Desensitization Effect

The term desensitization effect has been used to describe numbing in response to repeated exposure to media and real-life violence. Research on desensitization shows that continued exposure to violence may result in the lessening of typical cognitive, emotional, behavioral, or biological responses to violence. Desensitization has been studied in relation to violence, specifically sexual violence, and in varying types of media such as television, film, music, advertisements, and video games. Continued exposure to sexually explicit and violent materials has been hypothesized to create a desensitization of traditional values, shifting them toward a cultural climate that is tolerant of sexual violence against women.

Systematic desensitization, or exposure therapy, has been used as a form of clinical treatment to encourage patients to become more comfortable with situations that would normally provoke anxiety. Unintentional desensitization, as it applies to media consumption, operates much the same way as clinical therapy; viewers of violence in media become desensitized over time to violence that would typically create anxiety or cause them to become uncomfortable. Intentional systematic desensitization may allow viewers to cope with repeated exposure to stimuli that otherwise may be too overwhelming; however, unintentional desensitization of gendered violence and abuse through media can be damaging to society and can reinforce negative gendered stereotypes. Desensitization can disrupt moral evaluation of sexualized violence, as viewers do not fully absorb that which they are viewing.

With repeated exposure, portrayals of domestic violence or sexual abuse that once may have seemed shocking to viewers become less startling and viewers become more accepting of them. Once desensitized, viewers may lose empathy for the victims of violence and believe that acts of violence are inevitable. Although both men and women are affected by desensitization, research has revealed gender differences in desensitization effects of sexual violence. Men exposed to stereotyped images of gender and sexuality in film, television, and advertisements have been shown to become more accepting of types of violence such as rape and domestic violence. Desensitization has also been shown to affect children and adolescents.

Desensitization is studied as either a short-term, immediate effect or a long-term, gradual effect after continuous or repeated exposure to violent media. Emotional desensitization has been studied by means of individuals' reports of concern or empathy for victims of violence. Cognitive desensitization has been studied by considering individuals' changes in attitude and perception about what is “violent.” Behavioral effects have been examined by looking at individuals' own aggression and acts of violence or their willingness to take action to prevent real-world violence against others. Physiological changes have been measured by factors such as individuals' pulse and heart rate when viewing violent media.

Research in the 1970s and 1980s began to show that repeated exposure to violence displayed on [Page 64]television could lead to individuals' desensitization to subsequent exposures of violence. For example, a research study by Margaret Thomas and colleagues found that children and college students exposed to fictional violence were less responsive to subsequent viewings of real-life violence portrayed on news or in film. Erica Scharrer found that frequent consumption of local news, which often highlights violent acts, also led to desensitization in response to real-life violence.

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