- Cognitive priming refers to the ways in which environmental cues work to trigger aggression
- Huesmann (1998) claims that cognitive priming is a sort of schema (specifically a script schema) in which an individual’s memory makes associations between objects, people and situations to provide cues as to how to act/behave
- Script schemas outline our expectations per situation (as long as we are familiar with the context) e.g. That young guy walking towards me wearing a hoodie looks like he might mug me; This Netflix drama is about Colombian drug dealers so I’m bracing myself for a lot of nasty violence
- People who consume a lot of violent media are likely to develop rigid schemas and are easily primed to anticipate or respond to aggressive stimuli than those who do not consume a lot of violent media (Berkowitz, 1984)
Research which investigates cognitive priming
- Leyens & Dunand (1991) - Male participants were told that they would watch a violent or a neutral film and were then told to give (fake) electric shocks to a confederate: the participants who were primed to watch a violent film gave higher levels of electric shocks than those in the neutral-film condition
- Bushman (1998) - Participants who watched a violent video had faster reaction times to aggressive words than those who had watched a non-violent video
Evaluation of Desensitisation, Disinhibition & Cognitive Priming
Strengths
- All of these features of media influence on aggression are hugely important for policy-makers and those working in fields such as education, health and law enforcement to understand e.g. the fact that a weapon is a key priming stimulus which could be used to try to prevent the growing problem of knife crime
- An awareness of cognitive priming could be used to promote prosocial behaviours or attitudes in computer gaming e.g. introducing weaponless combat games, emphasising resolution rather than conflict
Weaknesses
- There is no concrete, 100%-watertight proof that media consumption causes - or even triggers - aggressive behaviour so the theories linked to media influence on aggression remain debatable
- All of these features of media influence on aggression are difficult to operationalise and measure e.g. at what point does an individual become disinhibited and how can this be observed in their behaviour?
Link to Approaches:
There is a strong Cognitive element to the topics covered on this page e.g. priming happens exclusively via thought-processes, memory and perception. Disinhibition can be understood using the Learning Theory approach, with its emphasis on observed behaviour and reinforcement.