film sequences. Although there were no differences in arousal while viewing the nonviolent scenes, those who watched a lot of television showed less arousal while watching the violent scenes than did those who watched relatively little. Although the researchers did not measure violent television exposure, it seems very likely that those who watched a lot of television were also exposed to more violent television.
Desensitization effects have also been shown in older age groups, suggesting that these effects are not limited to children. One such study was conducted by Thomas and his colleagues. College-age participants viewed either a violent or nonviolent film clip, then watched footage from a real-life riot. Males who were previously exposed to the violent film clip were less aroused than males who had viewed a nonviolent film (these results were not found for females).
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